- The Journey Begins – The 2018 Grand World Voyage
- Leaving San Diego for Fort Lauderdale
- Arriving in Fort Lauderdale and our first day
- Fort Lauderdale – Day 2
- Day 1 – The Adventure Begins
- Day 2 – Our First Sea Day – Abba Fabulous!
- Day 3, Georgetown, Grand Cayman
- Day 4, At Sea En Route Puerto Limon (San Jose), Costa Rica
- Day 5, Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
- Day 6, Transit the Panama Canal
- Day 7, Fuerte Amador, Panama
- Day 8, At Sea
- Day 9, At Sea
- Day 10, At Sea
- Day 11, At Sea
- Day 12, At Sea
- Day 13, At Sea – Enroute to Nuku Hiva
- Day 14, At Sea, Enroute to Nuku Hiva
- Day 15, At Sea – Enroute to Nuku Hiva
- Day 16, Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia
- Day 17, At Sea
- Day 18, Avatoru, Rangiroa, French Polynesia
- Day 19, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
- Day 20, Mooera, French Polynesia
- Day 21, Bora Bora, French Polynesia
- Day 22 – At Sea
- Day 23, Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
- Day 24, At Sea
- Day 25 – Alofi, Niue
- Day 26 – At Sea – Crossed Dateline – Jan 29th GONE!
- Day 27 – At Sea
- Day 28 – At Sea
- Day 29 – Auckland, NZ
- Day 30 – Tauranga – 3 Feb 2018
- Day 31 – Napier
- Day 32, At Sea – Super Bowl Monday
- Day 33, Port Chalmers, Dunedin
- Day 34, Fjordlands National Park – Milford Sound
- Day 35 – At Sea – Enroute Sydney
- Day 36 – At Sea
- Day 37 – Sydney, Australia
- Day 38 – Sydney, Australia
- Day 39 – At Sea
- 2020 World Cruise Possibilities
- Day 40, Hobart, Tasmania
- Day 41, At Sea
- Day 42, At Sea
- Day 43 – Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island
- Day 44 – Adelaide, South Australia
- Day 45 – At Sea
- Day 46 – At Sea
- Day 47 – Albany, Western Australia
- Day 48 – 21 Feb Perth
- Day 49 – Perth Yarn Crawl
- Day 50 – At Sea
- Day 51 – At Sea
- Day 52 – At Sea
- Day 53 – Benoa, Bali
- Day 54 – Benoa – Bali
- Day 55 – At Sea
- Day 56 – At Sea
- Day 57 – At Sea
- Day 58, Puerto Princesa
- Day 59, – At Sea
- Day 60, Manila, Philippines
- Day 61, Manila, Philippines
- Day 62 – At Sea
- Day 63 – Hong Kong
- Day 64, Hong Kong
- Day 65 – At Sea
- Day 66 – At Sea
- Day 67 – Phu My, Vietnam
- Day 68 – Siem Reap (ms Amsterdam at Sea)
- Day 69 – Siem Reap
- 2020 World Cruise – w/detailed dates
- Day 70 – Singapore
- Day 71 – At Sea
- Day 72 – Phuket
- Day 73 – At Sea
- Day 74 – At Sea – Enroute to Sri Lanka
- Day 75 – Columbo, Sri Lanka
- Day 76 – At Sea – Enroute to the Seychelles
- Day 77 – At Sea
- Day 78 – At Sea
- Day 79 – Victoria, Seychelles
- Day 80 – At Sea
- Day 81 – At Sea
- Day 82 – St Denis – Reunion Island
- Day 83 – At Sea
- Day 84 – At Sea
- Day 85 – At Sea
- Day 86 – Maputo – Safari Day 1
- Day 87 – Kambaku River Sands – Safari Day 2
- Day 88 – Kambaku River Sands – Safari Day 3
- Day 89 – Kambaku River Sands – Safari Day 4
- Day 90 – Cape Town, South Africa
- Day 91, Cape Town, South Africa
- Day 92 – At Sea
- Day 93, Walvis Bay, Namibia
- Day 94 – At Sea
- Day 95 – At Sea
- Day 96 -Luanda, Angola
- Day 97 – At Sea
- Day 98 – At Sea
- Day 99 – Crossing the Equator
- Day 100 – At Sea
- Day 101 – At Sea
- Day 102 – Banjul, Gambia
- Day 103 – Dakar, Senegal
- Day 104 – At Sea
- Day 105, Praia – Cape Verde
- Day 106 – At Sea
- Day 107 – At Sea
- Day 108 – At Sea
- Day 109 – At Sea – April 23, 2018
- Day 110 – At Sea
- Day 111 – San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Day 112 – At Sea
- Day 113 – At Sea
- Day 114 – Fort Lauderdale
- 2018 World Cruise Entertainers
Day 22 – At Sea
It was nice to have a sea day after 4 straight port days. This was the longest stretch of port days for the entire cruise. For the remainder of the cruise, our longest stretch will be 3 in a row.
If you have any inkling that you may be bored on sea days during a world cruise – fugetaboutit. Grand Voyages, and particularly Grand World Voyages are chock full of activities from dawn till midnight. Check out the daily programs, which you can find on my blog, and then compare them to daily programs from my normal cruises (also on the blog) and you will see what I mean.
Morning Activities
Our routines by now are well established, but I will try to sample each activity at least once during the cruise.
Judy’s Morning Tai Chi class has progressed to step 10 – ‘Wave Hands in the Clouds’.
I stopped by the Lido Dome at 9 AM for the class on how to weave an Island Treasure. The tables were full, but not overflowing. Here is a picture of the “Island Treasure”.
Texas Hold’em continues to be very popular, with the time people start to queue getting earlier and earlier. I won’t go down any earlier than 10 minutes prior to sign-up and am willing to take whatever sessions may be remaining. Most people are only signing up for one of the two daily tournaments so that most everyone gets to play in at least one game.
Since I didn’t make the Texas Hold’em cut, I was able to spend more time with the knitting group.
I am starting to learn the 2 x 2 rib. Progress remains slow, but steady.
Hyperion Knight
We wanted to watch Hyperion Knight practice at 10 AM in the Explorers lounge. When we went down there at 10 AM we were disappointed to find that he was just wrapping up as he moved his starting time to 9AM to deconflict with another activity in the Explorers lounge at 10:30. Susan, from our table, arrived early and was able to listen to his practice. Hyperion cheerfully took requests from the audience and provided interesting commentary as he practiced. He is a marvelous performer and an all around nice guy. Don’t miss his show if he is playing in your area. He does play with a variety of Orchestras around the country so check out his website HERE if you are interested. Here are his future performances
FEBRUARY 14 CONCERT IN HOBE SOUND, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 25 CONCERT IN PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
RECITAL AT THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF AMERICA AT 2PM
MARCH 18 CONCERT IN MAUI, HAWAII AT 3:00
GERSHWIN CONCERTO IN F WITH THE MAUI POPS ORCHESTRA
Afternoon Activities
Judy’s drawing class today was sketching from a slide of Michelangelo’s David from several vantage points.
The craft project today was a drop earring that had a flower shape with 2 beads. Attendance at crafts has stabilized to around 100 guests. Judy get’s there about 10 minutes before the scheduled starting time and is usually one of the last to arrive.
During the Captain’s noon navigational update, he discussed the current sea state and that it was not looking good for tendering into Cook’s Island tomorrow. This port has a reputation for getting cancelled due to strong wave conditions affecting tendering operations. I don’t think anyone will be too surprised if we aren’t able to get ashore.
We had lunch by the pool today and I tried the Lido Market salad bar. You are not allowed to make your own selections and must tell the attendant what you would like. They have several people waiting on guests, so the line moves quickly. The salad bowels are huge – about the size of a volleyball cut in half.
Texas Hold’em
I suffered a “bad beat” today which knocked me out in third place. I had an A 6 with the flop being A 4 2. We were both “all in” and had our cards face up after the flop. My opponent showed a Q 7 and I was felling pretty good when the Ace appeared and he had nothing. My joy was short lived when the next two cards were Queens giving him Three of a Kind. I have had my share of being on the other side of these, so it all sorta works out in the end.
Pub Trivia
Our march to mediocrity continues at Pub Trivia. We learned that Hyperion Knight, the virtuoso pianist, is an avid trivia player. We have spotted him at Pub Trivia and I think he also participates in the morning trivia edition as well.
Ben Sacks
Our dinner guest this evening was the drawing instructor, Ben Sacks. Ben is from Leesburg VA. He discussed the cruise mural he is working on that will be five feet high by seven feet wide when complete.
The Queens Room
We enjoyed a wonderful show this evening by three male vocalists called “The Knights”. They featured the music from the various British “Knights” of the music industry; Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Tom Jones among many others. Their show was high energy from start to finish. The fabulous Amsterdam Orchestra accompanied them and had the opportunity for solo performances from each band member. The show opened with music from Elton John: Crocodile Rock and Circle of Life, and continued to the Beatles with a beautiful rendition of the Les Misérables favorite “One Day More” along the way.
Love reading your blog, inspires me to start saving and planning for my first World Cruise!