- 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 26, January 30th – At Sea
Crossing the dateline
Early this morning we crossed the International Date Line. We skipped January 29th and advanced all clocks 24 hours. During the World Cruise we will cross 24 time zones. Since we travel westbound that means that there are 24 times that we will have 25 hour days. Most world cruises travel westbound to avoid the other option of twenty-four 23 hour days followed by a bonus day when you cross the dateline eastbound. On some ships they advance clocks in the middle of the afternoon, to avoid losing an hour of sleep at night.
Morning activities
I have given up on getting to the Texas Hold’em sign up early. They open the casino at 9 AM and most people are already in line by 8:30. Since so few people arrive between 8:30AM and 9:00AM, I realized that there was little benefit in getting there before 9 AM. I arrive right after they open and take what ever games are left. They are now offering 4 games a day and I find myself going to the 3:00PM game most often.
Scheduled for 9 AM today was a class in the Lido Dome titled: “Learn to Make Your Own Maori Poi”. I incorrectly assumed that this was a class making a food dish called “poi” which is often served at Hawaiian Luaus. Once I arrived I realized that we were going to make the Poi balls – which we learned was redundant since Poi means ball in the Maori language.
Even though I arrived a few minutes late, there were a few empty sets and plenty of supplies available. I jumped on an empty seat and twenty minutes later, I was the proud owner of a handmade Maori Poi!
Queen’s Lounge Lectures
I stopped by the Crow’s nest to show off my Poi to all the knitters before heading to the Queen’s Lounge for two presentations. The first was on the HAL sponsored overland tours this cruise which was immediately followed by the guest speaker Milt Keiles who would be presenting on the topic “South Pacific Cultures”. I estimated that the Queen’s Lounge was probably 50% to 75% full for both presentations.
Afternoon Activities
Judy attended Ben’s drawing class which today was an art history lecture instead of actual drawing. She learned about ‘killer rabbits’ depicted in Medieval Art and saw examples of Etruscan funeral figures that are smiling.
After a few consecutive days of making the Craft class cut, all the craft projects were handed out by the time Judy arrived, about 10 minutes before the scheduled starting time.
After Pub Trivia at 5 PM, the ten people from table 303 assembled in the Casino for a Texas Hold’em training session. The Casino hosts were very accommodating to our request for a special training session for our group. The dealer spent about 10 minutes explaining the various poker hands and the structure of playing Texas Hold’em. This orientation was followed by a mock tournament where everyone started with $4000 in tournament chips.
Judy won the first hand with a full house, beating a straight and a flush which also appeared on the same hand. Despite Judy’s initial good fortune, I don’t expect to see her in the real tournaments anytime soon.
Spotlight Show
From time to time, the Cruise Director will schedule what is called a “Spotlight Show” which will feature an especially popular entertainer or a cast singer who gets an opportunity for a solo performance. These shows are typically at 7:15 PM which gives folks on both early and late seating an opportunity to attend.
Hyperion Knight was the featured entertainer for today’s Spotlight show. Once again he put on a masterful performance peppered with interesting commentary about the history and insight into the pieces he was about to perform. He concluded his show with a mesmerizing performance of piano concerto “Rocky 2” by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Dinner featured two tantalizing choices – Beechers Macaroni and Cheese and Hungarian Goulash. I enjoy both and asked for an appetizer sized portion of the Mac and Cheese. Never hesitate to ask for more than one entrée at dinner if you can’t decide between two choices.
Queen’s Lounge
Frank King and Nathan Coe Marsh split the show tonight in the Queen’s lounge. Nathan did a fine job and his show was much better that his first. He performed a marvelous illusion where he managed to join and separate some wedding rings he borrowed from audience members.
Frank’s show was hilarious, and as good as his first show was, this one was even better. He recounted amusing anecdotes about his experience in a hospital after his heart attack. Frank has incredible insight into the human condition and an amazing ability to see the light side of almost any event.
