- 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
Tai Chi Cancelled
It always pays to read the “When and Where” each evening. We assumed that Tai Chi was every day at sea. But we didn’t realize that on Sundays, Catholic Mass is held in the Queens Lounge which cancels Tai Chi on Sundays.
Coffee with Hamish
In a way it worked out fine that Tai Chi was cancelled because one of our favorite acts, Abba Fab, was the guest at the “Coffee with Hamish” show held in the Explorers Lounge which started at 9:30 am. Now we wouldn’t have to leave Tai Chi early to get down to the Explorers Lounge to see the show. This event tends to fill up and by the time we arrived at 9:10 am there were already 20 people waiting.
Hamish started the show by welcoming everyone and then he introduced the members of Abba Fab which includes Terry the leader and manager of the group, his wife Anne, their son Nick and Kat.
Abba Fab was formed as a way to drive more business into their Arizona restaurant during the 2008 recession. As it turned out their musical act became more popular than their food and as their musical careers took off, the restaurant business faded and finally closed about 4 years later. Terry now manages several touring versions of Abba Fab in addition to several other musical groups and shows. Check out their website for more information TADMGMT.COM
Pete learns to Knit
Judy is hosting the 10 am Stitch and Knit in the Crows Nest. There were about 9 people participating today.
Today I learned how to knit! Judy cast on for me so all I needed to do was to start a simple garter stitch. After a lot of coaching and about 10 minutes, I finished my first row just in time to head down to the Casino for the Texas Hold’em game.
Texas Hold’em
There are about 15 people turning out for each of the 2 tournaments each day. The games are friendly, and everyone is having a good time. The only problem so far is that not everyone can play as often as they would like since each game is limited to 10 people.
After the game I headed back to the Crows Nest where Judy was finishing up with her knitting.
Lunch in the Lido
We enjoy lunch in the Lido because the food is good and you can eat quickly or linger or chat depending on your schedule for the rest of the day. We noticed that each table now has the name of the attendant responsible for that particular table. This may have been going on for some time, but it is the first time we have noticed. Service is outstanding and the waiters and waitresses are very attentive and take special care to make sure you have everything you need and keep your beverage glasses full.
Black and Gold Dinner – Gala Night
Tonight, was the first gala night with a pre-dinner cocktail party in the Queens Lounge. There were two sessions, one at 4 pm for early seating and the second and 7 pm for main seating. The theme was Black and Gold and I was pleasantly surprised by the large number of people who participated by wearing Black and Gold. I was more surprised by the large number of men wearing Tuxedos or dark suits. I can’t speak for the early seating crowd, but I didn’t spot a single person in our dining room wearing the minimum dress of a collared shirt and dress pants. I don’t recall seeing anyone wearing only a sport jacket and tie, the room seemed to be about 25% Tuxedos with the rest dark suits with only a handful of “others”. Even out in the common areas most people were in the spirit of the Gala night.
NOTE: Before every world cruise you will receive a brochure which lists every night which has a special theme, so you can bring appropriate theme clothing if desired.
We had our picture taken on deck 5 right outside the Ocean Bar and as we were leaving for the theatre we noticed a line had formed leading to the balcony entrance of the Queens Lounge on Deck 5. People in line told us that they were waiting for the cocktail party to start and for the staff to drop the barrier at the door. I thought that was odd, and sure enough, the receiving line with Capt Mercer and the Cruise Director was on Deck 4, starboard side, and the entrance to the balcony was closed since they didn’t want anyone going up there during the cocktail party. I mentioned to one of the officers as we entered the Queens Lounge that there was line forming on Deck 5 and they may want to let people know that the entrance was on Deck 4. I guess it may have been possible that these people were waiting for the 8:15 show, but that was over 1 hour away. I guess this may remain a mystery.
The Queens lounge was comfortably full, with no one standing who didn’t want to stand. Wait staff was circulating with trays of drinks and snacks – which were all wonderful.
Around 7:30 Hamish introduced Capt Mercer who made a few remarks and concluded by announcing he would return for the 2019 World Cruise. After his remarks he introduced the rest of the officers and senior staff before leading us all in a toast.
Gala Night Dinner
The featured entrée tonight was Surf and Turf. The food was delicious, the conversations lively and the service outstanding – a wonderful evening all the way around.
Our table mates from 2016, Rick and Margaret, gave several of us at the table who were on the 2016 world cruise, a bottle of wine he produced in his own micro winery which had a label featuring a watercolor he painted of his granddaughter. What a special treat!
Tony Daro
Tonight’s comedian was Tony Daro who put on a wonderful show. Invariably comedians performing for the World Cruise late show are playing to some fairly small audiences, which makes their job all that much harder. He was a good sport and everyone had a good laugh and enjoyed the show.
Once again, we received another “pillow gift” our third of the cruise. This time it was a Keycard Holder
Puerto Limon
Tomorrow, we will be in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. We are signed up for the HAL Zip Line tour – our first zip line ever – and we are looking forward to the experience. It was originally scheduled for 7:30 am but we received a notice yesterday that it was rescheduled to 9:30 am due to operational reasons, which was a blessing, because 7:30 am doesn’t sound quite so early back in October when we were scheduling these tours as it does the night before you actually have to get up early.
This entry was posted in 2018 Grand World Voyage, Sea Day
Really enjoying following your blog! Thanks for “taking us all along.” One question…are World Cruise meals different in any way from shorter cruises?
While each individual recipe/menu item is the same, you will have the higher cost items more frequently even though the exact combination of menu items is never repeated. Higher cost appetizers, like Shrimp Cocktail – are avail every night. They have a higher daily food budget on Grand Voyages.
Hi Pete,
Love your blog, all the details are great. We will be following your blog as we will join you in Singapore for the 44 days over Africa back to Ft Lauderdale. In fact, we got off the Amsterdam on Jan 4 when you boarded – did the last part of Grand Asia (Sydney to San Diego) and then the Panama Canal. See you March 15.
Thanks for following….looking forward to meeting you!
Pete
We have friends that we met on a 2015 World Cruise with Crystal that are sailing with you, so I am really excited to be following your blog to see what they are experiencing…thanks for posting! You have a wonderful set-up for your blog, and I love the pictures, too.
Thanks for following. Appreciate the comments
I am certainly enjoying your travel blog….love traveling vicariously through all of you that take the time to blog along your journey. We did a zip line tour in Port Limon and it has always been a favorite tour of ours. We had to stop along the way at one of the platforms as our guides went out to get a sloth off the line. They had quite a time removing him. We enjoyed to the show…
We had a wonderful zip line experience…more later, but its late now.
Love the photo of Pete in tux. I guess you did not have your knitting in your pocket.
I am anxiously awaiting the zip line report!!
Before you know it you will be working for the cruise lines. Have they seen your blogs?
Enjoy!