- 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 56 – At Sea – March 1
Today is the second of three sea days between Bali and our first port in the Philippines.
Coffee Chat
Today’s guests for Coffee Chat with Hamish were: Neptune Lounge Concierge Laurence from Cebu, Lido Cook Hazel from Manila and Print Shop Manager Edwin from Manilla. They work in different roles around the ship, but they are all from the Philippines. They discussed their plans to visit with their families while in Manilla in addition to a little more insight into their daily routines.
Hazel is well known by many guests as she works in the Lido Market making omelets in the morning. She makes around 100 omelets per day on this cruise, but that is less than ½ the amount she made during a recent cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam. On that ship she was servicing two lines simultaneously.
Edwin works by himself in the print shop, printing 850 copies of the daily “When and Where” in addition to everything else that is printed onboard.
Laurence works in the Neptune Lounge where he provides Front Desk services and other support to passengers in the Neptune Suites.
Lunch in the MDR
We arranged a van with a driver to take us to the Subic Bay/Cubi Point US Navy complex where I spent some time while in the US Navy. While planning for this trip, a couple from Cruise Critic, along with their friends heard what I was planning and asked to go along. We met today for lunch to get to know each other a little better before our excursion.
This was my first time in the Main Dining Room for lunch this cruise. Rick and Margaret were also on our trip, so the 9 of us were seated at a large oval table. There was a nice selection including an Asian Burger or some Baby Back Ribs. There was an option called an express special where you could choose two items each with a smaller portion. I chose the Asian Burger and Chicken Soup which were both delicious and I was glad to have chosen smaller portions since they turned out to be plenty big enough.
We had a wonderful lunch learning more about our travelling companions, one who left Vietnam in 1975 and spent some time in Subic Bay before heading on to the USA. Another in our group was an officer in the South Vietnamese Army who spent 10 years in prison after the war before being released in 1985 and then getting a USA visa in 1990 where he lives today.
Afternoon
I lost twice with Texas Hold’em today. The slot tournament was in progress and I bought an entry for $20. Here is how the slot tournaments work. There is one two hour qualifying round each day for three consecutive days. A $20 ticket buys you a chance to play a special tournament slot machine for 3 minutes. At the end of 3 minutes, your score is recorded, and the 6 highest scores achieved over 3 days advance to the final round. During the final round, the 6 players play 6 identical machines, side by side, for 3 minutes and the highest score wins $500 cash in real money. All of the six qualifiers get a Club 21 hat or shirt as a consolation prize.
Judy made a coin necklace today in crafts and learned how to make a double slip knot.
At the end of the today’s second qualifying day, I was in 6th place with a score of 471,000. Many people don’t play until the last possible second on the final day, so I was fairly certain that my score would not be enough to make it into the finals.
Gala Night
Tonight was a Gala Night advertised as the “White Dinner” symbolizing purity and elegance. Participation in the “all white” theme was very high – I would guess that 90% of the guests made a serious effort to wear “all white”. Our table was hosted by Claudia, the Digital Workshop Host. She was raised in Monterrey, Mexico and moved to Texas with her family when she was a teenager. She was a lot of fun and a great table host. Around the time we were finishing the main course, according the Captain’s earlier announcement, we crossed the equator for the second time.
The Holland America Singers and Dancers returned for a performance of the show titled “On Tour” which was advertised to “Deliver a Performance of Rawness and Edge” and create an Arena Band Experience. They danced and sang to a variety of big hits from the past 40 years including “The Way I Love You”, “Under Pressure” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. This cast is very talented and full of energy and enthusiasm.
After we returned for the evening we discovered our latest pillow gifts – two RFID metal credit card holders. It wasn’t clear how they worked, but we would ask around tomorrow.
