- 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 65 March 10th – At Sea
Two sea days on in front of us before we arrive in Phu My, Vietnam where we will start our first overland adventure to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. We went to Angkor Wat on the 2016 world cruise and we enjoyed it so much we decided to make a second visit. The ship sent out a questionnaire about our travel plans in Vietnam to determine if we needed an individual visa or if the group visa would be sufficient. The cost for the individual visa was $75 and was cheaper than what the visa services were charging and even cheaper than if we mailed our passport to the Vietnam embassy in Washington DC.
There are some exceptions, most notably the Australian ETA, but as a general rule, allowing the ship to get your visas if they are able to is usually the best bet.
Meet and Greet
There was another cruise critic meet and greet today – the third one of the cruise. Jerry and Kathy organized another slot pull and some other folks started to set up a cabin crawl.
Afternoon on the ship
Not a good day for me in the Casino – played 3 Hold’em tournaments and lost them all.
Judy continues with her drawing class where Ben talked about the values of tone that can be found in the shadows of an object.
Today’s craft project was constructing a Chinese Good Fortune Bracelet. Judy got four extra beads to make the bracelet big enough to fit her wrist.
Captain’s Dinner
Tonight, was our turn for the Captain’s Dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. We arrived at 6:30 and posed for a picture with Captain Jonathan. Everyone who is on the full world cruise gets invited to one dinner. Notification of our dinner was sent out during the first week of the cruise. They will consider rescheduling if you are off the ship for an overland excursion and for no other reason. There is always some gift distributed during dinner and you will received this gift even if you can’t make the dinner. They don’t send out reminders, so you must make sure you remember your date on your own.
Each table of 6 -7 people will have a single officer has a host. We were seated with 2 other couples along with Ed, the Chief Electrical Officer. The Captain hosts a table for 6 near the front door. The people sitting at his table didn’t have any special status that we could determine, so it’s not clear how tables are assigned.
Here is the menu – there aren’t any choices unless you let them know ahead of time that you were allergic to something they planned on serving.
2018 GRAND WORLD VOYAGE CAPTAIN’S DINNER
- SMOKED DUCK
- CREAM OF CORN
- SEARED TUNA *
- BEEF AND SHRIMP *
Desert
- SNICKERS BAR
Wine
- BERINGER PINOT GRIGIO, CALIFORNIA
- TAPENA TEMPRANILLO, SPAIN
The food was delicious and the service outstanding. We had an enjoyable time learning more about Ed’s duties aboard the Amsterdam as well as more about our tablemates.
Our dinner gift was a very nice tulip vase.
After dinner we stopped by the main dining room to visit with our friends at Table 303 and enjoy some coffee and tea when they brought desert.
Emergency at Sea
While everyone was enjoying desert, the First Stage Emergency Alarm sounded at 9:22 PM. We knew this wasn’t a drill, and shortly afterwards there was an announcement that there was a report of smoke in the incinerator. The Captain came on the public-address system shortly thereafter and announced that everyone was responding per their training and there was nothing to be concerned about now. The captain made several follow up announcements keeping us informed about the status before his final announcement at 9:47 that the situation was under control and no further action would be necessary.
Queen’s Lounge
We went to the Queen’s lounge a few minutes before 10 PM to catch the show with concert pianist Tomono Kawamura. She put on a marvelous show and played an original composition she wrote when she was 12 which she performed for the Prime Minister of Israel.
Flooding
Our cabin is on Deck 6 and when were heading back to our cabin, we passed through the casino and learned that our deck was flooded, and we may have difficulty getting to our cabin. I scurried up to Deck 6 and was relieved to learn that the flooding was limited to cabins on the port side and since we are on the starboard side we were unaffected. We talked to some guests in the port side cabins later and they said that the water came from the center core of the ship and their cabins were not seriously affected. They did pull up the carpet and replaced it the next day.
This entry was posted in 2018 Grand World Voyage, Sea Day
Would you explain the medals on your jacket, please.
Those are my 3 highest personal decorations: Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal and Navy Commendation Medal. Awarded for doing a good job in various assignments over my career.
Congratulations and Thank you for your service.