- 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
Sea Days
Today is the first of 8 sea days as we head across the Pacific Ocean towards our next port of call in Nuku Hiva. We like sea days a lot, and if you’re not a big fan of sea days then you really must consider whether a world cruise is something you would find enjoyable. This cruise has 48 port days and 65 sea days.
Sometimes you use a cruise ship as simply a means to get from one point to the other and your focus is the land portion. We enjoy the experiences on a cruise ship as much as seeing the various ports so the activities available to us during sea days is very important. A Grand Voyage, as compared to a normal Holland America cruise, will have a lot more choices of things to do during a sea day. You really must read the daily program each evening to make sure that you don’t miss anything you might find interesting. You can’t assume that a certain activity that took place at a certain time on the previous day will take place every day at that same time.
Tahitian Seashell Lei Making Class
This morning at 9 o’clock was the Tahitian Seashell Lei making class. This is a very popular activity, so we arrived at 8:30 AM, 30 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time. By 8:45 AM all the available seats were taken. As a rule, if you want to guarantee a seat at any activity during the world cruise, it’s best to arrive 30 minutes early to ensure the that you will have a place.
The Polynesian location team consists of two men and two women who will teach a variety of classes and lead activities throughout our eight-day transit to Tahiti.
There were about eight tables of eight set up for the class. Before the class started the people from the location team put about 80 small shell rings at each place setting. We also received a ribbon about 17-18 inches long with a twisted wire connected to the end to use as a needle to string the shells. Once we had all the equipment making the Seashell leis was basic and self-explanatory. The class was over almost as soon as it started because the actual process of making the leis was so elementary. For the rest of the day, you could tell who was in the seashell class, because everyone was wearing their creations.
Knitting
My knitting lessons continued at 10 o’clock in the Crow’s Nest. There were about six or seven other ladies working on projects and two women learning how to knit. Under Judy’s expert guidance I managed to complete three rows. It was still slow going for me and I’m gradually catching on but it’s taking longer than I expected.
Texas Hold’em
I went down to the Texas hold ’em game at 10:30. I had a good day today winning my first tournament outright. The game came down to my table mate and Texas Hold’em mentor, Rick, going head to head. I had position and the cards were friendly and was able to use the tactics that Rick taught me earlier to good advantage much to his chagrin.
We played two more games, but my luck was gone and I didn’t finish in the money.
Slot Pull
Twenty five people showed up for the Cruise Critic slot pull today in the Casino. Jerry and Kathy (LuvsACruise) did a marvelous job of organizing a wonderful event. We ended up getting back $11 out of our $15 investment.
Ukulele Class
I was busy with Texas Hole’em so I missed the start of the Ukulele Class and all the Ukuleles were already distributed by the time I arrived. Judy was there in time to grab one and continued with her progress toward becoming a Ukulele virtuoso.
Ukulele class in the Crow’s Nest
Drawing Class
While I was playing Texas hold ’em, Judy went to the drawing class in the Wajang theater. She reported that the theater still had a few seats empty when the class started. Ben Sack, a professional artist from the Washington DC area, is the instructor. He will be teaching drawing using art pencils and he passed out sketchbooks which the students would keep but the pencils had to be returned after each class. He announced he is going to do a 4 foot x 4 foot drawing during the cruise with portions of the drawing featuring each port. At the end of the cruise he will hold an art exhibit where he will sell copies.
Most of the first class was spent discussing the procedures the class would follow in addition to some history of drawing and art. Judy had a great time and she’s looking forward to going every day.
Crafts
While I continued to play Texas hold them all afternoon, Judy went on to the craft class at 2:30 PM in the Lido market. Today she made a small cloth pouch to hold your cruise card. There were about 80 people taking part.
Dinner
We had a special guest for dinner this evening, Sarah Chandler. She is a guest entertainer who plays classical music with a saxophone. We saw her perform on the 2016 world cruise and enjoyed her shows very much. She’ll be performing for the first time this cruise on January 16 and we expect she’ll probably do a second show before she leaves the ship in Tahiti.
Our table is a 10 top but we can squeeze in one more chair for a maximum of 11 when we host a guest.
Sarah is a wonderful dinner companion and everyone at the table enjoyed hearing about her background and we were especially pleased to learn that she was recently engaged. We even got to see a picture of her beautiful wedding dress.
Our dining room waiters DeDen and Billy are fabulous. Before each meal they give us a quick overview of the menu with their recommendations which prove helpful. The timing of all our dinner courses has been perfect and they remain attentive throughout the evening without being overbearing. The entire dining experience has exceeded our already high expectations.
Queens lounge
Martin Beaumont, a comedian, was the headliner this evening and was very funny. He had an excellent delivery with well written material and being from England he brought an interesting perspective to many every day events. Despite the smaller turnout at the late show Martin did a wonderful job keeping the audience engaged.
Thanks so much for your fantastic blog! My group of eight people sat at table 303, 2nd sitting, with Billy on the 2017 Grand Asia cruise, prior to your WC cruise. Billy was our waiter and we all loved him! Please give him a big hug from all of us and ask him to tell Gan we saw the photo you took of him in his Panama hat at the entrance to the dining room.
Hugs to Billy & Gan from Sandy & Bruce, Moe & Caroline, Bob & Teri, Dan & Shari
We are looking forward to your future blog posts.
Thanks!….Table 303 is great! We are having a wonderful time
Thanks for your comment. Table 303 is great. Billy and Deden on wonderful
I will pass on your hugs!