- 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 80 March 25 – At Sea
Coffee Chat
Nyron, the shore excursions manager, was the guest at Coffee Chat this morning. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, he has since moved to South Africa where his wife is from. He has been with HAL since 1996 and got his start as a Disc Jockey.
Port Talk
I stopped by the Queens Lounge to listen to Barbara’s port talk about Maputo and Reunion. She did a good job of lowering expectations about Maputo and how we should try and appreciate seeing a country that was still in the development stages. I was trying to gain insight as to where the ship would moor, so I could let our Maputo driver know where to meet us, but that information was not presented.
Silent Auction
Today was the silent auction to raise money for the Mondesa Youth Opportunities located in Namibia. Taking place in the Atrium on Deck 5 from 11 AM to 2 PM, the items up for auction included donations of various items from guests, including some of the pillow gifts we received earlier, along with some guest created art and handicrafts. Other items included lunches, dinners or drinks with various crewmember including Henk, The HAL Singers and Dancers, Mark & Hamish and Michael & Connor from the band who promised drinks along with Mania and Gossip. Tours of the engine room, private lessons from Claudia, the computer instructor, and other similar items filled out the 15 to 20 tables that were spread around the Atrium and the Ocean Bar. Each item had a minimum starting price and a minimum price increment – to eliminate people from increasing bids by 1 cent at a time.
We bid on, and won, the drinks with Michael & Connor from the HAL band and the “Whole Chicken Challenge” with Grahame, the HAL band drummer. We weren’t sure what the “Whole Chicken Challenge” was all about, and we discovered that neither did anyone else. After we won, and with discussions with Grahame, we decided that this would be a whole chicken eating contest and we would set something up after Cape Town.
The auction raised over $7,000 dollars for Mondesa Youth Opportunities.
Dinner
This evening we were joined for dinner by three members of the HAL orchestra: Mati, Emilio and Grahame. We had a wonderful time sharing stories about our hometowns and some insight into the HAL orchestra. Since sight reading is crucial for their positions, they all had stories about auditions over Skype where they are emailed some music an hour before the audition and they have to play it live over the internet.
Goronwy Thom
Tonights entertainer was Goronwy Thom, a comedian, juggler and unicycle rider. He was billed in a very general way as a comedy and variety performer. HAL intentionally disguised the details of any entertainer in the When and Where who plays the flute, violin or juggles for fear that less people will show up. I don’t know if it really matters, but many entertainers we talked to say that it does matter, and they certainly should know.
Goronwy was hilarious, far better than expected and one of the top acts of the cruise. While he may not be the best technical juggler out there, he is one of the best Entertainers in the business. Don’t miss Goronwy if he is performing on your ship.
This entry was posted in 2018 Grand World Voyage, Sea Day
