- 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 83 Mar 28th At Sea
Colleen Williamson was the guest on Coffee Chat this morning. She is from Lagrange, Indiana, and now lives in Nashville. Before she was able to earn her living as a singer she worked as a Church secretary and for a tanning salon. You can read more about here background HERE
Mariner’s Reception
Orlando Ashford and the other executives from Seattle came aboard yesterday. They’ll be holding special receptions for Mariners and other groups until they depart in Cape Town. Many of these events will take place between Maputo and Cape Town. Since there are so many guests leaving the ship in Maputo to go on safaris and rejoin the ship in Cape Town, they decided to hold a special reception this evening for those guests who would be leaving the ship in Maputo and would otherwise miss the ceremonies.
There were two receptions, one for early seating and the other for late seating. The reception was held in the Explorer’s lounge. The lounge was blocked off except for the entrance from the piano bar. As we entered there was a short receiving line with Orlando, Gerald, the director of the mariner Society and Gerald’s wife. We exchanged a few pleasantries, posed for a picture and moved into the lounge where we found our tablemates seated near the piano. Waiters were roaming around passing out drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Ivelin Kolarov, the beverage manager, joined our group as we got to know him when he was hosted our table a few nights ago.
Once the receiving line was over, Orlando moved around the lounge and I had a chance to speak with him for a few minutes. I invited him to our Texas Hold ‘em game over the next few days but he chuckled and politely deferred saying that he wasn’t good enough to join our table. We laughed as I replied that we would cheerfully give him personal lessons. Orlando moved on to chat with other guests and I returned to our group until the party broke up in about 30 minutes when it was time to go to dinner.
Birthday in the MDR
The star of tonight’s menu was a 24 oz. Porter House Steak with the helpful annotation “no small portions available.” I ordered mine medium rare and it was delicious.
Tonight was Judy’s birthday. Not my Judy, but the wife of Bob from Arizona. The ship always prepares a nice cake for these occasions along with the singing of the Indonesian birthday song as all the waiters and wine stewards in the area gather to join in. Here is a short video of our celebration.
Some of the gifts Judy and Bob received were the straw hats that the ship gave out earlier in the cruise for one of our Polynesian dinners. Our table has been regifting them to the next person at our table who has had a birthday so far this cruise. Since Judy’s birthday was the final one for the cruise she would be able to keep these wonderful straw hats. Peggy and Dawn decorated the hats with Judy and Bob’s names and other bling.
Here are the lyrics to the Indonesian Birthday Song as sung on Holland America Ships. The English translation is on the right.
“Panjang umurnya” “Long is His/Her Age”
Panjang umurnya
Panjang umurnya
Panjang umurnya
Serta mulia
Serta mulia
Serta mulia
Long is his/her age
Long is his/her age
Long is his/her age
And treasured
And treasured
And treasured.
The Muses
The Muses, a string quartet with electric instruments including two violins, a viola and a cello, were in the Queen’s Lounge this evening. The group consists of four women from Gauteng, South Africa. They fuse classical instruments with contemporary music. One of my favorties was “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones. Here is a short clip of that performance:
You can find out more about the Muses here.
This entry was posted in 2018 Grand World Voyage, Sea Day
