Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Live and Learn

I have been using Blogspot for 5 years now. After my recent Housekeeping post showing links to my other blogs, I clicked on About Me on the Happy Wanderers page. Low and behold it lists all of the other blogs. So, if you want to visit other cruises clicking on About Me will show you the links. I don't know if this is a new feature, or I am just a slow learner.

What could be easier.

I Almost Forgot

How to Follow This Blog

If you look to the right of this page you will see Follow by Email. Simply enter your email address and follow the steps to confirm that you are not a robot. An email will be sent to you asking you to confirm your request. Clicking the link will get a you are confirmed window.

That's it!

You will receive an email every time I update the blog. Enjoy!

We Are Going Off to See the World

December 30, 2015 - 2016 World Cruise - Ft. Lauderdale to Singapore

We are once again running away from Chicago's winter. Over a year ago we booked this 68 day segment of Holland America's 2016 World Cruise. It will take us from Ft. Lauderdale to Singapore. We will be repeating some ports we have previously visited. We will get to visit Panama City, where we had our great hospital adventure on the 2012 Grand South America Voyage, in a more relaxed fashion. We will return to French Polynesia where we enjoyed the islands and the lovely sea in 2011. A few ports in New Zealand and Australia will be repeats from last year, but others will be new. Even in the ports we are revisiting there will be opportunities to explore new things. For example we will see Barber of Seville performed in the Sydney Opera House when we overnight there. In Cairns we visited the Great Barrier Reef last year, so this time we will go shoreside. The anticipation is building.

This will be our first time on a World Cruise, and will be aboard Amsterdam for the first time. She is used for the World Cruise every year. Everything we have heard about the WC and this ship kicks it up a notch from the Grand South America on Prinsendam. We will have 68 days to verify this.

As life progressed, we dealt with it, and this cruise slipped to the back of our thinking. Then we had eight inches of snow in November, and it came to the forefront. Time to think about our escape.

December has been quite warm, until this week. We spent the month planning shore excursions and our stay in Singapore after the cruise. There were also medical challenges to resolve, household preparations to be made and packing to think about. That is done.

It looked like we would get away without a second snowfall, but that was not to be. Monday we were to get an inch or so of sleet and freezing rain. It was to melt in the afternoon, when the temperature rose. HAH! We ended up with five inches of wet snow coated with sleet and ice. Yesterday morning I was hacking through it to get the cars off the driveway for errands.

It is time to get out of Dodge.


So, where are we going. Really.



DayDatePortArriveDepart
005 Jan 2016Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US11:00 PM
106 Jan 2016At Sea
207 Jan 2016At Sea
308 Jan 2016At Sea
409 Jan 2016Puerto Limon (San Jose), Costa Rica07:00 AM04:00 PM
510 Jan 2016Enter Panama Canal Cristobal CO P105:00 AM05:00 AM
510 Jan 2016Cruising Panama Canal CO
510 Jan 2016Exit Panama Canal BalboaCO P107:00 PM07:00 PM
510 Jan 2016Fuerte Amador, Panama ON TR PC08:00 PM
611 Jan 2016Fuerte Amador, Panama TR PC04:00 PM
712 Jan 2016At Sea
813 Jan 2016At Sea
914 Jan 2016At Sea
1015 Jan 2016At Sea
1116 Jan 2016At Sea
1217 Jan 2016At Sea
1318 Jan 2016At Sea
1419 Jan 2016At Sea
1520 Jan 2016Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia TR11:00 AM06:00 PM
1621 Jan 2016At Sea
1722 Jan 2016Avatoru, Rangiroa, French Polynesia TR08:00 AM05:00 PM
1823 Jan 2016Papeete, French PolynesiaON08:00 AM
1924 Jan 2016Papeete, French Polynesia05:00 AM
1924 Jan 2016Moorea, French Polynesia TR08:00 AM05:00 PM
2025 Jan 2016At Sea
2126 Jan 2016Rarotonga, Cook Islands TR08:00 AM05:00 PM
2227 Jan 2016At Sea
2328 Jan 2016Cross International DatelineCO
2430 Jan 2016At Sea
2531 Jan 2016At Sea
2601 Feb 2016Waitangi (Bay of Islands), New Zealand TR08:00 AM05:00 PM
2702 Feb 2016Auckland, New Zealand08:00 AM05:00 PM
2803 Feb 2016At Sea
2904 Feb 2016Picton, New Zealand08:00 AM05:00 PM
3005 Feb 2016At Sea
3106 Feb 2016At Sea
3207 Feb 2016At Sea
3308 Feb 2016Melbourne, Australia VX08:00 AM05:00 PM
3409 Feb 2016At Sea
3510 Feb 2016Sydney, Australia ON VX08:00 AM
3611 Feb 2016Sydney, Australia VX06:00 PM
3712 Feb 2016At Sea
3813 Feb 2016Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia TR VX08:00 AM05:00 PM
3914 Feb 2016At Sea
4015 Feb 2016At Sea
4116 Feb 2016Cairns, Australia TC VX08:00 AM05:00 PM
4217 Feb 2016Great Barrier Reef Experience CO WP
4217 Feb 2016The Ribbon Reef Region CO WP
4217 Feb 2016Sherrard Island Anchorage, Queensland, Australia ON AN VX06:00 PM
4318 Feb 2016Sherrard Island Anchorage, Queensland, Australia AN VX04:00 AM
4318 Feb 2016Great Barrier Reef Experience CO WP
4318 Feb 2016The Far North Region CO WP
4318 Feb 2016The Torres Strait CO WP
4419 Feb 2016At Sea
4520 Feb 2016Darwin, Australia VX10:00 AM07:00 PM
4621 Feb 2016At Sea
4722 Feb 2016At Sea
4823 Feb 2016Benoa (Denpasar), Bali, Indonesia TC VX08:00 AM06:00 PM
4924 Feb 2016At Sea
5025 Feb 2016Semarang, Java, IndonesiaVX06:00 AM04:00 PM
5126 Feb 2016Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, Indonesia VX08:00 AM06:00 PM
5227 Feb 2016Crossing the Equator CO
5328 Feb 2016At Sea
5429 Feb 2016At Sea
5501 Mar 2016At Sea
5602 Mar 2016Hong Kong, China ON10:00 AM
5703 Mar 2016Hong Kong, China ON
5804 Mar 2016Hong Kong, China09:00 PM
5905 Mar 2016At Sea
6006 Mar 2016Da Nang (Hue), Vietnam ON VX08:00 AM
6107 Mar 2016Da Nang (Hue), Vietnam VX05:00 PM
6208 Mar 2016At Sea
6309 Mar 2016Phu My, Vietnam VX06:00 AM06:00 PM
6410 Mar 2016At Sea
6511 Mar 2016Sihanoukville, Cambodia VX06:00 AM07:00 PM
6612 Mar 2016At Sea
6713 Mar 2016Singapore ON06:00 PM
6814 Mar 2016Singapore06:00 AM

I will do my best to keep this blog current, including pictures. We will have many days at sea. That should help. Then it will be the quality of the internet service that controls my uploading.

Till Next Time.