First of all, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. I am at home preparing for the next Grand Voyage. I am packing and planning for my 131 day Grand World Voyage on the ms Rotterdam leaving from Ft. Lauderdale on the 5th of January 2009. I am going to try something different this time and actually drive to Florida to join the voyage. It will take the hassle of airline travel out of the equation. I am really looking forward to this voyage. I will see a lot of friends and will be going to a lot of new places especially in Africa. I have some nice tours awaiting me to see the big game of Africa and amazing places like Victoria Falls.... very cool. The ms Rotterdam will be a new ship for me but it should be similar to my home away from home the ms Amsterdam. I will also have a different Captain. I will miss Edward and his wife Apollonia... I am sure that changes to the itinerary are at least being considered, especially in Mumbai. Time will tell.... Those pesky pirates from Somalia could cause some issues as well. Anyway, I'm OK with the itinerary, I'll have to wait to see what Holland America does. Anyway, here it is, the current itinerary for my 2009 Grand World Voyage:
MON 05JAN Sail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida 5:00p
TUE 06JAN Sea Day
WED 07JAN Sea Day
THU 08JAN Cartagena, Colombia 7:00a 1:00p
FRI 09JAN Enter Panama Canal Cristobal
FRI 09JAN Exit Panama Canal Balboa
SAT 10JAN Sea Day
SUN 11JAN Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica 7:00a 8:00p
MON 12JAN Sea Day
TUE 13JAN Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala 6:00a 4:00p
WED 14JAN Huatulco, Mexico 11:00a 6:00p
THU 15JAN Acapulco, Mexico 8:00a 5:00p
FRI 16JAN Sea Day
SAT 17JAN Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 7:00a 2:00p
SUN 18JAN Sea Day
MON 19JAN Los Angeles, California 7:00a 5:00p
TUE 20JAN Sea Day
WED 21JAN Sea Day
THU 22JAN Sea Day
FRI 23JAN Sea Day
SAT 24JAN Hilo, Hawaii 8:00a 8:00p
SUN 25JAN Honolulu, Oahu, United States 8:00a 11:59p
MON 26JAN Sea Day
TUE 27JAN Sea Day
WED 28JAN Sea Day
THU 29JAN Sea Day
FRI 30JAN Sea Day
SAT 31JAN Golden Line Crossing
MON 02FEB Sea Day
TUE 03FEB Luganville, Vanuatu
WED 04FEB Port Vila (Vanuatu) 7:00a 6:00p
THU 05FEB Sea Day
FRI 06FEB Noumea, New Caledonia 7:00a 11:59p
SAT 07FEB Ile De Pins, New Caledonia 7:00a 5:00p
SUN 08FEB Sea Day
MON 09FEB Sea Day
TUE 10FEB Sydney, Australia 7:00a
WED 11FEB Sydney, Australia 7:00p
THU 12FEB Sea Day
FRI 13FEB Melbourne, Australia 7:00a 6:00p
SAT 14FEB Sea Day
SUN 15FEB Adelaide, Australia 8:00a 11:00p
MON 16FEB Sea Day
TUE 17FEB Sea Day
WED 18FEB Sea Day
THU 19FEB Perth (Fremantle), Australia 8:00a
FRI 20FEB Perth (Fremantle), Australia 5:00a
SAT 21FEB Sea Day
SUN 22FEB Sea Day
MON 23FEB Sea Day
TUE 24FEB Lembar, Lombok, Indonesia 7:00a 4:00p
WED 25FEB Slawi Bay, Komodo, Indonesia 8:00a 5:00p
THU 26FEB Sea Day
FRI 27FEB Semarang, Indonesia 8:00a 8:00p
SAT 28FEB Crossing the Equator
SUN 01MAR Sea Day
MON 02MAR Sea Day
TUE 03MAR Sea Day
WED 04MAR Hong Kong, China 8:00a
THU 05MAR Hong Kong, China 6:00p
FRI 06MAR Sea Day
SAT 07MAR Sea Day
SUN 08MAR Shanghai, China 8:00a
MON 09MAR Shanghai, China 4:00p
TUE 10MAR Sea Day
WED 11MAR Sea Day
THU 12MAR Sea Day
FRI 13MAR Nha Trang, Vietnam 8:00a 5:00p
SAT 14MAR Sea Day
SUN 15MAR Kemaman, Malaysia 8:00a 5:00p
MON 16MAR Singapore 8:00a 11:00p
TUE 17MAR Sea Day
WED 18MAR Phuket, Thailand 7:00a 11:00p
THU 19MAR Sea Day
FRI 20MAR Sea Day
SAT 21MAR Sea Day
SUN 22MAR Sea Day
MON 23MAR Marmagao (Goa), India 8:00a 5:00p
TUE 24MAR Mumbai (Bombay), India 8:00a
WED 25MAR Mumbai (Bombay), India 6:00p
THU 26MAR Sea Day
FRI 27MAR Sea Day
SAT 28MAR DUBAI, U.A.E. 8:00a
SUN 29MAR DUBAI, U.A.E. 11:59p
MON 30MAR Sea Day
TUE 31MAR Muscat, Oman 7:00a 6:00p
WED 01APR Sea Day
THU 02APR Sea Day
FRI 03APR Sea Day
SAT 04APR Sea Day
SUN 05APR Victoria, Seychelles 7:00a
MON 06APR Victoria, Seychelles 6:00p
TUE 07APR Sea Day
WED 08APR Sea Day
THU 09APR Mombasa, Kenya 8:00a
FRI 10APR Mombasa, Kenya 4:00p
SAT 11APR Sea Day
SUN 12APR Nosy Be, Madagascar 8:00a 5:00p
MON 13APR Mamoudzou, Mayotte 8:00a 3:00p
TUE 14APR Sea Day
WED 15APR Sea Day
THU 16APR Maputo, Mozambique 8:00a 6:00p
FRI 17APR Richard's Bay, South Afri 10:00a 6:00p
SAT 18APR Durban, South Africa 7:00a 6:00p
SUN 19APR Sea Day
MON 20APR Cape Town, South Africa 1:00p
TUE 21APR Cape Town, South Africa
WED 22APR Cape Town, South Africa 5:00p
THU 23APR Sea Day
FRI 24APR Luderitz, Namibia 7:00a 4:00p
SAT 25APR Walvis Bay, Namibia 7:00a 4:00p
SUN 26APR Sea Day
MON 27APR Sea Day
TUE 28APR St Helena, Great Britain 8:00a 5:00p
WED 29APR Sea Day
THU 30APR GEORGETOWN, ASCENSION ISLAND 2:00p
FRI 01MAY Sea Day
SAT 02MAY Sea Day
SUN 03MAY Sea Day
MON 04MAY Sea Day
TUE 05MAY Devil's Island, French Gu 12:00n 6:00p
WED 06MAY Sea Day
THU 07MAY Port of Spain, Trinidad 8:00a 6:00p
FRI 08MAY Bridgetown, Barbados 7:00a 11:00p
SAT 09MAY Sea Day
SUN 10MAY Gustavia, St. Barts 8:00a 5:00p
MON 11MAY Sea Day
TUE 12MAY Sea Day
WED 13MAY Fort Lauderdale, Florida 7:00a 5:00p
THU 14MAY Sea Day
FRI 15MAY Sea Day
SAT 16MAY Debark Ship New York, New York 7:00a
I hope you enjoy the journey!!!!!
9 comments:
I for one am counting the days!
Happy Holidays Jeff.
Looking forward to your reading about your next cruise.
Wishing you a safe journey to Florida and a Happy New Year full of wonderful adventures.
BVH-Groton, CT.
To Jeff and all the posters...
Wishing you and Merry Christamds and may 2009 be better than 2008. In your case Jeff it would be tough to top 2008.
Have a safe trip and chat when back from the Grand.
Looking forward to your posts and pictures. We had originally planned on the Dubai to Cape Town leg, but had to cancel. Hope you have good holidays and a safe drive to FLL.
I always enjoy reading your blogs and dreaming about the journey. The destinations are always fantastic and I certainly enjoy your write-ups on them. My wife and I will be able to take our first world cruise in 2011 and are looking for general information about life on the ship. The longest voyage we have been on a 17 day voyage so we have many questions about a 100+ day journey. We are still trying to decide between Princess and Holland America.
If, in your exciting trip, you have a bit of downtime I would love to hear your impressions of basic daily life. (I have always liked this part of your past blogs) It will be interesting to see if things have changed with the economy. Are people generally more casual? Do they worry about wearing the same outfit twice? (my wife is worried she wont be able to pack enough clothes!) Do people divide up into “clicks” quickly? If so is it based on age, politics, or just scheduling? Id there a good mix of politics on board or do people lean one way? (I realize this is a touchy subject) I realize this info may be mundane for many and work for you but if you could put in a few comments about it we would love it, of course I love reading your blogs regardless. Thanks for any help and have a wonderful and safe journey!
Your loyal readers.
J & P
you know that ian and I will be following you before we go and after we get back in march when are you coming to cold canada????? it might be good for you to feel the freeze and know how the other half live.
carole
P and J,
First of all, due to the downturn in the economy I believe the cruise industry is going through major changes. There are a lot of cutbacks being enacted which does affect the quality of the product. I believe this could hurt them if they go too far, especially on "Grand" voyages.
Are people generally more casual? Not necessarily.... People generally conform to the dress code and that is certainly expected. Wearing the same outfit more than once? Not an issue. Everyone will repeat their fashion choices. Do people form "clicks"? As in every environment, there are many people that you will meet and some will have more in common than others. Groups will form based on many things. There are people whom you will dine with every night, people who will congregate around similar activities and these may form the foundatation of groups of friends.
Carole,
Please do your best to keep dad warm up there in the great white north.... He is such a tender flower.
time fly's already leaving for the winter. I am looking forward to drinking my coffee in the morning and reading your adventure. please give our love to all our friends,and especially to you Jeff,Play hard,Laugh hard,and tan hard. Love Sas and Allan
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