Join Pete and Judy on their FIRST World Cruise on the Amsterdam

Day D-2 – The adventure begins, but first a little background.

Anticipating a trip is almost as much fun as the actual trip itself.

We booked this trip over a year ago when I finally had the time and money come together at the same time to plan this great adventure.

Before digging into the details of this Grand Voyage, let me share my background to give you some insight to my perspective.

I spent a career in the Navy, with over 2000 days at sea aboard aircraft carriers, so what better way to continue my love of the sea than by continuing cruising on the passenger lines. My wife and I are experienced travelers, 17 moves under our belt, a few years living in Japan, and we averaged a new mailing address every 3 years for almost 30 years.

The sea is special. The ever present horizon, fresh air, constant motion and the excitement of anticipation as each day brings the familiar along with the new. But what makes cruising special, whether in the Navy or on Holland America is the sense of community. Everyone is literally in the same boat – heading to the same places, sharing the same experiences. Cruising brings together 1000’s of people, passengers and crew, doing different tasks but joined by a common goal and expectation.

Back before cable and the internet gave 100’s of choices for entertainment at home, there were basically 3 channels and everyone shared the same experience. The last episode of MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, the whole country shared these events. Now everyone is forging their own path and we have lost some of our sense of community. Cruising brings some of that back. But I fear the new Mega Ships with Anytime This and Anytime That and “wear what you want where you want” are starting to turn cruising into just another all inclusive – a floating hotel.

A cruise experience is a shared experience. Everyone checks in the same day, goes to the same places, sees the same shows and eats the same food.

The Granddaddy of all cruise experiences is the Grand World Cruise and I will be honored to share my experiences with you here over the next 133 days.

So come along with Pete and Judy as we start this great adventure. I will be maintaining a companion blog http://www.theinsidecabin.com where I will be posting more photos, the daily schedule “On Location” and the occasional menu and other information to allow you to share as much of this wonderful experience as possible. My wife retired as a professional photographer a few years back, but I put her back to work and asked her to provide me with “The Photo of the Day” to help add to the commentary here.

This blog will also have interactive maps that will allow you t0 track our progress. My twitter feed @theinsidecabin will allow me to post updates and probably answer any question you may have along the way. Of course, the ships internet may slow me down, but I will be posting daily – subject to connectivity.

How do you pack for 133 days? My wife is a master packer, so I leave that to her, but she is very meticulous and has everything planned to a “T”. She has been tracking our consumption of consumables for months – so we bring the right about of tooth paste and other items hard to replace at sea or in foreign ports.

A Grand World Voyage is filled with Grand Activities – the Black and Silver Ball! Mardi Gras, Toga night and on and on. The entire list of activities is available on the blog . We plan to participate in them all, so this added to the number of suitcases as we brought outfits for each of these special nights.

We ended up sending 8 suitcases, 2 carry on rollers, a computer bag, a case of wine and 5 boxes of absolutely ESSENTIAL STUFF – that we CAN’T live without –check back at the end and I will report on how well we did. I am sure I will meet someone who will be walking on at the end with the “Do it Yourself” disembarkation with two roller bags and a large purse.

So here we go!

8PM sharp we lock the door to our Condo and start maneuvering our bags to the SUV we hired to transfer us to the airport. With all the bags loaded I check the passports once last time – and we head off toward the San Diego Airport.

We live in Imperial Beach, about 16 miles from the airport so we arrive in about 25 minutes. Our bags come tumbling out to the curb and we are lucky to spot an available skycap who grabs a cart and takes our bag to the curbside check in counter. Having flown thousands and thousands of miles with Delta we have sufficient status to get us priority check in and we were lucky to get upgraded to first class. We are enrolled in Global Entry which gives us TSA precheck every time, highly recommended if you travel by air frequently and especially internationally.

Living on the west coast makes traveling to the east coast a choice between bad options – you either leave very early – or take the redeye. We hate getting up early – and since the red-eye was cheaper anyway - we chose to take the 10:15pm flight to ATL and then on to FLL – arriving early Monday morning with the ship leaving late Tuesday evening.

There was no line for TSA precheck and we breezed thru and headed up to the Delta SkyClub to wait until they starting boarding our flight in about 45 minutes. The Delta Skyclub has some wonderful soups – I love the Wicked Thai soup – almost makes me want to go to the Skyclubs just for the soup. There won’t be any meal service on the redeye so we filled up on some soup, chili and cookies. This was just the right amount of food and we headed off to the gate – but we had the friendly Delta agents take our first picture of this Grand Adventure!

Boarding is a breeze and we push back right on time and then we wait – and wait – caught in the red eye rush hour. San Diego's airport is very close – right downtown, but with a single runway – there can be some waiting – but sill nothing like what you can experience at JFK or ATL when they are busy: “er ---this is the Captain – we are now number 22 for takeoff.” We were only number 6 or so, but it seemed longer.

A smooth climb out and we settled in for our flight. A nice tailwind makes our flight time only 3 and ½ hours.

Time to sign off as this day comes to a close. More tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s Question

Will the case of wine arrive unscathed?

Thanks for taking us along. There is nothing like a world cruise and I hope you both have a wonderful time.

Thank you so much for taking us along on this amazing adventure!

Subscribed to this thread and bookmarked your site.

Can't wait to read all the details and see the pictures! :)

Bon voyage!

It's going to be nice to have different point of views on the World Cruise. Thank you!

Very interesting introduction. I can't wait to hear how you made out with all that luggage.

Does HAL offer a different restriction on wine limits for the world cruise? Our longest cruise was three weeks and they would not allow us to board a case of anything containing alcohol.

We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences, all of them, what works and what doesn't. Bon Voyage !

Very interesting introduction. I can't wait to hear how you made out with all that luggage.

 

Does HAL offer a different restriction on wine limits for the world cruise? Our longest cruise was three weeks and they would not allow us to board a case of anything containing alcohol.

 

We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences, all of them, what works and what doesn't. Bon Voyage !

You can take on as much wine as you like, in carry on, for $18 a bottle. One bottle is free if you drink it in your cabin. No more than 750ml per bottle....no beer or hard stuff either. I will be lugging this 37 lb box around - good exercise!

Thanks so much for posting :)

Really looking forward to following you with your experiences.

A world cruise through the eyes of a newbie - love it :)

Looking forward to your reports :)

If the first is any example, it's going to a very enjoyable read!

Thank you so much for posting your blog!! Great start....have a wonderful time!! I am originally from San Diego...DB lives in Baja now so I visit about twice a year....those red eye's are tough on me though!! But sure you were so excited to start this wonderful trip it didn't bother you!!

Have a wonderful voyage! Looking forward to reading your reports.

Thank you for taking us along on your journey. I will be happily following along.

Terri

I love reading about people's experiences on world cruises, and now we have another perspective - thank you for inviting us along!

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us. Can't wait to read of your adventures.

Have a great cruise.....

You can take on as much wine as you like, in carry on, for $18 a bottle. One bottle is free if you drink it in your cabin. No more than 750ml per bottle....no beer or hard stuff either. I will be lugging this 37 lb box around - good exercise!

Thanks, that is exactly what we have been reading. I was wondering if they relaxed those rules on the longer cruises. Looking forward to your next update.

Have a great trip! I look forward to reading your reports. Always nice to have a new world cruise blogger!

Thank you for taking this on. I look forward to hearing about your adventures. Have a wonderful time.

Great introduction - I will definitely be following your journey. Bon Voyage and safe travels.

Thanks for bringing us along with you. I've subscribed to the thread and have bookmarked your blog. I love your style of writing and it will be nice to experience a world cruise through the eyes of a first-timer. Have a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Subscribed. Oh I do love the World Cruise.:D Have a fantastic time.

Great blog and thank you for your service! See you onboard; FYI, the SEHO on AMDM, Jonathan, is known to hold regular 'veterans meetings' Check your daily program

You opening shot has piqued my interest, and I am looking forward to reading your reports all winter. Have a great time.

Have you visited any of the more far-flung ports before?

Thank you for taking us along. Looking forward to a new perspective on the world cruise.

Bon Voyage and safe travels. I am looking forward to reading all about your travels. Both this site and your Blog have been bookmarked. Love your writing style!

Cheers, Denise

Can't wait to travel the world with you both! Safe travels!

Can't wait to hear about your adventures!!