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

Pete and Judy, we've loved your blog. It is truly the best one we've ever read on CC, and that's from someone who has posted CC blogs for five world cruises. Early on during the cruise, someone asked you about internet access and you told us what your plan was through AT&T, what it included and that it was $60 a month. We have Verizon coverage and I'd like to take your info to them and see if they have anything comparable. Were you able to get internet coverage on your IPhone or IPad mid-ocean? Did you use the ship's internet at all?

 

 

 

Thanks again for your spectacular blog, since we had to skip this year. We'll be back in 2017, though, and just can't wait. Did you find, as we did in 2008, that world cruises are somewhat addictive?

I enjoyed your blog last year and you gave me the idea to invite guest entertainers to dinner. Never would have occurred to me otherwise.

Thanks! We had over 25 guests this cruise!

I will have to read it once I get home....thanks fir the tip

One quick heads up. The link was cut off. The final bl should be blogspot.com. You will find it a very entertaining if not helpful read. I hope you will post on the Cunard forun when the time comes. Sadly, Cunard gives you mothing for your Nariner status.

Roy

That would be terrific! I'll be watching for that. We're looking forward to our own trip around the world next year. I've learned so much from your blog. thanks for answering my inquiries on the blog. I appreciated it! And again...enjoy your first time on Cunard!

Thanks, please send me more questions for my wrap up

Pete

BTW, the correct link is: http://worldcruise2012-legallyblonde.blogspot.com

It is quite entertaining. It starts with the 16 plus cartons of gear, etc. at the beginning of the cruise. If my wife and I were to start a world cruise, all we'd have is a backpack and a large rolling suitcase like we use for any other trip.

We closed down the Crows Nest tonight - Erin played our request for the last song of the World Cruise: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, by Iron Butterfly became the final song played in any venue. We also closed the casino earlier then went to the crows nest

More later, but final night parties left no time to write.

I would like to add my thanks for your hard work in doing the blog. It is so much better in my opinion that the other blog on the same cruise. You've given total insight for people wanting or wishing to take a world cruise. THANKS

Danny

Almost here. Only a few more feet!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just watched you sail in on the webcam. Really enjoyed your blog. Thank you for doing it. I apologize if this has been answered. Will you be doing another World Cruise? Some love to do it year after year, while once is enough for others. Curious as to your opinion.

Just watched you sail in on the webcam. Really enjoyed your blog. Thank you for doing it. I apologize if this has been answered. Will you be doing another World Cruise? Some love to do it year after year, while once is enough for others. Curious as to your opinion.

I have a deposit on 2018. Table 52 is planning to all come back.

I will have more on world cruising in general soon. We loved it, but not sure if we did it every year we could still maintain our enthusiasm at the high level required to fully take advantage of all a world cruise has to offer.

Thanks for all your great information about the World Cruise (and the additional information to be added). I'll be doing my first World Cruise in 2018 and hope to meet you.

Huge Thanks to you both for taking us along on your World Cruise!

Your never ending enthusiasm, from the dining to the entertainment to the ports etc, and the dedication and hard work to posting it all drew us every day to enthusiastically read your blog! We never missed a day!

And so your first World Cruise comes to an end. It's been a joy watching you experience all the ship has to offer, with activities, shows, lectures, etc. I felt like I was on the ship, too. I could easily see how much more there is on a World Cruise, as compared to the more every-day cruises I take.

You certainly did get a lot out of this journey---not just new experiences in ports.

Now it will be interesting to see what the changes are on this next sailing. Thanks so much for continuing to report.

Your blog has been wonderful! Thanks for sharing with us!

Thanks, please send me more questions for my wrap up

 

Pete

Thanks, two things right away come to mind. The first you may not be able to help with since you are not debarking in Ft Lauderdale...but...I'm interested in the debarking process at the end of the world cruise. We would want to catch a train that leaves at 12:30. I'm afraid we'd be cutting it close but knowing about the departure procedures might help me know for sure.

2nd thing - I would like to know more about money exchange while on board. How did it work? I think you or the Captain (in his blog) mentioned money exchangers coming on board at one port, what was that all about?

Thanks...I'm sure I'll have other ones but I'll try not to pester!

Thanks, two things right away come to mind. The first you may not be able to help with since you are not debarking in Ft Lauderdale...but...I'm interested in the debarking process at the end of the world cruise. We would want to catch a train that leaves at 12:30. I'm afraid we'd be cutting it close but knowing about the departure procedures might help me know for sure.

 

2nd thing - I would like to know more about money exchange while on board. How did it work? I think you or the Captain (in his blog) mentioned money exchangers coming on board at one port, what was that all about?

 

Thanks...I'm sure I'll have other ones but I'll try not to pester!

I will make a comment on the first one. I disembarked the 2014 WC and caught your train that day. Here's my blog post about that day:

https://wcmedley2014.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/day-64-monday-april-28-disembark-amsterdam-board-silver-star/

Neither my current recollection nor my blog post bring back anything really special about that disembarkation and I would call it fairly smooth. The blog posted reminded me I had perhaps an hour wait in the station before the baggage check opened at 11:30.

I will, however, mention a couple of train specific things.

1. The guy at the Ft. Lauderdale station is extremely picky about your baggage. He gives you the third degree about what's inside and is very strict about the limits. If your bag goes to 51 pounds he won't let you pay an overweight charge; you will have to take something out of it. I think you would also have a problem if you had more than 2 bags per person to pack. Think about Amtrak's baggage policy and perhaps Pete and Judy can give you a good idea about how much more baggage you will have when you return than when you started. I did not face that as I only did a segment. If you think you will have more baggage than Amtrak will allow you might want to consider a shipping service like Luggage Forward or Luggage Free for the excess bags.

2. Are you aware that the 12:30 train no longer carries a dining car? Have a look at Amtrak's National Café menu and see if you will be happy with that for your trip. My last return from South Florida I originally had that train but switched to the earlier one so I would have a dining car. Of course that meant spending the night in Miami.

Roy

Thank you so much for letting all of us tag along.

I will add my voice to the appreciation of your efforts. Not sure I have ever seen someone get as much out of a trip as you have. I appreciate your comments as we are on the 2017 WC. Now we know to not DIY Columbo, go to the Good Morning Amsterdam, use map.ex and more!

I will make a comment on the first one. I disembarked the 2014 WC and caught your train that day. Here's my blog post about that day:

 

https://wcmedley2014.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/day-64-monday-april-28-disembark-amsterdam-board-silver-star/

 

Neither my current recollection nor my blog post bring back anything really special about that disembarkation and I would call it fairly smooth. The blog posted reminded me I had perhaps an hour wait in the station before the baggage check opened at 11:30.

 

I will, however, mention a couple of train specific things.

 

1. The guy at the Ft. Lauderdale station is extremely picky about your baggage. He gives you the third degree about what's inside and is very strict about the limits. If your bag goes to 51 pounds he won't let you pay an overweight charge; you will have to take something out of it. I think you would also have a problem if you had more than 2 bags per person to pack. Think about Amtrak's baggage policy and perhaps Pete and Judy can give you a good idea about how much more baggage you will have when you return than when you started. I did not face that as I only did a segment. If you think you will have more baggage than Amtrak will allow you might want to consider a shipping service like Luggage Forward or Luggage Free for the excess bags.

 

2. Are you aware that the 12:30 train no longer carries a dining car? Have a look at Amtrak's National Café menu and see if you will be happy with that for your trip. My last return from South Florida I originally had that train but switched to the earlier one so I would have a dining car. Of course that meant spending the night in Miami.

 

Roy

Thanks for the information, that's great to know. I'm not worried about baggage as we will get 4 bags shipped from the Amsterdam as part of our cruise deal. We've been on Amtrak enough to know about the luggage requirements.

I did know about the lack of dining car. Frankly that doesn't bother me that much, although my husband likes it very much.

Our backup plan is to spend the night in Ft Lauderdale and take the 8:30 train the next morning. It's kind of a bother but it will be easy to connect in NYC with the Vermonter or any train going to Boston.

We'll see...thanks for sending your blog entry along...very helpful.

Thanks, two things right away come to mind. The first you may not be able to help with since you are not debarking in Ft Lauderdale...but...I'm interested in the debarking process at the end of the world cruise. We would want to catch a train that leaves at 12:30. I'm afraid we'd be cutting it close but knowing about the departure procedures might help me know for sure.

 

 

 

2nd thing - I would like to know more about money exchange while on board. How did it work? I think you or the Captain (in his blog) mentioned money exchangers coming on board at one port, what was that all about?

 

 

 

Thanks...I'm sure I'll have other ones but I'll try not to pester!

Disembark was smooth from ship perspective. Lack of porters slowed things down. Anyone who wanted to get off early - by 9 am - was off early.

More later.

Money exchange. Front desk will exchange from dollars only to local currency. Easy Peasy. They will also exchange local back to USD (no coins )

More later

I will add my voice to the appreciation of your efforts. Not sure I have ever seen someone get as much out of a trip as you have. I appreciate your comments as we are on the 2017 WC. Now we know to not DIY Columbo, go to the Good Morning Amsterdam, use map.ex and more!

One of the tough things about a world cruise is making choices. For example if you like Tai Chi, you will miss Good Morning Amsterdam. Look on my blog and check out any On Location for a sea day. You will see all the conflicts.

I especially appreciate your telling us of the Book Club selections as I love to read and some of the books are ones I never would have found otherwise.

Pete, if possible could you post on the blog a list of book club selections as we are very interested in what selections were made. Many thanks.

Pete, if possible could you post on the blog a list of book club selections as we are very interested in what selections were made. Many thanks.

I am not Pete but I kept a list of the book club selections which are

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman

The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux

Peony in Love by Lisa See

The Sand Fish: A Novel from Dubai by Maha Garges

The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

I think I have them all.

Barbara

I am not Pete but I kept a list of the book club selections which are

 

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman

 

The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux

 

Peony in Love by Lisa See

 

The Sand Fish: A Novel from Dubai by Maha Garges

 

The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

 

I think I have them all.

 

Barbara

Thanks for posting! I will double check and see if I missed any of them

Day 115, April 29, Sailing toward Fort Lauderdale

Today is the final day of our Grand World Cruise and it has exceeded all my expectations. We will be continuing on thru the Panama Canal and disembark in our home town of San Diego. We have 16 days to decompress as we enjoy what used to be a long cruise, but now seems quite short.

The Grand World Cruise is one of the handful of Grand Voyages that HAL offers every year. Others are the Grand Asia, Grand South America and Grand Mediterranean. We have learned that these Grand Voyages are truly special and are a step above the normally high standards on any HAL cruise. To use an airline analogy, think of a normal cruise as being in Business Class and a Grand Voyage being in First Class. Grand Voyages have better food, more enrichment activities, more lecturers, more and better parties, better entertainment, better room service and on and on.

I like to think of a World Cruise as a blank canvas on which you, with the assistance of HAL, will create a beautiful picture of adventures and memories. A world cruise has many elements to help you create your picture. There is the wonderful food, other passengers, great entertainment, enrichment activities, mindless fun and games, Bridge, a great casino, and specialty restaurants. How you mix and match this wonderful palette of activities to create your world cruise memories is up to you. More on this later.

This morning was the Walk for the Cure on the Promenade Deck. There were about 75-100 people taking part at one point or another. The weather was perfect, calm seas – a beautiful day. Most people were strolling but there were a few power walkers and everyone was smiling as they enjoyed the beautiful morning.

As I returned to my cabin after the Walk for the Cure, I noticed the first wave of suitcases in the hallway. They would be a constant presence all day as everyone, except 33 of us, was busy spending most of their morning packing.

Island Magic performed a matinee show this afternoon and once again they astounded the audience with their great music and great smiles. It’s always fun to watch entertainers who obviously enjoy what they are doing.

The final show of the cruise featured all of the HAL entertainers, with the singers in the production show, Debby Bacon from the Piano Bar, Adagio from the Explorers Lounge, The Neptunes from the Ocean Bar and Oasis from the Crow’s nest. The Queens lounge was about 80% full. The show was outstanding and they received a well-deserved, enthusiastic standing ovation.

Our final dinner was another hit with a wide variety of choices. Our favorite desert, The Cappuccino Bomb, was on the menu and most of us ordered one. After dinner, we all posed for one final picture and bid farewell with a final series of hugs and vows that table 52 will return for the 2018 World Cruise. Our time at dinner was always something we looked forward to each day. We were very fortunate to have a table of like-minded people who all got alone very well.

After dinner we stopped by the Casino and played a final round of Black Jack and Texas Hold’em. The regulars in the casino all became fast friends and after our final Hold’em game there was another round of hugs as we all bid farewell.

Our Tablemate, Susan, was a Crow’s Nest regular so we stopped by to see her and check out the late night action. We joined a handful of people sitting around the bar reminiscing about our past four months when Show Host Erin stopped by and asked if we had any request for the final song tonight and what would also be the final song of the cruise. We asked if she had In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly. She queued up the song and the familiar opening soon filled the room and Judy and I took to the dance floor for our world cruise farewell dance to this 60’s classic! Oh what a day.

More on the blog at http://www.theinsidecabin.com

One of the tough things about a world cruise is making choices. For example if you like Tai Chi, you will miss Good Morning Amsterdam. Look on my blog and check out any On Location for a sea day. You will see all the conflicts.

Yes I saw that. For us, it seems like the mornings will be tough as there are several things that overlap that we would like to do. But I am sure we will figure it out :p.