LIVE from the 2018 HAL Grand World Voyage!

Thanks for your reports.

Pleased that you found "The Cat and the Fiddle".

Loved the photos Kathi! Nice hats at Mardi Gras! I notice even with Roy on Celebrity that both ships really go all out for events and with decorations. How are you enjoying your stateroom since the cruise started?

Take care.

Denise:)

I have gotten used to it. Still not sure if I would book it again but would not recommend it for two people except for a very short cruise.

At Sea – February 14, 2018

I awoke to the sound of the wind against my windows. Although we moved away from the storm, we could not escape it entirely. There was lots of movement today – the most on this cruise.

I went to Sit and Stitch at 10 but was the only one there for most of the time.

Morning trivia found us with 10 and two teams tied with 12.

1)Which country is home to the most number of reptile species?

2)What was the name of the dog on “The Brady Bunch”?

3) For what was St. Valentine executed?

4)What is the birthstone for May?

5)Which Roman Goddess was Cupid’s mother?

The captain made a few announcements during the day about the weather. The Valentine Ball was postponed and the changed show times (due to the ball) were put back to normal. Tonight’s Gala Night attire became optional although almost everyone dressed up anyway.

Later in the day the captain announced we were going three miles an hour although the movement was still very noticeable.

Today’s arts and crafts activity was making sun, moon, and star earrings. Afterwards I talked with Sherita who I had met on the Westerdam two years ago.

Trivia was moved to 4 pm because of the schedule that was supposed to be put it was not switched back like other things. We only had five for trivia and came in with 16 and the winners had 17 out of 18.

1)How many players make up a water polo team?

2) What is the term of the President of France?

3)Gutzon Berglum’s (sp?) most famous work is what?

4)What is the world’s highest uninterrupted waterfall?

5) In February 1959 three rock stars died in a plane crash. Who were they? (3 point bonus)

Knitted some until time for dinner. Only six of us and there was a special menu. I had fruit, a salad, “Land and Sea”, and a delicious crepe for dessert.

Really tired so I skipped the show.

We gain a half hour tonight and are at sea again tomorrow.

Morning trivia…

1)Australia

2)Tiger

3)performing marriages in secret

4)emerald

5)Venus

Afternoon trivia…

1)7

2)5 years

3)Mount Rushmore

4)Angel Falls

5)Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson)

Oh dear on your seas, Kathi.

Sounds like a rough ride :(

Hope they smooth our for you very soon (yn)

Hope the seas smooth out soon Kathi!

Do you do fine when seas are ruff especially with your cabin location?

Did trivia I’m getting better!👍

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY 💕

I bet HAL will do something nice for all of you in the MDR.

Denise:)

Hope the seas soon become calmer for you.

Just got caught up.

Read the 10 trivia questions to my DH -- dang -- he got them all right.

Hope the seas improve soon.

At Sea – February 15, 2018

All this rocking makes me really sleepy. I slept a total of ten hours! The pools are still empty so no water aerobics. Went to Sit and Stitch at 10 am. About seven present.

The captain made an announcement this morning that we had kept going at the 3 mph speed until about 5 am. There had been 26 foot swells. We will be arriving at Kangaroo Island at noon instead of the scheduled 8 am.

All present for morning trivia. We had 10 while the winners had 12.

1)What does “ESPN” stand for?

2)What is the occupation of Charlie Brown’s father?

3)In what country is Angkor Wat?

4)How many miles is the Kentucky Derby?

5)The River Danube empties into what body of water?

Sat in the Explorations Café and had a cup of hot chocolate before lunch. It is chilly all over the ship and it tasted really good.

We made wine glass charms in arts and crafts. Normally afterwards I sit by the Lido Pool but it was too cold today. Instead I sat inside and knitted and read my book until afternoon trivia.

We had 17 out of 19 correct and the winning team had all 19.

1)Where is the world’s lowest point?

2)What is the most plentiful element in the Earth’s crust?

3)How many years did it take to build the Taj Mahal?

4)Are there more red or white blood cells?

5)How many world records did Mark Spitz set in the 1972 Olympics?

All present for dinner. I had tomato and mozzarella cheese, Cornish game hen, and a butterscotch sundae for dessert.

Morning trivia…

1)Entertainment and Sports Programming Network

2)barber

3)Cambodia

4)1 ¼ miles

5)Black Sea

Evening trivia…

1)Dead Sea

2)aluminum

3)22

4)red

5)7

Smooth sailing until next time!

Has the captain been able to give you any indication of how long the rough seas will plague you ?

Hope the seas are smooth soon!

I enjoy reading your reports.

Have he people settled down at Arts & Crafts?

Hey Scrapnana,

I enjoy reading your blog. The trivia people got one wrong. The most abundant element in the earth's crust is by far oxygen at 46%, followed by silicon at 28%, and then aluminum at 8%.

Has the captain been able to give you any indication of how long the rough seas will plague you ?

 

Hope the seas are smooth soon!

Things settled down overnight.:D The crossing from Kangaroo Island to the mainland was smooth as silk tonight.

Kangaroo Island, Australia – February 16, 2018

I did not sleep well last night because my cabin was so cold. (Men are fixing it as I type this).

The captain announced (in the cabins, too) that we would make it to Kangaroo Island a little earlier than the previously announced noontime. He also announced that after leaving Kangaroo Island we would sail to Adelaide and dock tonight although no one can get off until tomorrow morning. There is a container ship scheduled to arrive tomorrow that would have held us up so the port authorities let us dock tonight.

We also received a note that the visa requirements for Sri Lanka and Mozambique have changed. Before you did not need a visa for Sri Lanka but that was changed in January. Now the visa is $25. Mozambique has increased the cost of their visa to $75. Both of these will be obtained by the ship and the cost added to your onboard account.

Decided I was hungry so went to the Lido at 10:00 for breakfast. They had already closed in preparation for an early lunch since so many people were getting off to visit the island. I was able to get a large glass of orange juice.

Trivia was moved up to 10 am and there were only a few teams playing. I was by myself until question 5 and then Bonnie joined me. We had 9 and the winning team had a perfect 17.

1)In English, what is the only anagram for “teaching”?

2)What does “Sophia” mean in Greek?

3)What does the word “zeitgeist” mean?

4)Which 1972 musical won 8 Oscars but not Best Picture?

5)How much does a liter of water weigh in kilograms?

Grabbed a quick early lunch before my tour. The Lido was decorated for Chinese New Year.

Although my meeting time for my tour, “Kangaroo Island Sights” was 12:15 we did not get off until about 12:30. All of a sudden the swells had started and the tenders were bobbing all around. Loading the tender I was on was very slow. We finally were off on the bus about 1:15.

The first stop was at the Cape Willoughby Conservation Park where the first lighthouse in South Australia was erected in 1853.

Our longest stop was in the town of Kingscote, the largest township on the island. It is on Napean Bay. I got a pastry and a coke during our stop. Reeves Point was next which is where the first official European settlement in South Australia took place. Last stop was at Pennington Bay. I was on the last passenger tender back to the ship.

I watched a little of the sail-away from my deck then got ready for dinner.

I played Name That Tune with Helen (from our CC roll call). It was extremely hard and we were pleased to be able to get 6 out of 15 (all but one was a guess).

The dinner menu had a number of Chinese dishes. I had the pot stickers, a salad, sweet and sour pork, and fruit with pineapple sorbet for dessert.

Adelaide tomorrow and I have an early (8:15) tour.:eek:

Trivia…

1)cheating

2)divine wisdom

3)spirit of the times

4)Cabaret

5)1 kg

Glad you made it to Kangaroo Island and was able to do your tour.

Trivia was moved up to 10 am

 

How do you select the five questions that you post (and its answers) instead of the 10 or 15 questions that the Trivia contest usually has?

Trivia was moved up to 10 am

 

How do you select the five questions that you post (and its answers) instead of the 10 or 15 questions that the Trivia contest usually has?

While we are playing I try to write down as many questions as I can (I usually get about 10). Then I pick 5 that I think are interesting. I usually pick a mix of ones we got right and ones we did not.

I think that it is great that you select some of the questions for us to play.

Adelaide, Australia – February 17, 2018

When I was first investigating excursions I thought I might not take one since I had a city sightseeing tour and spent a night in Adelaide in 1997. When the excursion booklet from my travel agency arrived, the visit to Hahndorf caught my eye and I booked it. I’m glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed my day.

We left promptly at 8:30 and drove from the port to downtown Adelaide where he had a short tour around. We then went out of the city to Mount Lofty. At 2100 feet, it gives a nice panoramic view of the city all the way to the coast. We had a few minutes to look at the view check out the gift shop and get a snack if desired.

At about 10:30 we arrived in Hahndorf and two hours to wander on our own. Hahndorf is Australia’s oldest surviving German settlement. It was founded in 1839 by German Lutherans. In traditional style it was built along one main street. Today the homes and other buildings from the early settlement have been turned into restaurants, wine bars, art galleries, and shops.

Since I had not had breakfast my first stop was at Otto’s Bakery where I bought a delicious donut that I ate as I walked around. I enjoyed looking into many of the shops and also visited a museum which had a number of artifacts from the early days of the town. I was even able to find two shops that sold wool!

It took about an hour and a half to get back arriving just before 2 pm. The terminal had free wi-fi so I spent an hour there even though it was very slow (slower than on the ship).

Originally, there was supposed to be a free shuttle bus into Adelaide but yesterday they announced because there is a train close by there would be no buses. I heard the train was about $10 for a day pass. Have not heard any feedback yet about how well received the $10 train was instead of the free bus.

I had originally planned to grab a late lunch and then swim but when I got to the Lido deck the pool was still empty so that nixed that part of my plan. The Dive-In, salad bar, and made-to-order sandwich bar stays open after the rest of the Lido closes down at 2 pm, so I got a sandwich and some chips.

Sat by the (empty)pool in the sun and knitted and read for awhile before heading to trivia. Most people were not present and the only other teammate of mine present was Bonnie. We joined Dorothy and Rosalie to make a total of 7 teams playing. We won with 22 out of 22!

1)What is the ph of water?

2)How many lines in a sonnet?

3)How many tentacles does a squid have?

4)What is the Oscar winning theme song from Breakfast at Tiffany’s?

5)How many countries in South America?

Sat by the Lido pool again until time to get ready for dinner. All present and we discussed what everyone did today. For dinner I had fruit, a salad, barbecue pork ribs and apple crumble tart.

No show tonight (all aboard was not until 10:30). I was out on my deck watching the sail-away.

Sea day tomorrow and we gain another half hour tonight.

Trivia…

1)7

2)14

3)10

4)Moon River

5)12 – colonies did not count (The bonus was ½ point to name them plus an extra point for putting them in alphabetical order.)

Glad your seas have smoothed out, Kathi.

Sounds like you had a great day :).

And congrats on winning on trivia :)

I am glad that the tour you booked turned out to be wonderful and you enjoyed it.

Congratulations at winning at Trivia!!

I knew 4 of the trivia questions -- of course you know who knew all 5 answers.

Thanks for your reports.

Hope you are having smooth seas to Albany.

At Sea – February 18, 2018

No water aerobics this morning but by noon they had filled the pools. About seven at Sit and Stitch.

Five of us played morning trivia. We had 10 and the winners had 14.

1)What Japanese word means “empty orchestra”?

2)The Bermuda Triangle is the area between Bermuda, Florida, and what island?

3)Where was the Rosetta Stone found?

4)What is another name for the Chinese gooseberry?

5)In Morse Code what letter is represented by a single dot?

Had lunch from the taco bar before meeting Cyndi for arts and crafts. Today we made an Aboriginal inspired key chain.

Today we were asked to complete a survey (on the intranet) about possible itineraries for the 2020 World Voyage. There were four choices to evaluate as well ports you would especially like to visit.

Sat in the sun (temps in the mid 60s and nice breeze so it was perfect) and worked on my sock which I finished as well as reading a few chapters in my book.

All present for afternoon trivia. We had 12 and the winners had 15 out of 17.

1)Which country grows the most potatoes?

2)The U.S. has the most airports. Which country is second?

3)Which pop group had the most #1 hits in the 70s?

4)What is the longest river in Italy?

5)What is the most widely used vegetable in the world?

Sat in the sun and read again for about 45 minutes until time to get ready for the evening. My travel agency had another cocktail party before dinner. I sat and talked with Mike and Cathy (from dinner table).

For dinner I had fruit, a Greek salad, English roast beef and crème brulee for dessert.

The show tonight was an Australian singing duo named “Divalicious”. They were very good.

At sea again tomorrow.

Morning Trivia…

1)karaoke (sp?)

2)Puerto Rico

3)Egypt

4)kiwi fruit

5)E

Afternoon trivia…

1)Russia

2)Australia

3)Abba

4)Po

5)onion

Thanks for your reports.

Hope you are having smooth seas to Albany.

So far so good!;)

Sounds like the seas are calming down giving you a relaxing day.

If the weather wasn't so nice here, I'd be jealous. But the warm weather has kept me from being really grumpy about not being able to go on this cruise.

I always thought I was pretty good with trivia - it's deflating to find out I'm not even average [:rolleyes:].

Do the forward-facing slanted windows give you too much sun during the day, or are you never there? [as in too busy]