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John and Diane are at it Again!

Johnny B

By Johnny B,
in Holland America Line

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ger_77

ger_77

Posted
Posted

I'm sad for you that your voyage is ending, but wanted to thank you once more for sharing it with all of us. You have made this winter on the "frozen tundra" much more bearable, with your wonderful descriptions of the ports of call and your experiences. Safe travels home.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

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Traveling Dot

Traveling Dot

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A big THANK YOU for taking me along on your cruise. I'm going to miss the daily post. I hope to be able to do at least a segment or the whole round the world cruise when I retire. Your posts have made it sound so interesting and even if I can't do everything that you and John have done at least I can see those far away places. Thanks again and safe travel home.

Traveling Dot:):):)

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1of4 "Live from...." Rare

1of4

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Thank you both so much. This was the longest and coldest winter with record snows in over 40 years and your helped me cope daily. We had thunder snows and frost quakes, ice storms and blizzards and it was still snowing 2 weeks ago.

 

Can't thank you enough for your posts.

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pralientje

pralientje

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Dear Diane and John,

 

Thank you very much for taking me on this world cruise. I was looking for your reports first thing in the morning. I must admit I do feel sorry for myself that you will not do the whole world cruise again in 2015! Your reports will surely be missed, not only by me, but by a lot of other CC readers, I think! But I can understand your granddaughter's wish. Your detailed reports, together with John's FB page, were a joy to read and watch. Thanks again for taking the time, not to mention the expenses involved.

I do hope to do a world cruise in the future and will certainly check on all your reports and tips, what to do and where.

Have a wonderful time with family and friends. Can't wait till your next cruise :).

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Johnny B

Johnny B

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We've been welcomed home with 90+ degree weather, so we feel right "at home" from our mostly tropical cruise. Thanks to Jonathan, our graduate student/house sitter, the house is in good shape as are most of the outdoor plants.

 

Getting off the ship was probably the smoothest operation we've ever experienced. We were the third group off, after "Expedited" and Pink #1. We were Pink #2, and thanks to the Mardi Gras boa that I cut apart and put on all four of our "to be shipped by HAL bags," they were easy to find. There was no wait at immigration/customs, our porter wheeled the cart over to the FedEx truck, and we should have them Thursday or Friday - and then have to unpack yet again!

 

The worst thing about getting home was having to open 4-1/2 months worth of mail, but as it included our Costco/American Express bonus money, it was well worth it. By now, I've grocery shopped, banked, and had a great nap yesterday, using mini-jet lag as an excuse.

 

Our cruise was absolutely awesome, in every sense of the word. Even with this being our fourth world cruise, we had new ports, new people, and new excitement all along the way. After a short discussion, we decided that the absolutely high points were Easter Island (for the second time - but still fantastic) and our African overland to Botswana and Zambia. There's nothing like driving onto a small highway and finding a huge elephant crossing it in front of you, or having your afternoon "game drive" on a small boat watching hippos and crocodiles. Even the three-foot monitor lizard that came down off the roof and watched me through our bungalow window is a wonderful memory.

 

The entertainment on this cruise was wonderful, and we get so spoiled having a live show every night after dinner. As I said earlier, Rita Rudner, our last performer, was probably the best of the cruise. She stood there and made us laugh uproariously for over an hour. After chatting with her daughter in the library, I found her so sweet that I sent her mother a note telling her so and asking if they'd like to join us for dinner. As we sat down for dinner she came over, introduced herself (as if we needed it), thanked me for the note, and apologized for not being able to join us, as they hadn't had time to let their waiter know they wouldn't be there.

 

One of the great things about the cruise is that the entertainers are passengers just like the rest of us and most of them are great about hanging out and chatting with the rest of us. When we're at a large table, we feel free to invite them to dinner and most of them respond in the affirmative. The only time we've had entertainers not even respond was when the Osmond Brothers were on, and they didn't even have Donny or Marie with them! Our favorite dinner guest of all the cruises at dinner was Larry Hagman, of Dallas fame, who was absolutely charming and very funny.

 

We met lots of new friends on this cruise and resumed friendships with some from earlier cruises. Bill and Marty were friends from 2012, and there is a large number we've known since 2008, including Barbie (who thanks you for your "hi") Dick and Jan Yettke, and Jeff Farschman. This year we met some great new friends, including sisters Cathy and Ann (who made us laugh our . . . (you know), Ian and Carol (all Canadians), and Larry and Cherryl. There are just so many nice people, and I find that the better you treat people - passengers and staff - the better they treat you. Some people worry that others get treated better than them, but usually the "others" are simply kinder and more outgoing and show a great deal of appreciation for the wonderful service our staff provides.

 

So . . . I guess that's it for the 2014 130-day World Cruise. I loved writing every day, and it really is no sacrifice, because it's our journal and we will just love going back and re-reading to remind us of everything we did (i. e. Did we really go to New Caledonia?) The only thing better than writing it was getting your wonderful comments, and please know that I appreciate all of them, as does John for the nice comments about his Facebook entries and photos. We'll see you next January 5 (or even sooner, in preparation) and we hope that a few of you will join us on the Amsterdam.

 

BTW, if there's anything I haven't covered, please feel free to ask questions - especially now that we have unlimited internet (such a treat!) Bye for now.

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Flyingfish

Flyingfish

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Great photo John, it sure says it all! Thanks so much for taking me along with you both. Looking forward to next year. Oh and by the way, thanks for not mentioning eating "flying fish" somewhere along the way.

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sppunk

sppunk

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Posted

So since you guys aren't doing the full voyage next year, if you want I'll be more than happy to fill in your daily blogs if you foot the bill for my part of the travel. :)

 

Just kidding! Thanks again for taking us along, it really is a must-read every morning for my wife and I.

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