2024 Grand World Voyage with The Inside Cabin

[skigrams]

Pete, you are positively amazing and much appreciated.  As someone who had to cancel at the last minute due to health issues, I feel that I was able to attend Gus's Q & A through you.  What a great job you did of reporting the issues which, by the way, have not changed since my first WC in 2019 when Orlando came onboard.  Getting double Mariner points for singles paying double came up back then also.  It would be a wonderful addition for those of us who travel solo.  Loved the response to the "more plant-based food in the MDR" - we do love our cuisine in the dining room!!  Thanks again for a job well-done.

 

[scubadawg]

Pete,thx for the updates. Did anyone ask whether The Pole to Pole would sell segments at some point if full cruise doesnt sell out?  Also whether there will be a Grand Asia in the Fall for 2026?  Appreciate all your communications and pictures

[The-Inside-Cabin]

58 minutes ago, scubadawg said:

Pete,thx for the updates. Did anyone ask whether The Pole to Pole would sell segments at some point if full cruise doesnt sell out?  Also whether there will be a Grand Asia in the Fall for 2026?  Appreciate all your communications and pictures

No one asked those questions.  It's unlikely he would have known the answers at that level of detail anyway.  It would have been.  "We'll get back to you"

[CNSJ]

11 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Gus wraps after 1 hour 53 minutes 

Thank you for sharing the play by play!

[Wehwalt]

4 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

He meant no more long cruises competing with each other.   I think the other Grands - Africa, South America, Asia etc will continue.sti

No indication of when the 2025 change will be announced - they are trying to figure out how to bypass Suez but still touch the Mediterranean.  He  mused about challenging the team to see if they could go around Africa "faster"   

Probably wants to keep the overnight together in port in Barcelona with the Volendam, which may be the Big Event of the 2025 GWV ... or get to Piraeus in time to keep the final segment (unless they move the start of the segment to another port). Princess did something similar with their current World Cruise, got the Island Princess around Africa to Rome in time to keep their final segment intact.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Just now, Wehwalt said:

Probably wants to keep the overnight together in port in Barcelona with the Volendam, which may be the Big Event of the 2025 GWV ... or get to Piraeus in time to keep the final segment (unless they move the start of the segment to another port). Princess did something similar with their current World Cruise, got the Island Princess around Africa to Rome in time to keep their final segment intact.

He did say they have something big planned in Barcelona.  

[LouChamp]

Aloha. A great big mahalo to you for providing such detailed information. We are blessed to have some long cruises reserved on HAL and other high end lines but it is true what Gus said about so many top tier guests like ourselves and you that the benefits are scant except for the personified gifts we receive around the holidays. I am more geared towards the ship the line the itinerary. Dividing our time between NY and Honolulu I enjoy being unnoticed as long as the service and quality is there. That said I am so grateful for your summary. Sad that John and Dianne are not on board as their input would have been interesting. Some others just are too full of themselves as I do not include them in my analysis.  Best regards!!!

[Nancy&Frank]

@The-Inside-Cabin thanks Pete for your excellent reporting of Gus’s Q&A. 

[WriterOnDeck]

10 hours ago, Wehwalt said:

And did he give any sense of the timeframe the changes to 2025 will be announced?

He did speak to that. He said: It is worth making a decision soon. The challenge is its a lot of Africa again if the Red Sea is closed. Is there a way to zip around Africa faster and do more in the Med -- we are looking at it.

 

Later he indicated the decision would be made soon, like "now." I took that to mean in a month-ish or so. I did feel he understood the need to decide sooner not later. He asked who thought the Red Sea would be open in a year and fewer than a half-dozen people raised their hands. Almost everyone raised their hands thinking it won't be open.

 

Other news: Capt. Frank and Hotel Director Henk for the 2025 GWV (I am assuming they will go back to the one captain for the world model), and it will be Henk's last work cruise. Capt. Rens van Eerten and Hotel Director Florin Dragomir will be on P2P.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

11 hours ago, Wehwalt said:

So is this saying only one 100-day-plus Grand Voyage running simultaneously, but "no more than one a year" means there might still be a Grand South America or Grand Asia/Pacific of sixty or so days in addition to the GWV?

 

And did he give any sense of the timeframe the changes to 2025 will be announced?

Here is a transcript of what he said about 2025 - audio only video below

 

Gus:  And then we've got our two longer voyages the 124 day grand world you see here. You guys are very familiar with and many of you are already booked on it. Some questions I've, I've gotten, and we're going to, we're going to look at this, and I think it's worth making a decision soon.

 

Do we think the Suez is passable in 2025?

 

Anybody's guess. Well, does anyone think it would be passable in 2025?  (Audience Shouting) Two optimists in the room.  Three?  Four?

 

Okay. Yeah. So I think it's worth getting clarity on that. And we're gonna make, decision-making, now. The challenge is that it's a lot of Africa, again, and you know, it's tough. 

 

We're going to do it here (2024). We just did a grand Africa, so I'm going to talk to the team tomorrow and see if there's a way to zip around Africa a little faster.

 

We'll look at it. But there may be something we can do to minimize the African content and get to more of the Med, maybe some North Africa, Casablanca. (applause) We'll look at it, we’ll look at it. You guys give it a thumbs up? Sounds like it would be worthwhile. We want to do it fast, we want to give certainty to all of you and potential folks that want to come on board.

 

And then we've got the 133 day pole to pole , and we haven't announced it, but we will announce in the next couple of months we're going to do something special in Barcelona.  Both the ships are there. We're going to try and figure out how we do something between both of the ships. They're going to be there in the same the same day. And so we still need to plan it. But we'll be coming out with some of that detail in the next, the next couple of months.

 

 

 

 

[IanMP]

Outstanding reporting Pete - this has been very helpful.   We are on the P2P, and glad to learn that it will be going ahead as planned, and also feel much better informed about the many issues raised to Gus’ Q&A.   (The reference to the choir was a new one for us.)

[Toad]

This was wonderful. You and Gus must both be very patient men!

[cccole]

Pete and Judy, Thank you so much for all of your posts.  We recently used Edir at Iguassu Private Tours for our Iguassu Falls adventure and I connected a friend to Judy's list of yarn shops in ports.  Thank you so much for the details and letting us think we are cruising with you.  Cherie

[CurlerRob]

On 2/25/2024 at 5:00 PM, REOVA said:

 I thought 2019 was at Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam but Pete can check. 

 

You are correct. 🍺🥌

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Kaiseki Dinner tonight 

 

"Kaiseki or kaiseki-ryōri is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. The term also refers to the collection of skills and techniques that allow the preparation of such meals and is analogous to Western haute cuisine. There are two kinds of traditional Japanese meal styles called kaiseki or kaiseki-ryōri. Wikipedia"

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27 by The-Inside-Cabin

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Official 2026 World Cruise press release 

 

HERE

[REOVA]

12 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Official 2026 World Cruise press release 

 

HERE

We thought yours was. 😉😁

[Ellencruise]

15 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Official 2026 World Cruise press release 

 

HERE

Wow!!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Arrival Tokyo.   Mt Fuji at 6:30 am local.   Covered with snow.    Climbing season for hikers  is from July to Sept 

 

Edited February 27 by The-Inside-Cabin

[REOVA]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Arrival Tokyo.   Mt Fuji at 6:30 am local.   Covered with snow.    Climbing season for hikers  is from July to Sept 

 

Nice. Clear skies too. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

We are the first HAL ship to moor at the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal 

 

 

 

 

View from the ship 

 

[Btimmer]

Pete,  I'll be very interested in your impressions of the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal (location, accessibility to sites, etc.).  We've been to the Yokohama Cruise Terminal location many times and are quite familiar with it.  I see that Haneda Airport is really close to the the TICT.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

26 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

Pete,  I'll be very interested in your impressions of the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal (location, accessibility to sites, etc.).  We've been to the Yokohama Cruise Terminal location many times and are quite familiar with it.  I see that Haneda Airport is really close to the the TICT.

We are getting ready to leave the ship now -1pm leaving late so we can stay out late - Ginza at night!  maybe more....  I will be doing a detailed post

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Tokyo  Quick Look - day one

Shipped cleared around 8 AM

 

We slept in and stayed onboard till 1 PM since we planned to stay out until 10 PM

 

 

Tokyo Internation Cruise Terminal - opened in 2020 

 

Not much here - Lots of empty space - room for shops:
    Wi-Fi
    Security
    Tourist Info Desk
    Restroom
    Taxis

 

 

 

    
Walked about 500 yards to Tokyo International Train Station

 

Shuttle to Tokyo Teleport station will save a walk but add time to your train trip as it goes further west initially.

 

Tokyo Subway and Train System do not take credit cards (except to buy day pass - day passes only for sale at select stations and don't work on all lines and trains) - they take Yen paper notes and make change - More on Subway later.  

 

There are dozens of subways and trains - most are independent - making day passes harder

 

You could buy a rechargeable IC card or use your phone - but that is beyond the scope of this post.

 

We walked to Tokyo International Train Station on the Yurikamome Line, which is a private line - day passes won't work here.  

Tokyo Teleport is on Rinkai line - another private line - no day passes.

 

Transferred from Shimbasi Station to the Ginza Line to Shibuya Station and walked across the Shibuya Scramble - a massive pedestrian interchange where everyone crosses an intersection from all directions

 

Shibuya Scramble

 

Transferred to Private Inokashira Line going to Puppy Hand Knitting Yarn Shop

Took Taxi, using Uber to summon to Walnut Tokyo Yarn Shop

 

Took Taxi to Kinkos, then walked to Amimomo Spin yarn shop

 

I walked back to Shibuya Station - and then took the Ginza Line to the Ginza area - I arrived around 9:30 PM - and most everything was closed.

Judy models her hand-knit Hana sweater. - Hana is the sweater pattern name

 

Took taxi using Uber back to ship

 

More details later

 

Buying subway ticket

[REOVA]

Is there still a shortage of chips for IC cards (other than tourist Welcome Sucia)?