Travel The World with Bill & Mary Ann HAL's Grand World Voyage 2007

[Teresa Price]

Hi Valerie,

yes the very same Dorothy and George. We met them on a sector of a world cruise a couple of years ago and email often. We haven't had another chance to meet up with them again yet but would love to - they really take on the spirit of the community,

cheers Teresa

[bobpatj]

We're going to be in NYC, this weekend, and I found out the the Amsterdam and QE2 will be there on Friday. I hope to get a "look" and will send you a wave, "Hello." It would be nice to be at a location to watch you sail away.:)

[WCB]

Report # 78 4-16-07 Monday Day at Sea

 

Today, being a well earned day at sea, we have a chance to catch up on recent events, speakers, entertainers, and best of all, ship rumors.

 

With so many ports in the Mediterranean, the ship did not have the time for exploration speakers, but new entertainers did join us for the evening shows. A professional whistler, Sean Lomax, performed along with Brad Cummings, a comedy ventriloquist. Vincinzo Gentile, an Italian violinist, entertained weary guests after leaving Monte Carlo. On really long port days, appropriate movies for the region were shown in the Wajang Theater, in lieu of a show. A new group of dancers and singers gave the performance of "Hats Off" in the Queen's Lounge one night. We heard they were a vast improvement from the last group. Speaker Mike Millwood came onboard yesterday, and gave lectures, starting today, on ancient history, specifically, war time history.

 

The Gifts of Love program is gearing up to donate all the hand made knitted and crocheted items that have been created by our talented guests during this trip. A presentation has been planned in Casablanca to donate these items, along with money raised at the fair and auction during our cruise.

 

Now, here's the local chatter going around the ship. In the last few weeks, several unfortunate incidents have occurred in Casablanca, probably terrorist based. So the rumors are flying about whether or not Casablanca, Morocco, will stay on the itinerary. Most of us are guessing, NO. At this point, most passengers have already cancelled their tours, and have decided not to leave the ship while in port. Of course, if the story that cruise ships themselves are being targeted, then staying onboard would not be wise either. We are confident that we will find out, one way or the other, very soon.

 

Two more strange stealing stories have come to our attention. One happened to a cast dancer, who happened to use a laundry room on a passenger deck to wash and dry some dancing outfits. She had put them in a dryer, and when she came back, they were gone! Vanished, never to be seen again. The young lady, quite petite and slender, would definitely recognize her clothes on another woman. And to be perfectly honest, those clothes would not fit most of the passengers! So sad.

 

The next robbery happened early in the morning in the Lido restaurant. As many ladies will often do, this gal left her purse on a chair to save it, then went and stood in line for the breakfast buffet. And you can guess what happened when she returned five minutes later. Yep, the purse, with her newly purchased Euros and all of her credit cards, was gone. Needless to say, her husband was very unhappy, since they had to waste part of their day in port, cancelling those credit cards. Live and learn!

 

Lastly, we seem to have acquired a schizophrenic woman passenger in Rome. Traveling alone, she stood out like a sore thumb just by the way she has dressed. The best description is like a bag lady/gypsy. No kidding. She has sadly created a rucus everywhere she has gone on the ship. We have heard reports of sudden outbursts, verbal attacks on the staff, and talking to herself. When informed by the staff that her credit cards had bounced, she went ballistic, calling the staff crazy. At this rate, someone on the ship, such as the security officers, will have to deal with her, or off she goes. We were told by Kelly, our tablemate, that staff members had taken shifts tonight, following this woman, keeping her in their sites, until she went back to her cabin. Bet she doesn't last long on this ship.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[WCB]

Report # 79 4-17-07 Tuesday Malaga, Spain

 

We arrived early this morning to the port of Malaga, Spain, with sunny skies and a promise of 64 degrees by this afternoon. That will work for us!!

 

At 8am, Captain Edward announced that Casablanca, Morocco, was cancelled, and all of the shore excursions would be refunded. The substitute port would be Gibraltar, and we would arrive there by 11pm after leaving Malaga this evening.

 

Since we have never been to Casablanca, we were all disappointed, but under the circumstances, we would have had anxiety attacks all day while on tour. Gibraltar will also be a new port for us, so that is fine. Hopefully a tour will be available to see the rock and the unusual Barbary apes that live there.

 

Malaga is situated on the Costa del Sol of southern Spain. We were lucky to have visited here last year. At that time, we went on an all day tour to the city of Granada to see the Alhambra. One of Moorish Spain's most familiar monuments, the Alhambra is a complex of the Palace of the Arabic Kings and a spectacular fortress.

 

So we decided to explore the nearby countryside and delightful village of Mijas on a CSI tour. Leaving the city of Malaga, we drove by part of the coastline, passing several sites of new construction in town. A new pier building, an underground transit system, and new hillside condos were in the process of being built. The demand is high for European vacationeers and tourists, thus the boom in construction.

 

Our first stop was at a produce market in the town of Alhaurin el Grande. Thanks to the surrounding fertile valleys, this market was full to the brim with cases of veggies and fruit. We were all treated to oranges as we left the warehouse.

 

We continued inland towards the village of Mijas ,located 1500 feet above sea level. Our guide said that on clear days, they can see the coast of northern Africa from these mountain tops. Too bad it happened to be a hazy day., since we could not see beyond the valley.

 

Finally arriving to the classic village, we saw a maze of whitewashed houses that were built in order to protect the residents from the chilly winds common to the area. It was windy, but the air was clean and fresh. And the views from the top were stunning.

 

The first thing we noticed were the line of donkey taxis, all with numbered plates on their foreheads. The tourists and their kids ride these donkeys in a caravan up the narrow cobblestoned lanes, then back again. Looked like fun!

 

The second thing we noticed was the aroma of something sweet being cooked in the air. Spotting a street vendor, we saw that he was tossing almonds coated with a honey-sugar glaze in a heavy wok. The end product was warm, candy coated almonds. So, of course, we all bought some. They were really tasty.

 

We elected to break from the group, and visit the many shops, looking at the local handmade ceramics, clothing, and numerous souveniers. Leather goods were also a good buy here. With our few treasures bought, we headed back down to the starting point. We joined the rest of our friendly group at an outdoor cafe. The Spanish beer, San Miguel, tasted wonderful after our brisk walk through town. Soft drinks and sangria were also offered. Our visit was over too quickly, and we had to board our coach for the 45 minute ride back to the ship.

 

Once there, we ate lunch in the Lido, and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the warm sun by the back pool. The day had turned out perfectly weatherwise.

 

The Amsterdam left the pier at 6pm, and headed towards the port of Gibraltar, our new destination. We were happy that a port was substituted for Morocco, since that is not always possible.

 

Dinner this evening was quite different. It was called the "Master Chef" dinner. The special menu was divided into three acts, each one proceeded by singing and dancing waiters and the ship's entertainers. At one point before the salad was served, a singer dressed like a head of green lettuce, sang her way down the staircase. We all loved it! The "Hats Off" dessert was the final act, ending another new Holland America event.

 

After eating our meal, we usually take take a walk around the promenade deck, sometimes meeting Hank, our old buddy from 2005, and his many girlfriends. While chatting with him, we watched our approach to a pier in Gibraltar. The sea swells were at least 6 feet high, and we could tell that they were having a hard time docking. But since it was cold and getting late, we left for our cabin to call it a night.

 

We woke up sometime later during the night, and were surprised to find that we were sailing at a fast speed. What happened?? Have we been kidnapped or something?? We would find out the next morning.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[DFD1]

Yours is a fascinating adventure for sure!...and delightful to read. Please let us know what becomes of the Italian Gypsy. And, Thank You again for this incredible thread.

[WCB]

Teresa,

 

Yes, we know Dorothy and George. They have hosted Cruise Critic get togethers and lunches during this trip. They're a lot of fun. We will tell them that you said hi.

 

 

JohnnyB,

 

We took both Holland and CSI tours. Sometimes the tours were identical, so we took CSI's tour because they were priced better. You need to read the descriptions closely to compare tours. All of the lunch tours we took through HAL were excellent for the most part.

We also deposited the 2009 world cruise. Maybe we will see you then!

 

Bill

[WCB]

Report # 80 4-18-07 Wednesday Day at Sea

 

OK, so where are we? We had a letter waiting for us in our mail slot when we woke up this morning. It said that due to inclement weather and high swells, we had to forego the port of Gibraltar. We are now heading towards Funchal, Madeira, with an arrival time of 8 am on Thursday, the 19th. This will be a day earlier than originally planned.

 

The new itinerary now will include the port of Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal on April 21st. The tour we had just booked for Gibraltar to see the apes and the rock was cancelled and refunded. Darn! Now we hope that the shore excursion staff has time to schedule new tours in the Azores. We're happy with the change, since we have not been to the Azores yet. And those that have, say it's beautiful.

 

We were also informed that the Gifts of Love items would be donated to a children's charity in New York City, and the money raised would still be sent to The Baiti Orphanage in Casablanca. A win-win deal!

 

Today was also Bill's birthday. Our tablemate, Kelly, was celebrating her 35th birthday, also on this same day. So we kept quiet about Bill's to let her have her special day. However, two cakes arrived at our table, one chocolate and one strawberry shortcake! At least 25 waiters gathered to sing happy birthday to both Kelly and Bill. The fellows sang the song twice, then added the Dutch version, and we all joined in the clapping and singing. We think we raised the roof a few inches!

 

Two more gifts awaited us tonight............four baby blue luggage straps. Yep, we will have to start packing soon!

 

Mary Ann & Bill

[WCB]

Report #81 4-19-07 Thursday Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

 

After sailing 550 nautical miles from Gibraltar, we have landed in the port of Funchal, Madeira, belonging to the country of Portugal. The city of Funchal, named after fennel which grows on this island, was an important stopping place for the Portuguese sailors on their way to the Indies and the New World.

 

Last spring, we visited Funchal and took a tour that included a gondola ride to the town of Monte, and an exciting wicker basket sleigh ride . That ride was great fun, and almost heart-stopping when we whizzed past a busy intersection at break-neck speed! So today, we will try to discover another part of the island.

 

Looks like we are going to have mixed weather today, since the forecast calls for cloudy skies, a chance of rain, and a high of 68 degrees.

 

The 7 and 1/2 hour tour we booked is called the unforgettable scenery of western Madeira. We had no idea that this 35 mile long, and 13 mile wide island was so dramatically beautiful. Once leaving the ship, we passed the picturesque fishing village of Camora de Lobos. This village was made famous by Winston Churchill on his summer visits in the 1930's and 40's. We saw a small pub named after him on the roadside, where he spent many leisurely hours.

 

The road began to climb rapidly, giving us views of hillside terraced vegetable, grape, and banana gardens. The Madeirians must be part "billy goat" to tend these acres of crops perched on cliffs! We spotted many busy natives working in their gardens.

 

We could see the second highest sea cliff in the world, Cabo Girao, in the distance. The winding road seemed to drop precipitously from one ravine to the next, but our driver was an expert, thank goodness. We stopped at a lookout point that offered views back towards Funchal and the coastline. Many vendors were just starting to put out their handmade woolen caps and socks, table linens, breadbaskets, and other small souveniers. Our bus had been the first one there, but in 5 minutes, ten other buses arrived, and we were squeezed out by picture-taking tourists.

 

From here, we drove the twisty mountain roads, seeing a lot of the tiered gardens of crops planted in and amongst the homes. Grape vines were supported on trellises, with winter vegetables planted in rows under them. Finally, we came into the town of Sao Vicente, established in 1744. It is the most populated district in Madeira's northern coast. Located at the mouth of a river that crosses the village, a chapel, built in 1781, is the centerpoint of town. Only one small store was open selling local souveniers, but it was impossible to get inside with 30 people in there! After walking around the cafes and shops for 30 minutes, we reboarded the coach.

 

From this town, we began climbing the cliffs again, passing through a series of tunnels, bored into the mountains. Thin streams of waterfalls were cascading from the top to the sea far down below. Our guide remarked that a car accident had closed this road just days ago. It was a narrow road, barely allowing two cars to pass. We're glad that there was not a lot of traffic today.

 

Continuing on, we traversed the Paul da Serra Plateau, where we headed towards Porto Moniz for lunch. We ate at Restaurante Cachalote, right on the seaside. There we were served a large sourdough roll, fish or pot roast, crispy french fries, and seasoned rice. A mixed salad was offered along with white and red wines. It was all delicious.

 

The banquet area had been prepared for three busloads of people, but we were the first ones there, and ate without them. Later on, we heard that an accident blocked the road we had just traveled. the other two buses had to find an alternate route to the restaurant. Luckily, they were only an hour late.

 

After lunch, we strolled around the curious seaside pools that were created from flowing lava centuries ago. Since these pool are shallow, they are warm, compared to the sea water. A group of German tourists were swimming in the ponds, posing for the pictures we took.

 

We continued on through the woodlands to the south part of the island. A brief pit stop was made at the seaside resort of Baia do Sol. It started to rain while we were here, just enough to get the streets wet.

 

In a half hour, we were back to Funchal, navigating the crowded downtown streets. A P&O cruise ship was also in port, so the business area was inundated with shoppers.

 

We left the port at 5pm, having thoroughly enjoyed our visit in Madeira.

 

At dinner this evening, we got news from our tablemates, that the difficult lady (the gypsy dresser), had been taken off the ship. We heard that since she had no working credit cards, HAL had to pay her way home. They'll probably bill her later. That confirms our suspicions that HAL does not hold back with security measures when it comes to dealing with questionable characters.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[cycmom]

We did not know about CSI when we booked our cruise. I called to see if we could do land/shore excursions through them for the 2008 cruise. They said "no". Any ideas of other places to book tours through. We will do some through Holland but wanted to see other choices also. Thanks for any advice you can offer. Also, your packing list would be a boon to many of us. It sounds like you have done this at least twice now! George & Carol

[WCB]

Report # 82 4-20-07 Friday Day at Sea

 

After leaving Funchal, we have a sailing distance of 532 nautical miles to reach the Azores. The breeze is crisp with partly cloudy skies and temperatures around 63 degrees.

 

A new speaker, Robert Kimball, joined us to give lectures on musical composers of America. The variety showtime tonight features Vincenzo Gentile and Da Vinci, entertaining us with violins and a three piece band.

 

The arts and crafts class get to show off their creations of everyday objects into pieces of art. The instructors, Gretchen and Doug, have brought out "the artist" in a lot of guests on this trip.

 

If we wanted to learn how to carve sculptures out of styrofoam, then the demonstration this afternoon in the Wajang Theater would be helpful.

 

Packing materials such as boxes, tape, bubble wrap, and markers are available to purchase at the front desk. Speaking of the front desk, these girls have done a monumental job. They deserve medals!! However, we did hear one "oops" story from a fellow Cruise Critic friend. This lady's husband had booked only one segment of this cruise, while his wife chose to stay on to the end . Well, he was packed and ready to go, when he picked up his passport at the front desk. He then took the coach to the airport, where he surprisingly found out that he had his wife's passport!! Obviously, that did not work for him to board the plane home. After some calls back to the ship, with the help of Holland reps at the airport, his passport was delivered to him just in time for the flight. And this time, they checked his picture to make sure it was the right one! Good thing it is required for us to be at the airport 2 hours ahead of time, or he would have missed his flight. Good lesson to learn............check your passport before leaving the desk!

 

Clocks went back an hour tonight, and that's always a good thing!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[WCB]

Report # 83 4-21-07 Saturday Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal

 

Well, our final European port of call today is Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores, and like Madeira, it belongs to Portugal. Of the nine islands of the Azores, Sao Miguel covers 400 square miles of towering volcanic peaks, gorgeous crater lakes, green dense forests, and black or white sandy beaches with sparkling clean water. To tour this island was going to be a special treat!

 

Ponta Delgada is the tourist city of the Azores. This city has it all................museums,monuments, hotels, old churches, marina harbors, and a jumping nightlife. However, we have to see the spectacular countryside, so we booked a Holland tour to Sete Cidades and the Twin Lakes with a lunch. Hopefully, the weather will be good today, since the forecast has called for a chance of rain with a high of 71 degrees.

 

We joined our group at 8am, boarded our coach, and off we went with an excellent guide. The first thing she did was hand out maps of the island, which was a great way to begin our trip. On our way towards the Twin Lakes, our guide mentioned that over one million Azorians live worldwide, due to the fact that they needed to escape political and religious problems many years ago. Today, more than half of the natives left, live on this island of Sao Miguel. They have flourished with cattle ranching, milk, butter and cheese factories, fishing, and of course, tourism. And as for ranching, there are so many dairy cows here, that they must outnumber the people four times over! Their milk production is so good, that the powdered form of milk is exported to Africa.

 

As for the education system, public school is free until the 12th grade. At that point, the kids can choose to attend public universities at 800 Euros a year, or go abroad to private colleges for 800 Euros a month. Many students choose to work their family's farms, which eventually become theirs. These properties pass from generation to generation.

 

Our first stop was at Vista do Rei to view the scenery of the Twin Lakes. Unfortunately, the heavy fog had settled over the valley, and there was no view. But there was shopping!! And our guide kindly urged us to buy our souveniers at this make-shift roadside stand, since they were the most reasonably priced. And she was right! We bought a nice sweatshirt, postcards, and a shotglass for a few Euros.

 

We continued on the windy road, which was flanked with pink blooming azaleas, hydrangeas, roses, ginger, and wild lilies. Just beautiful! The forest was thick with a different type of cedar trees, originally imported from Japan. The hardy wood of these trees is harvested for their timber when they are around 35 years old. On all of the islands, the wood is used for window and door frames on the stucco homes.

 

We pulled over on the shoulder to see the smaller Santiago Lake, located a bit higher than the Twin Lakes below. It was a very peaceful and serene lake with the dense forest of cedars on its shoresides.

 

We descended to the valley floor of the lakes. Standing on the stone bridge between the two lakes, we saw Lagos Verde on the left, and Lagos Azul on the right. Lagos Verde, the green lake, was really green with algae. When viewed from high up, it also reflected the green hillsides giving it the color of emeralds. Lagos Azul, the blue lake, was much deeper and blue because it reflected the color of the sky.

 

Stopping in the quaint village of Sete Cidades, we strolled the streets seeing the typical homes and veggie gardens of the locals. Camping and picnic grounds surrounded Lagos Azul. The small coffee shop, church grounds, and public restrooms were very crowded, since another huge ship was in port. Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas had busfuls of passengers on tour here as well. Their ship of around 3000 people also had a surprise visit in the Azores today, because they missed their scheduled port of Bermuda due to a bad storm. Some of the friendlier Royal passengers were quite intrigued with the fact that we were on such a long world cruise. They wanted to know about all of the places we had visited so far. It was nice to have "celebrity status" for a short time!!

 

Anyway, we saw the church, St Nicolau, and the nearby fields of farm animals and houses. We saw the largest set of horns that we have ever seen on a long-hair goat. Good thing he was tethered! He was calmly sitting while a flock of cackling guinea fowl were running around him. Horses and cows munched away in the lush, green grass as we walked by.

 

Back on the coach, we drove over the top of the island to view the westernmost village of Mosteiros. The homes were so colorful with the whitewashed stucco walls and red-tiled rooftops. High up on the cliffs of Porto el Escavaldo, we saw the dramatic volcanic hillsides that plummeted hundreds of feet down to the rocky shoreline. On the scenic plateau nearby, dairy cows were eating away to their heart's content, probably not appreciating their fabulous view. There was a newly-built small whale watching hut on the edge of the cliff, where whales can be sighted on their annual migration. They had been hunted here until 1972.

 

Our lunch stop at the town of Santa Barbara was next. Good! The roads on the way there were narrow, twisting, and lined with statuesque London Plane trees, or sycamores. Once at the Restaurant Cavalo Branco, we had a buffet lunch of typical Azorian cuisine. We started with green salad, sweet tomatoes, and cucumbers, slices of white bread, and red and white wines from mainland Portugal. Hot serving platters of beef and chicken stew, roast pork slices, octopus, potatoes, rice, and blood pudding were offered. Dessert was a plate of small servings of passionfruit jello, custard, red bean pastry, and a slice of fresh pineapple. A demitasse cup of espresso finished the meal. Boy, that coffee is a potent drink of pure caffeine!

 

We left the restaurant by 1pm, and headed for the village of Capela and the ethnographic museum named Artesanato Oficina Museu. For a change, we really enjoyed this down-to-earth display of small rooms depicting the life in days of the past. There were food storerooms, library, postoffice, mercantile, shoemaker, tailor and barber shops, pharmacy, and weavers loom. A blacksmith, carpentry, boathouse, pottery, and tinsmith shops completed the township. But the best was the little farmyard. It was like home to us! Little banty chickens with newly hatched chicks, rabbits, pygmy goats, and small pigs greeted us. Especially one pig! He suddenly jumped up on his gate, and almost landed into our arms. Guess he thought we had food for him!

 

One very interesting craft done here, is the making of pictures and jewelry created from different sizes of dried fish scales. Clusters of roses and leaves on stems made beautiful framed pictures with dark velvet backrounds. Very clever! A small souvenier store sold many items of this art, as well as knitted scarves, hats, and gloves, books and DVDs.

 

From here, we travelled across the center of the island, which was totally green pastural acres with cattle everywhere. Rock walls were used as property markers and fencing. In 15 minutes, we were back to the south coast and the city of Faja de Baixo. We visited a different type of pineapple plantation in the heart of town. All the plants were grown in a series of hothouses. Each long house had different phases of the pineapples growing cycle. And there was time for shopping in their little shop for pineapple liqueur, which we sampled. It was mighty sweet and powerful! The store also had everything "pineapple" you could ever think of. Wanting to get rid of their extra Euros, everyone bought something here, including us.

 

We left to return to Ponta Delgada, passing hotels, modern shopping malls, and even McDonalds!

 

When we ran into Gloria and Ken later in the day, they said they had run into mutual friends, Mike and Janice Jader, from our 2005 world cruise. What a hoot! The Jaders were travelling on the Navigator of the Seas, and also were shocked to see them. As we said before, this port was not planned for them either. What are the odds of this meeting happening in such a large city with so many of us invading the dozens of stores??

 

Just before the Amsterdam left, actually an hour late, Ed from International Port Services, the luggage shipment company, joined our ship. We had met Ed last year while on the Voyager, and he was a lot of fun. He will be with us until New York, where he will be giving out the shipping tags for luggage delivery back home. We will be shipping three extra bags, making it a total of 16 going home. Good deal!

 

We have five sea days to accomplish the packing task!

 

Mary Ann & Bill

[AzoresW]

Amsterdam in Ponta Delgada 21-04-07

 

http://www.photoborges.com/pagina.php?pagina=afoto.php&id=739

 

http://www.photoborges.com/pagina.php?pagina=afoto.php&id=740

 

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=468605623&size=l

 

Hope you enjoyed the visit !!!

 

But don´t forget that the best from the island is on the southern and the eastern side.

[dfb]

OMG! Hello, Bill & Mary Ann! I want you to know how slow I am. I have been following this thread for about 4 months and I have just now figured out who you two are! You were in the cabin across the hall from us, Debbie & Clay, on the last segment of RSSC Voyager's World Cruise last April! I have been enjoying reading your entries here everyday. Some days I am glad that I am home this year and other days I am sooo jealous of your adventures. Thanks for all your effort and expense to share your fabulous journey! Safe trip home! By the time you read this message, you will probably be home, so I'll go ahead and say it, Welcome Home, World Travellers!

 

Debbie

[codyody]

I am almost as sad as you knowing your trip is coming to an end. It has been a great ride...thank you for everything!

[WCB]

Report # 84 4-22-07 Sunday through 4-26-07 Thursday Day at Sea # 1 through # 5

 

 

4-22-07 Sunday Day 1

 

Well, we have started our long crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. We will have a few miles to cover, like 2271 nautical miles. The weather forecast in the daily program calls for a strong breeze, cloudy skies, and 63 degrees. However, this must have been printed many days ago, because the seas are rough since we left the Azores. Captain Edward announced at the 1pm talk, that we will have to head south to avoid the worst of a storm north of us. We still picked up residual waves up to 20 feet, with a wind force of 7. That's more than a strong breeze we think!

 

Our room steward brought us all of our empty luggage this morning. We now have sixteen bags to fill and keep in the cabin until we receive our color-coded tags for debarking. We figure that will be a week from now. Glad we have these sea days to do the task! One good thing is that the clocks will probably go back an hour almost everyday. We like this!

 

Despite the inclement weather, we still are doing the long walks in the morning and the afternoon. We have to keep this up if we want to

earn that sweatshirt with the Dam Dollars. Looking ahead, the Dollar program may end before New York, so we may need help!

 

Ed Wade from the luggage service began his assistance with the luggage shipment this morning. His hours are just 8:30 to 12:30pm, so the line for waiting to see him stretched down the hallway. Guess we will wait until later in the week to see him. Many people are not happy with these short hours. He will have around 1000 people to give tags to, because several guests live close to Ft Lauderdale, and do not need his services. Some people don't fly, so are driving their bags home. Judy and Bob from our table are driving to California! Takes about 5 days.

 

Entertainment tonight is either in the Queen's Lounge with Iris Williams, a singer from South Wales, performing her magical concert. In the Wajang Theater, the film, The Good Shepherd, is being shown all evening. And there's popcorn too!

 

 

4-23-07 Monday Day 2

 

Today we still have 1788 nautical miles to cover to reach New York City. The weather is a bit better today, but still cloudy and cool. It was a good day to start packing. So we did all morning until we couldn't stand it anymore! The ice chests we brought worked well for packing all of the breakables. Glad we thought to bring them on this trip.

 

Taking a break from packing, we walked for 2 hours or 6 miles, during the course of the day. Felt good to be in the fresh air.

 

We had lunch in the dining room for a change, joining Millie and Judith. Millie hasn't gotten off the ship since Florida, so she enjoys hearing about all of our shore excursions that we have done. She always has good stories to add to ours!

 

We had a treat during our pm walk................sighting whales near the ship! Several were blowing from their spouts as they swam by us on their migration north. It's good to know that we are not alone out here!

 

We ate in the Pinnacle Grill tonight. Their rib-eye steaks are the best! Starters are crab cakes, and tomatoes in balsamic dressing.

with our entrees of steaks, we ordered a baked potato (fully loaded), and delicious sauted mushrooms. There was a little room left for dessert, so we ordered vanilla ice cream and a pineapple flambe with deep fried coconut ice cream. Will have to walk 100 miles tomorrow!

 

The musical comedy impressionist, Scott Record, amused the audience tonight with his talents. Many friends told us he was the best so far.

 

 

4-24-07 Tuesday Day 3

 

Guess what we did this morning? Yep, packing. Good day to continue this chore, because the seas are finally calmer. Being that we are on deck 6, the pitching and the listing was exaggerated to the point that we have to hold on to things not to fall over our bags and furniture. It definitely slows down the process.

 

We met with Ed from IPS finally this morning. He did remember us from last year, and we had fun remembering our good times on the Voyager. We received our tags, and were set to go. We like this unlimited shipping that came with our package. By the way, we found a tag from the original shipping from home, and the total weight of our 13 bags was 735 pounds!

 

The activities today included a lecture from Mike Millwood, the Ocean Voices Chorus repeat performance, and the Dance Showcase with the dance class students. They all did well!

 

We attended the last CSI cocktail party in the Crow's Nest tonight. They had a large crowd, which included many of the staff. And the drinks flowed freely once again.

 

The Amsterdam singers and dancers performed Love Songs from Broadway this evening. The film, The Good German, was shown in the theater.

 

Presents tonight..........world cruise postcards and personalized stationery.

 

 

4-25-07 Wednesday Day 4

 

Well, we found out the the weather can turn on a dime out in the middle of the Atlantic! The wind was blowing a gale, force 10, and the seas were rougher than we have experienced this whole trip. The outside decks were off limits for us to walk. If we tried to walk, we would be soaked to the bone with blowing spray off of the bow. We did get our Dam Dollars, even though we did not walk to far.

 

We received our credit from the CSI tours that were cancelled in Morocco. This money should be available in cash at the end of the cruise, since the front desk girls have no way to credit that amount back to our credit card. And we each got a whopping 36 cents back from our port charges for Morocco!

 

The final formal night this evening is the Black and Gold Ball. And the farewell cocktail party was held at 7 pm for our second seating group. The cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were very good as usual. The captain gave his "until we meet again" speech, along with a special goodbye to Fekko Ebbens, who will be retiring after this trip.

 

Our farewell dinner included the baked Alaska dessert parade. It was quite glittery with all the black and gold foil decorations hanging from the ceiling, and the sparklers glowing from the tops of the ice cream cakes! It was a fun evening!

 

Really nice presents tonight..............2 large Delft fruit bowls, decorated with colored flowers on the lacy rim. In the bottom of the bowl, was the world map with our sailing ports of the 2007 cruise. Very classy!

 

 

4-26-07 Thursday Day 5

 

The temperature has dropped to 41 degrees this morning, downright icy! But the rough seas are gone, thank goodness. The walk this morning will be the last for earning Dam Dollars, and we are short. But thanks to Ken Moon, we gained six more from him, and a few more from Lori, our assistant cruise director. We cashed them out at 1pm in the Ocean Bar, but only after waiting in line for a while. The sweatshirts for 60 Dam Dollars are pretty nice, and now we have two. Good deal!

 

Even though the wind was chilly, the little spot on deck nine at the kiddie pool, was actually warm enough to sit in the sun all morning. It was a perfect spot to catch up on writing reports, and visiting with our pool buddies. If there is sun out, they will find the best spot for tanning! On the deck below, some people were laying in the sun, but wrapped like mummies with several beach towels. Shhh..............we'll keep this spot a secret!!

 

The disembarkation presentation and crew farewell took place this morning. We missed the talk, but will catch up on the information later on TV. The final jackpot bingo was held in the Queen's Lounge this morning. The jackpot was over $3000. We never did play the game.

 

We met our friend Bob in the Crow's Nest for cocktails before dinner. He is so much fun to talk to. We hope we have the chance to travel with him again someday in the future.

 

Dinner was kind of sad, since we will be losing Greg and Kelly tomorrow. We all wished them well. Maybe our paths will cross again someday.

 

We only have 327 nautical miles to travel before reaching US waters and New York City!

 

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

 

 

 

Report # 84 4-22-07 Sunday through 4-26-07 Thursday Day at Sea # 1 through # 5

 

 

4-22-07 Sunday Day 1

 

Well, we have started our long crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. We will have a few miles to cover, like 2271 nautical miles. The weather forecast in the daily program calls for a strong breeze, cloudy skies, and 63 degrees. However, this must have been printed many days ago, because the seas are rough since we left the Azores. Captain Edward announced at the 1pm talk, that we will have to head south to avoid the worst of a storm north of us. We still picked up residual waves up to 20 feet, with a wind force of 7. That's more than a strong breeze we think!

 

Our room steward brought us all of our empty luggage this morning. We now have sixteen bags to fill and keep in the cabin until we receive our color-coded tags for debarking. We figure that will be a week from now. Glad we have these sea days to do the task! One good thing is that the clocks will probably go back an hour almost everyday. We like this!

 

Despite the inclement weather, we still are doing the long walks in the morning and the afternoon. We have to keep this up if we want to

earn that sweatshirt with the Dam Dollars. Looking ahead, the Dollar program may end before New York, so we may need help!

 

Ed Wade from the luggage service began his assistance with the luggage shipment this morning. His hours are just 8:30 to 12:30pm, so the line for waiting to see him stretched down the hallway. Guess we will wait until later in the week to see him. Many people are not happy with these short hours. He will have around 1000 people to give tags to, because several guests live close to Ft Lauderdale, and do not need his services. Some people don't fly, so are driving their bags home. Judy and Bob from our table are driving to California! Takes about 5 days.

 

Entertainment tonight is either in the Queen's Lounge with Iris Williams, a singer from South Wales, performing her magical concert. In the Wajang Theater, the film, The Good Shepherd, is being shown all evening. And there's popcorn too!

 

 

4-23-07 Monday Day 2

 

Today we still have 1788 nautical miles to cover to reach New York City. The weather is a bit better today, but still cloudy and cool. It was a good day to start packing. So we did all morning until we couldn't stand it anymore! The ice chests we brought worked well for packing all of the breakables. Glad we thought to bring them on this trip.

 

Taking a break from packing, we walked for 2 hours or 6 miles, during the course of the day. Felt good to be in the fresh air.

 

We had lunch in the dining room for a change, joining Millie and Judith. Millie hasn't gotten off the ship since Florida, so she enjoys hearing about all of our shore excursions that we have done. She always has good stories to add to ours!

 

We had a treat during our pm walk................sighting whales near the ship! Several were blowing from their spouts as they swam by us on their migration north. It's good to know that we are not alone out here!

 

We ate in the Pinnacle Grill tonight. Their rib-eye steaks are the best! Starters are crab cakes, and tomatoes in balsamic dressing.

with our entrees of steaks, we ordered a baked potato (fully loaded), and delicious sauted mushrooms. There was a little room left for dessert, so we ordered vanilla ice cream and a pineapple flambe with deep fried coconut ice cream. Will have to walk 100 miles tomorrow!

 

The musical comedy impressionist, Scott Record, amused the audience tonight with his talents. Many friends told us he was the best so far.

 

 

4-24-07 Tuesday Day 3

 

Guess what we did this morning? Yep, packing. Good day to continue this chore, because the seas are finally calmer. Being that we are on deck 6, the pitching and the listing was exaggerated to the point that we have to hold on to things not to fall over our bags and furniture. It definitely slows down the process.

 

We met with Ed from IPS finally this morning. He did remember us from last year, and we had fun remembering our good times on the Voyager. We received our tags, and were set to go. We like this unlimited shipping that came with our package. By the way, we found a tag from the original shipping from home, and the total weight of our 13 bags was 735 pounds!

 

The activities today included a lecture from Mike Millwood, the Ocean Voices Chorus repeat performance, and the Dance Showcase with the dance class students. They all did well!

 

We attended the last CSI cocktail party in the Crow's Nest tonight. They had a large crowd, which included many of the staff. And the drinks flowed freely once again.

 

The Amsterdam singers and dancers performed Love Songs from Broadway this evening. The film, The Good German, was shown in the theater.

 

Presents tonight..........world cruise postcards and personalized stationery.

 

 

4-25-07 Wednesday Day 4

 

Well, we found out the the weather can turn on a dime out in the middle of the Atlantic! The wind was blowing a gale, force 10, and the seas were rougher than we have experienced this whole trip. The outside decks were off limits for us to walk. If we tried to walk, we would be soaked to the bone with blowing spray off of the bow. We did get our Dam Dollars, even though we did not walk to far.

 

We received our credit from the CSI tours that were cancelled in Morocco. This money should be available in cash at the end of the cruise, since the front desk girls have no way to credit that amount back to our credit card. And we each got a whopping 36 cents back from our port charges for Morocco!

 

The final formal night this evening is the Black and Gold Ball. And the farewell cocktail party was held at 7 pm for our second seating group. The cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were very good as usual. The captain gave his "until we meet again" speech, along with a special goodbye to Fekko Ebbens, who will be retiring after this trip.

 

Our farewell dinner included the baked Alaska dessert parade. It was quite glittery with all the black and gold foil decorations hanging from the ceiling, and the sparklers glowing from the tops of the ice cream cakes! It was a fun evening!

 

Really nice presents tonight..............2 large Delft fruit bowls, decorated with colored flowers on the lacy rim. In the bottom of the bowl, was the world map with our sailing ports of the 2007 cruise. Very classy!

 

 

4-26-07 Thursday Day 5

 

The temperature has dropped to 41 degrees this morning, downright icy! But the rough seas are gone, thank goodness. The walk this morning will be the last for earning Dam Dollars, and we are short. But thanks to Ken Moon, we gained six more from him, and a few more from Lori, our assistant cruise director. We cashed them out at 1pm in the Ocean Bar, but only after waiting in line for a while. The sweatshirts for 60 Dam Dollars are pretty nice, and now we have two. Good deal!

 

Even though the wind was chilly, the little spot on deck nine at the kiddie pool, was actually warm enough to sit in the sun all morning. It was a perfect spot to catch up on writing reports, and visiting with our pool buddies. If there is sun out, they will find the best spot for tanning! On the deck below, some people were laying in the sun, but wrapped like mummies with several beach towels. Shhh..............we'll keep this spot a secret!!

 

The disembarkation presentation and crew farewell took place this morning. We missed the talk, but will catch up on the information later on TV. The final jackpot bingo was held in the Queen's Lounge this morning. The jackpot was over $3000. We never did play the game.

 

We met our friend Bob in the Crow's Nest for cocktails before dinner. He is so much fun to talk to. We hope we have the chance to travel with him again someday in the future.

 

Dinner was kind of sad, since we will be losing Greg and Kelly tomorrow. We all wished them well. Maybe our paths will cross again someday.

 

We only have 327 nautical miles to travel before reaching US waters and New York City!

 

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[WCB]

Hi Debbie and Clay,

 

Oh my gosh! What a small world...............you are right, it is us!

 

Every morning when we have a chocolate croissant for breakfast, we have thought about you!

 

Glad you have enjoyed the reports. We had a lot of fun doing them. Maybe we will run into you guys again in the future.

 

Thanks for your kind words,

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[dfb]

Bill & Mary Ann,

 

Oh my! Chocolate croissants! You've been aboard for 4 months now without a PEEP about HAL's chocolate croissants! So, do tell.

 

It is a small world and you never know our paths might cross again. But, I think you said you booked the WC again next year and we will be doing RSSC's Circle SA then.

 

Best wishes and safe journey home, Debbie & Clay

[SDHALFAN]

Hi Bill and Mary Ann,

 

So that glorious cruise is coming to an end. Darn - I have had so much vicarious fun travelling along with you since I left the ship in Hong Kong.

Enjoy your last couple of days at sea and please have a safe trip home to California.

 

Valerie:)

[ger_77]

I have a question for you - where the heck do you put 16 bags in your cabin????? I can't imagine that; we had 3 in ours while we were packing the last day and it drove me crazy stepping over or around them.

 

I feel sad that your cruise is coming to an end - I've really enjoyed the trip and all the ports you've taken us to. Once again, thank you for being so diligent in posting your reports and so complete with your descriptions. It's been a wonderful journey, and I'm looking forward to your next adventure!

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[Aussie Gal]

Bill and Mary Ann,

 

Thanks for taking us on this wonderful voyage. I have enjoyed reading of your exploits and have felt that I have been there. Safe travelling and I hope that you will bring us along next year on your WC once again.

 

Jennie

[Skye23]

Thanks for "taking me along" on your grand cruise. I've really enjoyed reading about it. Maybe someday if I'm lucky I'll get to experience one myself. I looked up the price of next years and decided my retirement planning will need some adjusting. Although my hubby's question was of a far different sort - what on earth would we do with our cats? Luckily I've got around 30 years till retirement to save up, and figure out how to answer his question! :D

[PrincessYoga]

Safe home... Thanks for keeping updated on your amazing adventure.

[DeltaBC]

We have really enjoyed your reports. Since we got off in Singapore we have looked forward to you intresting stories and adventurers. We are hoping to do the 2009 world so all being well we will see you then. Thanks again and have a safe journey home. Iris & Donn

[Love Cruises]

Thank you Bill and Mary Ann for the great job you have done sharing your world cruise with all your Cruise Critic friends. What a fantastic adventure you have given all of us. I couldn't wait each day to see what you posted about your daily activities in all the ports of call. Your summaries were geography and history lessons for us all. What a great travel log!!!!

 

We will continue to monitor the boards to see any future trips you choose to share with us.

 

Thanks again and have a safe trip home!!!!

[cruisencarol]

Excellent Thread!!!

 

Some of us may not be as well suited for such a long cruise as you two obviously are.

 

Which segment was your favorite? I thought it might make more sense to try a segment one day to see how I liked it.

 

Again this has been great reading.

 

Glad to see the two of you enjoyed yourselves!!