John and Diane's Amazing Round the World Aventure

[starysacz]

Have a great trip. We will be looking forward to your review. :)

[innlady1]

I look forward to reading about your journey, John and Diane. What a thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime journey!

[I&J Cruisers]

Have a wonderful trip. I'll surely be lurking here. I find these world cruise blogs positively addicting. Thankyou for sharing with us.

[Aussie Gal]

John and Diane,

 

I too look forward to reading your posts. Have a wonderful cruise and we welcome you "down under". The Bridge Climb is fabulous and a fun thing to do in Sydney.

 

We will also be doing quite a bit of your itinerary in April/May when we cruise from Hong Kong to Athens via India, Oman, Egypt and Jordan so I will be interested in reading of your time in Agra (which we will also be doing), Luxor and Jordan.

 

Bon Voyage and calm seas especially across the Pacific!

 

Jennie

[sable1]

Also looking forward to your postings. I still remember when Grumpy posted his very humorous W.C. report.

Some day we hope to do a W.C. Enjoy.

And I would be interested in what your starting weight is and how much you gain through the cruise, if any. That's something I would worry about.

Happy sailing,

Joanne

[LambKnuckles]

Enjoy the Netherlands (my sister lives in Den Hauge and I LOVE that country). And I love my travels through India. Dal Lake in Kashmir with the houseboats is fabulous, and of course, the Taj Mahal and Ganges...

 

Oh, you'll be creating your own great memories... Have a blast!!

LK

[Toad]

I am so excited for you and also sooooo jealous. I will live the world cruise through your posts!

[cdkempton]

What a wonderful gift to yourselves. Have a wonderful, wonderful cruise. I'll be watching for your entries and read with delight (and just a teeny bit of envy. :rolleyes:

BON VOYAGE!!!

[Deb C.]

Hope you have a wonderful time.:cool:

Will you be posting your blog on this thread or a separate website? I wish to follow along and just wondered where to look!! Thanks!

I have a friend onboard right now (day 97 for him) and he will be staying onboard for the world cruise, too. Over 200 days onboard in a row. You guys sure are lucky!! He also was on last year's world cruise on the Amsterdam. It is really interesting to compare blogs. Different views and opinions of the same cruise! Deb C.

[cruz chic]

I have a friend onboard right now (day 97 for him) and he will be staying onboard for the world cruise, too. Over 200 days onboard in a row. You guys sure are lucky!! He also was on last year's world cruise on the Amsterdam. It is really interesting to compare blogs. Different views and opinions of the same cruise! Deb C.

 

I know you don't mean anything by it but it bothers me when people say I'm lucky when I take 2 cruises per year. Luck really doesn't have anything to do with it. I don't win these cruises and pay for them by working very hard and saving. I know it's something people love to say but it just may bother others like it bothers me.

[Jade13]

I know you don't mean anything by it but it bothers me when people say I'm lucky when I take 2 cruises per year. Luck really doesn't have anything to do with it. I don't win these cruises and pay for them by working very hard and saving. I know it's something people love to say but it just may bother others like it bothers me.

 

I personally would never make that comment to anyone. I have heard of people selling their (only) home to take a World cruise.

[emmalbrent]

Our Royal Princess/Amazon cruisemate is with you Bob Alspach. So will will be watching the blog. Have a great cruise.

[kryos]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It's World Cruise time again. I so enjoy traveling along with our world cruisers and partaking of all the fun they are having.

 

Thanks so much for setting up this blog. I will be anxiously awaiting reading your entries.

 

Blue skies and safe and wonderful travels!

 

--rita

[Meg]

Thank you so much for doing this! Every year we hope that someone on board the world cruise will keep us informed, entertained and enlightened. We look forward to these posts and will catch up on our reading after we return from our Australia-New Zealand cruise on the Statendam. Again, thank you for doing this and we hope this will indeed be one fabulous journey for you!

Meg

[Mary Ellen]

We're also wishing you Bon Voyage and are very much looking forward to reading your blog. Thank you so much for taking the time (and $) to do so.

[cruznon]

What a wonderful adventure! Thank you so much for sharing it with all of us. I look forward to reading your posts as you cruise around the world. Bon Voyage!

[OldCodger73]

John and Diane, I'm looking forward to your world tour. You're following in some mighty big footprints with your blog, for example in the steps of Ides of March, Bill and Mary, and arzz to name only a few, but from your first post it seems you'll be more than up to it.

 

Thanks for sharing with us.

[Sage]

Thank you for giving us all the chance to join you on your world cruise. I can hardly wait for your adventure to begin.

[Loreto]

Congratulations and best wishes for a wonderful adventure! As English teachers think about all the great literature written about, in, or inspired by the many places you will visit! I am very happy for you both.

Karen

[Cruising-along]

We'll visit Grand Cayman, Costa Rica, Panama, French Polynesia, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin), Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth), Bali, Brunei, Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, India (Madras and Bombay), Oman, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Libya (maybe), Gibraltar, Portugal, Madeira, Bermuda, New York and, on April 27, Ft. Lauderdale again.

 

Thank you again for doing this! I'll be watching to see if you do in fact go to Libya. It's on our itinerary for the Rotterdam May 26 and we're wondering when we'll find out if we will be going there or not. It sounds like you haven't been told yet, and you're leaving next week. :confused: Of course I see that it's listed as something like day 97 for you, so you've got some time before it becomes an issue! :D

[Love Cruises]

Another world cruise blog to watch for ...YEAH!!!!

 

Thanks so much for doing this for all your cruise critic friends.

BON VOYAGE with calm seas and great weather!!!

[puddles'n splashes]

What a wonderful adventure you will be having and thoughtfully sharing with all of us who visit these boards. I have eagerly read everyone's world cruise blog since Grumpy posted his. The Amsterdam is our favourite ship and I'm certain you will enjoy your time on her.

Fair seas and blue skies.:)

[MLAinVA]

DH and I are just beginning to consider a world cruise in 2010 and will be reading your posts to see if we should go forward in planning. We love to cruise, no question about that, but will learn much from your adventure. Thanks in advance for taking the time to write.

Bon voyage!

Mary Lou

[PhoenixCruiser]

How exciting!!! Only a few more days :D

 

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[Johnny B]

What do you call a day that begins at 5:00 AM (PST) and ends up at 10:00 (EST) at night across a continent in a limo headed for a 4-star hotel? Incredible! After a hectic two days of finalizing details, farming out the cat, and occasionally wondering why we were doing this, we checked in at our local airport at 6:00 AM and were told that our plane was missing one important part - a pilot. Because of that, there was a long line of folks getting their connections changed, since we were all going to be leaving more than an hour late, just after the new pilot was flown in from LAX. Fortunately for us, we had a nice long layover in LA, so we had no problem connecting.

 

LAX to Orlando was pretty uneventful, but it was wonderful going into a bar at the airport for dinner, ordering a glass of wine and being CARDED! That hasn't happened for ever so long. I guess they have a really strict state law that requires that everyone be carded.

 

The puddlejumper from Orlando to Miami bounced around in the sky like popcorn in a popper (remember those?) The plane was sooo small that the co-pilot was also the flight attendant (really).

 

Arriving at Miami, we were met by a representative of HAL who helped us with our luggage and escorted us to our stretch limo. We were the only ones in it, and we spent half the trip looking for the bottle of champagne - with no luck. Upon arrival at the Westin, arranged by our wonderful

"Specialist" agents, we put our bags away and headed for the bar (do you see a theme here?) The big draw for the bar isn't what you think - it has free internet, whereas in the rooms one must pay. It was really lovely and warm at night and then . . .

 

This morning we woke up and even needed jackets in the restaurant. We happen to have perfectly planned our stay in Florida for the coldest days of the winter thus far. It was 80 yesterday and will be the day after we sail, but these 2 days are 30's at night with a freeze warning and high 50's for the days. I know that those of you in the midwest and east think this is balmy, but we're "weather wimps" from California - we were looking forward to pool weather.

 

These 2 days are just R & R - a little shopping, out to lunch, naps in the afternoon - you know, practicing for the cruise! We won't even mention the 5 cases of wine we bought today (DH was a boy scout, you know).We're looking forward to setting sail on Friday.