Wednesday Dec 28 - Day 2 Key West

Day 2 photos

There is a vibration on the Voyager when you are at speed. It is easily felt in room 748 when the ship is trying to make good time. The good news is that it is only a vibration problem and otherwise the Voyager seems to handle rather well. So far, there has been none of the bouncing side to side problems we felt on the Diamond in the Caribbean or the porpoising behavior we have seen on the Orient Lines Crown Oddessey (which we spent 42 days on in the last quarter of 2001, Barcelona to Singapore via Capetown). But the vibration problem is definitely here in 748. Unless you have a heavy object in the center of the coffee table, the glass in the table rattles with the vibration. The seas are like glass, but the vibration is there, strictly from the ship's movement.

Our tasks today are to see Key West, and then follow up on the luggage status, and see about getting the promised room internet connection into 748. (We have an email from Radisson corporate in July saying we will have such a connection.)

Clay walked outside on the track above deck 11 this morning from about 5-6am and saw the sun come up. The are 7 laps to a mile (much better than the Diamond's 11-13? laps to a mile). He shared the tracked with only 1 person for the last 5 minutes.

After breakfast (and an on-deck bleach episode), we left the ship around 9am to go ashore. Debbie called her Mother in Bonita Springs as this may be the last chance for a cheap call until San Diego. (Clay lost his BlackBerry signal around 7am on Thurs Dec 29 as the ship rounded Cuba heading south. Until then, the Blackberry was able to access email and phone signals without problems.) We then walked over to the visitors information center and got a walking tour map. Our goal was to walk about a mile over to the cemetery seeing sights along the way. The helpful woman at the center recommended Bo's for a grouper sandwich when Clay asked. There were three cruise ships docked in Key West for the day. So, Duval Street was very active with lots of shoppers. Debbie purchased two pairs of shorts and a shirt there (because of the on-deck bleach incident). Our walk to the cemetery took us away from the crowds, and Bo's was busy but not overly packed. It was a pleasant morning. We got back the to ship around 2 well within the 3:30 all-aboard time.

The evening attire was formal for the Captain's Dinner. Beforehand, they offered drinks in a block party that took place in all the cabin halls. The menu had lobster, caviar, beef wellington. The food was very good, and it was a pleasant evening. See the pictures for details of the meal.

So far here are some of the very helpful hints noted so far culled from the LCT board - Thanks

1) KMart's Martha Stewart over-the-door shoebag
2) Magnets - bring twice as many as you think you need - you can also ask your stewardess for these (The walls and doors of your cabin are metal. Magnets will create a lot of space for you to post things that you want to have in sight without cluttering surfaces or losing things when the stewardess moves your things/papers off of surfaces.)

Day 2 photos

Tuesday Dec 27 - Day 1 Ft. Lauderdale

Debbie's Mother, grandmother and aunt drove us from Bonita Strings to Fort Lauderdale to catch the ship. They had been cleared as Voyager guests about a month ago, so they could visit the ship as they dropped us off. We left the west coast of FL about 11 am, and got to Port Everglades just after 1 pm. We had about 8 pieces of carry-on luggage, including 3 roll-around bags, 2 laptop cases, a printer in a box to which Debbie had attached a handle, a camera, a spotting scope in a case, a backpack and a world map in a tube. A Radisson employee guided us through and the checkin process was quick, but the cabin would not be available until 3pm. Nothing would do except that the Radisson rep. separate us from Grandma, so we boarded while she wheeled Grandma off somewhere else and we had to wait on the ship to see her again. We don't really understand why because we all took the elevator at the port to see Grandma off the ship without any separation or assistance. So, we dropped the carry-on  pieces in the cabin. First thing we did was have lunch. We were handed a letter on boarding telling us what was open and where for "early embarkation" when we boarded right at 1:30pm. LaVeranda was listed as open until 2pm and we arrived there at 1:45pm to be told it was closed and only the the pool grill on deck 11 was open for lunch. So, pool grill it was for It was a pleasant day, sunny but not too hot as we sat on deck eating hot dogs, sandwiches and salads. After lunch, we toured the ship with our guests, and finally got to the cabin just after 3pm. About 10 minutes to 4, we saw Debbie's relatives off as they had to leave the ship by 4. The muster drill was at 4:15 and we were to sail at 5pm. We then spent an hour or so waiting anxiously for our shipped luggage to show up. About 2 hours later, all pieces had been delivered but someone had pilfered the bags taking miscellaneous stuff.

The Luggage

Our five bags that we shipped via IPS finally got delivered to our room. Four of the five bags were delivered just as the ship left FLL. About 1 hour later, the final bag was delivered. Voyager departed FLL more than an hour late because IPS had not delivered the World Cruisers' baggage before the scheduled departure time.

One hardsided bag was completely opened only being held together by the strap we had wrapped around it. Three of the soft sided bags had been pilfered. For example, someone had removed a pair of Debbie's shoes that had been packed inside Clay's patton leather tux shoes which were inside cotton shoe bags. The tux shoes were gone, and one of the cotton shoe bags was also gone, but Debbie's shoes were still in the suitcase. Other things missing included a 35 oz bottle of Nutragena Rain Bath, 10 batteries, a box of Lance nabs, a pair of Minolta binoculars, and other miscellaneous things. It did not make for a good start. We checked our inventory lists against the contents of the delivered bags and submitted a copy of the inventories with the missing items marked Tuesday night to the Guest Relations manager onboard. So far (morning of December 29), we have not heard anything regarding the missing items.

The Compass Rose Dinner

We took time out of unpacking to eat dinner in Compass Rose, the main dining room.  Debbie had the chicken and Clay had the pompano. Our only previous experience with Radisson was on the Diamond in February. Clay thought the Sommeliers on the Diamond were a little more attentive when it came to keeping the glasses full, but Debbie did not notice this. There was unlimited wine and we certainly had a sufficiency. We stayed up past midnight working on preparing our luggage report.

 

Christmas Sunday

We got to Florida without incident in the rental car. Debbie’s Dad was much sicker when we arrived late Tuesday morning, the 20th. The hospice nurse was with him and warned Debbie’s Mom that he only had 24 to 48 hours to live. He died on Friday morning, the 23rd, about 8:30am with his wife and both his children at his bedside. It has been a stressful and very sad time all around. We are all sad and yet at the same time relieved that his suffering is over. It has been a bittersweet Christmas. Debbie’s Mom, Grandma and her Dad’s sister will be driving us over to Ft. Lauderdale to the Voyager and get to visit the ship on Tuesday. Again, it will be a mixed emotion event.

PACKED!

5 bags/268 pounds!!!

Well, we never thought we would need the entire luggage allowance that RSSC has for included shipment to Voyager. 6 bags/270 pounds per cabin/couple. But, here we are with 5 bags and 268 pounds. Ready for pickup by IPS on Monday. It was a big job! Looks like we both wanted to seriously overpack, but you just keep thinking 4 months! Anyway, we whittled it down to 5 bags and 268 pounds! Today, we have to get packed for the week in Florida with Debbie's family and make sure it will all fit in our tiny car trunk. Then we are off!

Oops, sadly here we are with today's addendum. We could not fit all the Christmas presents and the rest of the stuff for the cruise in the SLK's tiny trunk. So, we have rented a full-size car one-way from Budget and will be driving that to FL tomorrow. The best laid plans...yada yada....

Itinerary

Here we are a dozen days from sailing! Debbie is doing a last laundry day. We will pack everything up this weekend for pickup by IPS on Monday. We also leave town on Monday for Florida. Four days to departure. Unbelievable, but it is almost here!

There have been lots of adjustments to the WC itinerary since we signed up nearly 12 months ago. But, since we'll be sailing in less than 2 weeks hopefully the schedule as posted online now is as final as can be. So, here it is!

Date Day Port               Dress Code     Arrive Depart
12/27 T  Ft Lauderdale, FL  Country Club Casual   17:00
12/28 W  Key West, FL       Formal          08:00-16:00
12/29 Th At Sea             CCC
12/30 F  San Andres Island  Informal        16:00-18:00
12/31 Sa Panama Canal Transit               06:30-09:45
12/31 Sa Panama Canal - Gatun Yacht Club    10:00-16:00
12/31 Sa Panama Canal Transit               16:30-21:00
1/1 Su   At Sea              InF
1/2 M    Puntarenas          CCC            08:00-17:00
1/3 T    At Sea              F
1/4 W    Huatulco            CCC            13:00-18:00
1/5 Th   Acapulco            CCC            09:00-19:00
1/6 F    At Sea              InF
1/7 Sa   Cabo San Lucas      CCC            08:00-17:00
1/8 Su   At Sea              F
1/9 M    San Diego, CA       CCC            09:00-18:00
1/10 T   Los Angeles, CA     CCC                  17:00
1/11 W   At Sea  
1/12 Th  At Sea   InF
1/13 F   At Sea   CCC
1/14 Sa  At Sea   InF
1/15 Su  At Sea   CCC
1/16 M   At Sea   F
1/17 T   Nuku Hiva (Taiohae) CCC            08:00-16:00
1/18 W   At Sea              InF
1/19 Th  Papeete, Tahiti     CCC            10:00
1/20 F   Papeete, Tahiti     CCC                  05:00
1/20 F   Moorea              CCC            08:00-18:00
1/21 Sa  Raiatea             CCC            08:00-18:00
1/22 Su  Bora Bora           InF            08:00-16:00
1/23 M   At Sea   F
1/24 T   At Sea   InF
1/26 Th  Cross International Dateline CCC
1/27 F   At Sea              InF
1/28 Sa  Auckland, NZ        CCC            09:00-23:00
1/29 Su  Bay of Islands      CCC            08:00-17:00
1/30 M   At Sea              InF
1/31 T   At Sea              F
2/1 W    Sydney, Australia   CCC            09:00  
2/2 Th   Sydney              CCC
2/3 F    Sydney              F              13:00
2/4 Sa   Phillip Island      CCC            19:00-23:00
2/5 Su   Melbourne           CCC            07:00-23:00
2/6 M    At Sea              InF
2/7 T    Adelaide            CCC            07:00-23:00
2/8 W    At Sea              InF
2/9 Th   At Sea              InF
2/10 F   Albany              CCC            07:00-13:00
2/11 Sa  Fremantle           CCC            09:00-20:00
2/12 Su  At Sea              InF
2/13 M   At Sea              F
2/14 T   At Sea              InF
2/15 W   Bali (Padang Bai)   CCC            09:00-22:00
2/16 Th  At Sea              InF
2/17 F   At Sea              F
2/18 Sa  Sandakan, Malaysia  CCC            08:00-18:00
2/19 Su  Kota Kinabalu       CCC            08:00-18:00
2/20 M   At Sea              InF
2/21 T   Manila, Philippines CCC            08:00-23:00
2/22 W   At Sea              F
2/23 Th  Hong Kong           CCC            12:00
2/24 F   Hong Kong           CCC
2/25 Sa  Hong Kong           CCC                  23:00
2/26 Su  At Sea              F
2/27 M   Hong Gai (for Hanoi)CCC            08:00
2/28 T   Hong Gai (for Hanoi)InF                  15:00
2/28 T   Halong Bay          InF
3/1 W    Chan May (Hue)      CCC            08:00 18:00
3/2 Th   At Sea              F
3/3 F    Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) CCC      08:00
3/4 Sa   Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) InF            16:00
3/5 Su   At Sea              InF
3/6 M    Laem Chabang (Bangkok) CCC         08:00
3/7 T   Laem Chabang (Bangkok)  CCC               17:00
3/8 W   At Sea               F
3/9 Th  Singapore            CCC            14:00
3/10 F  Singapore            CCC    16:00
3/11 Sa Penang (Georgetown)  CCC            13:00-20:00
3/12 Su Phuket               InF            08:00-18:00
3/13 M  At Sea               F
3/14 T  Yangon               CCC            08:00
3/15 W  Yangon               InF                  16:00
3/16 Th At Sea               InF
3/17 F  At Sea               F
3/18 Sa At Sea               InF
3/19 Su Cochin, India        InF            08:00-15:30
3/20 M  Goa                  CCC            13:00-18:00
3/21 T  Mumbai (Bombay)      CCC            08:00
3/22 W  Mumbai (Bombay)      CCC                  18:00
3/23 Th At Sea               InF
3/24 F  At Sea               F
3/25 Sa Dubai,UAE            CCC            08:00
3/26 Su Dubai                CCC                 23:00
3/27 M  Fujairah             CCC           13:00-19:00
3/28 T  Muscat, Oman         InF           08:00-18:00
3/29 W  At Sea               F
3/30 Th Salalah              CCC           07:00-12:00
3/31 F  At Sea               InF
4/1 Sa  At Sea               CCC
4/2 Su  At Sea               F
4/3 M   Safaga, Egypt        CCC           09:00
4/4 T   Safaga               InF                 18:00
4/5 W   Aqaba, Jordan        CCC           07:00-19:00
4/6 Th  Suez Canal           InF           13:00  
4/7 F   Suez Canal           CCC                 18:00
4/7 F   Port Said            CCC           19:00-21:00
4/8 Sa  At Sea               CCC
4/9 Su  At Sea               InF
4/10 M  Tripoli              CCC           08:00-19:00
4/11 Tu Syracusa, Sicily     F            12:00-18:00
4/12 W  Sorrento, Italy      CCC           09:00-18:00
4/13 Th Civitavecchia (for Rome)CCC        08:00-18:00
4/14 F  Monte Carlo          F             08:00-18:00
4/15 Sa Barcelona, Spain     CCC           12:00
4/16 Su Barcelona            InF                 01:00
4/17 M  Malaga               CCC           08:00-19:00
4/18 T  At Sea               InF
4/19 W  Funchal, Madeira     CCC           08:00-18:00
4/20 Th At Sea               InF
4/21 F  At Sea               CCC
4/22 Sa At Sea               F
4/23 Su At Sea               CCC
4/24 M  At Sea               InF
4/25 T  Hamilton, Bermuda    CCC           09:00-16:00
4/26 W  At Sea               F
4/27 Th At Sea               CCC
4/28 F  Ft Lauderdale, FL    Disembarks 

Sorry this is so sloppy. It seems that we have finally found a real drawback to this journal feature; no formatting!

Regarding Dress Code above: RSSC states attire ranges from country club casual to informal and formal. Country Club casual (resort-style outfits) is appropriate for daytime on board ship or ashore.  Evening attire can be Country Club casual, informal or formal.  Casual wear includes open neck shirts, slacks and sport outfits.  For informal evenings, dresses or pantsuits, coats and ties are suggested.  Formal evening-wear is gowns and cocktail dresses, tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suits. 

 

Preparations nearly complete...

We leave home to begin this journey in 3 weeks from yesterday. IPS is scheduled to pickup our luggage for delivery to RSSC Voyager in Ft. Lauderdale on 12/19/05 between 1:30 and 4:30 in the afternoon. We plan to start driving to Bonita Springs, FL as soon as the luggage is picked up. We will spend Christmas with Debbie's family and join Voyager on 12/27/05 from her parents' home. Yesterday, Brown & Keene contacted us to arrange Weds. delivery of our cruise tickets! Today, Brown & Keene contacted us to arrange delivery of our visitor requests for 12/27/05. Hopefully, some of Debbie's family who got pre-approved will be able to see us off with a visit to the Voyager. Sadly, Debbie's father was admitted to hospice services yesterday. This is sad for obvious reasons, but we are hopeful that it will provide some much needed relief to her parents as well. With the situation as it is, we have reserved a rental car and may have to make the trip to the Voyager alone on the 27th. Either way, we are prepared for it and it will be a sad farewell as well as an exciting one.

We have had our flu shots, Clay will see the dentist today (Debbie went 2 weeks ago). Need to get the car inspected and all our billing/taxes paperwork in final order. Get packed! Shut down the house. We are nearly ready. It seems like we have been preparing for this forever and it is hard to believe that it is now really nearly here.

Clay's ready with his first tuxedo!

Clay's formal fashion

We leave home to begin this trip in just about 6 weeks. We will probably head for Florida and Debbie's Mom's house for Christmas on 12/19, right after the luggage gets picked up. RSSC provides complimentary luggage shipping to and from the Voyager for full World Cruisers. (The limitations are 3 bags per person with a weight limit of 45 lbs. per bag. So 6 bags and 270 lbs. per cabin.) Clay thinks Debbie should be further along in the packing process! Right, Clay is still buying clothes that he didn't think he needed! We got to studying and it looks like 22 formal nights, 39 informal nights and 62 country club casual nights. So, Clay should be able to get his money's worth out of that tux even if he never wears it again after this cruise!

Final Payment Made

So, we are now within 90 days of departure and final payment was made last week. Whew! We are starting to make serious preparations for being gone for 4 months. Debbie has already scheduled the complimentary IPS luggage pickup for 12/19/2005. Though when asked to describe the number, weight and size of the bags, she had to confess that she had not actually started packing yet!

We have booked and paid for 2 overland trips. One to the Taj Mahal for an overnight and a 2-nighter to Cambodia. The Cambodia trip departs from Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam on the 2nd day there and visits Phnom Penh and Siem Reap for Angkor Wat and then we meet back up with the RSSC folks in Bangkok for the hotel overnight there that is included in the cruise fare. We had purchased CSA trip insurance that we found online at www.insuremytrip.com back in January when we booked. Debbie last week had the policy coverage upped by $6980 to cover these excursions that had to be paid at final payment and are non-refundable at 60 days from departure, so next month. (Note: insuremytrip.com will not sell a policy over $100,000 total over the Internet, but it is easy enough to shop for a policy there at that maximum to make your choices and then call the 800 number to purchase the policy for the actual amount.)

Between the time of initial deposit and final payment, Debbie's father has completely lost the use of both his arms and legs from ALS. Her Grandfather had his 90th birthday yesterday and he and her Grandmother have had some declines as well during the last 8 months. Debbie has spent some extra time down in Florida during this period to try to help her Mom out with all of them, but not a lot that can be done except being there fulltime to lend a hand when needed and that is just not really possible for her. Debbie's family has continued to insist that we not let them interfere with our big trip plans, but it is hard. Clay's view is that we should do this while we can because you never know when it will be our turn to be disabled. Since Clay is a decade older than Debbie, she agrees that if he feels that way and now is his time, OK.

In any event, we are both committed to making the big full circle of the planet now and are making preparations to be out of the country and on the move for 4 months. We are fairly well prepared for this from our experiences with the round-the-world trip of 2001, the only difference being that this is for about twice as long and will cover tax time.  

It is getting closer and feels much more real now!

Finished RSSC Diamond Qualifying Cruise

You will find an exhaustive trip journal for the mini-cruise that we had to take to be past RSSC passengers and qualify for discounts on the World Cruise at http://rsscdiamondsanjuanrt22005.blogspot.com/

Highlights of 2001 Easterly World Circumnavigation

2001 Highlights

Click the link above for photos.

Our favorite day of 2001's eastward circumnavigation

Debbie holding Little Bob, our mascot, with Jackass Penguins on Boulders Beach, outside Simonstown, south of Cape Town, South Africa in November 2001. A very good day.

Prelude

Above is our World Cruise route map minus the Western Hemisphere and the beginning Panama Canal segment!

Prelude to a Circumnavigation Cruise on RSSC Voyager 2005-2006

We started researching this trip a few years ago. Here is some background on that. Debbie had a personal goal in 2001 of circumnavigating the globe in the first year of the new millennium. We started planning and saving for that trip in 1999 and then September 11, 2001 happened. All our plans started to unravel, airlines and cruiselines shut down, then Clay was laid off from his job. We tried to cobble our dream trip back together piece by piece, but it was not looking good, everyday it seemed as if there were another stumbling block to be overcome. We were originally supposed to leave home to start this journey on the 25th of October and that turned out to be 2 days before the end of Clay’s employment as well. We had to do some serious reevaluation. After a few days of thinking, we decided that we would not celebrate the first year of the new millennium by being victims. With Clay unemployed, we could be gone a lot longer than we had originally planned and we decided to make the most of it. We cancelled everything that had been previously booked and rebooked and Debbie found a long cruise that had been newly rerouted and was sailing nearly empty leaving Barcelona at the end of October and sailing around Africa to end in Singapore. We booked everything through one TA (thanks Jan Fishbein) and Orient Lines and took a 52-day trip traveling eastward around the globe by air and sea. We flew Business Class air roundtrip and got a penthouse cabin. We cruised for 45 days on the Crown Odyssey with about 300 other hardy, adventurous souls. It might have been a crazy decision. We lost some money on the first trip unraveling after 9/11 and we spent about 4 times more money on the replacement trip than the original trip had cost, but we never regretted doing it for an instant, then or since.

It turned out that what Debbie thought was fulfilling a goal only created a monster in Clay. Clay now felt that only a complete surface circumnavigation would be the proper way to do such a thing and that he liked long cruises and that he did not want to travel east again. We started looking and liked the sound of RSSC. We tracked the first Voyager World Cruise from the first public word of it in March 2004. Our 20th anniversary is in May of 2005 and we thought we could use that as an excuse to take the next Voyager World Cruise if there was one. We thought we would have until March 2005 to make a decision, but Debbie was keeping a keen eye on things and saw posted on Cruise Critic on 12/30/04 that RSSC had a schedule out for the next WC already. Clay checked at work that day and found that he would be allowed 3-4 months off at the beginning of 2006. (He had taken limited leave for 2004 and was willing to do so again for 2005 to bank the time off for this trip.) Ngaire posted the next Voyager World Cruise on http://www.brownandkeenetravel.com on January 1, 2005! It traveled westward again through both canals and since it did not leave Ft. Lauderdale until after Christmas this time we could be on the entire circumnavigation without disrupting family plans. We emailed her that day and by January 3 had booked the Diamond 2/2/05 4-night San Juan-San Juan cruise to qualify for past passenger discounts for the WC. We got our names on a waitlist for the WC. On January 24, we put down our 20% deposit to hold cabin 748. Even being so early to book, we did not get the G cabin that we first requested. So, the lesson here, readers, is that you cannot start planning something like this too soon. Of course, the lesson from the paragraph above is that you should wait until the last minute and then find what you need. So, who knows?