Grand Voyage: September 20 - December 8, 2013

Decisions made. Now this was tough one but given all the cards here we are on the MS Amsterdam 2013 Grand Voyage sailing yesterday out of Vancouver and making our way on the itinerary as outlined below. Over the past three months Jan’s CAT Scan resulted in no change, which is wonderful news but the health of my brother is not where we all hoped it would be. He is managing and is being very well taken care of at home by his wife. Our thoughts and love will be with my brother and his family every day as we travel here in the Pacific. Perhaps if anything this will give his family something to look forward to as we publish our updates. We will now be updating the blog shortly after each port and after interesting ship events. Why we love Grand Voyages - we are at sea with nothing around us but the ship, the guests and crew. Many are repeat travelers and therefore you become for lack of better word a “sea family”. So many hellos, hugs and catch ups with everyone from the staff, to the officers (and wives/husbands) to the many repeat guests. We are still at the stage of seeing familiar faces and this will happen again as we sail into Los Angeles for the second installment of guests to join us (another 400). On these Grand Voyages, Holland America does not allow for party guests to join us for the three days from Vancouver to Los Angeles as it disrupts the flow of the guests continuing for the entire itinerary. So yes this impresses me as they could easily make a quick buck in selling a cheap cruise and fill the bars and casino for these three days. HAL is setting the tone for the Grand Voyage with only 500 passengers on the first wave as we are getting acquainted and reacquainted for the first few days, a benefit for those who did get on board in Vancouver. Our day began with the new Grand Master Tai Chi Instructor - not like on the other HAL ships where this person is part of the ships event staff but for us a special designated Grand Master, so far very good and very interesting. So we are settling in to the cruising lifestyle. We hope you will enjoy this adventure with us. Quote of the day: “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson Pictures include, New York friends departing with us, Jeff and Joy. Bob and Leslie from a previous cruise and Julie, the environment officer’s wife. Very fortunate with the weather on departure day about an hour later we cruised into rain... Today, much nicer, sunny and about 23 - pleasant.

Day Date Port Arrive Depart 0 20 Sep 2013 Vancouver, B.C., CA 04:45 PM 1 21 Sep 2013 At Sea 2 22 Sep 2013 At Sea 3 23 Sep 2013 Los Angeles, California, US 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 4 24 Sep 2013 At Sea 5 25 Sep 2013 At Sea 6 26 Sep 2013 At Sea 7 27 Sep 2013 At Sea 8 28 Sep 2013 Hilo, Hawaii, US 10:00 AM 06:00 PM 9 29 Sep 2013 Honolulu, Hawaii, US 07:00 AM 11:00 PM 10 30 Sep 2013 At Sea 11 01 Oct 2013 At Sea 12 02 Oct 2013 At Sea 13 03 Oct 2013 Cross International Dateline CO 14 05 Oct 2013 Majuro, Marshall Islands 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 15 06 Oct 2013 At Sea 16 07 Oct 2013 Pohnpei, Micronesia Noon 06:00 PM 17 08 Oct 2013 At Sea 18 09 Oct 2013 At Sea 19 10 Oct 2013 Guam (US Territory), Guam 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 20 11 Oct 2013 Saipan, Marianas Islands 08:00 AM 04:00 PM 21 12 Oct 2013 At Sea 22 13 Oct 2013 At Sea 23 14 Oct 2013 Kobe, Japan ON 04:00 PM 24 15 Oct 2013 Kobe, Japan 05:00 PM 25 16 Oct 2013 At Sea 26 17 Oct 2013 Naha, Japan 09:00 AM 06:00 PM 27 18 Oct 2013 At Sea 28 19 Oct 2013 Shanghai, China ON VX 08:00 AM 29 20 Oct 2013 Shanghai, China VX 05:00 PM 30 21 Oct 2013 At Sea 31 22 Oct 2013 At Sea 32 23 Oct 2013 Hong Kong, China ON 08:00 AM 33 24 Oct 2013 Hong Kong, China 05:00 PM 34 25 Oct 2013 At Sea 35 26 Oct 2013 Nha Trang, Vietnam 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 36 27 Oct 2013 At Sea 37 28 Oct 2013 Singapore ON 03:00 PM 38 29 Oct 2013 Singapore 03:00 PM 39 30 Oct 2013 At Sea 40 31 Oct 2013 Muara, Brunei Darussalam 11:00 AM 09:00 PM 41 01 Nov 2013 Kotakinabalu, Malaysia 07:00 AM 05:00 PM 42 02 Nov 2013 At Sea 43 03 Nov 2013 Manila, Philippines 08:00 AM 11:00 PM 44 04 Nov 2013 At Sea 45 05 Nov 2013 Cebu, Philippines 07:00 AM 05:00 PM 46 06 Nov 2013 At Sea 47 07 Nov 2013 At Sea 48 08 Nov 2013 Yap Island, Micronesia 08:00 AM 03:00 PM 49 09 Nov 2013 At Sea   50 10 Nov 2013 Crossing the Equator CO 51 11 Nov 2013 Rabaul, Papua New Guinea TR VX 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 52 12 Nov 2013 At Sea 53 13 Nov 2013 Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 54 14 Nov 2013 At Sea 55 15 Nov 2013 Luganville, Vanuatu 08:00 AM 04:00 PM 56 16 Nov 2013 At Sea 57 17 Nov 2013 Lautoka, Fiji 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 58 18 Nov 2013 Cross International Dateline CO 59 18 Nov 2013 At Sea 60 19 Nov 2013 Pago Pago, American Samoa 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 61 20 Nov 2013 At Sea 62 21 Nov 2013 At Sea 63 22 Nov 2013 Bora Bora, French Polynesia TR 08:00 AM 06:00 PM 64 23 Nov 2013 Papeete, French Polynesia ON 08:00 AM 65 24 Nov 2013 Papeete, French Polynesia 05:00 AM 65 24 Nov 2013 Moorea, French Polynesia TR 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 66 25 Nov 2013 Rangiroa, French Polynesia TR 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 67 26 Nov 2013 At Sea 68 27 Nov 2013 Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia TR 08:00 AM 05:00 PM 69 28 Nov 2013 At Sea 70 29 Nov 2013 Crossing the Equator CO 71 30 Nov 2013 At Sea 72 01 Dec 2013 At Sea 73 02 Dec 2013 At Sea 74 03 Dec 2013 At Sea 75 04 Dec 2013 Los Angeles, California, US 07:00 AM 76 05 Dec 2013 Drive to Palm Springs 77 06 Dec 2013 Visit with Cruise Friends in Palm Desert 78 07 Dec 3013 Visit with Cruise Friends in Palm Desert 79 08 Dec 2013 Fly Home from Palm Springs (WestJet)