Summary and then some. I did not ever imagine that I would be writing this summary some almost two months before the scheduled end of the World Cruise, but here we are. Covid-19 has taken the world by storm and is forcing the world to bend on its knees. If the world pays attention and isolates and waits this out we will rise up from this bended position to resume life but with always an ear to people sneezing and coughing while we will continue to wash our hands. This too shall pass. So from my quarantined position, I give you my view of the World Cruise along with a forced select few favourite pictures from our adventure, pretty close to half way around the planet.
The World Cruise is different from any other cruise we have been on, it has the same feeling and vibe of a Grand Voyage but takes it to another level. This difference comes from the passengers and crew, many that are repeat world cruisers. From the beginning the air was full of guests returning to their winter homes (the ms Amsterdam), hugs and chats and picking up conversations that may have begun a year ago. As we crested our 700 day Platinum Medal on this cruise it pales in comparison to pretty much most of the guests on this ship, probably 80 plus percent with over 1,000 days easy. Couple this with the almost 90 President Club guests (guests with in excess of 1,400 days at sea), we were the babies on board. I note this as it is this group of people, many of the most valued HAL mariners, and with that many functions and events are catered to them - and so they should be. This particular World Cruise was pretty much sold out because of the itinerary, well one of the reasons we were on it, and with that we were told that with so many on board how could it still maintain the specialness of a Grand Voyage. Well, from my perceptive this cruise still had all the hallmarks of a true Grand Voyage. There was a good energy on board and we never had a problem with finding a good spot to sit or felt corralled in any way, every time we went to the Lido market for instance there was never a wait of more than a few people. The food both in the Lido and in the dining room was excellent, thanks in great part to Chef Petr. For us, the other major component is the entertainment and production shows which were simply fantastic, many thanks to Bruce Scudder (so great seeing him again, he was our first Grand Voyage, Cruise Director). This will also be the last cruise with in house Singers and Dancers, a shame really especially on these Grand Voyages. The only time it felt different was when we were at a tender port. Some people felt it important to begin waiting is line as early as 4:30 in the morning, crazy. This was not great if you had an early excursion that was not ship sponsored, you see many of these people are up early anyway and get an early tender ticket, just to get a ticket then they would be able to get off whenever they wanted. So their colour and number would be called and if they were not ready they would just wait and go down even though the next number or even the following number was called, so not following the protocol of collecting a ticket when “you and your party are ready to leave”, frustrating if you do need to get off. BTW, this does not apply to President club members or suite guests, they can jump on any tender at any time. I found it best not to book an excursion but go down and get a ticket, ask what the lead time was to getting off and adjust my breakfast time accordingly. All first world problems I know.
It was an honour to be on Captain Mercer’s last Grand World Cruise as he is retiring after this one, we are only so sorry that his career ended with this one cut so short. As I write this the Amsterdam is floating at fuel efficient speed with energy saving lower light and air conditioning, they are hoping to still be able to re-provision in Durban, South Africa. Yes, we are sad that the cruise had to end the way it did but we had no choice and we believe that HAL did all the right things as we look at this with hindsight. We along with many wanted to see this out by sailing with the Amsterdam back to Fort Lauderdale but we do see now that this was not the correct call. We do hope the skeleton crew on board have a safe and unadventurous journey back. Also for us, this was to be “our World Cruise”, our 2020 20 cruise, celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. We figured we had one world cruise in us and that this would be it, it is a long time to be away and as we all know so many things can go wrong the longer you are away for. We shall see, yes we will continue cruising but not likely an entire WC. For many of the repeat world cruisers on board it was like, “oh well. this one didn’t work out, see you next year” and for the same many, they have also already blindly booked the 2022 WC, this one will just be the one that they and we will always remember. So to all I bid fair winds and a following sea as we move forward from this. Cheers to future cruising and wish safety to those ships still wandering out looking for a place to dock and disembark.
On a more personal note, thank you all for following us on our journey, certainly different to many of our others. We know though our count that we have many new people following us, so welcome to the blog and for the repeat readers, thank you and thank you to all for your many comments both in the blog and the emails. If you haven’t done so, please send us a friend request on FB and as always stayed tuned for our future travels. And now for a summary of our pics, hope you enjoy… In three parts.
Quote of the day - “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” – Mark Twain
And we are off, Welcome Home sign, a nice touch, cheers!
Castries, Saint Lucia
Devil's Island, in French Guiana, check out the movie, Pappillon.
Belem, Brazil
Recife, Brazil
Punta del Este, Uruguay, beautiful seaside city...
Illegal fishing vessels, captured and left to rot...
The Antarctic experience, Alaska on Steroids...
Thanks for this blob, I have enjoyed it throughout the cruise and now that I am home will be rereading it, along with a few others. Be well. I hope we can cruise together again some day. We did blindly book 2020, although I am not sure we will be on it, I just wanted to hold a place.
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Rich
I mean BLOG. not Blob. Sorry
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