Getting Ready to Go
A very Happy New Year and welcome to our blog for the Holland America 2023 Grand World Voyage+. I added the plus because we are actually boarding the ship five days early in Fort Lauderdale for a holiday cruise. It isn't so much for the holidays as it is to be on board when the actual world cruise begins Being on a Back-to-Back (two or more cruises while on the same ship) will keep us out of the confusion that always seems to come with a grand world boarding. I don't know why but it always seems so much more difficult than a regular cruise.
We'll be sailing from Fort Lauderdale on December 28th and joining the world cruise on January 3rd. We'll be back in Fort Lauderdale on May 12th. Looks like a total of 133 days. The first five days will be in the Caribbean; one sea day, two days in Amber Cover, Dominican Republic, and one day at the Holland America private island. (Update 12/28; just received e-mail that our itinerary has changed. We'll be leaving Amber Cove at 9 PM rather than overnight. According to the cruise line this will allow everyone to enjoy New Years Eve on the ship rather than shore. Last minute itinerary changes have become the norm in todays world. I can assure you we will not sail the published itinerary below.)
We'll be on a new ship this year. Our beloved Amsterdam was sold during the pandemic shut down. Our ship is the MS Zuiderdam. We heard that there will be around 1,400 passengers on board with a capacity of around 1,900. All the engineering details can be found at Zuiderdam Technical information We're sure to come to love her just as the Amsterdam. We'll talk about the ship when we are on board.
It looks like we are traveling a little lighter this year, only six suitcases sent forward rather than the usual eight.
There are three reasons for that. First, we have a new shipper this year, Luggage Forward has a long list of "do not ship items" that cut the amount we could send. Second, our experience with seven previous world cruises gives an idea of what we really need. And finally, we have to hold out a lot of items for the first five days. We'll probably have two or three more suitcases with us than we normally take in the car.
I've put our itinerary at the bottom of this post. We will be available by e-mail or posting here. We look forward to your comments, questions or just a general hello. Again, a very happy, healthy and safe New Year and we'll "see" you soon.
|
DATES |
PORT |
|
|
Jan 3,
2023 |
Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, US |
|
|
Jan 4,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Jan 5,
2023 |
Falmouth,
Jamaica |
|
|
Jan 6,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Jan 7,
2023 |
Puerto
Limon (San Jose), Costa Rica |
|
|
Jan 8,
2023 |
Enter
Panama Canal Cristobal |
|
|
Jan 8,
2023 |
Cruising
Panama Canal |
|
|
Jan 8,
2023 |
Exit
Panama Canal Balboa |
|
|
Jan 8, 2023 Jan 9,
2023 |
Fuerte
Amador, Panama OVERNIGHT,
TIMES ARE SUBJECT TO CANAL TRANSIT |
|
|
Jan 10-15,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Jan 16,
2023 |
Crossing
The Equator CRUISING ONLY |
|
|
Jan 17,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Jan 18,
2023 |
Taiohae,
Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia |
|
|
Jan 19-20,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Jan 21,
2023 Jan 22,
2023 |
Papeete,
French Polynesia |
|
|
Jan 22,
2023 |
Moorea,
French Polynesia |
|
|
Jan 23,
2023 Jan 24,
2023 |
Raiatea,
Society Islands, French Polynesia |
|
|
Jan 25-26,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Jan 27,
2023 |
Cross
International Dateline |
|
|
Jan 29,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Jan 30,
2023 |
Nuku
Alofa, Tonga |
|
|
Jan 31-Feb
1, 2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Feb 2,
2023 |
Auckland,
New Zealand |
|
|
Feb 3,
2023 |
Tauranga
(Rotorua), New Zealand |
|
|
Feb 4,
2023 |
Gisborne,
New Zealand |
|
|
Feb 5,
2023 |
Wellington,
New Zealand |
|
|
Feb 6-8,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Feb 9-10,
2023 |
Sydney,
Australia |
|
|
Feb 11,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Feb 12,
2023 |
Port
Arthur, Australia |
|
|
Feb 12,
2023 Feb 13,
2023 |
Hobart,
Tasmania, Australia |
|
|
Feb 13,
2023 |
Scenic
Cruising Cape Raoul |
|
|
Feb 14,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Feb 15,
2023 Feb 16,
2023 |
Adelaide,
South Australia, Australia |
|
|
Feb 17,
2023 |
Penneshaw,
Kangaroo Island, Australia |
|
|
Feb 18-20,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Feb 21,
2023 Feb 22,
2023 |
Fremantle
(Perth), Australia |
|
|
Feb 23-Mar
1, 2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Mar 2,
2023 |
Port
Louis, Mauritius |
|
|
Mar 3,
2023 |
La
Possession, Reunion |
|
|
Mar 4,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Mar 5,
2023 |
Tolanaro,
Madagascar |
|
|
Mar 6-7,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Mar 8,
2023 |
Maputo,
Mozambique VISA REQUIRED |
|
|
Mar 9,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Mar 10,
2023 |
Durban,
South Africa |
|
|
Mar 11,
2023 |
East
London, South Africa |
|
|
Mar 12,
2023 |
Port
Elizabeth, South Africa |
|
|
Mar 13,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Mar 14-15,
2023 |
Cape
Town, South Africa |
|
|
Mar 16,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Mar 17,
2023 |
Luderitz,
Namibia |
|
|
Mar 18,
2023 |
Walvis
Bay, Namibia |
|
|
Mar 19-20,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Mar 21,
2023 |
Luanda,
Angola VISA
REQUIRED, VACCINATION REQUIRED |
|
|
Mar 22-23,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Mar 24,
2023 |
Crossing
The Equator |
|
|
Mar 25,
2023 |
Takoradi,
Ghana |
|
|
Mar 26,
2023 |
Abidjan,
Ivory Coast |
|
|
Mar 27-28,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Mar 29,
2023 |
Banjul,
Gambia |
|
|
Mar 30,
2023 |
Dakar,
Senegal |
|
|
Mar 31-
Apr1, 2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Apr 2,
2023 |
Santa
Cruz (Tenerife), Canary Islands, Spain |
|
|
Apr 3,
2023 |
Arrecife,
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain |
|
|
Apr 4,
2023 |
Agadir,
Morocco |
|
|
Apr 5, 2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Apr 6,
2023 |
Casablanca,
Morocco |
|
|
Apr 7,
2023 |
Tangier,
Morocco |
|
|
Apr 8,
2023 |
Malaga,
Spain |
|
|
Apr 9,
2023 |
Cadiz
(Seville), Spain |
|
|
Apr 10,
2023 |
Lisbon,
Portugal |
|
|
Apr 11,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Apr 12,
2023 |
A
Coruna, Spain |
|
|
Apr 13,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Apr 14,
2023 |
Brest,
France |
|
|
Apr 15,
2023 |
Portland
(Weymouth), England, United Kingdom |
|
|
Apr 16,
2023 |
Le
Havre (Paris), France |
|
|
Apr 17,
2023 |
Zeebrugge
(Brussels), Belgium |
|
|
Apr 18-19,2023 |
Amsterdam,
The Netherlands |
|
|
Apr 20,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Apr 21,
2023 |
Copenhagen,
Denmark |
|
|
Apr 22,
2023 |
Oslo,
Norway |
|
|
Apr 22,
2023 |
Scenic
Cruising Oslofjord |
|
|
Apr 23,
2023 |
Kristiansand,
Norway |
|
|
Apr 24,
2023 |
Haugesund,
Norway |
|
|
Apr 25,
2023 |
Eidfjord,
Norway |
|
|
Apr 25,
2023 |
Scenic
Cruising Hardangerfjord |
|
|
Apr 26,
2023 |
Bergen,
Norway |
|
|
Apr 27,
2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
Apr 28,
2023 |
Portree
(Isle Of Skye), Scotland, United Kingdom |
|
|
Apr 29,
2023 |
Oban,
Scotland, United Kingdom |
|
|
Apr 30,
2023 |
Dun
Laoghaire (Dublin), Ireland |
|
|
May 1, 2023 |
Cobh
(Cork), Ireland |
|
|
May 2-3,
023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
May 4,
2023 |
Ponta
Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal |
|
|
May 5,
2023 |
Praia
Di Vitoria, Terceira, Azores, Portugal |
|
|
May 6
-11, 2023 |
Days At
Sea |
|
|
May 12,
023 |
Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, US |
Comments
Post a Comment