WORLD CRUISE 2011
SUMMATION
WOW! There is no other word to describe how we feel. This has been the adventure of a lifetime. A 4-month all-inclusive cruise aboard a luxury ship. We were 2 of 70 'world cruisers' (37 Americans). The cruise was a string of 8 segments so passengers would come and go for one or more segments. The ship is designed to hold a max. 540 passengers with 390 crew. Depending upon the destinations for each segment, the passenger population varied from 260 - 470. We enjoyed the segments with the lower population.
The Silver Spirit was beautiful (even though the 'art deco style' is not our favorite) - 7 restaurants for unlimited food (Restaurant, La Terrazza, Pool Grill, Stars Supper Club, Hot Rocks, Seishin, Le Champagne, plus 24-hour room service); 6 bars for unlimited drinks (The Bar, Observation Lounge, Panorama Lounge, Pool Bar, Stars, Connisseurs Corner, plus refrigerator in our suite); beauty salon, spa, and fitness center (plus seminars and classes); jogging track; casino; 3 boutiques; 2 libraries (full library with computers and reference library); wireless internet throughout the ship; Theatre/Showroom; pool with 3 hot tubs; the crew was so friendly, cordial, and always greeted us by name; our suite was comfortable with butler and guest attendant, personal choice pillow, daily linens, 2 TVs, iPod player; and FREE laundry service. Go to our blog 'SHIP TOUR' for all the details.
Each country (25) and port (60, including the Suez Canal) offered something unique, fascinating, interesting, entertaining, and informative - several that we wish we could have stayed longer, many that one day was just enough, and a few that we never want to see again. All-in-all, a good mix of places 'around the world' to discover. We went ashore at each port either with a ship's excursion, our own excursion, an on/off bus, or just to walk around. All of the ship's excursions were well organized, in new air-conditioned buses, with English speaking local guides to the highlights of that city or to special places nearby (if you consider a 2 hour bus ride 'nearby'). The days in port (usually 8am to 6pm) were busy and exhausting. It was nice to come home to the ship, the crew greeting us with wet towelettes and glasses of champagne. We crossed the Equator twice, the International Dateline, and the Greenwich Meridian - major 'world sailing' achievements. Go to the COUNTRY INDEX to see the list of countries and ports visited that references what VOYAGE blog to read.
We had 49 days 'at sea', plus almost every night; we only had 12 overnights in port. The ship movement was very comfortable. Many times we had no idea that we were 'at sea'; go to sleep and wake up the next morning for another day at sea or in another port. However, there were a few exceptions when the ship would roll slightly with the swell either on the beam or stern (even with stabilizers) so we would see passengers walking the hall or deck like 'drunken sailors'. And, the last 18 hours crossing the Tasman Sea from New Zealand to Australia (Feb 20) was the worst weather that we experienced; we had 20-25 foot seas with winds 40-50 knots, on the nose; the bashing sounds were loud, annoying (no one slept), and unknown (groans, prop cavatation, whatever); the ship did very well and so did the passengers.
Our days 'at sea' (which we really did enjoy) were never boring. In between meals, morning consomme, or afternoon tea, as well as special events such as Galley Lunch or BBQ dinner buffet or special theme dinners based upon the locale (such as Tahiti, China, India, Egypt, Spain), the ship provided many choices of activities to keep us busy: all sorts of games from dominoes, mahjong, chess, scrabble, bingo, bridge; deck activities such as shuffle board, table tennis, pool vollyball, tug-of-war between ship crews, or golf putting; spa facilities; fitness classes (stretch, stengthen, yoga, pilates), fitness equipment (treadmill, step master, weights, etc); language classes (Spanish, French, Italian); art classes (beads, watercolor painting, origami); mind games (daily quiz, crossword, suduku, and team trivia plus a complete library with 1000s of books); 350+ movies available in our suite; presentations about future destinations, cooking demonstrations and competitions, towel folding; lectures by guest speakers on various topics (spy stories, film directors about Steve Irwin or the Queen or geographic explorations or history/culture information, political commentators (current terrorism threats, hostage negotiations), environment discussions, astronomy with late night star gazing); dance lessons (ballroom to disco); soak up the sun around the pool; or a take nap.
The evenings provided a selection of pre-dinner piano bar music, dinner time background music, and after-dinner production shows, guest performers (piano players, singers, violins, magic, comedy); a movie on the big screen; or the rare Liar's Club (4 crew members trying to impress the passengers with their 'true' story) which was hilarious. Of course, the bars were always open late to meet with friends.
The passengers aboard were interesting. There were a number of people who do a world cruise or 2-month cruise every year. There were quite a number of 'very senior citizens'; and there were a few people younger than us, but not many. Then, there were new passengers for each segment; some we met, others we never saw on the ship but saw them on excursions. Some people were stuffy; others were having a good time, like us. We got quite a few dirty looks when we laughed too much. Yet, we found some people to be very friendly, always laughing, enjoying themselves and the cruise; these were the people that we gravitated to. We had many good times with new friends - times filled with laughter, fun, and smiles.
Our cruise schedule put us in locations with various weather or political situations. Yet, we rarely experienced any side effects of those circumstances; we seemed to be 'just ahead' of disasters or problems. Such as: Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake one week after our visit; Cairns, Australia flooded by rains kept us from tours; Darwin, Australia hit by a Cat 1 hurricane 10 days before our arrival and another strong tropical cyclone (storm) about a month after we were there; Middle East in general, Bin Laden was killed the day we left Alexandria, Egypt; Cairo, Egypt had more riots, church was burned, no police presence 10 days after we were there; Athens, Greece had general strikes a week after our visit; Taormina, Siciliy Mt. Etna erupted 3 days after we were there; no car bombs in Bilbao, Spain in the middle of the Basque Conflict; the end of the world was to be May 21. We 'cheated death' again.
With all of our experiences during this 4-month cruise, it is difficult to list favorite or worst times, but here is what we have come up with:
Favorite Place Christchurch, New Zealand or Sorrento, Italy
Most Fun ATV tour in Moorea, French Polynesia
Most Adventuresome bike rides in Hobart, Australia and in Bali, Indonesia
Prettiest Place Ha Long Bay, Vietnam or Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Most Awesome moon rising in the west (our early am flight from Miami to Atlanta)
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Oddest Dubai, UAE (the mix of modern architecture and desert landscape)
Maori dancers in New Zealand (the feet stomping and facial expressions)
Mumbai, India (the hand laundry and lunch deliveries to city workers)
Worst Place Sandakan, Malaysia (graffiti and crumbling buildings everywhere)
Hottest Weather Cochin and Mumbai, India (over 100 degrees)
Coldest Weather Hobart, Australia (28 degrees at the mountain top)
Worst Time Saigon, Vietnam (taxi scam)
Ugliest Place Sri Lanka (just old buildings covered in mold)
Statistics (since Lourae is such a detail person, she kept track of all this)
120 days
26 countries
22 currencies
60 ports
49 days at sea
29,655 nautical miles
9,212 air miles
27 Formal Dress evenings (26 too many)
39 Informal Dress evenings (30 too many)
54 Casual Dress evenings (not enough)
28º lowest temperature (Hobart, Australia)
100º highest temperature (Cochin & Mumbai, India)
6 pieces of luggage - we took way too many clothes; FREE laundry!
5,822 pictures taken (that includes pictures and videos) reduced to
1,677 pictures which were then combined to make
24 movies
120 days of travel
135 days to edit pictures and videos, make movies, write blog
Would we do a world cruise again? Probably not; 4 months is a long time away from our beautiful home in Bonaire. Maybe something like 1-2 months or an expedition cruise to Antarctic? We did enjoy the days at sea. We thoroughly enjoyed the luxury cruise. We were introduced to many places around the world so now we can discover more about those places that we liked - New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Spain - and spend holiday time in those areas. That was the purpose of this cruise.
Now, it's time to enjoy our memories of this fantastic voyage!
VIDEO - One final movie!
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/111994370383291023211/album/AF1QipOaNCYGUzyKNZ3byJ9Hh7JWGfQHSpjDyd5A3Rie/AF1QipNZ2WyIcfwO1MmEGp-aEs_JMMfSEnoHlWSZ07N1?authKey=CNCy76T43_vmkQE
Until next time........
Hugs for everybody,
Lourae and Randy
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