Hi Everyone,
I've wanted to take a world cruise for a long time. Last week I decided to make my dream a reality. There were several nice options but the Tahitian Princess had the best price so I paid up and started the planning phase.
I've told a few people of my plans and there has been interest expressed in a blog so they can follow along. I am happy to comply. Last year I followed several world cruise blogs so that I would be prepared if I should be so fortunate as to have the opportunity to take a world cruise. I had no idea that it would happen this year.
A little about me. I will go on this cruise at 41 years of age (how fortunate is that!). I have cruised with Princess on 3 transatlantics so have some experience on a ship in the open ocean but have never been on a ship as small as the Tahitian Princess which holds a meer 688 passengers and is only 30,000 tons. I have also never been on a ship for more than a few weeks. This cruise is 107 days from Fort Lauderdale to England. From there I will either take the QM2 back or fly.
I am an electrical engineer and I love gadgets. So naturally the first thing I started to research was not how to dress on the ship but what new gadgets I need. I will definitely be buying a netbook computer to take on the ship. I have also reviewed my digital cameras. I have a Canon PowerShot S110 which is a very old model. However, I bought the underwater housing for it so can take it snorkeling and to the beach. The outdoor pictures are good but indoor photos are not so good. I also have a really small (almost credit card sized) Casio Exilim. I never really developed a fondness for this camera. It is almost too small to hold easily for taking photos and I haven't been that impressed with the pictures. However, it is very easy to take anywhere.
So I ventured forth to the stores and discovered the Olympus cameras that were supposed to be waterproof for the beach and snorkeling. But alas the reviews are mixed in term of whether they really are. Also they are being dinged for not taking the best pictures. But given the age of my digital cameras their 'not the best' may still be better then what I currently own. The advantage of this camera is that it is supposed to be waterproof, shockproof and freeze proof. I won't be testing the freeze proof part on this trip but I'd like to have something I could take to the beach, not worry about in the rain and not worry about it getting squished in my pack or having to carry an extra protective case for it. I'll post later about what I eventually end up with. However, I'm going to probably bring 2 cameras, just in case.
As stated in the title this is my first blog. I'd love comments on it as well as to hear from anyone who wants to say Hi so that I know who's reading it. I am also happy to try and answer any questions.
Here is the cruise itinerary:
| Wed | Jan | 14 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 5:30pm | |
| Thu | Jan | 15 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | Jan | 16 | Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands | 10:00am | 6:00pm |
| Sat | Jan | 17 | At Sea | ||
| Sun | Jan | 18 | Panama Canal (Full Transit) (Cruising) | 7:00am | 4:30pm |
| Mon | Jan | 19 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Jan | 20 | Manta, Ecuador | 6:00am | 7:00pm |
| Wed | Jan | 21 | At Sea | ||
| Thu | Jan | 22 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | Jan | 23 | Lima (Callao), Peru | 7:00am | |
| Sat | Jan | 24 | Lima (Callao), Peru | 1:00pm | |
| Sun | Jan | 25 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Jan | 26 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Jan | 27 | At Sea | ||
| Wed | Jan | 28 | At Sea | ||
| Thu | Jan | 29 | Easter Island, Chilean dependency | 9:00am | 6:00pm |
| Fri | Jan | 30 | At Sea | ||
| Sat | Jan | 31 | At Sea | ||
| Sun | Feb | 1 | Pitcairn Island, UK Territory (Cruising) | 10:00am | 2:00pm |
| Mon | Feb | 2 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Feb | 3 | At Sea | ||
| Wed | Feb | 4 | Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia | 8:00am | 5:00pm |
| Thu | Feb | 5 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | Feb | 6 | Rarotonga, Cook Islands | 8:00am | 5:00pm |
| Sat | Feb | 7 | At Sea | ||
| Sun | Feb | 8 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Feb | 9 | Crossing International Dateline | 8:00am | 8:00pm |
| Wed | Feb | 11 | At Sea | ||
| Thu | Feb | 12 | Auckland, New Zealand | 7:00am | 10:00pm |
| Fri | Feb | 13 | At Sea | ||
| Sat | Feb | 14 | At Sea | ||
| Sun | Feb | 15 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Feb | 16 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Feb | 17 | Burnie, Tasmania, Australia | 8:00am | 6:00pm |
| Wed | Feb | 18 | At Sea | ||
| Thu | Feb | 19 | Sydney, Australia | 7:00am | 10:00pm |
| Fri | Feb | 20 | At Sea | ||
| Sat | Feb | 21 | Brisbane, Australia | 8:00am | 6:00pm |
| Sun | Feb | 22 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Feb | 23 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Feb | 24 | Cairns, Australia | 7:00am | 6:00pm |
| Wed | Feb | 25 | At Sea | ||
| Thu | Feb | 26 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | Feb | 27 | Rabaul, Papua New Guinea | 7:00am | 2:00pm |
| Sat | Feb | 28 | At Sea | ||
| Sun | Mar | 1 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Mar | 2 | Guam, U.S. Territory | Noon | 7:00pm |
| Tue | Mar | 3 | At Sea | ||
| Wed | Mar | 4 | At Sea | ||
| Thu | Mar | 5 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | Mar | 6 | Osaka, Japan | 8:00am | 8:00pm |
| Sat | Mar | 7 | Hiroshima, Japan | 9:00am | 5:00pm |
| Sun | Mar | 8 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Mar | 9 | Inchon, South Korea | 8:00am | 5:00pm |
| Tue | Mar | 10 | At Sea | ||
| Wed | Mar | 11 | Shanghai, China | 7:00am | 6:00pm |
| Thu | Mar | 12 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | Mar | 13 | At Sea | ||
| Sat | Mar | 14 | Hong Kong, China | 7:00am | 8:00pm |
| Sun | Mar | 15 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Mar | 16 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Mar | 17 | Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam | 7:00am | 7:00pm |
| Wed | Mar | 18 | At Sea | ||
| Thu | Mar | 19 | Sihanoukville, Cambodia | 9:00am | 6:00pm |
| Fri | Mar | 20 | At Sea | ||
| Sat | Mar | 21 | Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand | 7:00am | 7:00pm |
| Sun | Mar | 22 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Mar | 23 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Mar | 24 | Singapore | 7:00am | 5:00pm |
| Wed | Mar | 25 | Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia | 7:00am | 6:00pm |
| Thu | Mar | 26 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | Mar | 27 | Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India | Noon | 7:00pm |
| Sat | Mar | 28 | At Sea | ||
| Sun | Mar | 29 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Mar | 30 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Mar | 31 | At Sea | ||
| Wed | Apr | 1 | Bombay (Mumbai), India | 7:00am | 10:00pm |
| Thu | Apr | 2 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | Apr | 3 | At Sea | ||
| Sat | Apr | 4 | At Sea | ||
| Sun | Apr | 5 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | 7:00am | 8:00pm |
| Mon | Apr | 6 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Apr | 7 | At Sea | ||
| Wed | Apr | 8 | Salalah, Oman | 7:00am | 5:00pm |
| Thu | Apr | 9 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | Apr | 10 | At Sea | ||
| Sat | Apr | 11 | At Sea | ||
| Sun | Apr | 12 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Apr | 13 | Luxor (Safaga), Egypt | 6:00am | 10:00pm |
| Tue | Apr | 14 | At Sea | ||
| Wed | Apr | 15 | Suez Canal, Egypt (Cruising) | 1:00am | 5:00pm |
| Thu | Apr | 16 | Cairo (Port Said), Egypt | 7:00am | 8:00pm |
| Fri | Apr | 17 | At Sea | ||
| Sat | Apr | 18 | Athens (Piraeus), Greece | 9:00am | 6:00pm |
| Sun | Apr | 19 | At Sea | ||
| Mon | Apr | 20 | Sorrento, Italy | 8:00am | 6:00pm |
| Tue | Apr | 21 | Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy | 7:00am | 6:30pm |
| Wed | Apr | 22 | Cannes, France | 9:00am | 6:00pm |
| Thu | Apr | 23 | Barcelona, Spain | 11:00pm | |
| Fri | Apr | 24 | At Sea | ||
| Sat | Apr | 25 | Gibraltar, UK Territory | 7:00am | 1:00pm |
| Sun | Apr | 26 | Lisbon, Portugal | 10:00am | 6:00pm |
| Mon | Apr | 27 | At Sea | ||
| Tue | Apr | 28 | At Sea | ||
| Wed | Apr | 29 | Cork (Cobh), Ireland | 8:00am | 6:00pm |
| Thu | Apr | 30 | At Sea | ||
| Fri | May | 1 | Paris (Le Havre), France | 7:00am | 7:00pm |
| Sat | May | 2 | London (Dover), England | 7:00am |
1 comment:
Another gadget to think of is handheld GPS unit, like a Garmin Etrex. You would be able to determine your ship's position, speed and direction without bugging the crew, and post the results in latitude and longitude when you update the blog. This will make it easier for your readers to follow your progress, just input the date into something like Google Earth and the results will be quickly displayed by anyone else with access to the internet. If the ship's crew posts this information on board & updates it several times a day, a unit of your own isn't of much use.
However, these units are handy in ports, when traveling on foot or by car in unfamiliar areas, you can bookmark your starting waypoint & track your way back to it easily, assuming you have a clear view of the sky.
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