Overall the experience was excellent! I went on the cruise because I wanted to sail around the world. Mission accomplished. I made the ports my focus and have a golden bag of memories that I can open any time and relive the moments. The blog will help immensely with being able to remember everything.
107 days is a long time to be away from home. The stack of mail to be processed is enormous. There are many things to be done around the house that have built up.
I am tired, have gained some weight, and am in worse shape than when I began the cruise. Out of the 107 days we had something like 40 port days and 67 sea days. Staying fit on the ship was not easy and something I was ultimately unsuccessful at. The gym was excellent. However it was in the front of the ship. Our first captain seemed not to believe in using the stabilizers so there was alot of motion which made it hard to walk around the ship and use the gym. Our second captain used them continuously and it made a huge difference.
There was always something going around. When I first got on the ship many people quickly became sick with colds and norovirus. The air was constantly filled with the chemicals for combating the norovirus. I could feel the assaults on my immune system but managed to stay healthy. However, I felt like I was walking a fine line being around sick people all the time (at meals, on the elevator etc.) and dealing with the not very fresh air in my room.
Midway through the cruise, while in Beijing on an overland, my immune system gave up and I came down with the respiratory infection that was going around the ship. I had felt it attacking me before getting off the ship and then when I was subjected to the pollution in Beijing I came down with it fully. This took 30 days to go away. I took Dr. prescribed antibiotics to help combat it when I started gurgling with each breath.
I think for future cruises 60 days will be my limit. I kept track of what I was feeling about the cruise at different times. After 60 days I was ready to go home. However if your dream is to sail around the world then you have to do the longer cruise or do it in segments with alot of flying. I'm glad I did it but will now have a new focus for my adventures.
I have a secret, that maybe wasn't too secret. I was anxious to get off the ship. I couldn't sleep for the last two days of the cruise as I was so excited to be getting off the ship permanently. When I was approaching the overland shore excursions I was also very excited to be getting off the ship. In a smaller way I was excited to be getting off at each port. This does not reflect poorly on the Tahitian Princess, but rather my relationship with the Tahitian Princess. The ship was simply too small for my tastes and my needs. I knew that going in but wanted a ship with the largest number of ports for the best price and Princess was the cruise line that offered the best combination in 2009.
I had a room with a window. This likely also affected how I felt about the ship as I spent quite a bit of time there. I may have felt differently if I had a balcony and the fresh air and light that would come with it.
I'm sure my back problem greatly impacted my ability to enjoy the cruise portion of the experience vs. the port portion. I think the ports were excellent and I could not have been happier with my set of experiences. However I was able to cater to my back which means staying on my feet and walking alot.
My tips for future world cruisers:
- Bring your own medicine cabinet and pharmacy from home. The drugs on the ship are very expensive. Have your own antibiotics.
- Buy lightweight ExOfficio Buzz-Off clothing. It is useful in all warm weather ports and will protect you from the bugs and sun. Bring bug spray and use it in all warm weather ports.
- Invest in a good travel wardrobe that is lightweight, provides good sun protection and is made of fabrics designed to keep you cool. Cotton t-shirts and shorts will have you roasting in the warm weather ports.
- Bring waterproof walking shoes in addition to your regular walking shoes. Super comfortable sandals such as Tevas are a great investment also.
- Use an umbrella in the hot weather ports. I really does make a difference in being able to tolerate the sun.
- Buy a new camera, preferably water proof. I loved my Pentax W60. It went snorkeling with me and I didn't need to worry about it in the rain or the desert.
- Set up your computer with off-line email creation capability. I used Zimbra and found it worked well.
- Blog so you remember your cruise. The on-line tutorial for blogspot is easy to take and it is free to set one up. Learn how to e-mail in your posts so you don't blow your Internet budget. You can keep your blog private (only visible to a few family and friends) or go public with it like I did to share the experience.
- Dress like the locals. Be respectful of the local culture and cover up. If you find yourself asking 'can I wear shorts?'. Don't ask, just wear long pants and a higher coverage shirt. Besides it really is cooler to be covered if you have the right fabrics.
- Forget the jewelry in 3rd and 4th world country ports. Not only are you making yourself a target but you are endangering the people traveling with you. Also it is distasteful to show off your wealth to people who have so little.
- Do not buy trinkets from children. Buy from adults and people with stalls. Buying from children forces their parents to put them to work at young ages (think 3 and 4 yrs old) if they can pull in a higher income than an adult selling the same trinkets. It isn't fair to the kids.
- Don't take too much. Leave at least half a suitcase empty for all the souvenirs you will pick up.
- Bring your antiviral masks. I couldn't find them to buy while on the cruise and they would have been useful.
Would I go again? Probably not but I'm happy I did go.
2 comments:
Hi Michelle
It is interesting that you make the comment that you wanted to get off half way through. As I said my daughter is a dancer and halfway through her 6 month contract we get a call to say she is ready to catch a plane home today. If only for the weekend. She then settles down again and is amazed when she gets off how fast the last few months went. At the end there is always the sadness of saying goodbye to people you have spent a lot of time with in quite confined spaces. She was telling me how upset a gentleman was when he said good bye to her and left the ship the other day.
It always takes her a week or so to settle down and most of that week is spent sleeping to catch up with sleep and the time changes.
Enjoy your time at home and thank you for a fantastic blog. I will have to find another morning fix.
Regards
Ruth
--- I feel sure that in the months (and maybe years) to come you will continue to have ideas about how you could have "done it better."
---- You can't think of everything right off, and I'm sure you have your hands full dealing with matters that have been postponed due to your absence. Is there anything different you would have done before departure to handle personal matters while you were away?
--- Please continue to post these thoughts as they occur. I'm sure they will be helpful to others planning RTW cruises.
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