- 2023 World Cruise – The Adventure Begins (Post #1)
- The Adventure Begins! – Fort Lauderdale (Post #3)
- At Sea – en route to Falmouth, Jamaica (Post #4)
- Falmouth, Jamaica (Post #5)
- The Tuxedo Junction at Sea (Post #6)
- Puerto Limón (Post#7)
- Zuiderdam and Volendam – side by side – Panama Canal Transit (Post #8)
- Two Faces of Panama (Post #9)
- Library Grand Opening – At Sea (Post #10)
- The Graveyard of Good Intentions (Post #11)
- Something Old and Something New (Post #12)
- The Captain’s Dinner and Zuiderdam Ball (Post #13)
- Mike West “The Ship Guy”- At Sea (Post #14)
- Sunday Brunch – At Sea (Post #15)
- Taming the Towel Animals – At Sea (Post #16)
- The Final Day of our 8th Consecutive Sea Days (Post #17)
- GLAMPING IN NUKU HIVA (Post # 18)
- Sailing the South Pacific (Post #19)
- Island Joy presents Ukuleles in Concert (Post #20)
- Flowers, Pearls and Roulottes in Papeete (Post #21, 21 Jan 2023)
- Moorea Photo Safari (Post #22)
- Snorkeling in the Rain in Raiatea (Post #23)
- Late Sleepers in Uturoa, Raiatea (Post #24)
- Sea Day Brunch and Coloring for Adults (Post #25)
- Horse Racing on the High Seas – Derby Night (Post #26)
- Fashion Show on the High Seas (Post #27)
- 2025 Grand World Voyage – Sneak Peak (Post #28)
- Blow Holes on Tonga (Post #29)
- When is a world cruise a world cruise? (Post #30)
- At Sea – Dr. Karen Woodman, Linguist, Guest Lecturer (Post #31)
- Auckland Yarn Crawl (Post #32)
- Tauranga and a Visit to Hobbiton (Post #33)
- Gisborne Wine Tour (Post #34)
- Windy Wellington (Post #35)
- Let them eat cake on the Tasman Sea (Post #36)
- Sailing the Tasman Sea (Post #37)
- Two Days in Sydney (Post #38)
- Port Arthur, Tasmania (Post #39)
- Hobart, Tasmania (Post #40)
- Valentine’s Day at Sea (Post #41)
- Adelaide, Fringe Festival (Post #42)
- Adelaide – Kangaroos and Germany in South Australia (Post #43)
- Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island (Post #44)
- Fremantle Fat Tuesday and Yarn (Post #45)
- Perth – Swan Valley Wine Tour (Post #46)
- 2020 Grand World Cruise Reflection and Reunion Party (Post #47)
- Slot Pull at Sea (Post #48)
- A valid claim of Bingo (Post #49)
- Indian Ocean Highlights (Post #50)
- Song Writing at Sea with Trevor Knight (Post #51)
- Port Louis, Mauritius (Post #52)
- La Possession, Reunion (Post #53)
- Formal Night Surprise (Post #54)
- Maputo – Hump Port – (Post #55)
- Our Overland Safari Begins!
- Safari Day #1 – Durban, South Africa (Post #56)
- Safari Day #2, Thanda Safari Lodge (Post #57)
- Safari Day #3, Thanda Safari Lodge (Post #58)
- Safari Day #4, Thanda Safari Lodge – Cape Town (Post #59)
- Cape Town – Table Mountain (Post #60)
- Cooking in Cape Town (Post #61)
- Lüderitz, Namibia (Post #62)
- Walvis Bay, Namibia (Post #63)
- At Sea – Enroute to Angola (Post #64)
- Luanda, Angola (Post #65)
- Crossing the Equator at the Prime Meridian (Post #66)
- Abidjan, Ivory Coast – Côte d’Ivoire, (Post #68)
- Banjul, The Gambia (Post #69)
- SNOW DAY IN DAKAR, SENEGAL (Post #70)
- Aprils Fools’ Day at Sea (Post #71)
- Santa Cruz, Tenerife (Post #72)
- Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canarias (Post #73)
- Riding a Camel in Agadir, Morocco (Post #74)
- Casablanca to Marrakech, Morocco (Post #75)
- Tangier, Morocco (Post #76) 7 April 2023
- Malaga, Spain (Post #77) 8 April 2023
- Lisbon, Portugal (Post #79) – 10 April 2023
- A Coruna Spain (Post #80) 12 April 2023
- Holland America Line 150th Anniversary Party in Amsterdam
- Bergen, Norway: Snow, Rain and Sun (26 April 2023)
- Praia da Vitória, Azores (5 May 2023)
The Tuxedo Junction held its first meeting during our first “Dressy Night”
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We had to complete a mandatory COVID self-test today between 9 and 9:30 am. Test kits were delivered to our rooms with instructions in envelopes. Since we have done many self-tests previously, this one was a snap, and we had our negative results in 10 minutes.
The Room Stewards made the rounds, and we showed them the results of our test, and that was that. The Captain announced later that the number of positive cases wouldn’t be disclosed due to “privacy reasons,” but we were still in Level 1 – which was good. Nevertheless, we will still wear masks while inside until we leave Panama.
We played our first Texas Hold’em tournament. $60 buy-in for $5000 in tournament chips. Blinds start at 25/50 and increase every 15 minutes – games will take almost 2 hours. Seven of the players were regulars on 2020 – it was Old Home Week in the Casino.
Tonight was Dressy Night and our first Tuxedo Junction! We probably had about ten couples in The Junction – everyone looked MARVELOUS!
The Captains Welcome toast was at 7 pm in the Theatre. They served Champagne as we entered. The room was full but not overflowing. I was sitting toward the front, so I couldn’t tell if people were jammed trying to get in.
Capt Kramer introduced his senior officers – the only regulars were Henk and Shiv – all the rest were new to me – not sure if they had previous World Cruise experience.
The Dinner menu was one of those Culinary specials – you can find a copy on the Itinerary, Menus and Program page HERE.
The Zuiderdam singers and dancers are back, but at half the size of previous production show casts – Two Singers and Four Dancers.
The show was fun and high energy – here is a short highlight reel.
Tomorrow we will be in Costa Rica.
On our just completed Westerdam cruise, Captain van Hoogdalem shared the actual covid numbers each day for new and total cases for both passengers and crew. I felt like we were treated as adults. Thanks for sharing your journey, and I’ll be following along.
I find it odd that one Captain won’t disclose while others will. It’s clearly not corporate policy or the silly “privacy” reason we were given. Oh Well….We hope to get unmasked tomorrow after we leave Panama
I was on a Grand Voyage in 2012 – Unfortunatley we caught the dreaded neurovirus. The passengers were dropping like flies! The captain would not tell us how many had the virus and they actually made us frightened with the secrecy. As it was – about 80 % of the ship was sick = this happened the last 4 days of the cruise – we caught it at Pearl Harbour from passengers on a princess ship
Everyone looks very dapper.
Enjoying your blog!
I noted that in the theatre picture not many men are wearing tuxes. What percentage of the passengers do you think are actually wearing tux vs coat & tie vs coat & no tie?
This cruise will have Dressy Nights – with probably 5-10% tuxes – maybe 50% more with coats and ties. Quite a few collared shirts but less than you would find on a shorter cruise. I am writing upmy comments for the Zuiderdam Ball – which was a return to Formal Nights with over 50% tuxedos and the rest is suits with only a few coats and ties – no one I spotted was not appropriately dressed in the dining room or later during the Deck 2 Zuiderdam Ball afterward