Wednesday, January 6, 2009
Departure is less than a week away. I have been learning a new blackberry, setting up automatic bill paying, organizing files, participating in conference calls and PACKING!
I have also been thinking about the passengers on my list who are doing some of these same activities to prepare for the voyage. We shall meet soon!
Documents arrived in two large boxes on Friday afternoon. I spent most of the weekend going over spreadsheets, instructions for every possible scenario and talks I will present, gifts and letters I will pass out, deciding on wines for dinners (with help from NKS Distributors and friends, thank you!)...
We embark in Manhattan in the dead of winter, stop in Ft. Lauderdale and continue to the southern Caribbean to Curacao (near Aruba and Bonaire – which are called the ABC islands), on through the Panama Canal and up the western coast of Latin America with stops in Guatemala and Mexico…
ITINERARY
Date Description Arrive Depart
Jan 10 New York 5:00PM
Jan 11 At Sea
Jan 12 At Sea
Jan 13 Fort Lauderdale 7:00AM 5:00PM
Jan 14 At Sea
Jan 15 At Sea
Jan 16 Curacao 8:00AM 5:00PM
Jan 17 At Sea
Jan 18 Panama Canal 7:00AM 4:30PM
Jan 19 At Sea
Jan 20 At Sea
Jan 21 Prto Quetzal Guatemala 7:00AM 6:00PM
Jan 22 At Sea
Jan 23 At Sea
Jan 24 Pt Vallarta Mexico 8:00AM 4:00PM
Jan 25 Cabo San Lucas Mexico 8:00AM 2:00PM
Jan 26 At Sea
Jan 27 Los Angeles 7:00AM 5:00PM
Jan 28 At Sea
Jan 29 At Sea
Jan 30 At Sea
Jan 31 At Sea
Feb 01 Honolulu HI 7:00AM 6:00PM
Feb 02 At Sea
Feb 03 At Sea
Feb 04 At Sea
Feb 05 At Sea
Feb 06 Apia Western Samoa 12:30PM 7:00PM
Feb 07 X Intl Dateline 8:00AM 5:00PM
Feb 09 Nuku'alofa Tonga 8:00AM 5:00PM
Feb 10 At Sea
Feb 11 At Sea
Feb 12 Auckland NZ 7:00AM 8:00PM
Feb 13 At Sea
Feb 14 Christchurch NZ 8:00AM 6:00PM
Feb 15 At Sea
Feb 16 At Sea
Feb 17 Hobart AUS 9:00AM 6:00PM
Feb 18 At Sea
Feb 19 Sydney AUS 7:00AM 7:00AM
Feb 20 Sydney AUS 5:00PM 5:00PM
Feb 21 At Sea
Feb 22 At Sea
Feb 23 Yorkeys (Cairns, AUS) 8:00AM 6:00PM
Feb 24 At Sea
Feb 25 At Sea
Feb 26 Rabaul Papua New Guinea 8:00AM 4:00PM
Feb 27 At Sea
Feb 28 At Sea
Mar 01 Saipan Mariana Islands 9:00AM 6:00PM
Mar 02 At Sea
Mar 03 At Sea
Mar 04 At Sea
Mar 05 Nagasaki Japan 8:00AM 5:00PM
Mar 06 Pusan Korea 8:00AM 5:00PM
Mar 07 At Sea
Mar 08 Shanghai China 8:00AM 8:00PM
Mar 09 At Sea
Mar 10 At Sea
Mar 11 Hong Kong 8:00AM 9:00PM
Mar 12 At Sea
Mar 13 Nha Trang Vietnam 9:00AM 6:00PM
Mar 14 Phu My Saigon VIetnam 7:00AM 7:00PM
Mar 15 At Sea
Mar 16 Laem Chabang Bangkok 7:00AM 7:00PM
Mar 17 At Sea
Mar 18 At Sea
Mar 19 Singapore 7:00AM 7:00AM
Mar 20 Singapore 1:00AM 1:00AM
Mar 21 Phuket Thailand 7:00AM 6:00PM
Mar 22 At Sea
Mar 23 At Sea
Mar 24 Cochin India 12:00PM 7:30PM
Mar 25 At Sea
Mar 26 Mumbai India 7:00AM 6:00PM
Mar 27 At Sea
Mar 28 At Sea
Mar 29 Dubai 8:00AM 6:00PM
Mar 30 At Sea
Mar 31 At Sea
Apr 01 At Sea
Apr 02 At Sea
Apr 03 At Sea
Apr 04 Aqaba Jordan 9:00AM 8:00PM
Apr 05 At Sea
Apr 06 Suez (Canal) (Cairo Egypt) 1:00AM 5:00PM
Apr 07 Alexandria Egypt 7:00AM 8:00PM
Apr 08 At Sea
Apr 09 Kusadasi Turkey 7:00AM 1:00PM
Apr 10 Istanbul Turkey 8:00AM 6:00PM
Apr 11 Mykonos Greece 1:30PM 7:00PM
Apr 12 Athens Greece 8:00AM 5:45PM
Apr 13 At Sea
Apr 14 Civitavecchia (Rome) 8:00AM 8:00PM
Apr 15 At Sea
Apr 16 Barcelona Spain 8:00AM 5:30PM
Apr 17 At Sea
Apr 18 At Sea
Apr 19 At Sea
Apr 20 Southampton
UK 7:00AM
Apr 20 Transfer to Queen Mary 2 for 6 nights to NY Arrive NY and DE on 4/26
It is an exciting itinerary! There are several maiden ports of call (when a ship arrives in a port for the first time). She is usually welcomed with tug boats shooting sprays of water and keys and plaques being presented to the Captain from the Mayor/Governor of the local community. (In October, we saw the QE2 leave for the last time from Halifax with the tugboat sprays and it was very moving. The QE2 is now in Dubai to be refurbished and docked as a museum after her 25 world cruises and 800 transatlantic crossings. I was very fortunate to have sailed twice on her transatlantic voyages.)
The Queen Victoria had her much anticipated maiden voyage in December 2007. http://www.cunard.com/ourships/default.asp?ship=QV
On January 10, 2009, she begins her 2nd around-the-world cruise. There are 2000 passengers (and space is waitlisted in case you still want to join me!) and the ship is 90,000 gross tons – a medium-sized ship in the cruise ship market of today.
The reason I am hosting
Preferred Travel (in Essex, CT --ph 860 767 2658, chuz2cruz@comcast.net) is the head office of my agency. We are a member of Ensemble Travel (www.ensembletravel.com), which provides passengers who have been booked through an Ensemble member agency discounted fares, upgrades, onboard credit, complimentary shore excursions in specific ports, VIP cocktail parties and special events, like our world cruise dinner. I will be there to coordinate those events and to assist with any personal requests.
I have been in the travel industry for over 20 years and I love the work. I enjoy meeting and working with my clients and the tour operators. I enjoy digging in to the research to find the best trip for the best price.
My goal is to create special moments and to fulfill dreams.
And I love to travel. You could say I live to travel.
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Back to the packing: I completed the fifth case tonight. I believe there will be a minimum of six. (Did you catch that word “minimum”?) I still don’t have the dry cleaning back!
Oh yes, and for our transport to the pier, I changed the mid-size rental car to a minivan. Now I’m thinking 18-wheeler.
