In addition to seeing the world and visiting fabulous places, lots of friendships grow on the world cruise between passengers and crew alike.  These are some photos of some of the special activities we had, culminating with a farewell to all by the crew. 

The event began with crew members entering the showroom carrying flags of their countries.  I was very honored to begin the procession with the US Flag. 

Funchal, Madeira, Portugal was a fantastic way to end our Grand World Voyage.  They have the funnest basket sleigh ride through the streets of Funchal that I ride each time I go there.

Funchal is known as the floral island.  While we were there, there was a festival going on with beautiful carpets of flowers on the pedestrian walkways.

Cadiz Spain is one of the last stops before crossing the Atlantic back to the US.  It’s a pleasant town with a nice beach and a great shoreside walkway.

Barcelona, Spain, was another overnight stay for us.  Overnights for crew are like a day off.  We get to go ashore, stay out late if we want.  I especially hanging out on Las Ramblas, the main pedestrian area in Barcelona, and people watching.

This city has so much to offer.  The architecture of the buildings is fascinating, greatly influenced by Gaudi.

Bull-fighting used to be a popular spectator sport in Spain but most areas have made it illegal.  This is a typical bull ring which has been made into a shopping center.

Naples Italy on the mainland is the origin of PIZZA!  This is an ancient pizza restaurant where the pizza is still prepared in a fire oven.  You have to allow plenty of time to have lunch here as the waiting time each day can be 1-2 hours.

This is also the port where you can drive along the famous Amalfi Coast, one of the prettiest drivers in the Med.

Messina is one of the ports we visit in Sicily, Italy.  In the center of the city, there is a beautiful old church and every day at noon, music plays Ava Maria while the characters on the church spin and play.  

Katakalon Greece is the port city to Olympia – the site where the ancient Olympic Games took place.  It was originally men only that participated – and they participated nude!  (No photos of that, sorry!)

We arrived safely into the Mediterranean – which is my favorite place to sail.  There are so many different cultures and languages and they are modern in their own ways.  The first stop here was a 2-day stay in Athens, Greece.  A group of friends had the evening out down in the Plaka District where there’s a heavenly view of the Acropolis.

Next we had several days at sea where we went “full speed ahead” as we transited the pirate waters near the Gulf of Aden.  This is what we were on the lookout for.  The ship goes to extra measures through this area including wrapping us up in concertina wire.  Fortunately we made it through the area into the Suez Canal with no incidents.

Our next stop was Safaga, Egypt which is the gateway into Luxor, the home of the Valley of the Kings & Queens, King Tut’s Tomb, Karnak’s Temple.  Since I have been there in the past I chose to spend the day at a resort, by a pool.

Sharm el Shiek, Egypt is an area developed for tourism with beautiful resorts and fabulous diving and snorkeling.  Note the sign on the Hard Rock café!

“Authentic Egyptian Restaurant Bar”

Going through the Suez Canal is a full day transit and quite different than the Panama Canal as there are no locks.  Traffic flows in one direction so you have to be in position on time or lose your spot which could cause a days delay in arriving at your next destination.  The west side of the Canal is irrigated and has much life including some beautiful resorts.  The east side however is just miles and miles of desert sand.

A regular item in their diet in this region is pigeon.  The cone shaped buildings are the pigeon raising farms.

MUMBAI INDIA

MUMBAI (BOMBAY) INDIA

17 million people live in this most populous city in India although it is difficult to take a census as at least half the people live on the streets. Cows are allowed here and they can roam freely except when within the city limits they have to be tethered. This is another great city for having custom made clothes. The first morning my friends Barbara, Linda & I went to a tailor and selected some new clothes to be made during our two day stay. Then we did some short touring to the Gateway to India with lunch at the famous Taj Hotel then headed back to the ship for work (yes, I still have a job to do). We went out again that evening for a wonderful, traditional Indian dinner and an evening out.

The next morning I went on tour to Elephanta Caves. It involved a one-hour boat ride to and island, climbing 120 slab steps with monkeys, goats, stray dogs and cows all along the way to greet us.

When traveling on a cruise like this, we all get caught up in the look of the locals so there is an evening where the ship comes alive with vibrant colors and flavors of India which we call Maharajah and Maharani Formal Night.

EASTER SUNDAY

This religious holiday is celebrated on all our ships. We have a protestant minister, catholic priest and a rabbi sailing on the long cruises. The Protestants & Catholics got together Sunday morning for a sunrise service at 6am. It was quite beautiful being at sea for that event.

EGYPT

We made two stops in Egypt. The first one was Safaga which is the gateway into Luxor. Tours travel by a bus caravan, escorted by security forces, to cross the desert as Luxor is 137 miles inland from the port. Once there, there are many ancient sites to visit including King Tut’s Tomb and Karnak’s Temple – some of you may remember the Johnny Carson show where he would give an answer and place a card on his forehead and say “Karnak says….” then he would tell the question.

On another theme night on the ship, we were Egyptians with 1001 Arabian Nights as the theme. My friend, Tom, who is a group leader for a large travel agency and is on board every year with me, went on a magic carpet ride!

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA

This was my first time to this country as it had been closed to tourism for several years due to a civil war. But now they welcome tourists with open arms – along with some dancers on the pier.

My tour took us via chartered luxury train through the countryside, passing the local trains that were overcrowded with people riding on the top, hanging out the windows, wherever they could find a space to hang on. Our destination was the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage which housed not only baby elephants (the smallest ones in the photos are about 3 years old) but injured or sick elephants. They have a feeding time when the babies without mothers are fed by bottle.


Popular souvenirs are products made from elephant dung. Don’t worry, none of those souvenirs are coming home with me.

PHUKETT, THAILAND

One of our stops was at a cave where hundreds of monkeys were at the entrance, getting well fed with bananas from the tourists. Inside were many religious artifacts.

Phuket is a tropical paradise with many beautiful beaches and resorts. I went on a tour to the location of Roger Moore’s The Man with the Golden Gun, locally referred to as the James Bond Island. These limestone islands have caves in and underneath and canoeing is very popular here.

We made a stop at Koh Panyi water village where 400 houses are built on stilts and connected by wooden walkways. Population of the village is 2000! They even have a school, hospital and sports court.