This is our first World Cruise post and it is happening at the T minue 175 mark – we are going to post a few pre-cruise blogs – to document our preparations.
First, thanks for planning on crusing with us! We contemplated an ultimate retirement travel experience that would satisfy our desire to see the world and simply thought what a better way than to cruise around the globe, take a sampling of various ports and countries and see what is offered then if we like something, we will plan to return to spend a greater amount of time in that country. This beats the hectic multiple flight schedule to accomplish the same number of visit to specific countries although you do get to spend more time in those contries flying in and speding a week.
So, after some research, and taking 2 Viking cruises (Norway/Scotland and Austrailia/New Zealand), we fell in love with The Viking Ocean style of cruising. Viking is in the Scandanavian style, simple elegance, focused on the destination, offers enrichment, no nickle/diming, no casinos and not for those under 18. It caters to an older, mature crowd which we have grown to appreciate now that we are in our 60’s. When (if we are fortunate enough to see) grandkids come around, then kid friendly cruises will be in play.
Viking has been hosting a world cruise for several years and we reviewed a number of patron’s blogs and Fb posts as they circumnavigated the globe – here is what attracted us to this particular itinarary:
- Visits 29 countries in 138 days.
- Good port to sea days ratio (65 sea days of 138 – 47%) which allows you to refresh between stops get some relaxation on the ship time.
- Leaves from Fort Lauderdale – which is literally 17 miles from our home – easy embarcation morning – just fall out of bed and in 30 minutes get on the ship
- Panama Canal – a bucket list event is to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
- Hawaii, French Polynesia – Islands that promise to be beautiful.
- Indonesia, Bali, Malaysia and Singapore – a culture that is said to be seen and enjoyed.
- Although Suez canal was part of the original itinerary, the revised itinerary is now around Africa with several stops on the continent. The change was due to the Red Sea conflicts, while we miss the Suez, another bucklist item of our travels was to see Afica which we originally thought was going to be another trip someday.
- Cruise fare is resonable, all inclusive, good on board credits, each port has an included excursion and fights are Buisness Class Air accomodations.
- It’s Viking Cruise – a cruise company that does things with class.
So what do you pack for 138 days? How do you entertain yourself on 65 sea days?