RetiredMustang Posted September 26, 2016 #1 Share Posted September 26, 2016 (edited) I’ve decided to do another cruise blog, this time about our trip on Maasdam across the Pacific to Sydney, then a circumnavigation of Australia, followed by a five-night add-on trip to the Red Center and the Barrier Reef (for the second time – the cruise visits the Reef as well). I know Btimmer and others are also blogging, but we will no doubt have different experiences, excursions, thoughts and opinions, so I decided to go ahead and do one as well. I don’t have a blog hosting site, so I will be posting directly to Cruise Critic. I will update the reports as I can, but I know kazu and others experienced a lot of internet outages and slowness on their trip this spring to Hawaii, Tahiti and the Marqueses – we will be doing a lot of days in the Pacific and I expect we will have several times when I will not be able to raise a signal, maybe for days at a time. I will report on each day, but may not be able to update the blog for several days and will then catch up when I can. Here is a map of our itinerary: Here is the schedule on Maasdam: Sept. 26: depart Seattle Sept. 27: Vancouver, BC Sept. 28 – Oct. 2: at sea Oct. 3: Honolulu, HI Oct. 4: Kona, HI Oct. 5-8: at sea Oct 9: Cross International Dateline into Oct. 10 Oct. 11: Apia, Samoa Oct. 12: at sea Oct. 13: Suva, Fiji Oct. 14: Dravuni Island, Fiji Oct. 15: at sea Oct. 16: Mystery Island (Anelghowhat), Vanuatu Oct. 17: Noumea, New Caledonia Oct. 18-19: at sea Oct. 20-21: Sydney (overnight) Oct. 22: at sea Oct. 23: Brisbane Oct. 24: at sea Oct. 25: Hamilton Island Oct. 26: Cairns Oct. 27-28: Barrier Reef Oct. 29: at sea Oct. 30: Darwin Oct. 31: at sea Nov. 1: Komodo Island, Indonesia Nov. 2: Benoa, Bali, Indonesia Nov. 3-5: at sea Nov. 6: Geraldton Nov 7-8: Freemantle (overnight) Nov. 9: Albany Nov. 10-11: at sea Nov. 12: Adelaide Nov. 13: Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island Nov. 14: at sea Nov. 15: Burnie, Tasmania Nov. 16: Melbourne Nov. 17: at sea Nov. 18: debark in Syndey We then join the HAL shore add-on tour: Nov. 18: fly to Alice Springs, stay night Nov. 19: drive to Ayers Rock, stay night Nov. 20-21: fly to Cairns, stay 2 nights Nov. 22: fly to Sydney, stay night Nov. 23: fly to Seattle via Honolulu More later, Dave Edited September 26, 2016 by RetiredMustang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted September 26, 2016 #2 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Looks like a good trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Gail & Marty sailing away Posted September 26, 2016 #3 Share Posted September 26, 2016 See you on the ship Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredMustang Posted September 26, 2016 Author #4 Share Posted September 26, 2016 See you on the ship Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app Thanks! Looking forward to seeing you again. How does the new carpeting look? I presume just the public areas were done, and not the staterooms. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kftw Posted September 26, 2016 #5 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Looking forward to your posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredMustang Posted September 26, 2016 Author #6 Share Posted September 26, 2016 (edited) Sept. 25, pre-cruise activity When I last blogged, from Oosterdam in Jan.-Feb., I had just retired. Since then, we have moved to “home” in Washington state, and are now living in the Puget Sound area, west across the Sound from Seattle. We took a ferry to Seattle today, and are spending the night in a hotel prior to boarding Maasdam tomorrow. We did that so we could have dinner with one of our sons and his SO, and to not have to worry about the logistics of catching the ferry tomorrow. We have already booked a taxi to take us to Pier 91 tomorrow morning. The weather has been delightful this weekend, and is supposed to be fine not only for sailing from Seattle tomorrow, but also for Tuesday in Vancouver. We have been planning (and paying for :D) this “bucket list” trip for quite a while now and are excited that we finally are about to get underway on one of our favorite HAL ships. I hope you will join us for the journey. More later, Dave Edited September 26, 2016 by RetiredMustang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvcruisn' Posted September 26, 2016 #7 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I am looking forward to your posts. The South Pacific and Australia are two of the areas I most want to visit one day. I hope you enjoy your day in my home city of Vancouver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflyrc5 Posted September 26, 2016 #8 Share Posted September 26, 2016 See you on board tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyboy Posted September 26, 2016 #9 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I hope you enjoy your long journey on this cruise and look forward to your updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Btimmer Posted September 26, 2016 #10 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I, too, look forward to meeting you on the ship tomorrow or the next day. I'll be wearing my dark blue Alaska Airlines baseball type cap and a NW themed reddish colored short sleeve shirt. We're all packed and the final checklist items are being marked off tonight. I've dreamed about doing the circumnavigation for 10 plus years since we first visited Australia. We're staying 10 days post cruise to travel to the Blue Mountains, back to Melbourne to spend time with our exchange daughter and her family and possibly out to Ayers Rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajkr74 Posted September 26, 2016 #11 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Boy this looks like a fun cruise! :) Hope you have a great trip and am looking forward to your postings during the cruise. Oh.. also, welcome to the Pacific Northwest, we knew you were planning on moving here but we were not sure when. Hope the move was easy and simple. :p Rick & Joyce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcummin Posted September 26, 2016 #12 Share Posted September 26, 2016 (edited) It is great to see another blog for this wonderful adventure. I will delight in every tidbit that you are able to post. Welcome to Washington State, Dave, and Happy Retirement ! Bon Voyage !!! Barbara Edited September 26, 2016 by bcummin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajkr74 Posted September 26, 2016 #13 Share Posted September 26, 2016 See you on board tomorrow. Ted, boy you lucky person, you get to do this cruise also! Hope you have a great cruise. Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaspersmycat Posted September 26, 2016 #14 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Have a great cruise. I'll be following along vicariously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare erewhon Posted September 26, 2016 #15 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I always enjoy your blogs, so will be following the Trans Pacific journey. See you on board for the Circumnavigation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbhcw Posted September 26, 2016 #16 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Looking forward to your reports! Have a wonderful cruise:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtn2Sea Posted September 26, 2016 #17 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Looks like a great trip! Have fun. I look forward to your live report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliaschief Posted September 26, 2016 #18 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Always look forward to your travel blogs. Have a great cruise! Bond Voyage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbri Posted September 26, 2016 #19 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Have a wonderful trip. Looking forward to your review and photos!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare POA1 Posted September 26, 2016 #20 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Have a great trip, Dave! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obriendan Posted September 26, 2016 #21 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Bon voyage! Looking forward to following your cruise until we join you in Sydney for the Australia circumnavigation. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJSULIBRARIAN Posted September 26, 2016 #22 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Always enjoy reading your reports and your itinerary is fabulous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retiretwo Posted September 26, 2016 #23 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I'm glad to hear that retirement is going well! I look so forward to "going along" on your cruise. I always love your reports and photos. Happy and Healthy travels! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigianne Posted September 26, 2016 #24 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Will definitely be following your travels! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ger_77 Posted September 26, 2016 #25 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Bon Voyage! I'm looking forward to your updates! Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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