Wayfairers

Taxes will be interesting. My husband’s plan is to attempt to do them online. 99% of our paperwork is electronic for taxes and we always file online. All our bills have been electronic for a while except for property taxes - sad that the government is behind on that. We will have someone picking up our mail from our mail service. Normally they hold it for us, but 7 months is a long time to hold mail.

Looking forward to our first world cruise next year as the last cruise B2B2B being on board 7 months continuously. Longest we have been on is 90 days and I have felt how you are feeling now on every cruise and I expect to feel that at the end of the 7 months too. Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

I would get bored of the same thing for 7 months too. I couldn’t do this if it was a bunch of 7 day cruises or if the cruises went to the same places - that would get boring quickly. Two are long cruises so there will be lectures, arts & crafts, tastings and many other activities available on sea days - usually so many that we have to choose between two or more things we want to do at the same time. There are a variety of ports with most of them new for us - the 3 cruises are a circumnavigation of Africa, Panama Canal/Caribbean and a world cruise. Only one repeat port during the 7 months and we will skip that one the first time we are there because we will be off ship on a land trip - amazing that it worked out that way.

Packing should be fairly easy. We get free laundry on board so that helps - maybe 2 outfits for dressy nights onboard and probably will take our normal 12 mix and match outfits - a combo of skirts and pants for me and shorts and pants for husband with a few layers to add for cooler days and a jacket for rain. We won’t be going to very cold climates but will probably have days in the 50s or 60s. This packing strategy works well for all our trips. Most likely will be carrying our luggage onto the ship. We overpacked once and it was a pain - wasted time unpacking and packing instead of having fun and had to find places in the room to store everything.

One of the cruises is a world cruise.

I do know what to expect for the first 3 months. I know some may have done the 3 cruises I’m doing last year and this year so never hurts to ask if they have advice. I love learning from others…keeps me from making the same errors.

The longest we’ve spent onboard one cruise ship is 90 days (~3 months). Had no issues with that and was ready to stay longer at the end of that cruise. Starting this fall through late next spring/early summer we will be on one cruise ship for 7 months doing a B2B2B. We’ve travelled by land for 6 months multiple times so are familiar with the ins and outs of long term travel and with things like having to restock toiletries while on the road (at one point I think each item in my toiletries bag came from a different country!) Wondering if anyone who has stayed onboard for 7 months or longer has any advice to share concerning long term cruise ship travel.

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this blog. I haven’t read it yet. I’ve enjoyed your posts and have benefitted from your knowledge in the past and I’m looking forward to reading this as I start research for the Japan portion of the 2024WC.

Been a while since I posted questions about Abidjan. Anyone been there?

Oh wow….never noticed that before on a HAL cruise. This is on the Grand Africa 2023. Thank you! I looked - nothing there.

I’ve read some cruise lines have a shuttle from the Limassol cruise port (New Port) to the center of town or to Old Port. Has anyone been there on HAL? Was a shuttle offered?

No experience yet but our plan for later this year is to get local cash from an ATM - that is how we always get local cash and never had a problem yet.

That silicone strip makes a huge difference. I didn’t even know they sold them without the strip….now I know to make sure it is there.

I use a “cruises taken” excel document. There is a spreadsheet listing cruise info….cruise line, ship, name of cruise, number of days and days get totaled at the bottom by cruise line. There is also a spreadsheet for every continent or large area like Middle East or Caribbean and on those sheets cruise ports are listed with country, city, tour, tour company, tour cost and ideas for the next visit

Good to know you were able to easily make the 8:50am after disembarking. Did you Uber to the train station?

Ye it is!

Thanks for the information!

We spent 5 days wandering around Venice and loved every minute. Picked a different direction every day…no maps…no destination picked……just wandered and explored. Perfect way to visit Venice.

Has anyone done a day tour to Saudi Arabia from Aqaba? I have found a tour company that does that tour with good reviews. Just wondering if anyone has done that and how the day went.

I would wear the same dress both dressy nights…..no one is going to notice. Look at your itinerary - there are probably days you will be in a bathing suit most days. On those days you could easily repeat a dress.

If I remember correctly, you got this visa though HAL while onboard. Did you have to get any visas on your own before boarding

We’ve sailed to Europe, spent time and sailed back a few times. Usually we will spend a few months in Europe and have had to take different lines to make the timing work out. Much better than flying. Cunard is a last choice because they don’t stop anywhere along the way. I like to have port days on either end of those wonderful crossing sea days ( makes them feel like a vacation from the vacation). I always check cruises to see if something works before booking a flight. Wish there were more options to do that elsewhere.

Prefer a sit down breakfast as a more relaxing start to the day. I am glad it isn’t rushed. If we have an early excursion we will get room service or, more and more rarely, the buffet.

Rangoon, Myanmar. Love the far east…so different from other parts of the world. We had 2 overnights there on Passage to Far East on Holland America. Only off the ship 2 days as the third day was short due to sailing when the tide turned in the Yangon river - quite a sight to see several large ships simultaneously turning with the tide. We had the same private guide both days. We ate local food in restaurants where we were the only non locals, rode a ferry where we were the only non locals and watched the locals buying/selling everything (even animals) onboard, saw a UNESCO site that hadn’t been excavated yet but we could see the rocks sticking out of the ground, pagodas, local religious event (again, only non locals), hiked through the jungle in a national forest with our guide creating the path with his machete, explored a town where there were no cars by rickshaw (once again, only non locals)…..many more wonderful memories. I told the guide we wanted a non touristy experience while still seeing the main sights….he definitely delivered.

You are right….getting my cruises confused!