A 2-line World Cruise--Around the World on Amtrak, Crystal, and Cunard

[TheKingD]

Roy, count us into your cheering section as you make your way home.

 

Cindy & John

[rafinmd]

2 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

In the business class lounge, flight should be on time.  I think one of the hassles airlines are dealing with is a LOT of no-shows.  People may be getting home as fast as possible and not canceling existing reservations.

 

Roy

Repeating from Cunard forum.

[rafinmd]

Flight was not on time; 90 minutes late.  Missed connection in Dallas and 4 hours till my final flight.  Will probably be around 2 AM when I get home.

 

 Roy 

 

[Vict0riann]

Welcome home, Roy!

[rafinmd]

Walked in the door about 1:30AM, in bed 01:45 but still took a long time to get to sleep.

 

Roy

[Happily@Sea]

Glad you are home, Roy. Take care.

[Vict0riann]

Glad you made it home, Roy.  I imagine everyone is having a hard time sleeping these days.,....  I know the last time I looked at my bedside clock it was 2:10, and I was awake at 6.  Worrying times, indeed.

[rafinmd]

Now if we can just get everybody else home.  In addition to those on the Amsterdam, one of my friends is on the Crystal World Cruise and had a first flight from Perth to Sydney.  They were due for a day layover in Sydney anyway so I hope they are finally on the way home.

 

10 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

Glad you made it home, Roy.  I imagine everyone is having a hard time sleeping these days.,....  I know the last time I looked at my bedside clock it was 2:10, and I was awake at 6.  Worrying times, indeed.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Day QM2+3, Thursday, March 19, 2020, Perth to Sydney

The Crystal Serenity begins an overnight call in Perth (Fremantle), prematurely ending her world cruise.

It was a cloudy morning but the sun did shine through the clouds about 6:30.

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I headed out for a walk early, walking east until about the time I got to the WACA (Western Australia Cricket Association) stadium.

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On my way back I paused by the pond in the Queens Garden.

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I went down to the buffet about 8:30.  My final Pan Pacific breakfast was bacon and hash browns.

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When I returned to my room there was a message in my spam folder.  It turned out to be my flight.  It was that afternoon at 1:50PM but went only as far as Sydney.  The email said I would be contacted by the hotel about a transfer to the airport but not knowing what to expect I packed up as quickly as possible and caught a cab to the airport.  I was kind of amused by a long line waiting to get into a Cosco near the airport.  According to the taxi driver it was opening day and not necessarily people hoarding supplies.

When I arrived at the airport the checkin line was minimal and I was through quite quickly.  Not knowing what I would have as a baggage allowance I packed each of the roll ons to about 50 pounds.  I put as many heavy things as I could in the collapsible backpack, and what was left over went into the large backpack.  The big backpack would be my carryon bag and the little one my personal item.  Together those two totaled about 12kg.  

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When I reached the counter the two rolling bags were 22 and 23 kg, JUST within the 23kg limit.  However, my ticket only covered one check and I had to go to a sales counter to pay for the second bag before getting my boarding pass.  When I finished that process the line extended well beyond the maze for the checkin counter.

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Security was a breeze and I ended up with almost 3 to kill before the flight.  I bought a muffin for lunch and a can of Pringles for later in the day.  The flight to Perth was a widebody A330.  It was probably only 1/3 full.  A meal was served; I chose beef and rice.  It was close to 9:30 when I collected my luggage.  The representative in Perth suggested I see American once I got to Sydney to see if I had an ongoing reservation but the transfers to the international terminal were closed so I checked my email to see if there was anything new.  I had a reservation for Friday and Cunard suggested I find a hotel and get reimbursed later.  While some airports have direct telephones to hotels Sydney did not so I tried an online search.  It looked like the best choice to be near the airport at a decent price was CKS Airport hotel and it was time to get another taxi.  

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They hadn't quite gotten my reservation yet but it was soon retrieved.  I had a temporary scare when I went to check in as I couldn't find my Australian wallet when I went to give them a credit card for my incidentals.   I was soon on my way to room 121 and a great relief.  I haven't put my wallet in my hip pocket for years but had somehow done so when leaving the taxi.  I did a few things online (including trying but unable to check in for my onward flight) and was in bed about 11.

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I will skip ahead a bit here with a bit of financial information.  Cunard has paid for my flights and expenses since leaving the ship and I have a pretty small cash outlay for the trip home.  My TOTAL cash expenses since leaving Perth have been quite a modest $255US, with Cunard picking up in advance my airfare and hotel in Sydney.  Not a bad layout for an unplanned trip almost halfway around the globe.

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As a parting shot there are a number of cruisers somewhat in limbo.  I know there are a few ships still in the Pacific which will not be able to disembark their passengers for at least a few days.  Pacific Princess is in Perth and apparently ready to carry not just their own passengers not flying home but also some from HAL Amsterdam, and Seabourn. I have friends on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, Crystal Serenity, and Amsterdam whose return I haven't been able to verify.  There are also as I understand it almost 300 passengers on QM2 slowly making their way back to Southampton.  May all be home safe and sound as soon as possible.

Roy

 

[rafinmd]

Day QM2+4, Friday, March 20, 2020, Sydney to Dallas and finally home.

The Crystal Serenity concludes her world cruise in Fremantle.  I have heard that Filipino cruise staff will be taking refuge on board as they will not be permitted to return to their homeland.  The sun set in Dallas at 7:39 although it was cloudy.  QM2 is continuing her voyage as a merchant ship back to Southampton.  As I start this post (9AM EDT, March 23) she has arrived in Mauritius for refueling.    Her next stop according to AIS is Durban.

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While my flight to Sydney had been in Economy, the ongoing itinerary back to Baltimore was in Business Class and my boarding time was 12:55PM.  I did not set an alarm and woke up around 7:30 and went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast about 8, getting sausage and toast.

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The shuttle to the airport was for fee and ran once every 40 minutes.  After breakfast I booked the 10:10 shuttle and took a short walk to a local park which had I think a Cricket wicket.

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With Business Class my baggage allowance had gone from 1 23kg bag to 3 32kg  bags.  I left the rolling bags as they were and put only the things I needed to carry (electronics with li-on batteries and meds) in the medium sized backpack and checked the large backpack (only about 7kg).  Checkin was a breeze and should have gotten me priority the rest of the way to the gate.  Unfortunately, the automated passport control did not like my passport and I had to go to the regular line for a live agent but was still finished pretty quickly, and security was also pretty quick.  Once in the terminal I needed to pass through quite a large business area at the entry to the gates.  Our malls are all shut down, but every business in this area was wide open.

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Qantas had a nice lounge where I still had the better part of 2 hours before it was time for my flight.  As boarding time approached there was an announcement in the terminal that my flight would be delayed "while the aircraft was catered".  Almost immediately after that the screen said "proceed to gate" but it was almost departure time when boarding actually started.  To make matters worse near the end of the process the pilot announced a problem with the aircraft which would require a complete shutdown of the plane and reboot.  Fortunately, the reboot was successful.  Our scheduled departure was 13:40 but it was 14:55 when the plane started moving forward and 3:05 when we left the runway.

The plane was an Airbus A380, I'm quite sure the biggest I have ever flown; 2 full passenger decks, each served by it's own jetway.  Service started off with a dinner about an hour after we left.  I chose a steak entree.

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The seats each extended flat to form a makeshift bed.  The woman next to me who had flown from Perth overnight slept a lot while I got only a bit of sleep and a lot of rest.  There was a little pantry in the galley where I grabbed a bag of chips mid-flight.  A breakfast was served about 90 minutes before we landed, even though it was almost noon in Dallas by that time.  

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Our scheduled arrival was 12:55 but we touched down at 1:30 and exited the plane at 1:55.  My connection to Baltimore was 2:25 and there was no way I could make it.  I have Global Entry but the system did not like my fingerprints and I had to go through Immigration the usual way.  There were no questions but I expect there were thermal sensors and I'm quite sure our passports are scanned at each country even if they are not stamped and I assume the officer could see where I had been recently.  ln any case I was through pretty quickly.  Just before the baggage hall there were a number of ticket jackets taped to the wall arranged by destination city and passenger.  My new boarding pass was probably about the 6th in the line.

The 484 passenger plane was almost full and assuming about 2 bags per person that created a real zoo at the baggage carousel.  There were abundant trolleys and I found my 3 bags in about a half hour.  I had more than enough time as my new flight didn't leave until 8:30.

A first class domestic ticket does not entitle use of a lounge on American. I checked with the Admiral's Club to see if there was a possibility based on my incoming flight.  They thought so but sent me to the Flagship Lounge a couple of gates further down.  They had to scan both my incoming and outgoing boarding passes to get me in the door.  The lounge was not great but was better than trying to hang out in the open area.

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I left the lounge about 7:45, needing to go from Terminal D to Terminal B on a little train.  The flight was lightly booked (perhaps 1/3 full) and ran pretty much on time.  We landed at BWI at 12:30 and I had my bags a bit before 1.  There was no problem getting a taxi home and I arrived about 1:25 and was in bed about 1:45.

Sleeping has been unsteady.  I did not sleep much Friday night.  I had a pretty successful grocery shopping day Saturday although things were really strange.  Saturday night I slept until 10:15AM.  Since my church's virtual worship was at 10:30 at the time I was still getting ready for the day and not very attentive for the first 15 minutes or so.  I took walks in my neighborhood both Saturday and Sunday but on Monday it has rained so no exercise so far.  I also did not sleep very long Sunday night.  It may take a while to get control of my body clock back after a 12-hour shift in less than 3 days.

My parting shot will perhaps be a bit long and surprising.  I wanted to end on a positive note and had saved a few photos for a sea day out of Fremantle which never happened.  People often ask what the difference is between a cruise ship and an ocean liner.  Much of the answer is technical like strength of the steel and hull design but I like one graphic.  People often ask about a ship "Can you go out on the bow?".  There are 2 heavy steel doors at the front of the promenade deck that are normally open and lead to an open deck with spare propellor blades that sure looks like the bow:

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/bow1.jpg

Not so fast.  Go all the way to the railing and there's a second long bow that you can't go on.  

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/bow2.jpg

But wait, there's more.  Looking closely at the mast in front you don't see the bottom and if you move to the side you can see a 3rd bow"

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/bow3.jpg

That massive bow reinforcement is largely responsible for the way QM2 handles raging Atlantic storms.  I'm sad that I will miss a month of QM2 doing what she was designed so well to do but look forward to my next transatlantic on her.

Roy

 

[Scrapnana]

Roy,

 

I haven’t read every single one of your entries yet so you may have mentioned this.  Did Cunard give you money back and/or a future cruise credit?

[rafinmd]

1 hour ago, Scrapnana said:

Roy,

 

I haven’t read every single one of your entries yet so you may have mentioned this.  Did Cunard give you money back and/or a future cruise credit?

Honestly, I haven't even thought about that.  They got me home with a minimum of outlay and right now I'm quite satisfied with that.

 

I'm sure you'll see this later as your flight appears to be at the gate (unless your AA flight has wifi).

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I passed the 14-day mark at home about 1:30AM.  No twinges from my toe for about a week.  I assume it was most likely a stress fracture.

 

Roy