Third Voyage Around The World, in 2024

    On January 3, 2024, we set sail from Ft Lauderdale on an epic 128 day voyage around the world, scheduled to return to Ft Lauderdale on May 11.  We are sailing on the Holland America ship Zuiderdam which has a passenger capacity of more than 1900.  This is much larger than any ship on which we have taken a long voyage before, but we are told that only a little more than 1200 passengers are actually on board.  This will certainly make the ship less crowded but it’s still pretty big for our tastes and we are still trying to remember where everything is located two days later as I write this. 

     We joined this voyage primarily because its itinerary was so good for us, sailing to a number of interesting places we have never been, including Japan, China, India & Hawaii.  So far we have had two itinerary changes before sailing, with three Israeli ports cancelled after war broke out there on October 7, and a reversal of our port stops in China that would enable many of us to visit those cities without obtaining a Chinese visa.  As of today, here is our scheduled itinerary, first a map and then a list of port stops (the flaming round map icons denote overnight stops and the moon icons denote late night departures):   

 Day         Date          Itinerary                                                Arrival      Departure

 

 

 WED         03JAN24          Sail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US                         5:00pm

 

 

 SUN         07JAN24          Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago        8:00am           5:00pm

 

 

 TUE         09JAN24          Devils Island, French Guiana                  8:00am           5:00pm

                                    

 

 THU        11JAN24          Macapa, Brazil                                       6:00am           11:00am

 

 

 FRI         12JAN24          Alter Do Chao, Brazil                              11:00am          6:00pm

 

 

 SAT        13JAN24          Boca da Valeria, Brazil                             7:00am           2:00pm 

                                    

 

  SUN      14JAN24          Manaus, Brazil                                         8:00am           5:00pm

                                    

 

  MON     15JAN24          Parintins, Brazil                                       10:00am          6:00pm

 

                                   

 TUE       16JAN24          Santarem, Brazil                                       8:00am           5:00pm

 

 

 SAT        20JAN24          Saint Georges, Grenada                           8:00am           5:00pm

 

 

 MON      22JAN24          Willemstad, Curacao                                8:00am           6:00pm

 

 

 WED      24JAN24          Panama Canal                                           5:00am           5:00pm

 

 

 FRI        26JAN24         Quepos, Costa Rica                                    7:00am          4:00pm

 

 

 MON     29JAN24         Manzanillo, Mexico                                   12:00n          9:00pm

 

 

 TUE      30JAN24         Puerto Vallarta, Mexico                               8:00am          5:00pm

 

 

 TUE      06FEB24         Kona, Hawaii, US                                         10:00am         8:00pm

 

 

 WED     07FEB24         Hilo, Hawaii, US                                            8:00am          5:00pm

 

 

 THU     08FEB24         Honolulu, Hawaii, US                                    7:00am          11:00pm

 

 

SUN      18FEB24         Guam (US Territory), Guam                           8:00am          5:00pm

 

 

MON     19FEB24         Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands                  8:00am          5:00pm

 

 

 FRI       23FEB24         Ishigaki Island, Japan                                    7:00am          5:00pm

 

 

SAT       24FEB24         Naha, Japan                                                  7:00am

 

SUN       25FEB24         Naha, Japan                                                                        11:00pm

 

 WED      28FEB24         Tokyo, Japan                                                  8:00am

 THU      29FEB24         Tokyo, Japan                                                                       6:00pm

 

 

 FRI       01MAR24         Omaezaki, Japan                                          7:00am          5:00pm

 

 

SAT      02MAR24         Kobe, Japan                                                    9:00am

 

 

SUN      03MAR24         Kobe, Japan                                                                        5:00pm

 MON    04MAR24          Scenic Cruising Kanmon Strait

 

 TUE      05MAR24          Fukuoka (Hakata), Japan                               7:00am          4:00pm

THU      07MAR24          Shanghai, China                                            8:00am

 FRI       08MAR24          Shanghai, China                                                                 5:00pm

 

 SUN     10MAR24          Dalian, China                                                  8:00am          5:00pm

 

 MON    11MAR24          Tianjin (Beijing), China                                    8:00am

 

 TUE     12MAR24          Tianjin (Beijing), China                                                         6:00pm

                                   

 SAT     16MAR24          Hong Kong, China                                           8:00am

 

 SUN     17MAR24          Hong Kong, China                                                                3:30pm

 

 

 TUE     19MAR24          Da Nang (Hue), Vietnam                                 8:00am             11:00pm

                                   

 THU     21MAR24          Phu My, Vietnam                                           6:00am               6:00pm

 SAT     23MAR24          Singapore                                                       8:00am

 

 SUN     24MAR24          Singapore                                                                                5:00pm

 THU    28MAR24          Colombo, Sri Lanka                                         8:00am              11:00pm

 

 SUN    31MAR24          Mumbai (Bombay), India                                  6:00am

  

                                   

 MON   01APR24          Mumbai (Bombay), India                                                             5:00pm

 

 

 THU    04APR24          Fujairah, United Arab Emirates                        8:00am                6:00pm

                                   

 FRI      05APR24          Dubai, United Arab Emirates                           7:00am                11:00pm

                                   

 SAT    06APR24          Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates                    8:00am                 11:00pm

 

                                   

 MON   08APR24          Muscat, Oman                                               8:00am                    6:00pm

 WED    10APR24          Salalah, Oman                                               8:00am                    5:00pm

 MON    15APR24          Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt                                7:00am                    8:00pm

      

TUE      16APR24          Aqaba (for Petra), Jordan                               6:00am                  8:00pm

 THU     18APR24          Suez Canal                                                   6:00am                  6:00pm

 

 

 SAT      20APR24          Rhodes, Greece                                            8:00am                   9:00pm

 

 

 SUN      21APR24          Bodrum, Turkey                                           8:00am                   6:00pm

 

 

 MON     22APR24          Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey                         8:00am                    6:00pm

 

 

 TUE       23APR24          Cruising The Dardanelles

                                  

 TUE       23APR24          Istanbul, Turkey                                          4:00pm

 

 

 WED      24APR24          Istanbul, Turkey                                                                        4:00pm

 

 

 THU      25APR24          Mykonos, Greece                                      11:00am                   11:00pm

                                   

 FRI        26APR24          Piraeus (Athens), Greece                            7:00am                     5:00pm

 

 

 SUN      28APR24          Naples (Pompeii/Amalfi), Italy                    8:00am                    7:00pm

 

 

 WED      01MAY24          Malaga, Spain                                           7:00am                    5:00pm

 SAT      04MAY24          Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores,           8:00am                    5:00pm

 

SAT      11MAY24         Debark Ship Fort Lauderdale                        7:00am

     The itinerary for this voyage has been uncertain from the beginning and we are still not sure how it will turn out. Notably:

Brazil:  When we first visited Brazil in 2012 we purchased a visa that lasted 10 years.  We visited again in 2019, when our visa would still have been good but Brazil had eliminated visas for US citizens.  Earlier this year they announced they were reinstating a visa requirement for Americans at the beginning of 2014, about a year after our old visa, unused since 2012, ran out.  The new visa requirement was to start for people entering Brazil on January 11, 2024 . . . the day we would arrive (coincidence? We wonder).

     The date on which they would accept visa applications was delayed from early October until about a week into December, less than a month before we were to depart.   This created a lot of pressure on passengers because we were told, repeatedly, that no one would be permitted to board the ship on January 3 without a Brazilian visa, thus putting the entire voyage in doubt for anyone who didn’t obtain a visa by then.  And, of course, obtaining a visa turned out to be excruciatingly difficult.  After filling out their form each of us had to upload a picture of ourself and of our picture passport page, in specified format with vague sizing requirements.  We had to upload a copy of our Airline itinerary to and from Brazil (they later agreed to accept our ship itinerary) and a bank statement showing the names of the bank and the account holder and transactions for the last month demonstrating that we have at least $2,000 (ie. enough to get home again).  The reviewing process was very slow (sometimes more than a week or even two) and arbitrary, since different demands for reuploading unaccepted documents were issued.  Often no explanation was given about what was wrong with the initial document provided and there was no one you could contact for explanation or assistance.  And remember, with the departure date fast approaching, the entire cruise was in jeopardy.

       Was anybody nervous?  You bet!  Shortly before Christmas Holland America announced that no one would be denied boarding for lack of a visa after all and if Brazil wouldn’t accommodate us they would change the itinerary to skip Brazil.  Then about a week later, as we were preparing to leave, HAL announced that Brazil had agreed that the ship could sail up the Amazon so long as passengers without a visa did not leave the ship.  So at least no one was going to miss the entire cruise.  Rick’s evisa finally arrived in his inbox the day before we sailed and Mary’s came today, three days into the voyage.  We understand that about half the passengers hadn’t received visas by the time we sailed.  Then yesterday Brazil announced that they were postponing the visa requirement for three months (what they should have done in the first place).  So now everyone is free to visit the Brazilian ports (assuming we will be able to sail up the Amazon, which is suffering from a historic drought that kept some ships from visiting it a month or so ago).  All we are out, therefore, is the $160 we paid for a Brazilian visa we probably will never need (no refunds, at least so far).  That is not counting any health effects of a month of unnecessary tension for a bunch of people who are no longer as young as they once were.

The Red Sea:   As I mentioned above, we originally had three stops in Israel that were changed in October.  But we have no idea what may happen when we arrive at the southern entry to the Red Sea in April.  The war in Israel continues, ships are avoiding the Red Sea and Suez Canal because some are being attacked with missiles and drones from Yemen, the US is threatening the Houthis in Yemen with military force if they don’t stop doing that, and Iran has reportedly sent war ships to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.  By April this may all be over, or it may have spread into a wider conflict shutting down the Red Sea.  If the Red Sea is not open for cruise ships it seems we will have to be redirected around Africa, missing the Mediterranean portion of this itinerary.  That would be pretty drastic and disappointing to us, first because it would mean more and wider suffering for the people in the region, but also because we visited most of the ports in Africa last year and were looking forward to some of the stops in the Mediterranean.  Still, such a drastic alteration of a world cruise is not unprecedented:  in 2020 HAL’s world cruise was aborted in Australia at the beginning of the COVID pandemic and passengers had to leave the ship in Perth and find a flight home from there.  It was more than half a year before they saw their luggage again.  So detouring around Africa wouldn’t be the worst that can happen (while being hit by a missile in the Red Sea would be).  Obviously, we are hoping it doesn’t come to that.

     Anyway, however it goes we intend to enjoy this voyage.  We have a lot of great experiences planned and life aboard the ship is also enjoyable (unless you really enjoy washing dishes, making beds and doing laundry, which is all done for us here).  Some people post to their blogs every day, it seems, but we don’t know how they do it.  Blog writing can only be done on sea days and each episode seems to take us a long time to compose.  Our main goal in this blog is to create a record of what we have done and seen on our travels that will serve as a diary/photo album, allowing us to look back on them and remember what we have experienced.  So the permanent product is more important to us than keeping up with daily events.  The result is that our postings will fall further and further behind the ship’s actual progress and we will not finish blogging this journey until months after we return. 

     If you are interested in following where we and the Zuiderdam are at any particular time you can see it on this page:

https://www.seascanner.com/ships-position-zuiderdamr

    If you would like to receive an email when a new episode is posted to this blog there is a link where you can subscribe at the very bottom of this page.  Because episodes will, at best, be posted intermittently on fairly random dates (on Grand Africa nothing was posted before we returned), and this blog is old-fashioned and not well indexed, subscribing is probably the easiest way to follow it.  If you have subscribed in the past I don’t think you have to do it again (unless your email has changed).

     If you click the “About” button at the top of this page you will learn more about this blog than you probably want to, including past voyages that are included here.

     So that’s it for now.  If you see this you will know that we were able to upload to our blog site (this didn’t work at all on our Grand Africa voyage last year).  If you don’t, then nothing I say here will matter.  We will leave you with two pictures.  The first is us (on the left) with our friends Bill, Robert, Judy and Bob at dinner on the first night of the cruise.  We all met during our first world cruise in 2016 when HAL threw us together to share a dining table, along with our friend Lee.  All seven of us travelled together again on a world cruise in 2018.  Only six of us are together this time, but only because Lee died during the 2018 voyage; otherwise we are sure he would have been here.  The second picture is our first glorious Caribbean sunset.  See you next time.