Ultimate World Cruise 245 days and all the parts. Ongoing review, questions, opinion

[Jim Avery]

I am starting this thread to do day by day commentary on this Ultimate World Cruise, or at least the first half, London to LA.  After LA it will be up to Andy (Heidi 13) to keep us informed.  I did a daily review for the Inaugural World Cruise but the lively participation of a great group of others really made it work.  I would  invite anyone  who might be on this wonderful cruise, or any of the excellent segments, or sitting at home following along.  Even Lurkers can jump in whenever they are up to it.  Any photographers out there are most welcome.  On the Inaugural, Eaches fine photos added immensely to the overall thread.  So any questions, opinions, experiences, all will add to the whole.  We are flying Friday direct non stop from Phoenix to London.  Amazing to have one flight to get to the ship.  It will be like going home as we left the Sun in Greenwich last year and are re boarding in Greenwich.  A good number of the crew are back onboard as well.  So far I have heard that there is 63 or so doing the entire  voyage with somewhere near 165 of us "closing the loop" from the first WC.  Last time we went from LA to London so now London ending (for us) in LA will be the full circle.  We really loved the first one glitches and all so will be hoping for as good or better for this one.  So let's get started and anyone who wants to jump in is welcome.  See y'all on the Sun Saturday.🍸

[lackcreativity]

Sad to say I am only a Lurker, but I am delighted to follow along. The first thread was really enjoyable, and I look forward to the adventures of you and your companions. Bon Voyage!

[Jim Avery]

12 minutes ago, lackcreativity said:

Sad to say I am only a Lurker, but I am delighted to follow along. The first thread was really enjoyable, and I look forward to the adventures of you and your companions. Bon Voyage!

Thanks!  But hey, you have posted...  No longer a Lurker..  Haha,  any time is OK.

[deec]

Bon Voyage,  I so wish we were joining you again!!!  Have a wonderful journey....the time zone changes won't be as easy I am thinking!!!

 

[Clay Clayton]

Oh if only we were joining you!  Maybe someday the stock market will quit upheaval-ing and we can feel confident enough in our portfolio to do a world cruise. 

 

Have a a great time!

Edited August 27, 2019 by Clay Clayton

[Jim Avery]

18 minutes ago, deec said:

Bon Voyage,  I so wish we were joining you again!!!  Have a wonderful journey....the time zone changes won't be as easy I am thinking!!!

 

Hi Dee.  Wish y'all were coming too.  Remember the day we never had crossing the International Date Line?  By the time we flew home we had been in an amazing 24 time zones.  This one will be a mere 8 or nine time zones.  Piece of cake  Well, the full 245 day folks will do the 24.  We are getting kicked off in LA. 😎

Edited August 27, 2019 by Jim Avery

[Jim Avery]

13 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Oh if only we were joining you!  Maybe someday the stock market will quit upheaval-ing and we can feel confident enough in our portfolio to do a world cruise. 

 

Have a a great time!

Clay, we enjoyed your day by day of the Transatlantic.  Made us want to book one soon.

[Clay Clayton]

Just now, Jim Avery said:

Clay, we enjoyed your day by day of the Transatlantic.  Made us want to book one soon.

And you did! Unless somehow you are getting from London to LA without transiting the Atlantic...😂

 

problem with the  usual TA is it's just too short. Keeping an eye on the Aguero's Aires to Barclona one for next Spring hoping for a price drop/promo 🤞

[Jim Avery]

Right you are, hopscotching across the far North Atlantic.  Your southerly route sounds mighty nice though.

[SantaFe1]

Looking forward to following you again.  The last time, we enjoyed following you so much that after two weeks we signed up for the 2019 WC, around both capes and through the Southern Hemisphere.  We loved that WC!  

[brownblonde]

Hope I’m signed in. Will get an email when you post 👍👍

[albertamom]

I will definitely be following along!  We are at least 5 years away from being able to partake ourselves, so I will be living vicariously through you! 

[vnb2003]

Great! Thank you for starting this thread. We are still segmenters. We were on the first segment of WC 2019 from Miami to Buenos Aires. Now we are on the last segment of the first half of WC 2019-2020...:)

See you in Santiago 🥂 

Until then I’ll be reading your posts. Safe journey!

 

 

[Heidi13]

Jim - I will be maintaining my blog, as a first priority, but will try to maintain your standards on this thread during the 2nd half. Safe flight on Friday.

[Geosez]

Great news, Jim!  I so enjoyed the vicarious travel with you guys last time.  We’ve just gotten home from the Reykjavik to Bergen trip on the Sky.  Our most excellent (and lots of fun!) steward, Jover, will be joining you somewhere along the way.  And Andy, I’m glad you’ll be helping out.  After reading your blog on your last WC experience, I’m really anxious to know if Viking gets the porridge served at the correct temperature!  😁

[Jim Avery]

4 minutes ago, Geosez said:

Great news, Jim!  I so enjoyed the vicarious travel with you guys last time.  We’ve just gotten home from the Reykjavik to Bergen trip on the Sky.  Our most excellent (and lots of fun!) steward, Jover, will be joining you somewhere along the way.  And Andy, I’m glad you’ll be helping out.  After reading your blog on your last WC experience, I’m really anxious to know if Viking gets the porridge served at the correct temperature!  😁

We are so looking forward to seeing parts of where you just were.  Never been to that part of the world.  And isn't it amazing how good the stewards and stewardesses are?  On the last WC we had 4 overall and each was nicer and harder working than the last.  Not sure how Viking does it but the only staff close to what we had on Viking Sun has been on the tiny ships of SeaDream.

[Geosez]

About that part of the world, I forgot to add that I think we experienced your “Fincantieri shake” one night - or else we ran over a whale.  🤓

I tried to explain it to my traveling companions.  Ha!  As if I could.  Anyhow, that was our second VO trip.  The last time was Bergen to Montreal.  Some time we’ll have to take a warm water voyage!

 

 

 

 

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, Geosez said:

About that part of the world, I forgot to add that I think we experienced your “Fincantieri shake” one night - or else we ran over a whale.  🤓

I tried to explain it to my traveling companions.  Ha!  As if I could.  Anyhow, that was our second VO trip.  The last time was Bergen to Montreal.  Some time we’ll have to take a warm water voyage!

 

 

 

 

Haha, poor whale. It is really nice when it’s warm and the roof over the Pool Deck is open. I doubt we will have such perfect weather as we did on the Inaugural. I expect a few more bumps and shakes.😎

[CCWineLover]

What a glorious adventure you'll be having!  I'm set up to follow you with email notifications and have bookmarked the Sun panorama cam so can see visuals of what you are experiencing!   

Thank you again for taking the time to help the rest of us live vicariously.  I will especially be following your trek from Buenos Aires to Santiago, as we'll be a few weeks behind you doing the Jupiter South America Cruise.

Safe travels all!

[deec]

20 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Hi Dee.  Wish y'all were coming too.  Remember the day we never had crossing the International Date Line?  By the time we flew home we had been in an amazing 24 time zones.  This one will be a mere 8 or nine time zones.  Piece of cake  Well, the full 245 day folks will do the 24.  We are getting kicked off in LA. 😎

I had NO idea that there were that many time zones!!!  I just knew I loved when that little card reminded us to turn our clocks back!!!  That missing day was FUN!!!  never missed it!

[Clay Clayton]

A suggestion for Buenos Aires-try to get to San Telmo while you are there. It’s the old part of town and the square has a great market to wander and tango dancers having fun on the street corners. 

 

Hope you will love the ‘round the horn cruise as much as we did. It was the perfect mix of sea and port days for us. It was great on Norwegian, I can only imagine it on Viking. 

[MadMarine]

Hey, all 245 day-ers and segmenters!  I’m looking forward to all the adventures to come vicariously.  We’re on the ‘20 - ‘21 World Cruise doing the LA to Greenwich segment.  Eager to read of all the places we will visit!

Mad

[Jim Avery]

Mad, that's a nice looking voyage as well.   We find ourselves at "print boarding pass day"....  Finally getting to the last minute details.  Glad the British Airways strike does not start till September....😎

[Heidi13]

Had we not booked 2020, we would definitely have gone in 2021, as the Meddy itinerary is exceptional.

[Jim Avery]

57 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

Had we not booked 2020, we would definitely have gone in 2021, as the Meddy itinerary is exceptional.

maybe it will become a segment we can agree on??🍺