Heading Homeward

As our friends Sally and Ange drove us to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on the 6^th of January, Sally, a veteran world cruiser, told us, “You will be getting on the ship today and getting off tomorrow!” We have been reminded of her statement many times as we sailed the world, but never has it been so apt as it is now.  Our stateroom is heaping with items to be packed – some already organized, others a jumbled mess as they try to find a temporary home in the suitcases that are being packed for the journey home.  In some ways it hardly seems possible that we have been living on the ship for nearly 112 days, but when we think of all the things that have happened, it seems like forever since we’ve been home. 

Captain Jonathan announced as we readied for our departure from our last port, Funchal, Madeira that at that point we had sailed 32,759 nautical miles and had somewhere over 3000 more to go to reach Fort Lauderdale, putting us in the vicinity of 36,000 nautical miles or nearly 40,000 statute miles.  That’s a lot of water slipping under the hull of the ms Amsterdam since our departure back on January 6^th, and of course it does not include the miles we’ve done on land.  Our friend Al has been keeping a careful log and was hoping to say that we had gone far enough to circle the world twice.  We probably can’t claim that, but we certainly have gone more than 1½ time around!

During this time we’ve had some amazing adventures!  While doing so, we’ve reestablished ties with old friends that we had met on previous cruises and made many, many new friends whom we hope to travel with again sometime.  We were absolutely delighted to be able to share the first 50 days with our friend Pam from New Lenox, especially since she had always wanted to go to Antarctica and this gave her the opportunity. (We also are so glad that her husband Paul was so understanding to urge her to do it and enjoy herself, as well as her friends who helped out when needed so she could feel comfortable being away.)  We were also thrilled that our friend Al from Arizona joined us on the cruise.  We knew it would be difficult for him being the first since his wife Carol passed away late in 2010.  We had met Ros & Gary from Australia on last summer’s Voyage of the Vikings so we looked forward to seeing them again when they boarded in Sydney (as Pam got off).  We were also extremely fortunate to get to know two wonderful couples who shared our table with us:  Bill & Candy from Atlanta joined us between Buenos Aires and Sydney, and we all hit it off immediately, thoroughly enjoying each others’ company.  We weren’t sure how we would react to having someone replace Pam and Bill & Candy, but when we met Gerda & John who were cruising from Sydney to Barcelona, we couldn’t have been happier to get to know these friendly Australians who thought the way we did and had wonderful senses of humor.  We also established friendships with Nancy & Bob, two retired professors from West Virginia who always seemed to sit near us during lectures.  We had some very interesting conversations with them, and we are looking forward to seeing them again on another cruise.  So many of the people on floor became friends as we met over breakfast, lunch, or in the Neptune Lounge: Sherry & Ron (thanks for the popcorn, Sherry!!!), Marnie & Dennis, Jan & Dick, Brenda & Bob, Peggy & Jim, Jamie & Dan, just to name a few. 

The staff and crew of the Amsterdam have once again done a fantastic job of keeping us happy, entertained, and very well-fed (unfortunately)!  We were so pleased to once again have Yohat as our dining steward and were delighted to find Herfan, whom we had also had as our steward on the 2009 Grand Voyage, promoted to the Pinnacle Grill staff.  That meant that Herfan spent quite a bit of time in the Neptune Lounge, right across the hall from us.  We were happy to see Say, our 2009 cabin steward, frequently, although we didn’t have him as our steward this year.  Instead we had two very friendly and accommodating stewards, Evan, who was always calm and serene and friendly, and DJ, who was quite gregarious and could be a real comic!  We were so pleased to see once again a couple of the Pinnacle staff, Kim, the manager, and Tina a steward, both of whom had been on the 2009 trip, and we enjoyed getting to know the other Pinnacle staff members.  Hanz and Sienna were front desk staff who were assigned to the Neptune Lounge, and nothing seemed to be too difficult for them to do.  We were also glad to get to know Jack and Gloria, AAA representatives on the ship, who were our go-to people for any questions relating to AAA. 

The list could go on and on, but I won’t attempt to name more other than the announcement made at the Mariner Society award reception.  Captain Jonathan had been moved from the Nieuw Amsterdam at the last minute to replace the previous captain, who had had to cancel out of the World Voyage at the last minute due to family-related reasons.  Captain Jonathan hadn’t been able to say whether he would remain assigned to the Amsterdam or if he would return to the Nieuw Amsterdam again.  However he reported that he has been assigned to the Amsterdam now and would be doing the World Cruise next year also!  Those people who choose to do the 2013 World Cruise I’m sure will be as pleased as we have been with him!  He’s by far the most friendly and approachable captain we’ve met on any of the cruises we have done!  So this was great news for world cruisers, in our opinion! 

We’ve learned so much from the Explorations Speakers provided throughout the cruise; these people have provided us excellent insights into the lands and waters we have traveled: history, geography, zoology, culture, and even various aspects of folklore, all of which have greatly enriched our enjoyment of our ports and life at sea. 

As we sailed the world, we have visited all seven continents (Antarctica and Africa are new to us) and four of the five oceans, having been in the waters of the Atlantic, Southern, Pacific, and Indian Oceans in that order.  (I’m not sure when they added that fifth ocean because when I taught Geography as part of History, there were only four.  Now they have added the Southern Ocean.)  The only one we “missed” was the Arctic, which we were in last summer.  So we can honestly say that within the past year we’ve been in all five of those oceans!   Al has also kept a running list of seas we’ve sailed.  I am hoping to get a full list from him, but to name a few, we’ve sailed the Caribbean, South China, Arabian, Red, Mediterranean, Aegean, Ionian, Adriatic, and Sargasso.  We’ve visited 15 new countries: Dominica, Barbados, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Indonesia (home to so many of our dining and cabin stewards), China, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Egypt, and Portugal.  We’ve also added some “distant” islands belonging to countries we’d already visited:  Falklands (owned by the United Kingdom), Easter Island (belonging to Chile and the most remote island in the world, about 2600 miles from the nearest neighbor), and Corsica (a part of France in the Mediterranean). 

We have also been in the Amazon River basin and crossed the Nile River – the two that vie to claim the title of longest river in the world.  We have weathered the waters of Cape Horn, the Drake Passage and the Strait of Magellan, as well as forging through pirate territory and traversing the amazing Suez Canal. We have been to the tops of mountains and witnessed Mount Etna spewing ash into the air. We have passed through deep valleys cut by glaciers and v-shaped valleys nestled between mountains that towered above them.

We have seen the pristine waters and magnificent views of Antarctica with its shining white snowcapped landscape, waters teeming with penguins skimming along the surface as well as icebergs bobbing past, sometimes with seals, other times with penguins.  We have watched whales (at least three different species – humpback, orca, and minke) greet us with a dorsal fin or a fluke, and we have seen dolphins joyously arcing over the surface or spinning in the air as if sending hellos to their human counterparts on the ship.  We’ve been among the fortunate people who have witnessed those magnificent soaring sea birds, the albatross, following us as we sailed through the cold climates of the Southern Hemisphere and have watched the tiny hummingbirds darting about searching for nectar in the rainforest of Dominica.  We were fascinated by the red-footed booby which found a perch on the flagpole of the ship where he sat for hours as we approached Australia.   We’ve seen the very rare platypus, the funny little wombat, the aggressive cassowary, the sleepy koala, and the formidable saltwater crocodile, all fascinating animals indigenous to Australia; and we learned to tell the difference between kangaroos and wallabies.  We visited the island of Komodo where we saw the rare but deadly Komodo dragon.  We saw exotic animals at the Night Safari in Singapore, rode an elephant, and watched wild camels crossing the desert of the Sinai.  We saw more donkeys used as beasts of burden than we had ever dreamed still existed. 

We have visited the ruins of ancient cultures in Egypt and Greece and have visited modern new countries such as Singapore.  We’ve seen war-torn countries like Vietnam and the Falklands.  We’ve seen incredible richness in Montevideo and Singapore and incredible poverty in some of the Southeast Asian countries.  We’ve seen places where we could practically eat off the floor and places where the filth was almost unimaginable. 

Yet everywhere we’ve been greeted with the warm friendly smiles of the citizens who are so proud of their heritage and ready to share their culture, customs, and lifestyles with us.  We’ve been introduced to the various cultures and have enjoyed seeing a wide variety of native dances: the samba of Brazil, the tango of Argentina, the whirling dervish of Egypt, the flamenco of Spain, as well as cultural music and dances from Hong Kong, Vietnam, and India.  We’ve learned about very different religions:  Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist, and agree that we were interested in learning about them.    Everywhere we’ve gone we’ve been impressed by the enthusiastic welcome we’ve received and the eagerness of the people to show off their heritage. 

So as we head across the Atlantic and our thoughts turn toward home, we are sad to see our long voyage coming to an end.  Bruce announced at Good Morning Amsterdam that they expect to unload 18,000 pieces of luggage at the end of the world cruise.  My goodness, that sounds like a lot of luggage!  To get them organized and sent on their way within a few hours sounds like a very daunting task.  Just getting our own items packed seems daunting. 

We so appreciate the help of those who have done so much for us:  Marcia, our travel agent, who continued to problem-solve for us while we were gone; Pat, who so willingly took care of our mail and especially our bills; Rick, who checked on our houses regularly to make sure that all was well; our neighbors, who kept a constant eye out for us. 

Chuck commented that this was the longest he had been out of the United States.  I was away longer when I spent a semester studying in Grenoble, France.  I left the US on February 9^th and returned home on June 21^st of that year, making my time away 131 days, just 19 days longer than this cruise.  So now we look toward making the circle complete when we arrive back in the port where we started our journey so many months ago:  Fort Lauderdale, where we can once again set foot on American soil – home sweet home! 

Breathes there a man with soul so dead

Who never to himself has said,

This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home this footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand!
                                          Sir Walter Scott

BT