World cruise 2025 number 2!!

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by 77T

Beautiful photos!

Pitcairn Islanders are wise in preserving their rock in the big South Pacific. It's been slightly altered over the years.

Pitcairn Island likely emerged from the sea ~ 1,500 years ago, although the timing is difficult to pinpoint.

The first Polynesians arrived around the 10th century and left behind artifacts that could be carbon-dated to be several centuries before European contact.

HMS Endeavour came across it first. But 1789 put Pitcairn into memorable importance due to the mutiny on the Bounty.

In 1838, Pitcairn Island was formally annexed by the British Empire and its residents given citizenship whether they wanted it or not.

Today, Pitcairn Island is known for a declining population as a lasting legacy of the mutineers. I know it was a disappointment to not set foot there but TBF you'd find little to do with its limited resources.


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That rock looks a lot older than 1500 years. The weathering and soil strata visible in the images are much older. Probably closer to a million years. Habitation might be close to 1500 years though.

Looks like a lonely place with nothing to do.

[psifox]

It looks like it would really be fun.

[RichardBartlett]

Papeete Tahiti

First of two Polynesian islands and this reminds me of a New Zealand version of Hawaii but in French. We were advised that this island isn't very interesting so wait for the next island Mo orea just across the bay. (See the canoe picture). So that awaits tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
With that in mind, we just had a walk round the town.
As we arrived to dock, the first thing you notice is the traffic. At 07.30 it was queuing for miles to get into town and it was still gridlocked in town after lunch. I'm not sure how many people live here but it's fairly certain everyone of age drives.

We left the ship at 09.00 but the heat and humidity was already building. Tbh it's not very exciting and I struggled to take pictures of interest..
We returned to the ship at 13.00 and because Dalia has tax declaration work online to do we'll stay onboard..


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[Moondoggy]

Thanks Richard really look forward to your updates.

[RichardBartlett]

Mo'orea island Tahiti

We tendered as they don't have a suitable pier or if they do the ferry service use it all day every day. Again like Pitcairn island it's a positive not a negative imho.
We arrived early at 07.30 and hence they got the lifeboats out early and started calling the tender ticket numbers at 08.05. this took a lot of those with these tickets unprepared so by our number was called 3 weeks had ours plus some 1&2's.
I'm surprised people are still late especially as we have done this a few times already..(arrived early tender early) only once we're we delayed and that was chillian customs mucking around.

Once ashore the excursion bartering starts. I always favour women to do this as from my observations men negotiate, women barter.
Plus women actually get offended if they don't get the discount they feel they somehow deserve so fight every cent down.
So I stand back and let Dalia/them come back with a "let's go" and so we went.
Jumping into a small 23 passengers craft we set off in search of, stingray, blacktip sharks and turtles. Of which we found plenty. My next purchase is a see through waterproof case for my mobile as it was really rather good spotting. And yes the sea really is that blue!

After that we were dropped off at a small beach. On which we did the usual beach stuff. IE snorkeled, drank beer and we got horribly burnt!
We live on a warm/hot tourist island (Tenerife) but like many expats we generally avoid the sun hence we are "white blue" colouring and totally unsuited to the extremely fierce sun this area gets all day every day..

A fun day out none the less.

Cook island Ratatonga next after a day at sea..

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[Moondoggy]

Love that water!

[Oscarpapa]

I go regularly to Caleta de Fuse in Fuerteventura and find the climate there ideal for my Ulster/British make up(I hate humidity), in my ignorance I thought the Tahiti region would be similar haha. Great photos.

[77T]

The more recent stop is reminiscent of my days growing up in Miami and trips to the Keys. Especially this photo:


Memories beckon of days spent in Gin-clear water and under Australian pines gracing the shoreline.

They whisper so lovingly in soft breezes and afford welcoming shade to the sun-baked swimmer wanting a rest or a siesta.

After Rarotonga does the voyage include Fiji?
I couldn't tell from the map in your opening post.

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[GB-man]

Gorgeous. Makes me want to board a world cruise! The party never ends.

[RichardBartlett]

Originally Posted by Oscarpapa

I go regularly to Caleta de Fuse in Fuerteventura and find the climate there ideal for my Ulster/British make up(I hate humidity), in my ignorance I thought the Tahiti region would be similar haha. Great photos.

It's fierce here. We never usually go out in the sun
Especially me as I had a cancer scare and my specialist told me under no circumstances get sunburnt. So I'm in real trouble if she finds out I'm like a lobster! I also have a touch of heatstroke so currently in bed resting.. heyho

I went to Fuert back in 2007 it was quite quiet then but I know it's been built up a lot since then . I choose the canaries to live then retire mainly for the climate. I don't regret it for a moment

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[RichardBartlett]

Originally Posted by GB-man

Gorgeous. Makes me want to board a world cruise! The party never ends.

We're not even half way yet!

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[RichardBartlett]

Originally Posted by 77T

The more recent stop is reminiscent of my days growing up in Miami and trips to the Keys. Especially this photo:


Memories beckon of days spent in Gin-clear water and under Australian pines gracing the shoreline.

They whisper so lovingly in soft breezes and afford welcoming shade to the sun-baked swimmer wanting a rest or a siesta.

After Rarotonga does the voyage include Fiji?
I couldn't tell from the map in your opening post.

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I've just checked we do indeed


Costa Deliziosa Live Webcam & Current Position | Costa Cruises EU https://search.app/e1dWCA6w8NkCvP9m9


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[Oscarpapa]

Yes, you are right about Fuerteventura. We were first there in the early 2000's and have seen it develop and grow year by year.

I'm a golfer(aspiring!) and have been to Tenerife several times with the Golf Club guys for golfing holidays mainly in the Golf del Sur area and like you have an issue with a sun damaged scalp(follicularly challenged) so am required to wear a hat in the sun.

Yes you made the right decision to retire to the Canaries and you seem to be living your best life out there.

Am enjoying following your cruise travels and the great photos you post. Thanks

[RichardBartlett]

Rarotonga Cook islands.

More sun more burning. Even though I covered up I still burnt. We had intended to just pop onto the island due to my burn pain but a passenger friend asked if we'd like to go to the "best beach" so stupidly I said yes.
(But I've got 3 days and lots of paracetamol to get ready for the next island..)

Cook island is very much a New Zealand holiday resort but tbh it's no better or no worse than all the other islands . Bit like the Carribbean, all different but all very much of a muchness.

Nothing bad but nothing very exciting.

So a day at the beach and tbh it looks better in the pictures than real life. The coral was sharp and sand not Clearwater beach fine

The one good thing was the water was slightly cooler than expected which c/w the salt had a soothing effect on the burn. Or was that the paracetamol I'd taken?? Who knows.


The tendering was delayed over 1.5 hours due to choppy seas.. it was really quite dangerous especially for the disabled and very elderly of which we have many as the boat bobs up and down nearly a metre so loading was extremely tricky.
I pity the loaders heaving wheelchair users onto the tender. Worse a few are rather large so humping those bastards on/off is fraught with danger.
It's a moral dilemma as they really should be more considerate to the ship and crew but they insist on going ashore irrespective of the hassle they cause
Worse you can sure fire guarantee that they'd sue the cruise line if they got hurt during the process..
Anyhoo

3 days at sea which means a slow jaunt as it's really only 2 days tops. I assume this is scheduling issues to:


Nuku'alofa Tonga

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[Moondoggy]

Originally Posted by RichardBartlett

Rarotonga Cook islands.

More sun more burning. Even though I covered up I still burnt. We had intended to just pop onto the island due to my burn pain but a passenger friend asked if we'd like to go to the "best beach" so stupidly I said yes.
(But I've got 3 days and lots of paracetamol to get ready for the next island..)

Cook island is very much a New Zealand holiday resort but tbh it's no better or no worse than all the other islands . Bit like the Carribbean, all different but all very much of a muchness.

Nothing bad but nothing very exciting.

So a day at the beach and tbh it looks better in the pictures than real life. The coral was sharp and sand not Clearwater beach fine

The one good thing was the water was slightly cooler than expected which c/w the salt had a soothing effect on the burn. Or was that the paracetamol I'd taken?? Who knows.


The tendering was delayed over 1.5 hours due to choppy seas.. it was really quite dangerous especially for the disabled and very elderly of which we have many as the boat bobs up and down nearly a metre so loading was extremely tricky.
I pity the loaders heaving wheelchair users onto the tender. Worse a few are rather large so humping those bastards on/off is fraught with danger.
It's a moral dilemma as they really should be more considerate to the ship and crew but they insist on going ashore irrespective of the hassle they cause
Worse you can sure fire guarantee that they'd sue the cruise line if they got hurt during the process..
Anyhoo

3 days at sea which means a slow jaunt as it's really only 2 days tops. I assume this is scheduling issues to:


Nuku'alofa Tonga

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I’m going to blast myself but some old people are old because of their brain/mind set.

Look after yourself kids now.

[RichardBartlett]

IDL
International Date Line. Ok so we crossed the IDL on the 4th day which for those who haven't had the pleasure, plays havoc firstly with the time and date but more with your brain. In one brief moment you go in our case from the 4th to the 6th Feb missing the 5th completely. Much to the chagrin of some crew and passengers with their birthdays being on that 5th.
. So you lose a day which being mid ocean isn't a great deal but you go from being 12 hours behind (say UK) to 12 hours ahead. This takes some getting used to if like us have to contact various people in UK and Europe during the holiday. It's weird but apparently it works.

However the huge bonus is that on the itinerary the 5th was a sea day. So guess what? Yep we only had 2 days at sea not three. With that in mind we arrived at Tonga this morning at 07.35.
Due to my serious sunburn we hadn't planned anything apart from staying out the sun and Dalia insisted on a quick walk round and back on the ship. Although I said "I'm fine, we'll go out and maybe get a taxi around " . However her face said 'no chance!'

As luck would have it, at 09.05 literally as we were leaving the cabin l got a phone call from a family who said "we've just rented a car but it's got 7 seats so 2 spare..you coming?"
"Yes" I shouted back, "we're on our way now! Dalia's face was a picture as she had been outmanoeuvred but secretly she was fine with it.

So we left the ship PDQ jumped in and had a fabulous day touring the island.
Tbh it's nothing special but the company made it totally worth it.

They are such lovely people.

Lithuanians have quite a dour offish and long face reputation but it's not totally deserved or true. Most are generally genuinely nice but they are by tradition a very reserved and serious people. However once past that facade they relax and you can't wish to meet nicer folk.
Vainous drove us round as he'd been back in 2019 so simply revisited the sites this time with their other two kids. They put huge effort into their family.

The Tongians (SP?) have a habit of burying their dead roadside close to home so small graveyards with brightly decorated graves litter the island . Slightly unnerving to me but it's their tradition.

The big coral rock is known as the tsunami rock as it's 100m from the coast and the only feasible explanation is it was put there by a tsunami over 1000 years ago..Who knows?

It's not an island I'd rush back to but hopefully on our next stop Fiji we can ride out together again in 2 days time. TBC.

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[77T]

That's an anomaly I'd never considered - IDL "lost day".

Hope Fiji is more interesting than Tonga for the voyagers.

As an aside - my fondness for Fiji was formed solely as a metaphor.

In the old biz days, a longtime planner for business risk mitigation used to ask in meetings, "What if you were hit by a bus tomorrow?" and then ask if we had a mitigation plan for that.

My retort was inevitable... "What if I won the Lottery and ran away to Fiji?"

So I've always thought of the islands as I walked by the square bottles in the grocers.




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[RichardBartlett]

Sorry for the delay. Having real issues with Tapatalk not loading so it's a few days out of sync and hopefully 2 posts in one day
This is from 9th Feb:

Fiji

Well it turns out we were here in 2023 so did most of what the island offers so given that I'm still recovering from severe sunburn we decided to walk the town rather than an excursion or taxi.

With that in mind we left around 09.00 and took the short shuttle bus to the centre. However being Sunday we were warned most shops would be closed. They were not wrong. Place as deserted. We walked as the temperature and humidity rose and rose so by 11.00 am it was brutal out there.
Once we'd had enough we went back to the ship. I never took many pictures and I refuse to use pictures taken back in 2023 as that would be deceptive.

From memory once outside Suva it's a nice island with many places of interest....

We now have a day at sea then on the 11th Lifou a small island part of New Caledonia . It's also Dalias birthday...


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[RichardBartlett]

Happy birthday Dalita!

Lifou new Caledonia
Not an island I'd heard of and it wasn't an official stop until the political unrest in the scheduled island of Nouméa forced the cruise line to change.

It's also a tender port, but once again our insider came up with the tickets so we hopped on at 08.25 to the tender boat and on land a few minutes later.

The immediate thing that gets you as you go is how extraordinary blue the water is. A vivid turquoise sea of crystal clear calm sea. It really is as the pictures show.

Speaking to old hands there really isn't much to see so no point hiring a car or getting a taxi ride (although the islanders seem quite reluctant to accept visitors so don't exactly push the boat out on our arrival) so there is a dearth of excursion hustlers and the only booth open had one lady doing the bookings at her pace. We did queue for a while but could see it was hopeless so gave up
So we chose to walk around then find a beach . A 1km walk to a ramshackle church with a nice view.
Then a 3 km walk around the other way to see a better built church which considering it was built in 1898 is amazing as we simply couldn't build it now some 227 years later

Once past that and with not a lot else to see ("oh look a lemon tree!" is an indication of how desperate we were getting) so we backtracked to near the pier for the beach
We were promised torrential rain all day which suited me as I'm still recovering from the sunburn (I'm a human skin shedding snake ATM) but we only got occasional light drizzle.

After a long swim (with my tee shirt on) we went back onboard by 14.00. Everyone had to be back for last tender by 14.45 in any case as we were setting off early. (For no apparent reason) And the queue was quite long already

Those who dream of staying on a quiet desert island laying around for a few weeks could do a lot worse than here but after a few hours on the beach I'm bored, she's bored and we're both bored. We've had several days of island 'beach' and tbh it's enough . For us anyway.

This is why cruise life suits us. Its transient and shallow sailing around the world quaffing wine and eating food locals can only dream about l grant you but what you can to do?

These constant changes of scenery, temperature, weather, topography, people, cultures, etc is what for us is so great about cruising especially world cruises.

We now have a few days at sea including severe sea and weather conditions apparently before reaching touranga New Zealand. . Wish us luck!

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[Moondoggy]

Thanks Richard, you know what they maybe a bit boring these isolated islands however you have been there and experienced them. What a cruise.

[RichardBartlett]

Touranga New Zealand

We arrived safely without any incident except for another medical emergency report to s cabin. No further news but hopefully not too serious.

Our first time to the town so a group of us walked out and negotiated a deal with a mini van owner. A NZ Maori named Ed. Not his Maori name but anyhoo we jumped onboard and set off. NZ is pretty big not USA big but far bigger than our little island so everything is some distance away.
I wanted to go to Rotarura which was on the schedule and with the traffic almost 2 hrs away. A couple of stops on the way and we arrived.
Maoris are now treated far better than anytime since whitey landed many centuries. ago.
Ed told us that as a lad he now realises how he and his family were treated "wasn't right" he didn't elaborate but I guess it was outright racism and persecution. He says it's much better now but maybe still not totally right and proper.

However he didn't hold that against us and took us around and told stories of his ancestors. I suspect a few were tall stories but I choose to believe every word.

After Rotarura we headed off to various places. Some interesting some not quite as but enjoyable none the less.

However at the end he said he'd take us to his huge extended family meeting house and told us the meaning of the building his family history, carvings and pictures.
We all felt honoured to have had this as a final farewell to Touranga and everyone left feeling enriched by his company.

Auckland tomorrow morning

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[RichardBartlett]

Auckland NZ.

4 seasons in one day..
it rained, it stopped, it blew a gale it went calm. Cloudy then sunny.. can't simply trust the weather round these parts!

Arrived promptly as per the captains history.
We had an official excursion (part of the package) so as we'd been in Auckland 2 years previously and this tour was completely different we decided to go.

A pleasant 4hr coach tour around the area stopping at a few hot spots. One quite upmarket area called Devonport which we had a 1.5hr free time to wander.
I suspect it's to get us to spend money on coffee, food, clothes, nick knacks etc but fair enough it's really lovely.

It's a nice area as is most of Auckland and reminds me of England in the '60's & '70's growing up in a happy safe environment.
Sadly through mismanagement and perverted ideologies (as shared with certain usa political parties and the whole of the EU) those days have gone and gone forever.
Now we have concrete bollards protecting Christmas markets etc.
So ingrained has this imported terrorism been driven into modern society by our political elites that these precautions have become 'normal' ..
(and those don't always work either as most western countries esp Germany can vouch for)

Anyhoo after that we went for another drive then back to port. We chose to walk around the parts of Auckland we missed 2 years ago :-
It's a lovely mix of old and new whilst there we popped into a few shops as well as our normal sightseeing.
(See my Patek Phillip post over on that board)

Then into Albert park which is small but perfectly formed. Then slowly heading back to the ship.
After noting how clean, tidy and safe Auckland is , I was struck by some things.
It's really weird hearing lots of English speakers within earshot as we walked , not used to that in Tenerife (our home), the ship (Brits total 5 onboard) or the numerous ports so far.

It also seems to be suffering from the same blight most cites are experiencing; rising numbers of unoccupied empty shops, way more now than 2 years ago which is a worry.

And lastly how many orientals (they looked Korean maybe Chinese but I'm not an expert at differentiating the various nuances between the various far eastern nationalities so that's not certain) there were around.

A very high % of shops were either run and staffed and also used by them.
That's not a negative comment in any way shape or form, merely an observation.

Overall as a country New Zealand should be high on anyone's list to escape the madness of Europe, America, Africa and Middle East.
If my daughter said she was leaving UK and emigrating to NZ I'd buy her ticket and carry her to the airport to make sure she went!

Anyway we're back onboard now

Sir Robert Muldoon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, once famously said that New Zealanders moving to Australia “raised the IQ of both countries”

Sydney in 3 days time , we hope to have the same effect!




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[RichardBartlett]

Bit of drama leaving port today.. very strong side on winds pushing the ship towards the Pier as it struggled so we had to rely on tugs to keep us out of trouble. At several times two tugs were on full power holding us away from disaster. A victory roll let's the ship know everything is A-ok

I'm sure it was all well within limits but these things generally go unnoticed ..

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[Moondoggy]

Thanks Richard I am enjoying your posts, look forward to some pics of Sydney, where after Sydney you going north or south around Australia, I would imagine it is north.

[RichardBartlett]

Sorry bad internet day.

Actually we head down to Melbourne then along the south coast to Fremantle

Then to Madagascar.. around bottom of Africa


the middle east crisis has really messed up routes for all cruise lines

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[austinp]

Would love to visit New Zealand someday. Looks like an amazing trip!


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[Maleg]

Originally Posted by RichardBartlett

Sorry bad internet day.

Actually we head down to Melbourne then along the south coast to Fremantle

Then to Madagascar.. around bottom of Africa


the middle east crisis has really messed up routes for all cruise lines

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Talk the Captain into a day in Muscat, Oman. Old world Arabia with super friendly locals and a lot to see. Maybe hit Kochi, Kerala on the way (tea plantations in Munnar). It's a bit out of the way from Madagascar, but would be memorable.

[RichardBartlett]

Originally Posted by Maleg

Talk the Captain into a day in Muscat, Oman. Old world Arabia with super friendly locals and a lot to see. Maybe hit Kochi, Kerala on the way (tea plantations in Munnar). It's a bit out of the way from Madagascar, but would be memorable.

We were in Oman a few years ago..yes a nice country :-) we get a new captain (he goes on vacation for 2 months) from Sydney onwards as this one's stint is up.

Apparently Costa had too many captains and not enough ships so they have to keep juggling duties between them all .

The west coast of India was originally scheduled for 2025-2026 world cruise starting on Nov 21st this year.

Sadly they have cancelled that section again due to the Gaza situation. So it's around the bottom of Africa again..

Either way, If all goes well we should be booked on that one too !

Thanks for the advice and input. Always welcomed and appreciated here :-)

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[RichardBartlett]

Hobart

Four seasons in one minute

This is a tricky one to nail..

Firstly Hobart port management are a total shit show.

Royal Princess cruise ship beat us in arriving at 07.00 and they got top berth. Their passengers walked off the ship directly into the terminal. Fair play no problem

We docked some 200 metres away from the terminal but the port H&S insisted we were bussed from the ship the 200m to the terminal. So for 2500 people (inc crew) they provided 2 busses. So we waited nearly 2 hours in a line to get off the ship. Then we queued outside to get on the bus!

The kicker is they already had barriered off a designated safe walkway from the ship to the terminal in place!!
(Which everyone was free to use AFTER that had been bussed to the terminal ffs)

Once inside we had to pass through customs and they let us go without concern but were randomly pulling those( men mainly) they didn't like the look of..

So, once outside, we got a Uber to the tasmanian devil sanctuary some 40 km away. Uff what a waste of time. We spent over an 1.5 hrs looking at penned off leaves and trees. We 'saw' the back of a devil hiding in a hollow. The rest was poor tbh. Staff were friendly and helpful but whilst I fully support the project, l personally wouldn't recommend a visit. Oh and it kept raining on and off which tbf was probably why the animals were hiding away..

We then waited outside nearly an hour to get a Uber back. Heyho.

We had planned to go to mount Wellington viewing point but looking up at it, we could see it was raining and low cloud so we cancelled and went back to the ship.
We ate onboard, Dalia did some tax returns online and we walked off the ship and back out to the town. (No bus!)

Hobart itself is rather nice.
Reminds me of how wonderful UK used to be.
Quiet,
Nice people
No one sitting on the floor begging.
No rough sleepers.
People moving aside as they passed each other.
Not overcrowded.
Old and new buildings mixed together
Almost zero litter
Clean and tidy.

The downer here (like UK still) is the weather.

Last week 35c rock solid sunshine, this week, high teens, low 20's rain then shine then rain then shine. You were forever swapping sunglasses for your rain Mac every 5 minutes..

Apart from that it's a really nice place. I may sound miserable but apart from wasting money on the trip out l really like the place.



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[RichardBartlett]

Update.

Costa world cruise Nov 21st 141 days booked & deposit paid!


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