World Cruise Day 17/152 - And just like that, we're heading east, not west

Cruise day: 17/152
Ports days: 5
Sea days: 12
Countries: 4
Continents: 1
Ports: 5

Today started out wonderfully.  It was a beautiful, albeit chilly morning.

The seas were calm and if you looked east to the horizon, you could make out the hills of the Baja Peninsula.

Let's start, as usual, with the COVID stats.  Again, they are all good today - six cases on the ship, three passengers, three crew, and no new cases.  We are all very happy about that.

Now, for the business of the day...the itinerary webinar.  Viking's CEO, Torstein Hagen, opened the webinar.

He reminded us that sometimes, you need to change direction, and that's precisely what we are about to do. Here is a crappy photo of our original itinerary route.

The long and short of it is that pretty much everything changed.  We were to head west to the South Pacific and Asia.  No more.  Now, we're going to turn around, retrace several ports, and head to South America.

We are good with the changes.  We're disappointed in the loss of some ports but excited for the addition of others. We're in for the adventure. We'll be in Los Angeles until Wednesday and then we head south.

We did manage to play trivia one last time as a team as two members are departing in LA.  We had another mediocre performance, but as always, certainly had a great time.

We took advantage of a slow afternoon to do a load of laundry.  So far, it has been pretty easy to maintain a clean stash of clothes.  We probably could have packed fewer items.

I didn't post this earlier, but back on December 31, we booked another cruise for 2023.  It was a combination South America cruise coupled with a trans-Atlantic crossing to Barcelona.  If you look at the revised World Cruise itinerary below, it nearly duplicates what we have just booked.  That meant spending time this evening with Hâmed, the onboard cruise consultant.  We are close to rebooking, this time a 79-day combination cruise from Vancouver, through Alaska, over to Russia, Japan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia, terminating with a stay in Sydney. It would coincide with our 40th wedding anniversary, so it's looking pretty good that we will book it.

For those that are interested, I'll post the new itinerary below for our world cruise adventure.  

Tomorrow, Los Angeles.  There is no touring on our own, due to COVID restrictions, so we'll make do with a bus tour.

Until tomorrow...

Here's the new world cruise itinerary.

12/24/2021 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

12/25/2021 Scenic Sailing: Gulf of Mexico

12/26/2021 Cozumel, Mexico

12/27/2021 Sail the Caribbean Sea

12/28/2021 Sail the Caribbean Sea

12/29/2021 Colón, Panama

12/30/2021 Colón, Panama

12/31/2021 Scenic Sailing: Panama Canal

01/01/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/02/2022 Puntarenas (Puerto Caldera), Costa Rica

01/03/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/04/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/05/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/06/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/07/2022 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

01/08/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/09/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/10/2022 Los Angeles, California

01/11/2022 Los Angeles, California

01/12/2022 Los Angeles, California

01/13/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/14/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/15/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/16/2022 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

01/17/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/18/2022 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

01/19/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/20/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/21/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/22/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/23/2022 Puntarenas, Costa Rica

01/24/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/25/2022 Fuerte Amador (Panama City), Panama

01/26/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/27/2022 Sail the Pacific Ocean

01/28/2022 Sail the South Pacific Ocean

01/29/2022 Sail the South Pacific Ocean

01/30/2022 Sail the South Pacific Ocean

01/31/2022 Sail the South Pacific Ocean

02/01/2022 Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile

02/02/2022 Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile

02/03/2022 Sail the South Pacific Ocean

02/04/2022 Puerto Montt, Chile

02/05/2022 Sail the South Pacific Ocean

02/06/2022 Scenic cruising: Amalia Glacier

02/07/2022 Punta Arenas, Chile

02/08/2022 Sail the South Pacific Ocean

02/09/2022 Scenic Cruising: Cape Horn

02/10/2022 Sail the South Atlantic Ocean

02/11/2022 Sail the South Atlantic Ocean

02/12/2022 Sail the South Atlantic Ocean

02/13/2022 Montevideo, Uruguay

02/14/2022 Punta del Este, Uruguay

02/15/2022 Sail the South Atlantic Ocean

02/16/2022 Sail the South Atlantic Ocean

02/17/2022 Sail the South Atlantic Ocean

02/18/2022 Sail the South Atlantic Ocean

02/19/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

02/20/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

02/21/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

02/22/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

02/23/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

02/24/2022 Mindelo, Sao Vicente Island

02/25/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

02/26/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

02/27/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

02/28/2022 Maderia (Funchal), Portugal

03/01/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

03/02/2022 Seville (Cádiz), Spain

03/03/2022 Gibraltar, United Kingdom

03/04/2022 Granada (Málaga), Spain

03/05/2022 Sail the Mediterranean Sea

03/06/2022 Palma de Mallorca, Spain

03/07/2022 Sail the Mediterranean Sea

03/08/2022 Sardinia (Cagliari), Italy

03/09/2022 Valletta, Malta

03/10/2022 Valletta, Malta

03/11/2022 Sail the Ionian Sea

03/12/2022 Corfu (Kérkyra), Greece

03/13/2022 Sail the Adriatic Sea

03/14/2022 Kotor, Montenegro

03/15/2022 Split, Croatia

03/16/2022 Venice (Fusina), Italy

03/17/2022 Venice (Fusina), Italy

03/18/2022 Zadar, Croatia

03/19/2022 Dubrovnik, Croatia

03/20/2022 Dubrovnik, Croatia

03/21/2022 Sail the Adriatic Sea

03/22/2022 Katakolon, Greece

03/23/2022 Nafplio, Greece

03/24/2022 Crete (Heraklion), Greece

03/25/2022 Scenic Sailing: Suez Canal

03/26/2022 Scenic Sailing: Suez Canal

03/27/2022 Sail the Red Sea

03/28/2022 Sail the Red Sea

03/29/2022 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

03/30/2022 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

03/31/2022 Yanbu Al-Bahr, Saudi Arabia

04/01/2022 Yanbu Al-Bahr, Saudi Arabia

04/02/2022 Sail the Gulf of Aqaba

04/03/2022 Aqaba, Jordan

04/04/2022 Aqaba, Jordan

04/05/2022 Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

04/06/2022 Safaga/Luxor, Egypt

04/07/2022 Sail the Gulf of Suez

04/08/2022 Scenic Sailing: Suez Canal

04/09/2022 Alexandria, Egypt

04/10/2022 Port Said/Cairo, Egypt

04/11/2022 Jerusalem (Ashdod), Israel

04/12/2022 Haifa, Israel

04/13/2022 Haifa, Israel

04/14/2022 Sail the Mediterranean Sea

04/15/2022 Rhodes, Greece

04/16/2022 Kuşadasi/Ephesus, Turkey

04/17/2022 Sail the Aegean Sea

04/18/2022 Istanbul, Turkey

04/19/2022 Istanbul, Turkey

04/20/2022 Sail the Aegean Sea

04/21/2022 Athens (Piraeus), Greece

04/22/2022 Athens (Piraeus), Greece

04/23/2022 Sail the Ionian Sea

04/24/2022 Sicily (Messina), Italy

04/25/2022 Naples, Italy

04/26/2022 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

04/27/2022 Monte Carlo, Monaco

04/28/2022 Sail the Balearic Sea

04/29/2022 Barcelona, Spain

04/30/2022 Barcelona, Spain

05/01/2022 Murcia (Cartagena), Spain

05/02/2022 Sail the Strait of Gibraltar

05/03/2022 Lisbon, Portugal

05/04/2022 Sail the Atlantic Ocean

05/05/2022 Scenic Sailing: English Channel

05/06/2022 Portsmouth, England

05/07/2022 Scenic Sailing: Strait of Dover

05/08/2022 London (Tilbury), England

05/09/2022 London (Tilbury), England

05/10/2022 At Sea

05/11/2022 Bergen, Norway 

05/12/2021 Bergen, Norway

05/13/2021 Eidfjord, Norway

05/14/2021 Stavanger, Norway

05/15/2021 Alborg, Denmark

05/16/2021 Copenhagen, Denmark

05/17/2021 Berlin, Germany

05/18/2021 Gdansk, Poland

05/19/2021 Sail the Baltic Sea

05/20/2021 Tallinn, Estonia

05/21/2021 St. Petersburg, Russia

05/22/2021 St. Petersburg, Russia

05/23/2021 Helsinki, Finland

05/24/2021 Stockholm, Sweden

05/25/2021 Stockholm, Sweden (Disemb)