Packing

138 days on a cruise ship, plus a day in Fl and an extension in Spain. We will be kayaking in several countries, birdwatching in the jungle, snorkeling the great barrier reef and spending an evening at the Sydney opera house.   Packing for a trip like this is an organizational challenge.  I will pack about 2 weeks worth of clothes with many special items.  We will use the self service laundry facilities on the ship. 

We are shipping a couple big bags to the boat and sending at least one home on the back end before roaming around Spain.  Luggage forward is scheduled to pick up the bags Dec. 6 and they should be delivered to our room on the 22nd

The cruise will start in Florida and travel extensively through tropical areas along the way.  We will be in southern hemisphere during their summer before Asia, the middle east and finally returning to Europe in May.  Our journey will go as far south as 45.3260°S and north to 51.5072°N    

Then there is Martha's packing Plan:

Back to the Excursion planning

 The count down is moving along.  Our Passports were returned to us from Gen Visa.  We did the Verifly app Covid data input.  Also the official check in on Viking was completed.  

A few more excursions were posted for our extra day in Singapore and the new day in Kuala Lampur.  so we booked the Blue mosque tour in Kuala Lampur.  The bird sanctuary tour in Singapore was cancelled because it is closing and moving to a new location.  It is to be opened sometime in 2023.  We have a full day in Singapore with no tours so we are looking for options on that day.

Also other places that we have not booked tours are:

• Los Angeles
• Whitsunday island (may try to go snorkeling on our own)
• Thursday island  (same)
• Singapore (day 2)
• George Town, Malaysia (Itinerary change, no tour available yet) 
• Langkawi, Malaysia (Itinerary change, no tour available yet) 
• Colombo, Sri Lanka (Day 1, Itinerary change no tour available yet) 
• Barcelona 

We also booked the included tour in several cities as a backup plan

• Santa Barbara
• Oaha (no optional tour available)
• Kauai  (no optional tour available)
• Aukland day 1 ( most likely do the maritime museum and planetarium)
• Mooloolaba
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (no optional tour available)

T-32

Viking Neptune is in Turkey this morning.   I am reviewing the to-do list and checking off some small items today  this week will have a few of the bigger tasks checked off hopefully

T - 34 Days

 Details, details and a few more apps 

In the brave new world that is "Post Covid" several countries require an app on your mobile to enter the country and I am very uncertain about this!  In additions to these apps there is:

• Viking voyager
• WhatsApp
• eBird
• Merlin bird id
• VeriFly 
• Blogger

The final booster was needed before completing the Verifly app.   Also we got the FedEx notice that our passports are on the way back from visa processing.  The luggage forward tags arrived early this week and the Viking luggage tags came too.

Viking Neptune has left her first port of Istanbul with passengers aboard.  

We have yet to figure out port excursions in about6 or 7 places.  So more details to come. 

Changes they are a coming!

 Well this has been expected for a while:

Your updated itinerary can be found below:

Date	Original Itinerary	Revised Itinerary
16 March 2023	Singapore	Singapore
17 March 2023	Scenic Sailing: Strait of Malacca	Singapore
18 March 2023	Phuket, Thailand	Port Klang (Kuala Lumpur)
19 March 2023	Sail the Andaman Sea	Georgetown, Penang
20 March 2023	Yangon, Myanmar	Langkawi, Malaysia
21 March 2023	Yangon, Myanmar	Phuket (Pagong Beach), Thailand
22 March 2023	Yangon, Myanmar	Scenic Sailing: Bay of Bengal
23 March 2023	Scenic Sailing: Bay of Bengal	Scenic Sailing: Bay of Bengal
24 March 2023	Scenic Sailing: Bay of Bengal	Scenic Sailing: Bay of Bengal
25 March 2023	Scenic Sailing: Bay of Bengal	Colombo, Sri Lanka
26 March 2023	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Colombo, Sri Lanka
27 March 2023	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

Also we are throwing in the kitchen sink with this:

In this instance, due to Nicaragua remaining closed to international ships following the COVID-19 shutdown, the port call at Corinto (Leon) will be replaced with a day at sea. We were scheduled to do the botanical garden tour and will miss that

While the temples in Myanmar were very enticing, the civil war did make me pause a moment!

The new ports are interesting and a fair trade....

We always knew it was a lot of if's and maybes

The packing list

So I tend to mull things over and will create detailed lists and revise said lists multiple times.  How do you pack for a 5 month cruise?  I will pack for about 2 weeks of clothes and do laundry.    A couple bags are shipped in advance and a checked bags plus carry on with meds, laptop and must haves go with me.

Trip planning is more involved than I would have guessed.   I have done 2 week sailing trips as Captain and I had to plan everything.   This trip we sign up and then pick and pay for excursions in every port.  Viking provides a trip in each port but it is a 2-3 hour bus ride generally.   We want a deeper experience on a once in a lifetime trip. So the planning begins. Who wants to go to Australia and not dive the great barrier reef?

T-39 days

The Neptune is in Piraeus Greece.  

Neptune has been delivered to Viking!

 

Viking Neptune is headed for Greece She will pick up her first passengers in Istanbul and then head for a few ports on her way to Florida where we board!  

We received luggage tags today in the mail and continue to check things off the To-do list. 

Most of the excursions are booked.

Hello World

 Hello World