World cruise 2024 starts here !

[Speedbird-1]

Nice selection of photo's Richard.

We were on La Digue for a couple of weeks a few years ago.
Beautiful, beautiful island.

[RichardBartlett]

Reminder of our route. Remember the first month was completely rerouted due to it kicking off in the middle east then the Suez issues and Yemen decided to join in to that section was scrubbed

So since Kenya we have been back on the old route with a couple of changes here and there......

We left Reunion island yesterday heading towards Portuguese island for a day after that it's port Elizabeth, cape town then heading off towards Brazil.

[RichardBartlett]

Trying again with TT

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[Langnam]

Originally Posted by RichardBartlett

Trying again with TT

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Wow, Richard, what a nice cruise you're on. While East Coast North America may seem boring compared to the places you are now, You'll find that French Canada will be amazing. Quebec City and Halifax, lots of history. Iceland is awesome, too.

Enjoy!

[RichardBartlett]

Originally Posted by Langnam

Wow, Richard, what a nice cruise you're on. While East Coast North America may seem boring compared to the places you are now, You'll find that French Canada will be amazing. Quebec City and Halifax, lots of history. Iceland is awesome, too.



Enjoy!

America is never boring, it's a great place with great people.

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[piratfisk]

Originally Posted by Langnam

Wow, Richard, what a nice cruise you're on. While East Coast North America may seem boring compared to the places you are now, You'll find that French Canada will be amazing. Quebec City and Halifax, lots of history. Iceland is awesome, too.

Enjoy!

If you're bored in NYC, then IDK what to tell ya... If the ship had a portcall in middle-of-nowhere Virginia, sure.

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by piratfisk

If you're bored in NYC, then IDK what to tell ya... If the ship had a portcall in middle-of-nowhere Virginia, sure.

NYC isn’t exactly exotic. Another crowded noisy modern city, yawn…

Charleston or Martha’s Vineyard would be nice.

[Langnam]

Originally Posted by piratfisk

If you're bored in NYC, then IDK what to tell ya... If the ship had a portcall in middle-of-nowhere Virginia, sure.

Haha. My daughter lives in NYC, and that's about the only reason I visit now. In my youth, NYC was fun, but now, I can't wait to get out of the City and back home.

[piratfisk]

Originally Posted by Maleg

NYC isn’t exactly exotic. Another crowded noisy modern city, yawn…

Charleston or Martha’s Vineyard would be nice.

Nah, not exotic, but not boring. If you're bored, you're boring, or just haven't found something fun to do. Charleston & Martha's can be equally exciting, the cities & their excitements are not mutually exclusive.

Originally Posted by Langnam

Haha. My daughter lives in NYC, and that's about the only reason I visit now. In my youth, NYC was fun, but now, I can't wait to get out of the City and back home.

My wife & I are born & raised in NYC. We both left in our mid-20s. It's ok to visit, but we both look forward to going home.

[996marty]

Originally Posted by Maleg

NYC isn’t exactly exotic. Another crowded noisy modern city, yawn…

Charleston or Martha’s Vineyard would be nice.

Charleston is a fabulous place to spend time and is one of favourite places in the States. Halls chophouse is a must

[codecow]

Quebec City is awesome!

[RichardBartlett]

We were supposed to tender to Portuguese island today but due to rough seas the stop has been cancelled..

[RichardBartlett]

Been a while. MSC changed their WiFi settings and everyone who was hotspotting got blocked

Capetown
For some reason I can not find many pictures on my mobile so these are all table mountain

South Africa is a very dodgy place for safety. Most of it or rather a lot of it is a no go area. However CT is fantastic. We are considering a month next year so we can travel around that area plus have a week proper safari

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[RichardBartlett]

Walvis bay Namibia
On the edge of a desert and not a lot there.
There is a small German town founded late 1900's. But boring as a place but clean and tidy

Highlight was the kayaking to the seals. They started with around 500 and now have over 60,000 .

If you ever go make sure you book this!!

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[RichardBartlett]

St Helena.

Famous for where Napoleon was exiled and died.
Tender port as they don't have a proper docks. All the better for it. However being in the middle of the ocean it's subject to difficult seas. Getting onto the island was a challenge. The little lifeboat tenders were being battered against the side. We were warned it was going to be tricky but some stupid women shouting we're going to sink.!!

Anyhoo once on it's a quaint volcanic island. Very friendly people
All happy to see us. Even handing out cheese sticks and cakes to us. A throwback to 1960's .

Climbing Jacobs 699 steps was err 'fun'

Because of the tender difficulty we couldn't spend long there. But well worth it.

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[Old Expat Beast]

I lived on St Helena for several months from 1997 to 1998, before there was an airport. It took five days to get there by Royal Mail Ship from Cape Town, then two weeks back to Cardiff in Wales, via The Gambia and Tenerife. Really enjoyed the whole experience, and made some good friends.

[RichardBartlett]

But id rather just fly down to Rio!
Which is exactly where I'm writing from. Currently in the cruise terminal taking advantage of the WiFi.

Fabulous place. Full of contradictions. Amazing old buildings but most sadly decaying. B
Very much like Havana in that respect.
We all know Rio is dangerous but we walked 32k steps around the city yesterday and zero issue. Every beggar was polite, every vendor was friendly and not Carribbean pushy aggressive.

This afternoon we head towards the Amazon for a few days..

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[RichardBartlett]

Upload issues

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[JSol1]

Lovely Richard! Thanks for posting and keep them coming!

[RichardBartlett]

Currently traveling down the Amazon.. such a strange feeling to be on different waters for some reason,I'm actually very excited. More to follow

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[Romeojk]

Amazon. Very cool. Thanks for sharing the trip.


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[RichardBartlett]

Arriving in Manaus Brazil

This is the meeting of the two great rivers, the Amazon and Rio Negro. The different waters including acidity and temperature means when they meet they take up to 6km to fully mix. The muddy is the Amazon which is about 23c and the Negro which is 30c .

We had a great trip on the river today but internet issues mean I don't have access to those pictures on my mobile from my tablet

More tomorrow from Manaus.(It's a stop over port)

This was once a thriving rich city, the industrial power house of South America due to the rubber plantations and factories which grew up around those.

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[JasoninDenver]

Excellent update Richard!!!

Glad to see you are having such a great trip.

[1William]

Thanks for the update and pictures.

[RichardBartlett]

yesterday a few from today

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[superdog]

my gosh this is amazing.

thanks for the pics. I am filled with awe in what you are doing.

love how you are living your life.

[enjoythemusic]

thx for updates. Amazing pics!!!

[RichardBartlett]

Alter do chao
A party beach and hippie resort on the river
Nothing to see except that but nice place tbh

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[RichardBartlett]

Brazil done
Currently in Barbados the boatyard bar.

Bridgetown isn't much so we decided to have a beach n bar day . Recommend this place as doing exactly what it says on the tin


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[RichardBartlett]

Arrived in St Lucia
Pouring with rain but now just occasional showers which keeps the humidity up

Not a lot to recommend the island tbh and much better alternatives. I suspect most go to AI resorts and enjoy a 5* vacation

ATM posting from pidgon island which isn't an island TBF.

Without being blasé if you live in a cold country and spent a week here you'd probably love it but us living on an island similar but imho better it's hard to get excited

Great WiFi here and TBF probably the best free WiFi since joining the ship in January.

Free rum testing too which I'm taking full advantage off or rather the Bailey's type cream rum as I don't drink normal rum as I was violently sick on it when I was 18 which turned me off it for life

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