ORIGINATION

 

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

One of my Bucket List items was to visit Australia. This dates back to my Navy days in the late 60s. My ship, the USS Chicago CG-11, did two tours to Viet Nam. Our job was to patrol the waters off North Viet Nam to monitor communist aircraft taking off from bases in Hanoi. On our return home, many ships had the opportunity to visit Australia on the way back to our home port in San Diego. Twice we were scheduled to stop there for some R&R (Rest & Relaxation). But, in both cases, our visit was cancelled and the scuttlebutt, (Navy jargon for unreliable information) was that the Navy Wives Club were instrumental in the getting those port calls cancelled.

So, Sue and I started looking at RV caravans tours of Australia and New Zealand offered by Fantasy Tours. This is a company that organizes RV tours like we took part in a couple years ago when we toured the Maritime Provinces of Canada. We didn't care for the long air flights and cost. So, we started looking at cruises to the area. This morphed into looking at World Cruises. We ended up committing to this Cunard Line cruise which originates in Hamburg, Germany on January 7th and terminates there on the 29th of April. We will board in New York and disembark in Southampton on April 27th.  Sue has two sisters living in the UK. One near Coventry, England, and the other in Scotland. So, we plan on spending time there visiting and touring. We will either return to New York aboard the Queen Mary II, which leaves on January 16th, or fly back to Mason City. To be determined. 


Here is a list of our destinations.  The lines are extended days at sea. 


JAN 18 New York (Embark)

JAN 21 Miami

JAN 24 Cartagena CO (Columbia)

JAN 25 Panama Canal

JAN 28 Puerto Quetzal GT (Guatemala)


JAN 31 Cabo San Lucas MX (Mexico)

FEB 03 San Francisco

FEB 04 San Francisco

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FEB 09 Honolulu

FEB 10 Honolulu

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FEB 17 Apia WS (Samoa)

FEB 19 Nuku’alofa TO (Tonga)

FEB 22 Aukland NZ (New Zealand)

FEB 23 Aukland NZ

FEB 24 Tauranga NZ

FEB 25 Bay of Islands NZ

FEB 28 Sydney AU (Australia)

MAR 01 Sydney AU

MAR 03 Brisbane AU

MAR 05 Airlie Beach AU

MAR 07 Yorkey’s Knob AU

MAR 11 Darwin AU

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MAR 16 Manila PI (Philipine Islands)

MAR 18 Hong Kong

MAR 19 Hong Kong

MAR 22 Phu My VN (Vietnam)

MAR 24 Singapore

MAR 25 Singapore

MAR 26 Port Kelang MY (Malaysia)

MAR 27 Penang MY

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APR 03 Mauritius (island country in the Indian Ocean)

APR 07 Durban SA (South Africa)

APR 10 Cape Town SA

APR 11 Cape Town SA

APR 13 Walvis Bay NA (Namibia)

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APR 20 Dakar SN (Senegal)

APR 23 Tenerife SP (Canary Islands)

APR 27 Southampton (Disembark)



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