World Cruise 2010 - Let The Countdown Begin

Welcome aboard our 2010 World Cruise Blog. To say we are very excited about this voyage is an understatement. We hope that through this blog you will feel apart of this journey as we share our thoughts, experiences, and observations with each of you.

Directly preceding the World Cruise we sail on a seven day round-trip Miami cruise of the Caribbean. We are very excited to be joined on this seven-day voyage by our daughter and son-in-law, and by our son and his fiancee. We sail on the Crystal Serenity on both voyages and stay in the same room the entire time so we will not have to repack between cruises.

The seven day cruise will include stops at ports-of-call located at Grand Turk, Grand Cayman and Key West, Florida. We will also enjoy three full days at sea.

At the conclusion of the seven day cruise the ship will arrive back to Miami and later that evening we will depart from the Port of Miami as we begin the start of the World Cruise.

This year's World Cruise Voyage is appropriately named “Exploration of Ancient Empires” given the extraordinary number of places we will visit that played a significant role in shaping the ancient history of the world.

As shown on the map, this journey begins in Miami, Florida and takes us to ports-of-call located in North and South America, Africa, Asia, The Middle East and Europe. The World Cruise takes us to 45 ports of call, in 29 different countries, over the span of 108 days. This journey concludes in Southampton, England. Our adventure includes visits to several ports of call for the very first time including seven maiden ports of call visits for Crystal Cruises. Admittedly, there are a few ports on this itinerary that early on we were a bit apprehensive about visiting due to world events, political instability, and international relationships. However, upon further thought and reflection we decided we would benefit greatly from seeing these places first hand and literally through our own eyes. Certainly this is one of the many benefits of travel. We plan to share our thoughts on these ports before, during, and after each visit.

The World Cruise includes 49 days at sea sailing the Atlantic, Caribbean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the Mozambique Channel, the Arabian, Red, Black and Mediterranean Seas, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, the Sea of Crete, and the English Channel. We will also transit the Suez Canal and cross the Equator not once, but twice. We will spend 59 days on land including overnight stays at nine different ports of call. They are: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Capetown, South Africa (two overnights); Abu Dhabi, UAE; Dubai, UAE (two overnights); Safaga, Egypt; Athens, Greece; Odessa, Ukraine; Istanbul, Turkey; and Barcelona, Spain.

The World Cruise consists of seven major voyages: each of varying lengths.

Voyage I, Tropical Rhythms, 15 Days. Starting in Miami, Florida we cruise the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea on our way to Caribbean Islands in St Lucia and Barbados and then onto Devil’s Island, French Guiana. We then cruise the Atlantic Ocean, crossing the Equator and stoping in Fortaleza, Brazil and will conclude this voyage in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Voyage II, Southerly Sojourn 14 Days. From Rio de Janeiro, we sail southward to Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay and then will cruise the South Atlantic Ocean for seven consecutive days over to Cape Town, South Africa.

Voyage III, Safaris & Saris, 21 Days. After two overnights in Cape Town we will stop in additional ports in Africa including Port Elizabeth and Durban, South Africa, Zanzibar, Tanzania; and Mombassa, Kenya, which will be followed by a stop in the Seychelles Islands. We will then cross the Equator with visits to Male, Maldives and Cochin and Mumbai, India.

Voyage IV, Middle East Mystique, 13 Days. Beginning in Mumbai, we will visit several Middle Eastern ports of call in Muscat, Oman; Bandar Abbas, Iran; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Manama, Bahrain; along with Abu Dhabi, and Dubai, UAE.

Voyage V, Modern & Ancient Marvels, 19 Days. After our second overnight in Dubai we will visit Khasab, Oman, Al Fujairah, UAE; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Aqaba, Jordan; Safaga/Luxor and Alexandria/Cairo, Egypt; Ashdod, Israel, concluding this voyage in Athens, Greece.

Voyage VI, Black Sea Intrigue, 14 Days. After staying overnight in Athens, we will visit Odessa and Yalta, Ukraine; Sochi, Russia; Istanbul, Turkey and then visit three ports-of-call in Italy; Sicily, Naples and Chitavecchia/Rome.

Voyage VII, European Reflections, 12 Days. During this final leg of the World Cruise we will visit Barcelona, Spain, Gibraltar, United Kingdom, Lisbon, Portugal, Bilbao, Spain and La Rochelle, France before we conclude this adventure and disembark the ship in Southampton, England.

Between the seven day Caribbean Cruise and the World Cruise we will sail on the Crystal Serenity for a total of 115 days.

On the right hand side of the home page you will see some maps in addition to links to various sites. The first map shows the routing of the Caribbean Cruise and the second map shows the World Cruise Route. Directly below each map you will see the itinerary for each of these two voyages. Finally, a third map highlights in solid blue, places around the world we have previously visited or will visit during this upcoming adventure.

We've listed some additional web sites. This includes links showing live views from the Crystal Serenity, one showing the respective times for various cities around the world. and a link to
the Cruise Critic Crystal Forum Board which is "A Community of People who Love to Cruise."

This years World Cruise also marks the 20th Anniversary of Crystal Cruises.

We hope that you enjoy this Blog and we plan to keep it updated on a daily basis after we board the ship. Please keep in mind that many times it will not be possible for us to reread what we have written, so forgive us for any typos, grammatical mistakes, or any other errors because there just is not enough time in the day to catch all of this. Be assured though, that what we write for this Blog comes from our heart and represents our first hand feelings, thoughts and observations about all that we experience throughout our journey.

We will provide a couple of additional updates over the next few days about the Crystal Serenity, along with a final update the day preceding the start of our journey. During our pre-cruise stay in Miami we also plan to post, so please continue to check this site from time-to-time for updates.

Stay tuned.......................

We plan to share a thought of the day each time we post.

OUR THOUGHT FOR THE DAY....

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Keith and Anne Marie