The Blog

It was another long 5 Sea Days from Sydney Australia to Tauranga, New Zealand. We travelled over the North end of the North Island, and down the east Coast, past Auckland to Tauranga. This is the largest city in the Bay of Plenty. This huge Bay (161 miles of open coastline) was named by James Cook because of the enormous amount of resources supplied by the indigenous Māori settlements. The Bay has numerous islands, including the active Whakaari/White Mountain volcano. Wh

Once again time has flown and I have a lot of catching up to do. Six countries, twelve cities/towns, twenty sea days, 47 days and several changes in itinerary. Late January had us heading south to Tonga. Still close enough to the equator to enjoy warm & sunny weather and we are enjoying it while we can. We visited two small islands in Tonga - Neiafu and Nuku'Alofa. I must not have been enthralled because I only took 3 pictures. But the day at the Resort was very nice. I

I have now spent One Year and One Month aboard the Odyssey. I can't believe that I have visited 40 different countries and I have no idea how many different islands/ports/locations that we have visited. All I know is that I have loved waking up each and every morning to a new horizon. It is late January and we didn't have a January 25 because we crossed over the International Dateline and lost the day that we gained back in December. Last week was a pretty hard time for al

After leaving the Fijian Islands in early December we had a few minor changes to our itinerary again. But the plan to spend more time in Samao, American Samoa, and French Polynesia certainly made up for it. I'd never even heard of the Wallis and Futuna Islands, so I don't think I missed anything.. We spent three full days in Apia, Samoa. A small island of about 40,000 local residents and Apia is the capital city. The entire country (island) has around 220,000 people. I

As the first successful Residential Cruise ship that is actually working its way around the world, there are always surprises. For instance, several months ago, we (the Residents) were told that we were not going to be spending 6 weeks visiting the waters or coastal vistas of China. Who would have thought that they have a restriction against ships older than 50 years old entering their waters. VVR team tried for several months to present proof that we were a safe vessel an

It has been about a month since I last posted. Seems like only yesterday but actually it has been: 4 countries, 6 different stops averaging 3 days in each port, and 14 Sea Days. It has been a different collection of experiences this month. Some good, some which could have been better, and some disappointing. But that is Life, isn't it? It isn't always a box of chocolates. We stopped in Koral, Palau. I think, maybe, I had heard of a place called Palau, but that was the

I'm sure you weren't expecting a post from me so soon, but I have visited 2 very different and unusual places in the past week and I was afraid I would forget some of the details or the excitement I felt. Five Sea Days after leaving the Philippines we arrived in Ternate, Indonesia. Pronounced Ter-Nah-Tay. It is my first Muslim country. It was a one day visit and we were advised to be good citizens. Women could not have bare shoulders nor wear trousers above the knee. Men

Well, this was an exciting, different, fun filled and happy month and a half. When I last posted, we were leaving Japan, I thought, and...

I'm sure those of you in the South and the Northeast think it has been hot there.....but it was unbelievably hot the entire time I was...

We spent almost 4 weeks in Alaska visiting small and large cities and many fjords within the Inside Passage. Each one more fun or...