Port 16 Raiatea, French Polynesia
Io orana! Today, Jan 30th, 2022, we get to dock! No tenders! There is a large lagoon that surrounds both Raiatea and its sister island Taha’a. There are limited entrances through the coral reef...
Ed's and Joy's Adventures Blog
Port 14 Papeete, Tahiti-nui, French Polynesia
Io orana! Mid-morning on Jan 28th, 2022, we head in to Papeete, Tahiti-nui, in French Polynesia. From our veranda on the back of the ship we know we are close when we could see...
Port 13 Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Ia orana! (Hello in Tahitian! It is pronounced “yo-rah-nah”) One more day at sea to reach Rangiroa, French Polynesia. We arrive at Rangiroa on Jan 27th, 2022. Rangiroa is an atoll northeast of Tahiti,...
Port 12 Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia
Kaoha! (the Marquesan word for “Aloha”, hello) After four more days at sea we arrived at Nuku Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia, on Jan 25th, 2022. We were greeted with sheer rock faces dropping straight...
Port 11 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Aloha! We arrived at Kailua-Kona on Jan 20th. It was a choppy sea day – no fun to be tendering in to the dock. Challenging for even a nimble athlete to step in or...
Port 10 Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii
Aloha! We’re back at Maui today, but on the Lahaina side this time. We have pretty skies with the sun peeking over Maui and shining on Molokai in the distance. We are greeted with...
Port 09 Nawiliwili, Kauai, Hawaii
One more Aloha! On Jan 18th we arrived at Kauai. Coming in to the Lihue port at Nawiliwili the sun was rising. A few minutes later the sky’s colors popped! This is probably my...
Port 08 Kahului, Maui, Hawaii
Aloha! Today we pulled in to our first stop at Maui. Once again our tour for this stop was cancelled. Say it with me – whirled! But the moon was dropping to the horizon...
Port 07 Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
Aloha! Early morning on Jan 16 we glided into Honolulu’s harbor, heading for Pier 2. It was still dark and a little bit foggy. The sun began to rise as we passed Waikiki ,...
Point of Interest: Major Itinerary Change
We had a great day in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii today. Can you say “whales! Whales! WHALES!!”? But more on that later. I am am now four ports behind on my blog and will continue...
Port 06 San Diego, California – Take 2
We glided into San Diego early in the morning on Jan 8th. But there wasn’t a pretty sunrise this time – overcast and gray… As a reminder, this port of call is a replacement...
Port 05 Los Angeles, California
After one day at sea we arrived at the Port of Los Angeles on Jan 5th. We hoped to see the armada of container ships waiting their turns to get unloaded, but we glided...
Port 04 San Diego, California
We cruised the eastern Pacific Ocean for eight days before arriving in San Diego. We had four ports of call cancelled between the Panama Canal and San Diego. These were San Juan Del Sur,...
Port 03 Puntarenas, Costa Rica
On December 28th we arrived at the dock at Puntarenas, Cost Rica. Puntarenas means “sandy point”. There were some interesting structures visible on shore, but we never had a chance to explore them. I...
Point of Interest: Panama Canal
On December 26th we headed into the Panama Canal. We passed dozens of cargo ships at anchor awaiting their turn to enter the Canal. Our guest lecturer on board explained that ships with “human...
Port 02 Cartagena, Colombia
Merry Christmas! Cartagena greeted us with plenty of sunshine and a promise of a hot day! We boarded our bus with our tourguide Arturo Anaya for the Highlights of Cartagena tour. We began with...
Port 01 Key West
Our first port of call was Key West. This was a substitute for Grand Cayman, since Grand Cayman is not allowing any cruise ships to come in right now. Key West was a grocery...
Miami and Embarkation
On arrival in Miami we found our way across the Brickell Key bridge to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel where the cruise company was having us stay the night before embarkation. Seeing this view from...
Packing for the Cruise
OK, not 2 BIG suitcases – 4 BIG suitcases, 2 large duffle bags, 2 medium duffle bags, 2 boxes, 1 rollaboard, and 2 backpacks. Oceania arranged for a company called LuggageForward to pick up...
Preparing for our World Cruise
Welcome to our blog for our Around-the-World (ATW) in 180 days cruise on the Oceania Insignia. OK, it’s actually 196 days, but that is a nuance for later. The Insignia carries 684 passengers, so...
