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Manaus: City of Contrasts From Opera House to Floating Village

Posted on January 18, 2024 by Jo Johnston

Day 12, 2024 Grand World Voyage Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024; Manaus, Brazil When last I cruised to Manaus (just last month!), we moved slowly past a tanker grounded on a sandbar. Our ship had barely more than a meter (39 inches) under the keel. Due to the low water level,

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2024 Grand World Voyage
5 comments

Water Water Everywhere Month Later on Amazon River

Posted on January 16, 2024 by Jo Johnston

Days 10 & 11, 2024 Grand World Voyage Friday and Saturday, Jan. 12-13, 2024; Alter Do Chao and Boca da Valeria, Brazil What a difference a month makes. When I was on the Amazon River in December, it was touch-and-go as to whether we could even cruise up the river

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2024 Grand World Voyage
9 comments

Retracing Steps of Prisoners on Notorious Devil’s Island

Posted on January 11, 2024 by Jo Johnston

Day 7, 2024 Grand World Voyage Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024; Devil’s Island, French Guiana A friend in Andorra is tracking our journey and noticed yesterday that we were sailing down the northeast coast of South America, past Venezuela toward Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. “Are you going to Jonestown?” he

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2024 Grand World Voyage
6 comments

An Easy Day in Tobago Following Great Brazilian Visa News

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Jo Johnston

Day 5, 2024 Grand World Voyage Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024; Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago Three sea days seem to be a perfect beginning to a long cruise, and that’s how we started this 128-day voyage. During our three days of sailing southeast from Fort Lauderdale we had time to fully

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2024 Grand World Voyage
10 comments

Starting Another Circumnavigation Around this Amazing World

Posted on January 7, 2024 by Jo Johnston

Day 1, 2024 Grand World Voyage Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024; Fort Lauderdale, Florida Remember what it was like returning to college or school in the fall? I never knew for sure who would return, so I was excited to see old friends. At the same time, there would be new

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2024 Grand World Voyage
17 comments

Christmas Family Cruise a Magical Experience

Posted on January 2, 2024January 3, 2024 by Jo Johnston

Day 12, 2023 Holiday Panama Canal Sunfarer Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024; Bimini, Bahamas As we pack up from this holiday cruise – nephews Zan and Colton to return to work; sisters Elaine, Eloise and me to change staterooms for the next cruise – I’m struck by some of the differences

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2023 Caribbean Holiday
10 comments

Ending 2023 with Reflections on a Year Cruising the World

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Jo Johnston

Day 10, 2023 Holiday Panama Canal Sunfarer Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023; Caribbean Sea I greeted the last day of 2023 with an hour of precious solitude, sitting alone in the Lido Restaurant on a ship with 2,000 passengers. I accomplished this feat by getting up at 5:15 a.m. and watching

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2023 Caribbean Holiday
20 comments

Loving My First Christmas at Sea with the Family

Posted on December 25, 2023 by Jo Johnston

Day 3, 2023 Holiday Panama Canal Sunfarer Monday, Dec. 25, 2023; Christmas Day in the Caribbean Sea Merry Christmas! It’s early Christmas morning and I’m in my happy place – the Crow’s Nest – enjoying a morning latte before too many passengers get up. (Yes, I do have multiple happy

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2023 Caribbean Holiday, Cruises
18 comments

Wrapping up One Cruise; Prepping for Another

Posted on December 23, 2023December 23, 2023 by Jo Johnston

Between Cruises Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023; Fort Lauderdale, Florida I hadn’t planned another blog post about my 73-day Grand South America & Antarctica cruise, but several friends on board urged me on. Who knew so many people who are on the cruise with me are reading a blog about this

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2023 Grand South America/Antarctica, Between Cruises
20 comments

Lazy Days Exploring Familiar Caribbean Ports

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Jo Johnston

Day 71, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Saturday, Dec.16, 2023; San Juan, Puerto Rico Eighty-four days after I left my sister’s home to join Holland America’s ms Zaandam in Montreal, I arrived this morning at our last port of this journey around South America. After today we will have

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2023 Grand South America/Antarctica
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