Parties, Sea Days End Another Grand Voyage Around the Globe

Posted on by

Day 128 +7, 2024 Grand World Voyage

Saturday, May 18, 2024; Fort Smith, Arkansas

A week ago, I left the Zuiderdam in Fort Lauderdale. In some ways I feel I’ve been on dry land for much longer, but that is the way of life, it seems. This morning I’m watching the squirrels play in the trees just off my sister’s screened porch in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The early morning bird chirps can top 70 decibels on my Apple watch app.

When last I blogged, we were leaving Cape Verde off the western coast of Africa, with about six days at sea crossing the Atlantic Ocean, interrupted by an afternoon and evening stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico. During one of those sea days, I made a follow-up trip to the medical office, as my head cold of a month earlier returned. Even with another course of antibiotics, it has taken till almost today for me to bounce back. My main symptom is a cough driven by sinus drainage. And a bit of brain fog.

In San Juan, we docked next to Carnival Cruise Line’s largest ship, the Carnival Celebration. With its 19 decks, it towered above us, and I could barely see the roller coaster, water slides and other tantalizing features. What we could see, most of us agreed, was a cruising experience with 6,000 passengers that is very different from our own.

My original plan was to meet a friend and former coworker for drinks and maybe dinner in Old San Juan, but his work interfered for a second time in five months. (I keep telling him he needs to retire.) So while Eloise took a walking food tour, I joined Elaine and two friends to explore the shops, sights and sounds of the old city. We slowly headed for Barrachina, the establishment that claims to have invented the piňa colada, but it was packed.

Instead, we found a quiet rooftop wine garden. I ordered a pretty drink with vodka and cucumber and the others ordered local IPA beers. Perhaps we are getting tired of nightly wine.

During the sea days across the Atlantic, we were in no danger of getting bored. I couldn’t put off the dreaded challenge of packing too much longer, and I was almost ashamed seeing the four bags outside my cabin. I remind myself that I’ve been at sea since September. But I also am committed to packing lighter next time.

I packed away my two world maps. The cardboard globe is relatively new and, while interesting, takes up a bit too much space in the cabin. I’ll stick with wall maps for future tracking of our progress.

Every day brought another social event – ice cream, towel animals taking over the lido, the spectacular crew talent show, the final Q and A with the captain, a Derby Day party. One of my favorites was a late-night party with the crew, with one guest sponsoring special crew T-shirts.

Our final pillow gifts were round plates honoring our world voyage. These used to be larger and illustrate our itinerary. But Holland America smartly left the map off this time, which is a good thing as our journey went around Africa instead of the original plan through the Suez Canal.

This morning, as always in ports on the grand world voyage, the senior officers and staff greated us as we left the Zuiderdam – in our case two hours after disembarkation began. I will see most of them in January on the 2025 Grand World Voyage. It can’t come soon enough for me.