The Voyager's World Cruise got off to a less than auspicious start.

In the morning the 2 pm departure was pushed back until 4pm and then 4:30. Then it was maybe 4:30 or 5:00, there were still many pallets of provisions to be on loaded. At 5:00, the longshoremen walked off the job; their day was over. By 6:30, some replacements started up and, finally, at 9:15 we set sail.

No fancy 360-degree turn (Capt. Dag’s trade mark departure in beautiful ports), no music or even a horn blast. Not a great beginning, but Niva Hiva here we come!

bon voyage, world cruisers! have a great time. Cheers, Anne

Larry,

You know what they say, bad start great ending. I know y'all will have a wonderful time, enjoy.

:bv:

Too bad about the delay in your departure but unfortunately those things happen. Have a marvelous cruise and the people in Nuku Hiva will be waiting for you with open arms.

While Regent cannot control the longshoremen, they can control the loading scheduling which probably should have done earlier since the Voyager had been in port for some time. Hope this delay does not shorten your first port call. The Nuku Hiva cultural festival is well done and a lot of fun. You will enjoy it.

Actually, most of the time prior to Thursday's provisions loading was taken up with removing luggage for the departing passengers from the Panama Canal trip on Wednesday Morning, loading luggage for the Full World Cruisers on Wednesday after that and the other new passengers on Thursday.

I don't know for sure but assume that the personnel charged with doing all of that are the same as the ones who were loading the provisions later on.

Just a thought.

There are a lot of logistics that go into provisioning the ship, especially for a world cruise. This isn't a seven day weekly run to the Caribbean. It's more than making a schedule, especially when doing heavy storing. A lot of these items will not be reprovisioned until the ship returns to the States in May. I can almost guarantee you she will sail late on May 12th as well. You can only load the palettes so fast, and once onboard, space is very limited and the pallets have to be fork lifted to their designated area. The oncoming stores have to be inventoried, and are also subject to inspection by Customs and canines. The ship chandler is in charge of the scheduled deliveries. Dozens of trucks line up continually all day long, and it is a coordinated effort. It is a long, exhausting day, and you have hundreds of deliveries, you can only go so fast.

xrvlcruiser is correct. Crew change, disembarkation, customs and clearance all play a part in the puzzle. Luggage also has a huge impact, especially the amount of luggage and specialty items for the world cruise guests. Some even send their lazy boy chairs and other favorite items. Several years ago the Voyager loaded a container to hold all of the world cruiser's luggage during the voyage. They decided to keep it. It is on the bow of the ship, starboard side, and they painted it royal blue.

Amen Lisa!

We've NEVER seen so much loaded for a cruise as they did on our WCs, simply seemed endless as we watched from our balcony. Just seeing all the pallets of toilet paper, and OMG the bottles of water going on was mind boggling. By the time they return to FLL their storage may be taken up by some larger items purchased by passengers. I remember on '05 WC seeing porcelain elephant end tables in the (emptied) refrigerator. It is a far cry from the shorter cruises and they really do an amazing job.

San Diego has such a gorgeous skyline, a nice trade off turning lemons into lemonade.

As it turned oout...the departure delay was due primarily to union issues with the local longshoremen. However,. RSSC may have made unrealistic estimates in how long it would take to long it would take to onload such a huge amount of provisions. When the union workers quit at 5:00 p.m. sharp and walked off the dock there were many, many pallets alongside waiting to be loaded. About 1-1/2 hours later the loading commenced again...I don't know all the machinations that took place to get a relief crew there, but there was a great turnout of the ship's officers and crew to get it all onboard. All Capt Dag would say that maybe San Diego doesn't really want to have a cruise ship's business (intimadating tht it would be a long time before Regent begins a long cruise from there). But in typical Dag fashion, he was so proud of his crew's "can do" attitude that he is throwing a party for them tonight, to invclude an extra performance by the Jersey Boys tribute group that was the entertainment tonight.

But that is all in the past, and everything is runnning very smoothly...and we have enjoyed two wondewrful, fun-filled, relaxing seas days.

I also understand that Carnival - which comes to San Diego weekly - had it's sailing delayed 2 hours due to some of the same issues which we had.

Our crew is always wonderful - Dag is correct!

Lisa/BeenThere2, thanks for your explanation. Very interesting to hear about the logistical issues in provisioning the ship. People take along their recliners? Yikes. As Meryl Streep might say, "It's complicated."

Larry, glad things are all in order now and that you are sailing along comfortably. Enjoy!

Capt. Dag confirmed this a.m. that yesterday the gale winds were 60 mph (just a modest autumn wind in Norway!) and that seas were 30 feet. Thankfully today it's sunny with just a mild roll as the winds are in the 35-40 km/h from the port side.

Everyone seems to be much better today...I haven't seen Lloyd Tinkle so can't provide an update. We are headed to Fiji and should make scheduled arrival time on Sunday. We cross the international dateline tomorrow....we are currently 171+ degrees west, south of Samoa.

Peggy is having difficulties signing into my web journal from here on the Voyager WC. Would like to know if any others are having problems? There are about 16 folks following it as "members" and I haven't heard any complaints other than Peggy's...so I am not usre what the problem is. When I clicked on the link in my signature below it took me to the site.

Since Peggy can't get to them directly from the journal, she asked for the direct link to the photos on Picasa. For others who may be having problems, they are at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/themccrackens

There is a separate album for each day that I upload photos.

Crossing the International Dateline soon...currently at 179.24.38 The Platters are the entertainment again tonight.

Larry, I am once again enjoying not only your commentary, but your wonderful pictures as well! I feel like if I ever get the opportunity to travel with you and Karen, I will aready know you! Thank you for allowing us to go on this adventure with you!

Thanks Larry!

Wonderfully beautiful day in Fiji today...probably won't post details until tomorrow.

Thanks Larry, for more beautiful photos. I am really enjoying your reports. Looking forward to the next installment.

Larry,at home I have had no problem signing into your web journal and pictures and have certainly enjoyed following your cruise. Don't know if that will change once I board the ship. Maybe that problem has somethong to do with trying to access it on board. Please keep your wonderful journal coming and thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us at home.
Elaine

Elaine,

I think I'm the only one having an issue . . . we're at sea today so I may try to get it worked out with the computer guy on board.

Not to worry!

Peggy

Last night's pool deck party upon departing Lombok, Indonesia, was terrific.

We had a scare with a brief sprinkle at the start, but everyone was soon enjoying a balmy evening. The crew works so hard in putting these events on; so it was great that everyone was able to enjoy their artistry and wonderful food. The dancing was still going strong when we left at 9:45.

For LCTers who know Dr. Lloyd Tinkle, we will be having a special pre-dinner celebration of his 100th birthday in the theater tonight...Sat., Feb. 20. Jamie has some special surprises cooked up and has been video-taping well-wishes from his friends.

Sounds like fun Larry. I would have loved to wish Lloyd a Happy 100th Birthday. I played bridge with him on our 2005 WC...he is one crazy bidder. If I bid 1 of something...he'd take it straight to a Grand Slam :eek: 1/2 the time we weren't even in the right suit...needless to say we were often "set" but had lots of laughs.

Keep enjoying your wonderful trip! Lots of good memories of the fun pool deck parties. I hope you take some nice pictures of the birthday celebration.

Can't wait to hear all about the party for Dr. Tinkle and hope to see lots of pictures from the event. Dr. Tinkle is one special guy. Sorry I couldn't be there for the celebration.
Elaine

The party was TERRIFIC - Jamie and lots of others did a great job! Larry and Karen were there and so were we so I'm sure there will be pictures available.

Sorry, I didn't take lots of photos...but it was great fun. Jamie did a terrific job in organizing it and getting everyone involved.

I am packed and ready to leave tomorrow to join the Voyager in HKG. Can't wait to see so many familiar faces of passengers and crew. Shall try to give some updates about the cruise but, so far, the bloggers are doing a great job.

Have a wonderful cruise. We will look forward to your reports. You know, we will take all the cruise news we can get!

Elaine, wishing you a WONDERFUL cruise!! Can't wait to hear all about it. Linda and Chuck are on this segment too.

Please keep in touch we love seamail, Elaine - big hug to Chuck and Linda!

We just pulled into Xiamen...at 0955L, Tues..about an hour early. Low 50s, cloudy, but no rain! Hong Kong tomorrow.

Internet connection spotty at times. Finally got my Shanghai photos organized, captioned and posted. It is an amazing place.

See you soon Elaine!

If you haven't been to Xiamen, China...it's a wonderful stop. Well worth the port call. Regent only ran two tours here; but from all reports, both were excellent. I know the one we took to Gulangyu Island was. And to think we almost canceled it because the weather was lousy early in the a.m.

Am still getting over my 6 hour flight to SFO from EWR, my 10 hour layover there which was spent in 2 different lounges and last but not least the wonderful 15 hour flight on SQ to HKG. Did get to see 3 great movies on that flight or maybe it was the champagne, vodka and wine that made the movies and flight so good. All I can say that everything has been wonderful on the ship. Am busy getting reaquainted with all the people that I know and cruising on the Voyager is the best.

Voyager hits ferry-I received this description from a friend on the WC
Hello everyone,
Well there is much to say about the ferry boat, but first I must report we loved every minute we spent in Hong Kong. Never get enough of that city. This time we really had some great meals out. (You know John loves that.)
Now to the "accident". I can only tell you what I saw with my own baby blues and what has been reported. I was on deck to watch the sail away so I did see it. As we are leaving we are very slowly making our way out of the beautiful port. If you have been here you know the Star Ferries go and come every few minutes. Two or three face us, we have the right of way so they follow their path and pass behind us. We see this one headed straight at us. (I'll get into why this may have happened later) There is no way he can out run or miss us. Our Captain hit (I know it's not called brakes, but whatever) which sent a few people grabbing for support and slowed us as quickly as possible. Only because of this did we miss hitting him straight on. People on the Star Ferry were screaming. We did collide but it was minor. No one hurt on either ship. I truly believe with a lesser Captain than our Captain Dag we would have split there ferry in half and it would have been a horrible disaster. The Ferry indicated by radio that all was well, no problem with them. We proceeded out thinking there was no problem when we were circled by 6 or 7 boats flashing lights. We were pulled over and held for several hours for reports to be filed. All now truly is all well and we are on our way. Captain Dag talked this morning. He doesn't know why the ferry did this. He suggested (I think tongue in cheek) that it has to do with the Chinese legion of passing a larger ship close to the bow to drive away the evil sprits from your ship. Some think the ferry captain just wasn't paying attention because they go back and forth so many times a day. Some think it was a dare devil thing of we can outrun that big ship. Who knows? I personally doubt that the Chinese will accept our version of whose fault this is, but again - who knows. We were in our designated lane, had the right of way, and did not cause this, but avoided it. We may never know what the outcome is, but I think I speak for all the people on board saying we are glad to be almost to Vietnam at this moment.
Not much to say after that except I will let you know what our next EXCITING adventure is. Since we are in Vietnam - who knows. By the way Morton Dean ( remember the reporter during the Vietnam war on CBS) is on board. I went to his lecture this morning and left touched and a bit in tears. Brought back a lot of memories.

Jim, I received the same e-mail. No doubt, from this report, it was the expertise and quick action of Capt.Dag that leveled this to a mild mishap instead of a much more serious incident.

WOW! :eek: Sounds like Capt. Dag did his very best, given the situation. Glad to hear everyone is OK!

I would expect nothing less from Captain Dag.
Elaine, I am glad you are on board on having a good time. I heard from Janice, that you are enjoying yourself.
Lynn

Welcome aboard Elaine...I'm sure it will be fantastic and well worth all your hassle of getting to HK.

There is actually video of this incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsjlycZeEA8

It's hard to understand why that ferry would try to cross in front of such a large ship. Tom.

Thanks for posting that, Tom. It looked like a near miss from the video.

NO ONE WAS INJURED AT ALL ON EITHER VESSEL.

For you who have not been following my WC blog...here is my post re: the Star Ferry incident on departing Hong Kong. I also have posted 4 photos taken from Deck 12:


Mar 12 – Day 58 – Hong Kong (Part 2; Disaster Averted))

We pulled back from the Ocean Terminal on time; right about 5:00 p.m. Capt. Dag gave a few long blasts on our deep horn. He started forward, passing the busy Star Ferry terminal on our port (or left side). What happened next could have been disastrous.

A ferry was pulling out of the terminal going towards HK Island and apparently thought he could pass in front of us. When he saw he could not, he did a U-turn. In spinning around he almost passed from sight under our bow (as my photos show). Capt. Dag threw us into reverse and used our bow thrusters for a starboard turn.

I was quite sure that we were going to hit the ferry very hard. Luckily he missed the large bulb that protrudes under water at our bow. Once we separated, you could see that the closest signals mast of the ferry was canted to the side. It apparently scraped our bow.

We continued on for a bit out of the main harbor and then stopped out where some of the old gambling cruise ships anchor. We stayed there for about 2-1/2 hours with two harbor boats from the marine authorities close by. Some of those folks visited the Voyager and the boats circled to see if there was any damage and ensure we were seaworthy.

Capt .Dag told us the next day during two comments on the incident, that Voyager did in fact have a small 4” scrape on the bow, about 4-5 meters above the water line. He referred to it as no more than a lady scraping her nail polish.

He said that our Chinese harbor pilot had cleared us for our direction and slow speed. He also said that pilots of small vessels sometimes try to see how close they can come in front of larger ships. He didn’t know if that is what the ferry captain was doing or if for some unknown reason was he not paying attention and didn’t see us?

Capt. Dag was emphatic that the international rules are very clear: That when ship paths merge the ship to the starboard (the Voyager in this case) has the right of way. Later he said that if the ferry pilot had continued to cross our path he probably would have been fine. But halfway across our bow he panicked and did a U-turn to starboard. Dag threw us into reverse and used full starboard thrusters. Thus we ended up basically parallel to each other.

He maintains that it looked more precarious than it actually was, primarily due to our slow, 4-knot speed.

We are so thankful that apparently everything turned out OK and no one was hurt.

Larry is the voice of FACT and REASON.

Although it has been less then a week since I have been on the ship, it is great to be back here. There have been a lot of changes as far as the crew is concerned, but they are wonderful. No complaints from me. Since I have been in this area before, I am not taking the popular shore excursions but have enjoyed the ones I have done. I did the Halong Bay by Junk in Hong Gai and it was worth climbing the 100 steps to see the limestone and dolomite formations. In Nha Trang I did the Rural Life that was most enjoyable. I am sure that the people who went to Hanoi will have more to say about that excursion.We are in saigon now and I opted to do shopping here but there is certainly lots to see if one has not been here before. Can't say enough good things about this ship and I hope that someday, you will be able to enjoy it for yourself. It is so nice to come back to see so many familiar faces.IMO Regent continues to do a great job.

Glad to hear you're having a good time Elaine and the ship is in tip-top shape. I know you must know most EVERYONE on board....you've been on so many WC's, it's like family! Keep enjoying every moment.

Elaine:

Penny and I were just thinking how nice it would be to once again break bread with you on a ship.

So happy to read all is going well.

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Elaine, it sounds as if you are really enjoying yourself. I am so happy for you. Hope to hear more.
Lynn

Glad to finally meet Elaine (sealover)...
Just finished sailing out the Saigon River. Had a great two days...one sea day and then Bangkok. Hope things quiet down by the time we arrive. Understand the Red Shirts are losing steam in their demonstrations and are starting to leave town, since they are farmers and are low on money. I've not really been concerned, but during our departure I heard that some passengers have. We shall see....

I also was happy to meet Larry and Karen and to be able to put the faces ( nice ones) with the blog. I have decided not to go to Bangkok for the over night and instead take the shuttle to Pattaya with Peggy. We always enjoy going there. I understand about of 100 of us have elected to stay on the ship and 1 restaraunt will remain open for us. It's been a week and I still have only glowing comments to make. Do want to mention that I got a great pedicure and manicure in Saigon and the price was definately right.

Elaine and larry
Thanks for keeping us up to date. Elaine, I think of you everyday. I am so happy for you.
Lynn

We have just returned from a fun overnight trip to Bangkok, including a terric WC event on the river last night with wonderful fireworks. It will take me a day (or two) to do the blog write-up and sort through the photos. The last bus has just returned. The crew and band have been out in force welcoming everyone back...always fun.

Dag has just blasted the horn to get the stragglers off the dock with the vendors.

Capt. Dag is leaving the Voyager World Cruise in Cape Town. What a bummer.

This information started as a rumor about 10 days ago and has been confirmed in individual conversations with various officers and staff. I had hoped (and advised so) that there would be some public confirmation, but as of yet there has not been.

The reason given in those private conversations is simply that Capt. Dag’s current contract is up. However, the situation has not been well received by a large number of the passengers. It was fully expected by many that he would be our captain for the entire four-month voyage. And in my conversations that view was also held by of some of the senior crew.

I believe Regent has a PR problem brewing. President Mark Conroy is scheduled to get on the ship in Mombasa, Kenya. I expect he will be getting an earful from disappointed (angry) passengers.

Personally, I think it is an unwise move by RSSC or Prestige/Apollo and is one that could have been avoided through better crew management (scheduling) or advance communications.

I am sure there will be more to report on this situation on my blog in the days ahead.

In the meantime, Capt. Dag pulled off one of his trademark "surprises and delights" with a "sundowner" out on the bow last evening (Palm Sunday) to enjoy a beautiful sunset in the Indian Ocean. Now that is cruising!

And that is why we will be so sad to see him leave us.

Wow Larry, that is some interesting news! Thanks for filling us in.

I'll leave it to Larry or Rick's blogs but I think that everyone was very happy with the stop in Mauritius. I went on a 71/2 tour which was wonderful. I must say that as far as the shore excursions I have done, they have been terrific. So far, no complaints from this cruiser.

Mark Conroy is aboard now and is planning to have a town hall meeting tomorrow. I am sure someone will post the details.

Do keep us posted on the meeting discussions.

Town hall meeting with Mark Conroy isn't until Saturday, the 10th.

We are all waiting......for the meeting results
Lynn

There is a link to Larry's blog, in his post up there ^. He's keeping it current.

thanks Pam. nothing there yet

Lynn, there is an account of the meeting in Larry's blog.

Don't know how many of you have been keeping up with Jamie's Blog from the world cruise, but his latest entry describes the Crew Welfare Fund fundraiser.

Same Ship Different Day

I think it's awesome that they were able to raise $32,000! I thought the new idea of auctioning off out of the ordinary activities for guests to experience was great - I would have loved to have bid on a couple of them!

Cindy, you are right, that is awesome!!! Some of the prizes were pretty unique, dinner in the galley while it was in full swing would be fascinating!

We've participated in 3 of these and they are so fun. It's great Jamie added more creative auction gifts this year. Last year they made about $27,000 as I remember...all for such a great cause! Jamie does a fantastic job as auctioneer, he's a stand up comic.

Very unique ideas...I bet it was a lot of fun!

It was a great morning. Jamie was at the top of his game. Many of the "passenger opportunities" had some much active bidding that once the bids got high enough, Jamie quickly added a second item. He was at the top of his game!