Itinerary

 2022/23 World Cruise Itinerary

Day 1 Dec 22 Fort Lauderdale, Fl, USA 

Day 2 Dec 23 Scenic Sailing: Gulf of Mexico

Day 3 Dec 24 Cozumel, Mexico 

Day 4 - 5 Dec 25 -26 Sail the Caribbean Sea 

Day 6 Dec 27 Cartagena, Colombia

Day 7 Dec 28 Colon, Panama 

Day 8 Dec 29 Scenic Sailing, Panama Canal 

Day 9 Dec 30 Sail the Pacific Ocean 

Day 10 Dec 31 Puntarenas (Puerto Caldera), Costa Rica 

Day 11 Jan 01 Leon (Corinth) Nicaragua  -  we've been advised this port has been scrapped

Day 12 -14 Jan 02 -04 Sail the Pacific Ocean 

Day 15 Jan 05 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Day 16 -17 Jan 06 -07 Sail the Pacific Ocean

Day 18 Jan 08 Los Angeles, CA, USA 

Day 19 Jan 09 Santa Barbara, CA, USA 

Day 20 -24 Jan 10 -14 Cruise the Pacific Ocean 

Day 25 Jan 15 Honolulu, HI, USA 

Day 26 Jan 16 Nawiliwili, HI, USA

Day 27 -31 Jan 17 -21 Cruise the Pacific Ocean

Day 32 Jan 22 Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Day 33 Jan 23 Opunoha Bay, Moorea, French Polynesia 

Day 34 Jan 24 Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia 

Day 35 -37 Jan 25 -27 Cruise the Pacific Ocean 

Day Jan 28 Cross International Date -line, Westbound

Day 38 -39 Jan 29 -30 Cruise the Pacific Ocean 

Day 40 Jan 31 Bay of Islands, NZ 

Day 41 -43 Feb 01 -03 Auckland, NZ 

Day 44 Feb 04 Rotorua, NZ

Day 45 Feb 05 Napier, NZ 

Day 46 Feb 06 Wellington, NZ 

Day 47 Feb 07 Cruise the Pacific Ocean Day 

Day 48 Feb 08 Scenic Cruising – Milford/Doubtful Sound 

Day 49-50 Feb 09-10 Cruise the Tasman Sea 

Day 51 Feb 11 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 

Day 52 Feb 12 Philip Island, Australia 

Day 53 Feb 13 Melbourne (Geelong), Australia 

Day 54 Feb 14 Cruise the Tasman Sea 

Day 55 Feb 15 Eden, Australia 

Day 56-57 Feb 16-17 Sydney, Australia

Day 58 Feb 18 Cruise the Australia Coast 

Day 59 Feb 19 Mooloolaba, Australia 

Day 60 Feb 20 Cruise the Coral Sea 

Day 61 Feb 21 Whitsunday Islands, Australia 

Day 62 Feb 22 Cairns, Australia 

Day 63 Feb 23 Cruise the Coral Sea 

Day 64 Feb 24 Thursday Island, Australia 

Day 65-57 Feb 25-27 Cruise the Arafura/Timor Seas

Day 68 Feb 28 Komodo Island, Indonesia 

Day 69-71 Mar 01-03 Bali, Indonesia 

Day 72 Mar 04 Cruise the Java Sea 

Day 73 Mar 05 Semarang, Java, Indonesia 

Day 74-76 Mar 06-08 Cruise the Java Sea 

Day 77-79 Mar 09-11 Saigon, Vietnam

Day 80 Mar 12 Cruise the South China Sea 

Day 81 Mar 13 Koh Samui, Thailand 

Day 82 Mar 14 Cruise Gulf of Thailand

Day 83 -84 Mar 15 -16 Singapore 

Day 85 Mar 17 Cruise Malacca Straits 

Day 86 Mar 18 Phuket, Thailand 

Day 87 Mar 19 Cruise Andaman Sea 

Day 88 -90 Mar 20 -22 Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) 

Day 91 -93 Mar 23 -25 Cruise Bay of Bengal 

Day 94 -95 Mar 26 -27 Colombo, Sri Lanka

Day 96 Mar 28 Cruise Laccadive Sea 

Day 97 Mar 29 Cochin, India 

Day 98 Mar 30 Cruise the Arabian Sea 

Day 99 Mar 31 Goa, India 

Day 100 -102 Apr 01 -03 Mumbai, India

Day 103 -104 Apr 04 -05 Cruise the Arabian Sea 

Day 105 Apr 6 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Day 106 -109 Apr 7 -10 Cruise the Red Sea 

Day 110 Apr 11 Aqaba, Jordan 

Day 111 Apr 12 Luxor, Egypt 

Day 112 Apr 13 Cruise the Gulf of Suez 

Day 113 Apr 14 Suez Canal Transit

Day 114 -115 Apr 15 -16 Haifa, Israel 

Day 116 Apr 17 Cruise the Mediterranean Sea 

Day 117 Apr 18 Rhodes, Greece 

Day 118 Apr 19 Kusadasi, Turkey 

Day 119 - 120 Apr 20 -21 Istanbul, Turkey 

Day 121 Apr 22 Cruise the Aegean Sea 

Day 122 Apr 23 Piraeus, Greece 

Day 123 Apr 24 Cruise the Mediterranean Sea 

Day 124 Apr 25 Messina, Italy

Day 125 Apr 26 Naples, Italy

Day 126 Apr 27 Civitavecchia, Italy 

Day 127 Apr 28 Monte Carlo, Monaco 

Day 128 Apr 29 Cruise the Balearic Sea 

Day 129 Apr 30 Barcelona, Spain 

Day 130 May 01 Cartagena, Spain 

Day 131 May 02 Cruise Strait of Gibraltar 

Day 132 May 03 Lisbon, Portugal 

Day 133-134 May 04-05 Cruise Atlantic/English Channel

Day 135 May 06 Le Havre, France 

Day 136 May 07 Dover, UK 

Day 137 May 08 Greenwich, UK 

Day 138 May 09 Disembarkation – London, UK

Packing - December 11, 2022

For those that wish to see what the Neptune is seeing go to this web site: 

   Webcam Viking Neptune - PANOMAX  360°

If you wish to see where the Neptune is located on the map go here: 

VIKING NEPTUNE Current Location (cruisemapper.com)  

or use 

VIKING NEPTUNE, Passenger (Cruise) Ship - Details and current position - IMO 9845910 - VesselFinder

For the reader you may have to copy and paste these URL into your browser.

When preparing for a journey with Viking they provide their guests with a countdown to departure found in "My Viking Journey". Ours tells us today we have 10 days prior to boarding the New Neptune, however for us we have 7 before we Depart Tucson for Fort Lauderdale and a 4 day stay in a timeshare. 

We will then transfer to the: 

Extend Your Cruise with 1 Night in Ft. Lauderdale

Overview

• 1 hotel night in Ft. Lauderdale (as shown or similar)
• 1 meal: 1 breakfast (B)
• Services of a Viking Host
• All transfers

Itinerary

Day 1 - Ft. Lauderdale

Upon arrival, meet your Viking Representative and transfer to your hotel. After check-in, the remainder of the day is at your leisure. Relax and enjoy the amenities at your hotel or stretch your legs and explore the sights and landmarks of Ft. Lauderdale, known as the “Venice of America.” A Viking Host is available to help you plan your time in Ft. Lauderdale so you can make the most of your visit.

Day 2 - Ft. Lauderdale

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and transfer to your awaiting ship to begin your cruise. (B)

Hotels

Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort

Overlooking the ocean, the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach resort is located close to Las Olas Boulevard and the waterways of Greater Ft. Lauderdale. Redesigned rooms and suites are spacious and feature the signature Westin Heavenly® Bed, while delicious dining options are on offer to suit every taste at the hotel’s onsite restaurants.

Before boarding on the 22 of December 2022.

Now for the final packing push.

December 8th, 2022

 Here is where we are starting.  Oro Valley, Arizona

This is where we are going Saturday 17 December 2022. WorldMark Santa Barbara Wyndham Resort 

 Pompano Beach, Florida

We depart for FLL Saturday at 6: am. From a hotel near the Tucson International Airport.

It is getting real now, as we are scheduled for Luggage Forward pick up between 1pm and 5pm today. Today we will practice packing our carry on. We will also check on Meds that were recommended by PassPort Health to see if the Malaria pills have arrived, if not we will start a search to see if any local Pharmacy has any. 

Jan found Malaria pills at our pharmacy, Walmart, we will get them tomorrow. In the meantime, we are packing, maybe a little early, but with Portugal beating Switzerland 6 to 1 there is nothing on TV to watch. Soooo. 

                                         

                  and  

But wait where is the kitchen sink? ? ?     Waiting to UPS ground to see how the sink will fit in.

So as we wait for our departure date Jan took this pic this am from our living room window.

Yes that is the moon.

One step closer - November 22, 2022

 

Today the World Cruise is closer to reality. 

We received our passports back with some of the VISAs we will need. Others we will get on the ship. We have started discussing what items we will ship using Luggage Forward. 

Next Monday a meeting with Travel Clinic to determine if we need more vaccines.  Today we also competed VeriFly, showing proof of being Vaccinated for Covid-19. We already have our super senior Flu shot.

Have looked for addresses in FLL, for Costco, CVS and where the Westin is located in relationship to where our Time Share is located. 

Now we just need to get to FLL.

Russ and Jan's Excellent Adventure

Prelude to our adventure: November 5, 2022, we drove to Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico to take care of our home there as well as to pre-pay various fees. Those fees included Real Estate tax, el Cid HOA fees, and golf course fees as well as our license fee for our car. The drive took 2 days and 1,300 Kilometers, a hotel overnight and dinner. We arrived home on Sunday the 6th. On Monday the 7th found Jan very ill with what we believed to be food poisoning from her dinner in Navajoa. By Tuesday she was much better and we were able to accomplish getting everyone pre-paid. We departed Mazatlan on Tuesday the 15th after introducing our house sitter to our cleaning lady on Monday afternoon. The return trip saw us repeating the drive from Mazatlan to Navajoa, staying and eating at a different hotel. Driving in Mexico finds one stopping at various check points, crossing state borders and stopping to pay tolls. The drive from Navajoa started at 6am with our GPS suggesting our arrival time to get home to be 2:30pm. Which might have happened even with 8 toll booths causing us to come to a complete stop for several minutes or more. We have done this drive many times and it is not unusual to see a wreck or two going either direction. This time the wreck was on the way to Hermosillo. This is a photo of the traffic being rerouted from then North bound highway to the South bound closing one lane then being rerouted over a dirt area back to the North bound side. A very dirty detour. The photo of the wreck did not turn out. Regardless, we made it to the Mexico/USA Boarder at Mariposa instead of going to downtown Nogales. The border wait time found on the US Customs app suggested that the wait time was 30 minutes in either location. This is much less than normal. We in fact crossed in about 20 minutes which is the fastest time ever. I decided not to stop for fuel as we are now about 90 miles or minutes to Oro Valley. Little did we know that after the ICE check point the 4 lane highway went to one lane each way and the drive took two and a half hours to complete. Traffic on the drive out and a pic of a statue

Well Jan was successful and she got all of the Viking tours we wanted, with some funds left over to use at the spa.

More on excursions

 Today it begins to feel like we are really going on a 150-day cruise. 

Jan will in a few minutes begin securing our excursions and I would like to tell which one those are. In order of importance to us.

Viking has included tours for each port and when we are not doing what is outlined below, we will be taking an included tour. If you are curious, go to the Viking Ocean cruise site and then to World Cruise and look at the complete itinerary.  We also have made arrangements to enjoy other private (30 plus other cruisers) tours to see below after Viking Tours.

1)  Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - this is an overnight. Why? when we have a really good bed on the boat. Well from our Moorage it will take about 1 to 3 hours to get into Saigon. Now we will get to see Saigon and experience it at night.

2) Rhodes, Greece - Greek Cuisine - we get a cooking class and immersion into the Greece Culture.

3) Cabo, San Lucas - whale watching speaks for itself. 

4) Colon, Panama - Flora and Fauna, yes we are going to see flowers and trees and maybe a monkey or two.

5) Semarang, India - Borobudur Temple. This is a 9th century-in Borobudur, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Borobudur mimics the shape of a lotus and every aspect of it represents Buddhist views of the cosmos. Practically every square inch is covered with sculptural reliefs and there are 504 Buddha statues, making it a popular pilgrimage site.

6) Naples, Italy - Enjoy a panoramic drive of Naples and lunch at an authentic pizza house, then discover Pompeii. The world’s first pizzeria opened in Naples in 1830. Watch a master pizzaiolo (pizza maker) skillfully prepare the dough, sauce and toppings and slide the pizza into a traditional oven.. At the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Pompeii, you can explore a city frozen in time by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD.

7) Rome, Italy - Italy’s history on this outing, ideal for lovers of archaeology. Journey with a local guide to the ancient city of Tarquinia, founded in 449 BC. Explore the fascinating Etruscan Necropolises, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Dating from the 7th to the 2nd centuries BC, the numerous tombs, with their decorative frescoes, chronicle the development of Etruscan culture. 

8) Mooloolaba Australia - We will get to explore the picturesque mountaintop village of Montville and enjoy a taste of locally produced wine and cheese. Settled in 1887, Montville is nestled in Queensland’s Blackall Range. Sitting at 1,410 feet above sea level, it experiences inviting weather year-round and offers sweeping views over the hinterlands. Enjoy free time to further explore on your own. You may choose to visit one of the local cafés or restaurants, browse the art galleries and boutiques, or admire the striking views of the Sunshine Coast. You will cap your tour at a local estate winery, indulging in a delicious wine and cheese tasting, before making the return journey to your ship.

10) Bali, Inda - Ubud Discovery & Rice Terraces, explore the museum and marketplace of Ubud, and discover the remarkable rice terraces of Tegallalang.  You will travel by bus to Ubud, a quiet cultural center famous for its handicrafts.  At the Puri Lukisan Museum, admire a collection of early artwork from Ubud and the surrounding villages, then enjoy free time to browse the artists’ shops and bargain in Ubud’s market. 

10 Le Havre, France - While everyone else is heading to Paris we will be experiencing the Normandy coast. Journey to the seaside town of Fécamp, whose beautiful Benedictine Abbey gave its name to an herbal liqueur. Once the birthplace of Norman dukes, Fécamp’s prosperity grew on its fishing industry. Up until the 1970s, the port was France’s most important harbor for cod. Journey here with your guide and stop at the 13th-century Fécamp Abbey, known mostly for its monks—who, according to legend, first produced the Bénédictine herbal liqueur. (note the issues the English are having with the French over fishing rights. this is a Brexit Issue). Enjoy a liqueur tasting before returning to your ship via a short stop at Étretat, renowned for its chalk cliffs and natural arches.

11) Colombo, Sri Lanka - Ceylon Tea. Need to inject that we are not sure we will be visiting this port, due to the country's unrest. But if we do this is what we will see. Upon arrival at the tea plantation in Ingrida, you will enjoy a traditional welcome with garlands made from tea leaves. Some of the finest teas in the world are produced in this region, and during your tour, you will learn why it has become one of Sri Lanka’s most famous and principal exports. Delve into the island’s culture and history as you observe the tea crop being plucked, graded, tasted, bagged and packed.

OTHER TOURS NOT VIKING TOURS.

1 Sydney, Australia - Blue Mountain Tour

2) Aqaba, Jordan - Petra - think Indiana Jones

3) Luxor, Egypt - Luxor & Valley of the Kings

4) Haifa. Israel - Jerusalem & Bethlehem

5) Kusadasi, Turkey - Ephesus