100 days to go

Well we have reached that time that we now have more days on the boat than we have days to go.

So much has happened.... more private tours have been finalized, Princess shore tours became available... and final payments had to be made!!

This all coincided with the announcement that we were to have an itinerary change... Due to the civil unrest and the government travel warnings, Egypt has now been dropped from our itinerary. This comes as a disappointment as visiting the pyramids was a major highlight for us...... But at least it has happened now and we have time to get over it.... not like last year’s world cruise that were practically at Safaga, only to be told that because of the experienced engine problems and the need to arrive at the Suez canal at their allocated time slot, they would be missing that port.

Instead our ports of Ashdod and Mykonos have been brought forward a day and we are now spending 2 days in Istanbul... It may not be the pyramids but I am quite excited about seeing Istanbul at night...

When writing to our Private guide that I have booked about  changing times his response was

“Joanne !!! 

Great to see that you are in Istanbul for two days...
disappointed to see that you are still requesting our services for one day...
There are lots to see in Istanbul !!!”

Cheeky!! But it worked as we will be now booking him for both days. The tour we had booked was for all the old favourites, Ayia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar....... our second tour will take in some of the Asian side of the city along with a cruise along the Bosphorous.

So what have we done.... Pretty much all the ports are decided on and yes the Visa’s are done....

We only needed to organise two visa’s ourselves, India and our American Waiver ... We have not got a communicable disease, we have never been arrested for a crime involving moral turpitude and never been involved in any espionage or sabotage..... so yes we can enter the US

We have been snapping up Euro’s and US dollars every time we find them at a good price.... we have been getting some really good rates from UAE exchange (thanks Ros and Arnold)

So the waiting game goes on.... and on...... and on ...... and on!!

 

Come follow follow follow me....

Just a reminder if you are reading this blog please click on the follow me button.... the more the merrier ....this will be my incentive to be very diligent to keep the blogs going on a regular basis... I work better under pressure....

I have added a flag counter on the blog site too... thought it would be exciting to see where everyone who reads this comes from...

For those who want to be alerted every time a new post is made , click on subscribe at the bottom of the page....this sets up an RSS feed and sends you and email every time I post.

Counting Down to 100 days

This was going to start at 150 days ... but time just started to get away from me... we are now somewhere around 108 days.... and preparation is starting to hot up...

Xmas came and went quickly and of course those Xmas sales took Cruise shopping to a whole new level.... not really but Garry did manage to add to the shirt collection... and with a planned road trip to Adelaide in January came the added expense of having to change our car... The mechanic told Garry that the most economical way to repair the Xtrail was to replace it.... which we did!

So far we have manage to meet at least 14 other cruisers that will be leaving Sydney on the 25th May 2011, and some having met for the second and third time... Our sail away party is starting to look more like a reunion everyday..

The main focus lately has been the ports.... lots of research on cruise critic and reading lots of blogs has helped us in deciding on tours and tour companies that we will use.... out of those following I would like to thank Michelle ( Aworldcruise4me) and George and Dianne as I have gotten some great tips and recommendations from you guys...

At this stage we are only looking at around a half a dozen ports that we will be doing Princess Tours.... the break down is like this (but changes every day)

On Our Own
Darwin – Garry wants to swim with the Crocodiles
Singapore - Chinatown, Little India and shoe shopping
Mykonos - Discovery walking tour
Lisbon – Discovery walking tour
Dover - Leeds castle and villages
Amsterdam – walking and canal tour
Bergen – Floibanen and walk
Greenock – Edinburgh or a castle or countryside
Dublin – walking tour
Cobh - see what cobh will put on for us...
Auckland - meet friends

Princess Tour
Kuala Lumpur
Langkawi
Barcelona

Private Tours
Cochin – Cochin Magic
Mumbai – Mumbai Magic
Abu Dhabi & Dubai - Shehnaaz Mayet ( thanks Michelle ...... Shehnaaz has been great )
Muscat – Marks Tours
Petra – Douna Tours
Port Said – Ramses Tours ( if we make it due to the civil unrest)
Ashdod – Guided Tours Israel
Istanbul – Tour Guide in Turkey
Athens – Private Taxi tour with Jordan
Naples – All around Italy
Rome – All around Italy
Florence – All around Italy
Monte Carlo – French Rivera Guides
Cartagena – Lee Miles ( Mr Emerald )
Acapulco - Tour by Van ( Rudy)
Manzanillo – Manzanillo Adventures
Bora Bora – Patrick Tours

Undecided
Morocco – someone beat us to the recommended guide here LOL
Le Havre – Honleur and countryside maybe...
Bermuda– someone beat us to the recommended guide here LOL
Fort Lauderdale – airboats
Puntarenas – not sure yet... but will probably have something to do with zip lines for sky trains...
Los Angeles – possibly just a city highlights tour
Honolulu – not sure island circle and shopping...
Tahiti – might pick up a tour from the port
Apia - might pick up a tour from the port

Will be interesting to do a compare when we get back .  Actually if anyone has any tips don't be shy.. let me know...