On Jan. 4 2015, we rented a car and drove to Dori & Aaron's house, where I introduced Suvi, our newest granddaughter, to Dean. I'd just been there for a week right after she was born on the day after Thanksgiving. 

What a cutie! She seemed bigger after only a month! She'll be really big by the time we get back from the cruise. 

We spent the night and got an early start down to Ft. Lauderdale where we turned in the car and rode the shuttle to the port. But first we met up with Dana, Christa, and the other 2 grandkids, Weber and Olivia, who both are attending the University of Delaware. How lovely to catch up with everyone.

So on to the ship...

We're on the Amsterdam again. We spent 112 days aboard this ship on our first world cruise in 2012 and another 14 days in Alaska in 2014,  so she's become a home away from home. For a full tour see the first page of the 2012 World Cruise.

 
The crew had decorated the Lido deck (where the midship pool is located) for the welcome aboard celebration. The pool has a retractable roof, which normally stays open during the day. This is also where I spend most of my shipboard time working on photos or other stuff, so I set up shop right after lunch. I prefer the real air instead of the air-conditioned spaces inside.

This is the Cruise Critic members' gathering. Dean has been reading the forums for years to glean inside information. This year he registered and signed us up for the roll call for this voyage, so we were invited to a gathering. We also signed up for a private tour in Egypt with some people in this group. So this is new for us. We also attended a welcome reception for our travel agent's group.  We know a lot more this time around.

We are pleased that Jonathan Mercer is our captain again. The second night was a formal night for his reception and introduction of the officers. 

Here we are all dressed up for the captain's reception. There are a bunch of formal nights where you're supposed to dress up for dinner and the shows, but we'll probably not participate in all of them. One of our favorite things to do on sea days is to attend the enrichment lectures and the backgrounders on each port. While Dean has done research on each port and downloaded that information onto his laptop before we left, there are other hints that Barbara, the ship's location guide, has to offer. We've been with Barbara on the last world cruise, the voyage of the Vikings in 2013, and the Alaska trip in 2014.

   
We do attend the shows most nights. They could be put on by the company of singers and dancers on the ship for a taste of Broadway as pictured above, or one of the many outside entertainers that are brought onboard. The Amsterdam Orchestra, a 5 or 6-piece band, often provides backup for the singers and other acts. 

Elika Santos' Hawaiian songs were accompanied by hula dancers. His range went from there to full-on opera arias.

The 8 days at sea as we approached Polynesia were used to get us in the spirit with themed dinners and enrichment workshops offered from making leis, ukulele lessons, dancing, and wrapping sarongs.

We love the flower arrangements around the ship and have the same florist, Eddy from Amsterdam, Holland, as we had on the previous world cruise.

Some countries require extra customs and immigration forms. This is a just a sample of the paperwork. But it's all worth it for the great adventures ahead. 

And of course we'll be enjoying as many sunrises and sunsets as possible all along the way.

So now let's get started...

We have an ambitious itinerary for sure. I'll bookmark this spot so you can come back for reference to see where in the world we are. Also, Dean is keeping a log of our daily activities and I've separated it into smaller files that correspond to the photo journal on each page and have provided a link to these Word files. Dean's log: Prologue.