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The Epic Journey

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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

A 30-Day Cruise
Vancouver BC (Canada) to Sydney Australia

Followed by a 12-day in-country tour.

The Ship

The Itinerary — at Sea
       Date                         Destination 
 Tue Sep 20          Vancouver, Canada - depart 
 Wed Sep 21                    Victoria, Canada 
 Thu Sep 22                           At Sea x2 
 Sat Sep 24             Los Angeles, California 
 Sun Sep 25                           At Sea x4 
 Thu Sep 29                 Honolulu, Hawaii x2 
 Sat Oct 01                           At Sea x5 
 Thu Oct 06  Tahiti (papeete), French Polynesia 
 Fri Oct 07  Tahiti (papeete), French Polynesia 
 Sat Oct 08                           At Sea x5 
 Thu Oct 13       Cross International Date Line 
 Sat Oct 15                         Tauranga NZ 
 Sun Oct 16               Auckland, New Zealand 
 Mon Oct 17         Bay Of Islands, New Zealand 
 Tue Oct 18                           At Sea x2 
 Thu Oct 20           Sydney, Australia —arrive 

The Itinerary — On Land
Sydney — two nights
Adelaide — two nights
Alice Springs — four nights
Uluru — 2 nights
Sydney 2 nights

You should be able to view the photos at:
https://imgur.com/a/7X2gfMC
If not, I'll try to fix it

If you are every curious about where exactly the ship is located at any time see:
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-136.2/centery:53.4/zoom:6
If that doesn't work, try:
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:4033390/mmsi:232002990/imo:9614141/vessel:MAJESTIC_PRINCESS
then click on "show on live map"


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25 replies
Primrose6789
Joined: 01.07.2016

Have a nice and safe journey, Vorpal! _thumbsup:


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Harrier88
Joined: 01.05.2012

Wishing you a great journey too! :f_grin:

We'll miss you on the forum, but the important thing is that you and your family are having an amazing trip, and that you stay safe and healthy.

Looking forward to the pictures. :f_love:


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FriskyArt
Joined: 27.10.2009

Have a good time friend! :f_thumbsup:


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

Originally posted by Primrose6789
Have a nice and safe journey, Vorpal! _thumbsup:

Originally posted by Harrier88
Wishing you a great journey too! :f_grin:

We'll miss you on the forum, but the important thing is that you and your family are having an amazing trip, and that you stay safe and healthy.

Looking forward to the pictures. :f_love:

Originally posted by FriskyArt
Have a good time friend! :f_thumbsup:
Thanks so much for the good wishes!
I'll still post from time to time, just not as often


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Fredjen
Joined: 27.05.2008

Enjoy the trip looks super fun!


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

Embarkation Day

The ship stood off until just after 08:00 local time, but now shows as alongside
Click this image to follow the ship on its journey

We're all packed, clothes laid out.
It's about 3 hours before we leave the house.


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LiamXii
Joined: 06.06.2022

Livin' the dream, enjoy!


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Mizzzzz
Joined: 20.08.2019

Have a good trip and come back healthy!


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

Upate


Saw a pod of humpback whales in the Strait of Juan de Fuca yesterday about 17:30. One was repeatedly slapping its tail and spouting. I was hoping to see it breach, but no luck

I have had little success uploading photos, but so much to do I've not taken the time to troubleshoot


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

Disappointed

There is no poker on this cruise.
I had looked forward to playing live poker, but no. There's a casino, but no poker. I may try baccarat, but only because I've never played it before (not that I remember anyway)


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Harrier88
Joined: 01.05.2012

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I may try baccarat, but only because I've never played it before (not that I remember anyway)

I assume they have the version where you play against the house, rather than "Chemin de Fer", where you play against other players.

The Banker bet is considered the best bet, even after taking the typical 5% commission into account. They all lose, of course.

With eight decks in play, the house edge should be 1.06% for "Banker", 1.24% for "Player" and 14.26% for "Tie".


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

In honour of this, the bars are serving a pumpkin spice Martini

I'll try to post a picture a bit later.
Although the wifi on the ship is very good, there is insufficient bandwidth for some functions.


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010


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Harrier88
Joined: 01.05.2012

Well, one thing I noticed as I kept checking on the location of your ship every now and then is that the ocean really is a mighty big place... and it must have looked even bigger from your point of view.

So I assume you're safe and sound in Australia now?


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

Tomorrow (Oct 31) is our last full day here.
I did not take a Windows computer with me, so posting was extremely difficult.
I'm in the hotel at the moment, but even with decent wifi the best way to post is by remotely controlling my home computer.

When I'm back I'll do a series of posts.

The first will be my cocktail list


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

Well I'm back.
We got home at 10:45 local.
I was going to attempt to stay awake until my "normal" bedtime, but when I reached the point that I had been up 24 hours I just crashed and slept 5 hours.

There is a lot of unpacking, sorting, organizing and cleaning to do before I get back into the swing of things.


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Primrose6789
Joined: 01.07.2016

Welcome back, Vorpal! :f_drink:


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Harrier88
Joined: 01.05.2012

The forum is going to get a lot better now. :f_love:

Looking forward to the pictures!


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Super Moderator
VorpalF2F
Joined: 02.09.2010

Originally posted by Harrier88
The forum is going to get a lot better now. :f_love:

Looking forward to the pictures!

They're coming — In the meantime, I had promised to keep track of all the different cocktails I consumed during the cruise, with a view to having 60 different drinks I had never had before.

I thought I was well over that, but in checking, I discovered that I just barely made it. This was due to miscounting somewhere in the middle. It is also probable that I had had one of these in my misspent youth that I have now forgotten.

At any rate, here is the list...
       Date   #                             Drink  Rate   U                                 Comment 
 2022-09-20   1                        Rusty nail     9                                        Prev 
 2022-09-20   2                       Spec coffee         1                              (amaretto) 
 2022-09-21   3                            Gimlet     2                                        Prev 
 2022-09-21   4                           Mai Tai     7                                        Prev 
 2022-09-22   5                         Belvedere     4   2                    curaçao, vodka,cream 
 2022-09-22   6                     Velvet Hammer     8   3   https://mixthatdrink.com/velvet-hammer  
 2022-09-23   7                       Blue Hawaii     7                                        Prev 
 2022-09-23   8                         Margarita     9                                        Prev 
 2022-09-23   9                           Rob Roy     7   4                                         
 2022-09-24  10                     Bloody Caesar     8   5                          no veg — weird 
 2022-09-24  11               Strawberry Daiquiri     6   6                                         
 2022-09-24  12              Long Island Iced Tea     6   7                                         
 2022-09-25  13                            Mojito     5   8   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojito  
 2022-09-25  14                         Lava Flow     8   9                                         
 2022-09-25  15                       Limonciello     6  10                                         
 2022-09-25  16                     Great Pumpkin     7  11                                         
 2022-09-26  17                       Tom Collins     7                                        Prev 
 2022-09-26  18                      Dirty Banana     8  12                                         
 2022-09-27  19                     Black Russian     6                                        Prev 
 2022-09-27  20                         Hurricane     7  13                                         
 2022-09-28  21                       Bloody Mary     5  14                                         
 2022-09-28  22        Martini w/ crème de banane     6  15                                   Name? 
 2022-09-28  23                    Paradise Punch     7  16                                         
 2022-09-28  24                           Bellini     2  17                not peach, tasted yeasty 
 2022-09-28  25                         Coco cafe     8  18                                         
 2022-09-28  26                    Cartagena Cool     8  19                                         
 2022-09-28  27                     Old Fashioned     8  20                                         
 2022-09-29  28  Something on the cocktail cruise        21      no idea what it was supposed to be 
 2022-09-29  29                 Milky Way Martini     7  22                                         
 2022-09-30  30                     White Russian     7                                        Prev 
 2022-09-30  31                  Captain's Bounty     6  23               Mrs Vorpal didn't like it 
 2022-09-30  32                   Ultimate Cooler     6  24                                         
 2022-10-01  33                       Moscow Mule     8  25                                         
 2022-10-01  34                     Gin and tonic     6                                        Prev 
 2022-10-02  35                       Bahama Mama     8  26                                         
 2022-10-02  36                         Manhattan     5  27                                         
 2022-10-03  37                24K Gold Margarita     6  28                                         
 2022-10-03  38                  Hawaiian Tropics     6  29                                         
 2022-10-03  39                      Violet Cloud     9  30   fx — drink smoked and formed a bubble 
 2022-10-04  40                         Loco Coco     6  31                                         
 2022-10-04  41                  Brandy Alexander     7  32                                         
 2022-10-04  42                Lynchburg Lemonade     6  33                                         
 2022-10-05  43             Vanilla White Russian     7  34      indistinguishable from the regular 
 2022-10-05  44                     Perfect Storm     4  35                                         
 2022-10-06  45                         Limelight     8  36                                         
 2022-10-07  46                   London Lemonade     7  37                                         
 2022-10-09  47                     Aperol Spritz     7  38                                         
 2022-10-09  48                 Bourbon and blood     6  39                                         
 2022-10-10  49             Pumpkin spice Martini     9  40                           Canadian Flag 
 2022-10-10  50            Beverly Hills Iced Tea     7  41                                         
 2022-10-10  51                        Brasilinha     7  42                                         
 2022-10-11  52                        Caipirinha     7  43                                         
 2022-10-11  53                    Coconut Mojito     8  44                                         
 2022-10-11  54         Ultimate Patrón Margarita     7  45                                         
 2022-10-11  55      Salted watermelon margaritas     7  46                tajin rim patron tequila 
 2022-10-11  56                      Whiskey sour     6  47                                         
 2022-10-11  57                        Mint Julep     4                                        Prev 
 2022-10-13  58                            Madras     7  48                                         
 2022-10-13  59                    Melon Lemonade     8  49                                         
 2022-10-14  60                   Dark and Stormy     7  50                                         
 2022-10-14  61                   Paloma Caliente     5  51                                         
 2022-10-15  62                          Mudslide     8  52                                         
 2022-10-15  63                       Grasshopper     8                       Prev (better w/o ice) 
 2022-10-15  64                            Vesper     6  53                                         
 2022-10-16  65                      Baked Alaska     8  54                                         
 2022-10-16  66                         Greyhound     7  55                                         
 2022-10-16  67                     Apple Martini     6  56                                         
 2022-10-17  68                    Melon Lemonade     6  57                                         
 2022-10-17  69                        Sea breeze     5  58                                         
 2022-10-17  70                        Creamsicle     8  59                                         
 2022-10-17  71                            Mimosa     4  60                                         


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