Welcome

Welcome everyone, to our blog! We hope you enjoy following us as we cruise from Tokyo to Cape Town aboard the Ocean Princess. This is something we've been looking forward to for more than 18 months, when I first saw this cruise advertised in a Princess brochure. I knew instantly that this was something I really wanted to do. Originally, we booked the 48 day cruise from Shanghai to Cape Town, which Merlena was totally on board with. When I suggested that we add the 14 day Tokyo to Shanghai segment, for a total of 62 days, she was a little apprehensive, but knowing it was something that I really wanted to do, she agreed. So, the adventure begins!

We'll fly from SFO to Tokyo on March 2nd, arriving late afternoon on the third. By the time we clear customs, make our way to the airport limo transportation, and ride into the city, it will probably be close to 9pm by the time we reach our hotel in the Ginza district. We'll have three days in Tokyo prior to boarding the ship on Saturday the 6th. This will be my first trip to Tokyo since 1969, so I'm sure it will seem totally new to me. We'd like to take a day trip to Nikko, probably on our second day, since it is about a three hour train ride from downtown Tokyo. We'll have most of the day on the 6th, since the ship does not depart until 9pm.

Princess has just informed us that our scheduled port call to the Seychelles has been canceled. Something about "pirates". We're disappointed not to be able to visit these islands which are reported to have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, but since none of us would look forward to extending our cruise in Somalia, it's the right thing to do. The itinerary has been altered to give us an overnight in Dubai, rather than just one day.

Earlier, Princess advised that we would be unable to make our port call to Rangoon (Yangon) due to the necessity of having to navigate up river to Rangoon at high tide in the mid-afternoon, and having to depart on high tide early the next morning. In place of Rangoon, we will be making port calls to Phuket Tailand, and Penang Malaysia. Works for me.

Well, that's all for now. Please sign in, and let us know you're following us. I'll do my best to keep this blog up to date, provide some photos, and give our impressions of all the spectacular places we go. Welcome aboard!!