On Board - 上船了
Jan 21, 2020 (Day 1) - We were one hour delayed last night to get to LAX. This morning we were picked up at the hotel by Crystal
We were one hour delayed last night to get to LAX. This morning we were picked up at the hotel by Crystal Cruises at 10:45 AM and arrived at the cruise terminal about 11:30 AM. The checking in process was interesting. We were taken to an area and served with champagne and snacks. Then they checked the tickets and took away our passports. We were ready to get on board.
Our room was already ready for us to move in. The room size is 226 sq. ft. It seems small. We are going to stay at the same room for next 90 days. We also received another set of gifts from Crystal including World Cruise apparel, journal, magnet, baseball cap and tote bag.
We had a simple lunch at Waterside. The food was pretty good. We also realized that we won’t do any cooking and house chores for next 90 days. After lunch, we just walked around the ship and checked things out. Today, the ship will depart Los Angeles at 5:00 PM.
We had dinner at Silk Chinese Restaurant. At 8:00 PM, we had balloon drops ceremony to kick off 25th World Cruise.
On Sun Deck
T-2 - 到数第二天
Jan. 19, 2020 (Day -2) - It is the time! We are two days away from starting the journey we have dreamed of for many months. Over the ……
It is the time! We are two days away from starting the journey we have dreamed of for many months. Over the last several days, we have been cleaning, shopping and packing. Now six suitcases are waiting to go on the journey with us. We will fly to Los Angeles tomorrow evening to stay overnight at Sheraton near the airport. We will be picked up by Crystal Cruise at the hotel in the morning to transport us to the cruise terminal. We are very excited but also very nervous. Only way to connect with our family and friends are through satellites in the space.
*UPDATE – As we finalized the packing, one of the large suitcases broke. We had to go to Target to get another suitcase first thing in the morning. Now we are in the airport to wait for taking off to start our journey.
Gifts - Osmo Action - 惊喜礼物
Dec, 2019 - We received the first gift set of World Cruise from our travel agent, Cruise Specialist……
We received the first gift set of World Cruise from our travel agent, Cruise Specialist.
Travel bag and vest jackets from our travel agent
On Christmas eve, we received another box in the mail from Crystal Cruise. At the time, we didn’t know it was from Crystal Cruise. Our daughter took it upstairs and wrapped it with gift paper. On Christmas day, I opened the box and found a set of packing cube from Crystal Cruise. As I unzipped the packing cube, there was another inside and another, and at the very end, there was a DJI Osmo Action Camera inside the box! I had looked at this camera at Amazon a few days ago and I wanted it for this trip. Wow, “Crystal even gives us an action camera?” I was as excited as a toddler that gets their first toy. Then I looked at my daughter next to me and she was smiling at me with a “I got you” face. It was a gift from my daughter, one of my best Christmas gifts ever.
Early Booking - 早期订票
July, 2018 - As we go on bigger adventures, we have started to plan our trips well in advance. Once we make a decision…...
As we go on bigger adventures, we have started to plan our trips well in advance. Once we make a decision on a particular trip, we usually would book it as early as possible. We booked our last trip, the Antarctica cruise, one year in advance. This trip is no exception. Once Crystal made the booking available to the public, we immediately jumped on it - a full 18 months before the cruise departs. We booked it through a Cruise Specialist in Seattle. Since we booked it earlier and it is a world cruise, we also received more than $10,000 of onboard credit through our travel agent, Cruise Specialist and Crystal Cruise. We bought travel insurance from Berkshire Hathaway Travel for this trip. Crystal Cruise also provides some discount for early booking. We put down the deposit for Cabin C3 (the lowest class with big window) on the waiting list 18 months ago. A week or two later, we were confirmed for Guaranteed C3 cabin. At the time our travel agent told us we might have a good opportunity to get a nice upgrade. We didn’t believe him. We thought it was just a marketing trick. However, to our surprise, we found we were upgraded to A2 Cabin with balcony in Deck 9 a few months ago. We thought it might be a website mistake so we called our travel agent. He did confirm it. This trip has a very good start.
Easter Island - Nov 21-24 2018
On November 21, about 4.5 hours flight from Santiago, Chile, we landed on Easter Island, locals called Rapa Nui, one of the most remote inhabited islands on the planet. The entire island is a UNESCO world heritage site, famous for hundreds of moai created by the early Rapa Nui people from 1100–1680 AD. Typical landscape on Easter Island is small volcano hills covered in short grasses, a result of deforestation many many years ago. The sunset at Ahu Tahai and the sunrise at Ahu Tongariki were amazing. A 17 km long scenic hiking along the coast from Anakena Beach to Ahu Tahai for 8.5 hours was our most remote hiking, accompanied by dead horses and animal bones along the way. Sometime, we had to climb over stonewalls and wired fences to continue the journey. The hiking was hard but worthy. We also enjoyed Easter Island seafood dishes, small portion but delicious. We stayed there from Nov. 21 to Nov. 24.
11月21日，我们从智利圣地亚哥乘坐拉美航空，大约四个半小时后，降落在著名的复活节岛。这是地球上最与世隔绝的岛屿之一。该岛以众多巨大石雕人像而闻名，是联合国教科文组织的世界文化遗产址。复活节岛由三座被草丛覆盖的小火山丘组成。复活节岛上Ahu Tahai的日落和Ahu Tongariki的日出令人惊叹。从Anakena海滩出发，我们沿着海岸穿过荒无人烟的草原和山丘，翻石墙，越铁丝网，徒步长达17公里8.5小时，才回到Ahu Tahai。我们也很喜欢复活节岛上的海鲜菜肴，量少且美味。我们在11月24日回到了圣地亚哥。
Santiago, Chile - Nov 19-21 2018
South America is the fourth continent we have visited. Since Santiago, Chile is the start and end point of Antarctica trip, we had spent seven nights in Santiago before and after the trip to do sightseeing. We took a guided tour to the presidential palace and visited many museums, churches and historic sites. We also did a day trip to Valparaiso, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is famous for hillside color buildings and funicular lifts. The weather in Santiago was perfect, warm and dry. We really enjoyed the seafood, especially pink clam and king crab.
南美洲是我们访问过的第四大洲。因为智利圣地亚哥是南极之旅的起点和终点站，前后我们在那里呆了七个晚上。我们参观了总统府，并去了许多博物馆，教堂和历史遗址。我们还去了被联合国教科文组织列为世界遗产以山坡色彩建筑和索道缆车而闻名的瓦尔帕莱索游览。夏天的圣地亚哥气候很完美，温暖而干燥。我们很喜欢那里的海鲜，特别是粉红蛤和帝王蟹。
Antarctica - Nov.27 - Dec 7 2018
Our trip to the bottom of the earth
“I want to go to Antarctica!” It became our lifetime dream after we saw an article about traveling to Antarctica many years ago. That dream finally came true in 2018. After 18 month anxious waiting and meticulous preparation, we had embarked Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic Orion on Nov. 27 to start our Antarctica trip.
After sailing past humpback whales, and soaring albatrosses and petrels in the uncharacteristically calm Drake Passage, we landed at Half Moon Island where we were greeted by Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins and had a short hike up the hill under Antarctica’s high wind and snow. Next we walked on the Adelie penguin colony on the Devil’s Island. At the Weddell Sea filled with brown, blue and green ice, we did a Zodiac cruise and kayaked near Snow Hill Island, as Emperor penguins and seals on floating ices watched us. As the sun set down over unusually calmed Antarctica ocean, the Antarctica evening was beautiful and amazing, filled with golden, pink, peach, blue and while. Three hours after the sunset, as the sun rose from the icy horizon, the morning in Antarctica was filled up with the magic lights again. Continent landing and hiking at Neko Harbor made our fifth continent visit official. Our Drake Passage crossing back was also uneventful, thanks to the captain who made record time sailing ahead of a massive storm.
During 10 days expedition, the ship covered 2005 miles and we did five Zodiac landings and cruises, one Kayak at sea, fast ice parking and a few short hikes. We took about 6,000 pictures with our Sony a6000 and a7 III cameras. It was truly the journey of our dreams.
很多年前，一份关于前往南极旅行的文章让我们梦想着总有一天我们也会去那个遥远的地方。这个梦想得已在2018年实现。11月27日我们从阿根挺的乌斯怀亚港登上国家地理Orion探险船，开始了终生难忘的南极之旅。穿过以连接太平洋和大西洋而著名的德雷克海峡后，我们一路南行进入南极海域。在那里，我们天天与成百上千只绅士企鹅，帽带企鹅和阿德利企鹅作伴。座头鲸，杀手鲸，海狮以及各种不同的鸟常常给我们惊喜。 在威德尔海上，我们更有幸看到了难得一遇的帝王企鹅。 我们的南极探险包括快速皮艇巡游和登陆，海上划艇，冰上停船以及一些短途徒步登山等活动。当暮色来临时，金色，粉红色，蓝色和白色的光芒充满了南极夜空。日落过后仅三个小时，太阳又从冰冷的地平线上升起，南极洲的早晨再次充满了神奇的光彩。我·们的船上总共有104位游客来自于世界各国，另外还有12名探险专员和65名船员。在海上巡航10天，前后覆盖了2005英里，给我们留下了六千张难忘的照片。
Expedition Map
