At sea

April 3^rd, 2024

On opening my email this morning, there was the email that we had been expecting, but hoping would not come.

Our November Seabourn Around Africa cruise has been re-routed. At least it hasn’t been canceled, but many of the ports that we had really been looking forward to visiting, are now no longer on the itinerary. It does take a bit of the magic away from the trip, and I had really hoped that by November the Red Sea would be safe again, but that’s just wishful thinking. I am sure it will be a wonderful cruise in any case. 90 days on Seabourn has to be good.

No West Africa ports have been canceled, and we will still be stopping in Sao Tome and Principe. However, with a private tour in Sao Tome and Principe recently in the news, my thought is that we will go with a ship’s tour rather than a private one for that port. I am not a huge fan of ship’s tours, and I really want to support locals, but sometimes in unknown countries, maybe it is best to go with the ship shore excursions.

Also it is easier to cancel ship’s tours, now I have to see if I can change the tours I have already booked.

Apart from the fact I love going through the Suez Canal, and it would be very cool to go through both the Panama and Suez Canals this year, missing the Egyptian ports is a real disappointment. We will just have to plan another visit at a later date.

As I was starting to look at the new itinerary and making plans to change our tours, the officer of the watch pointed out that there were more whales on our starboard side. It really has been a great cruise for seeing marine life in the distance. Africa can wait – there is exciting stuff going on right next to our ship.

In the evening we met up with friends for drinks and dinner again. We have been so lucky to meet such great people on this cruise.

Usually we have been very fortunate with our tablemates at dinner and have really enjoyed their company. I was worried that with any time dining where you are at a different table, and different restaurant each night you simply don’t get the chance to get to know people.

Well, we have been so lucky to meet up with these folks, and I will miss them when we leave. Our little group of 6 have a love for Malawi. How random is that! Here we all are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and we all have a connection to that beautiful little country. It has inspired me to think about going back there again.

It was a formal night, and although our group was dressed very nicely, there were still a large number of folks in shorts and T shirts. We were clearly in the minority.

The dinner, however, was excellent – can’t complain about escargot, lobster tail, and crepes Suzette, washed down with a bottle of champagne that our friends had won. It was a perfect evening.

The new cast of Princess singers and dancers performed their first show tonight, Bravo. We had seen the original cast perform this show towards the start of the cruise, and they did a splendid job. However, the new cast was phenomenal. They totally nailed it. It was a  fantastic way to end what had been a wonderful evening.

It is evenings like this that make cruising so great for me. Good food, good friends, good entertainment. We are so lucky.