We are in Southampton, ready to board the Fred Olsen ship Balmoral in the morning. This is the first time we have been in Southampton when we are not about to board a Cunard Queen. I think to myself; I would like to be boarding a Cunard Queen. But it is not to be. Fred Olsen, here we come!

Now, how did this all come about? It’s a rather long story. Back in June of 2022 we sat in Ocean Terminal waiting to board Queen Victoria. Brian picked up a cruise magazine, and leafing through it he found a cruise that he knew we would both love.

It was the November 2023 Round Africa 90-day cruise on  the Fred Olsen ship Bolette. The itinerary looked fabulous, loads of ports we had never been to, a great way to explore the African coast.

We spent the next few days looking at the pros and cons of such a trip. In the end the pros outweighed the cons, even though it meant cancelling half of our 2023 world voyage on Queen Mary 2. We went ahead and paid the very high nonrefundable deposit and sat back dreaming of Africa.

Then things became complicated. I was sent a flyer for the November 2024 90 days around Africa cruise on the Seabourn Sojourn. At first glance this looked like it would be way too expensive, but then we looked at the numbers. It was all inclusive. No stunning bar bill. No WIFI fees. No gratuities. Free luggage transfer. Included first class airfare. Free laundry etc……….

Yes, we could swap a balcony cabin on Bolette for an ocean view on Sojourn. We would have to wait a year, but we ended up thinking that it made sense to make the switch. The only problem was that pesky nonrefundable deposit.

I called to cancel the Bolette quite expecting that we would lose the deposit. Fred Olsen were very nice about it, they said we could transfer the deposit to another cruise of equal or higher cost. Well, that wasn’t going to happen, so I said no thank you.

Then they called back – would we like to book another cruise of equal or higher value than the deposit? Would we ever! I found us the perfect itinerary:

Discovering Cultural Morocco

JAN 18                  SOUTHAMPTON UNITED KINGDOM

3 DAYS SAILING

JAN 22               FUNCHAL PORTUGAL

1 DAY SAILING

JAN 24               AGADIR MOROCCO

JAN 25 – 26      CASABLANCA MOROCCO

JAN 27               TANGIER MOROCCO

JAN 28                   LISBON     PORTUGAL

JAN 29               LEIXÕES  PORTUGAL

2 DAYS SAILING

FEB 01              SOUTHAMPTON UNITED KINGDOM 

Brian’s favorite movie is Casablanca. I know the movie wasn’t actually filmed in Casablanca, but I always imagined what Casablanca must have been like. Now we get to see for ourselves.

Here’s looking at you kid!