At Sea February 7th, 2025 This is our last day in the southern hemisphere – it is all going to be in the north from here on, well from when we actually cross the equator at midnight tonight. At his noon announcement the captain said that we were...
At Sea February 8th, 2025 The last of our 6 in a row sea days. Quite honestly, I am loving it, although I am looking forward to Benin tomorrow. When I stopped by Seabourn Square this morning I saw a flyer for Valentine’s Dinner Under the Stars....
Cotonou, Benin February 9th, 2025 Cotonou cannot be described as a beautiful port. When I went outside onto the balcony I was confronted by huge cranes, not an enticing view. They were busy getting the gangway situated. Soon we were...
Lome, Togo February 10th, 2025 What on earth was right outside our balcony this morning? I opened the curtains to get a better look. It was a large Chinese car carrier. The good news was that there were coaches waiting to whisk us all away on...
At Sea February 11th, 2025 I was not alone when I arrived in the Observation Bar this morning. Was this part of some sort of emergency drill, or maybe even a real emergency? We are still in the pirate infested Gulf of Guinea, are pirates on the...
At Sea February 12th, 2025 We have found a place for the latest towel creature, but our suite certainly cannot support another creature. The question is, when can we dismantle it without offending our suite attendants? I Googled towel creature...
At Sea February 13th, 2025 Today was a lazy day, the sort of perfect sea day. We didn’t really do anything of great significance, but we had a good time. The talks were great, and the food was good. The weather is still hot, and it isn’t too...
At Sea February 14th, 2025 It is Valentine’s Day and love is in the air. All was well with Team Trivia, we were on our best behavior, and things went well. No near riots today. It would just have been better if our score had improved...
Banjul, The Gambia February 15th, 2025 Why, you may ask, is this country called “The Gambia” and not simply “Gambia”. This is a good question. I can remember at junior school being concerned about The Hague not just being called Hague. I mean...
Dakar, Senegal February 16th, 2025 So here we are arriving in Dakar, Senegal, the final new country for our cruise, every country will be a repeat visit from now on since the canceled our stop in Algeria. However, we still have some great ports...
On Rough Seas February 17th, 2025 Every day on the Sojourn is a good day, but today was particularly good. The sea continued to be rough, but it was exactly the correct amount of swell, 3 meters. We didn’t see any waves come over the deck...
At Sea February 18th, 2025 It is so interesting. I looked out the window this morning and the Atlantic looked as smooth as a mill pond. However, the ship is still pitching, and walking around is a challenge. All very strange. The deck crew were...
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria February 19th, 2025 We are back in Europe! I must say that the port didn’t look very exciting, and there were no souvenir stalls in sight, no dancers or drummers, no cranes or rusty ships, just a very non-descript dock....
Arrecife, Lanzarote February 20th, 2025 There were 2 large ships in port with us, as well as a smaller one called La Belle Des Oceans. Now that looks like a nice ship, I looked her up on Google. She is described as a a small, yacht-type cruise...
At Sea February 21st, 2025 120 people joined the ship in Las Palmas, so this was our first experience of what the ship felt like at capacity. It has never felt empty, even for the first segment of the cruise where we had a very low guest count,...
Casablanca, Morocco February 22nd, 2025 When I looked at my phone this morning there was a text from Ilise. David’s brother was seriously ill so they were making arrangements to fly back to the US. This was so sad, and a horrible way to end what...
Casablanca, Morocco February 23rd, 2025 Yesterday Ilise had texted us about her arrangements to fly to the US, and had mentioned that there would be a time change at midnight. This seemed to be very strange, as it was the end of February, so it...
Gibraltar February 24th, 2025 Some times when you need a sea day, they just don’t give you one. Today we are in Gibraltar. Back in Europe again, we are gradually leaving Africa behind. Nick had tried to plan a special treat for the Grand Voyage...
At Sea February 25th, 2025 The Herald said we would be in the Strait of Gibraltar today. Well I would have thought we went through the Strait yesterday. I looked outside, and it looked like we were indeed not in the Strait but were passing a...
Melilla, Spain February 26th, 2025 Our final port was to be Oran, Algeria. We had never been to Algeria, and I was very excited to visit Algeria’s 2nd largest city. It looked like a fascinating port, with an exotic old part of the city. However,...
At Sea February 27th, 2025 How did this happen? Today is our last full day on board the Sojourn. We are clearly not ready to leave – after the partying last night we didn’t wake up until after 10:00. This was not good, as we hadn’t even started...
Barcelona, Spain February 28th, 2025 This must be a mistake. When I looked out of the window it looked like we were in Barcelona. How could this have happened? It seems like we were here just a few days ago. So much has happened since then....