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Thursday, December 26, 2024

20241226 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 31/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 31/96 - Almost to South Africa - Suite Freedom!


Today is the last full day of this segment of the cruise. Many of the guests will leave tomorrow when we reach Cape Town and many more will board. The net result is that we should go from about 250 guests to around 300 tomorrow. No matter, we still have a very low guest compliment today.

The weather improved today with the temperature reaching the 70s by mid-afternoon and the sun making its first appearance in several days. That didn't impact me much as I was still confined to the suite.

Arlona worked on a couple of beading projects today. The first was a beaded bracelet.


The second was a set of wine stem rings.


The warmer weather let me pop out and capture a few photos of what looked like sheerwaters cruising along with us.







Trivia went like, well, trivia, and we finished the progressive match somewhere in the top 90%. Today's reasons for not doing better:
  • What are the holes in Swiss cheese called?
    • Eyes
  • In what year was Nelson Mandela freed from prison?
    • 1990
  • What is the heaviest naturally occurring element?
    • Uranium
The good news is that I would have offered exactly zero help on these, so my being missing was not an issue. I'll take my wins where I can get them.

We watched The Santa Clause after lunch, rounding out our Christmas movie marathon. At about 4:10, the phone rang. It was Medical, checking in with me. Since my symptoms had ended more than 24 hours ago, I was given clearance to leave the suite. 

Ahh, suite freedom!

We filled our usual stools at the Observation Bar before attending another hosted dinner in The Restaurant. Tonight's host was Kerry, one of the production singers. It was yet another nice dinner with spirited conversation.  Arlona's dessert was presented so nicely, she had to take a photo.

Pavlova with lemon curd and blueberry compote

We're off the west coast of South Africa and will dock in Cape Town tomorrow morning. We will be touring our 93rd country on my 65th birthday, tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

20241225 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 30/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 30/96 - We Got A White Christmas!

Santa found us!

Merry Christmas from the southwestern coast of Namibia! We awoke to Christmas magic - a white Christmas. Well, not what you'd call a traditional white Christmas, but white, nonetheless.

We were socked in with fog - we've been periodically sounding our horn all morning

Unfortunately, we've had another development. I caught a bug that decided to have its way with my stomach. Being responsible, I contacted the medical team who gifted me with a wonderful Christmas treat - being confined to our suite until further notice. Because Arlona is symptom-free, she can still roam freely, but I'll be here for a while.

Thank goodness for comfy slippers

They also delivered blue bags for soiled linens, red bags for trash, and a pack of disinfectant wipes.

OK, the biohazard label on the trash bag seems a little excessive

It all began yesterday with my stomach letting me know it wasn't happy. Today, I feel fine but still have some minor residual effects. I hope I leave the suite tomorrow. Tomorrow is another sea day, so as long as I'm cleared before the 27th, I won't miss any ports.

Arlona went up for breakfast and brought me an English muffin and peanut butter. She then attended a Christmas morning service and popped up to catch Santa in Seabourn Square on Deck #7. Santa was handing out presents and she came back with another international plug adapter.



Arlona repped suite 533 for trivia at noon as I remained behind. I might have helped on one of two of these misses.
  • Who banned Christmas in the 1600s?
    • Oliver Cromwell
  • The Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square comes from what country?
    • Norway
  • What was the name of the snowman in Frozen?
    • I would have helped here - Olaf
  • How many types of birds are featured in the 12 Days of Christmas?
    • I would have helped here too - 6 - partridge, turtle doves, french hens, calling birds, geese, swans
  • What day of the week was Christmas in 2000?
    • I would have helped here too - Monday - it moves one day back each year backward and two before a leap year - 24 years and 6 leap years means it was 30 days earlier - that's seven weeks and two days - it's Wednesday this year, so Monday in 2000
The Captain, in his Sea Day noon announcement, explained that we would remain in this foggy soup for perhaps 36 hours. Since this is a commercial fishing area, maritime law requires that we sound our horn every two minutes so that explains what we heard all day long.

We ordered lunch in the room and watched Love Actually as our Christmas afternoon entertainment. Arlona got all dolled-up since tonight is a formal night, and headed to the pre-dinner concert by the guest pianist. 



She met friends who asked her to join them for dinner. Since I was confined to the room, I was limited to ordering room service. I did have access to the menus from all the dining venues except Solis and the Sushi Bar. I chose the Chateaubriand from The Restaurant.

 

We did have some excitement tonight. A little after 8:30, an emergency signal rang - not the big seven short blasts and one long blast that indicate the type of emergency where you have to go to muster stations. This was a series of alternating short and long blasts. The long and short was a fire sensor activated on Deck 8 near the pool patio. Subsequent announcements said that it appeared to be a false alarm and a full investigation found no issues. So, a little excitement but no worries.

We were able to call both kids and Arlona called her dad so that made upgrading to the premium wifi worthwhile.

Arlona went to tonight's entertainer, comedian Tony Daro's show.



After that, we turned in for the night. My stomach seemed to have settled down so perhaps I will get sprung from house arrest tomorrow.

To all our friends and readers, Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

20241224 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 29/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 29/96 - Sea Day Christmas Eve


Today is Christmas Eve out here off the west coast of Namibia. With the time change last night, we slept in until 9:00. Still, I had a bit of a restless night as my knee was hurting.

Today's art project was creating beaded Christmas ornaments. 


Arlona leaned heavily on our home red/black/gray and created this beauty.


Today was a low-key day for us. The outside temperature was in the low 60s with 30-knot or better winds, so going outside was not pleasant. This was coupled with reasonably rough seas. It doesn't bother us but we know of a few folks dealing with motion sickness. The Captain keeps saying the seas will calm but they seem to be doing the opposite.

We did meet our trivia team, hoping for a Christmas miracle, but alas, we had another rough day and will drop in the standings. The lumps of coal:
  • A swede or rutabaga is a cross between what two vegetables?
    • We guessed turnip and parsnip - it was turnip and cabbage
  • Who invented the Christmas cracker exploding novelty?
    • Only one team knew it was Tom Smith, whoever that is
  • Who was the first U.S. President to decorate the White House for Christmas?
    • We had no idea - it was Franklin Pierce
  • Who was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's father?
    • We guessed Blitzen - it was Donner
  • The Nintendo GameBoy was the #1-selling Christmas toy in what year?
    • We guessed 1992 - it was 1991
  • What was the ten-word greeting on the very first commercial Christmas card in 1843?
    • Nobody knew it was, A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You
We fared much better in the afternoon's Name That Tune, scoring 33/40 naming the artist and title for 20 songs. That was enough to score the win and more Seabourn swag - this time, another USB-rechargeable personal fan and power bank.

We continued our low-key evening by ordering room service and watching A Christmas Story before heading to the evening's Christmas music extravaganza. Cruise Director Nick was "home", and different friends kept dropping by, performing a nice variety of Christmas songs.








Elves stopped by our room, leaving some sweet and fluffy treats for us this Christmas Eve.


We also received a letter about the situation in Maputo, Mozambique. As expected, our stop on December 31 was canceled. Our itinerary has us in Durbin, South Africa toward the end of January. Seabourn added another day in Durbin on December 30 and we'll be at sea on December 31. Our second stop in Mozambique is still on the itinerary as that area doesn't have the same civil unrest found in Maputo.

We're looking forward to more Christmas activities tomorrow, but for now, it's time to crawl under the covers so Santa doesn't have to fly past our ship.

Monday, December 23, 2024

20241223 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 28/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 28/96 - Sea Day Windmills, Wildlife, and Questionable Cuisine


We're into Day #1 of four sea days until we reach Cape Town, South Africa. That gave us the option to sleep in a little. Getting up later meant the patio grill near the pool was open for breakfast. We enjoyed a nice breakfast outside before starting our day.

This morning, Arlona's art project was a watercolor elephant.

The inspiration

Arlona's execution

At 11:00, they had a fun distraction with a "cooking competition" among crew departments - no culinary crew allowed. They had to include a mystery ingredient  - proper British beans. It was all in good fun. 

It was a form of organized chaos - still, they produced some edible and some inedible results

The Destination Services team's steak was so rare that it was still mooing

The winning Hospitality team's effort and the chef-cooked meal they swapped in when Harry reminded the chef that Harry wrote the chef's performance review

The Entertainment team's effort was actually great and Cruise Director Nick and Chef Ainsley were impressed with the flavors

The scoring by Chef Ainsley was skewed since his boss, General Manager, Harry, was on a team and reminded Chef Aisnley of that fact. It didn't matter as it was all for fun.

Trivia was tough again today. We made some simple mistakes. One issue is that one of our regular players missed today's match to watch cricket. We also lost three other members for other reasons. That left us with five out of a possible ten players - a definite disadvantage. We held our own, but missed too many, dropping us in the cumulative standings. The goofs:
  • Mariachi music originated in which country?
    • We thought Mexico was too obvious and guessed Spain - it was Mexico
  • Often a bridesmaid and never a bride was an advertising slogan for what personal hygiene product in the 1920s?
    • We guessed hair conditioner - it was mouthwash, specifically Listerine
  • What are the only two South American countries that do not border Brazil?
    • We guessed Columbia and Chile - it was Ecuador and Chile
  • Tanzania, Tasmania, Transylvania - which is farthest from the equator
    • We guessed Tasmania - it was Transylvania
  • What is the Ishihara test used for?
    • We guessed vision - it was color blindness
  • What five countries have competed in every Summer Olympics?
    • We got Australia, the U.K., France, and Greece but guessed the USA and it was Switzerland
Arlona's afternoon art project was a giraffe - getting us ready to see the big game.



I took part in a Baggo competition out on the pool deck this afternoon. I came in second in a tough match where it was hard to get a bag to stay on the slippery boards.

I also walked past the cookies table and noticed something.

Look - I'm wearing a windmill shirt (from Kinderdijk, Netherlands) and they had windmill cookies - it was a sign

Nom, nom, nom...

They held another Liar's Club tonight before dinner. Once again, a panel provided one correct answer and three intricate lies as definitions for unusual words. The audience team's job was to determine who told the truth. We didn't fare well but had a lot of fun. The panel did their usual excellent job of spinning fabrications that sounded plausible and truths that sounded sketchy.

The fear of sticky/slimy things

Blows to the hand/knuckles as punishment for losing a game, especially card games

A person who thinks they have more influence or importance than they actually have

Tangles in your hair as the result of fairies twisting and knotting it in your sleep

The same team that won the last Liar's Club also won tonight as well, identifying all four truths. Either they are all etymologists or they were getting some outside help. :-)

We were invited to dine this evening with Ivo Rusev, the ship's Staff Captain and the Captain's #2 officer. It was another nice hosted dinner with Ivo, a couple from New Mexico, a Norwegian couple who now reside in Spain, and us.

Tonight, we time-travel once again, moving ahead an hour to get onto Cape Town time, UTC+2 or seven hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast. Tomorrow is sea day number two of four en route to Cape Town, South Africa.


Sunday, December 22, 2024

20241222 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 27/96 - Lobito, Africa

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 27/96 - Lobito, Angola - Turtles and Trees


This morning, we were sailing. The plan was to arrive in Lobito, Angola around 11:00 making for a relaxing morning.

The Christmas elves were busy again last night as all the Christmas displays were augmented with trays of cookies this morning.


Chef Ainsley added a second breakfast today on the pool deck for our sail-in featuring what he called banana fritters and apple beignets.  

They were neither fritters nor beignets but they sure were tasty

Our arrival went smoothly and we were docked by 11:00.









The Church of Our Lady of Arrábida

To get a sense of where we are, I placed a red star on the map where Lobito, Angola is located.

We are on the southwest coast of Africa, north of Namibia

Lobito is a coastal town with a population of around 487,000

Our day was spent on the peninsula where I placed a red star. 

As final preparations for going ashore were made, dancers greeted us with a high-energy dance.










Getting clearance in these African countries is an interesting process. It typically involves multiple "officials" coming onto the ship for inspection. What "inspection" usually means is enjoying some of the excellent cuisine we have onboard. After they finish their second or third breakfast, the ship is cleared.

Today, we had a new wrinkle. Keep in mind that we were in Angola yesterday. Today, still in Angola, an immigration officer needed to conduct a face-to-face inspection with all passengers who would step off the ship. What that actually meant was that as we left the ship, a Seabourn officer handed us our passports, we handed them to the immigration officer, he looked at the pictures and us, and handed our passports to another Seabourn officer who replaced the passports in the file. Seriously. I'm sure Seabourn had to foot the bill (meaning we had to) for this "service". In addition, there was a room full of "officials", dining and "inspecting" along with multiple other official observers on the pier. It's all about the Angolan government getting their piece of the tourism pie. And it isn't unique to Angola - it seems to be an African thing. Don't get me wrong, some of this happens everywhere, but not to the extent we have seen here. It's actually humorous.

We didn't book anything today. We hopped the shuttle to a beach bar/restaurant to check out the beach.

Court of Lobito

The Church of Our Lady of Arrábida

Our beach stop


Where there's water...


Arlona spotted this tiny sand crab and its hole/home - you can get a sense of how small it is by comparing it to the grains of sand

An unexpected treat was the release of a bunch of baby sea turtles into the sea. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time and got to see it all.





The Cambeú Project has released more than 68,000 olive and leatherback turtle hatchlings from Lobito's beaches.


These little guys and gals were no more than two to three inches long




It was a lot of fun to see them make their way through the sand to the sea and head off to start their aquatic lives.

By the time they all were swimming, we were hot and hungry. We took the shuttle back to the ship to grab lunch and continue our low-key day.

After dinner tonight, we checked out the crew's Christmas decoration contest. Each group had to build a tree/decoration out of recycled materials. They were creative and cool and we were quite impressed.



A clever choir


This was lovely

This was nearly life-sized and amazing


This one was amazing as the lower level was motorized, the carousel rotated and the horses actually
 went up and down

Really clever use of egg cartons



This one also had a can choir, plus it included several small cruising ducks


It was nice seeing the effort the crew put into making these. They all did an amazing job.

Tonight's show was a solo show by the band singer, Amber Duimstra. We've had three dinners with her and found her to be a very nice person. She sang everything from Joni Mitchell to Etta James to Tina Turner and tore up the stage. 


It was a fun show and the 45 minutes flew by.

Tomorrow is the first of four consecutive sea days as we sail to Cape Town South Africa.

20241226 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 31/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 31/96 - Almost to South Africa - Suite Freedom! Today is the last full day of this segment of the cruise. Many ...