20241204 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 9/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 9/96 - Sea Day

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Ah, sea days - those days on a cruise where there is no destination, only cruising. We will have plenty on this journey - 46 to be exact. We will miss a couple more while we're off on our safari trip off the ship in late January. Seabourn schedules activities throughout the day on sea days and we're working on finding our daily sea day routine.

Arlona has been attending the various artistic offerings in the morning and afternoon while I've been participating in games and competitions in the morning. We are on a trivia team for noon trivia as well. Beyond that, we attend talks that are of interest, and sometimes, we just wind up talking with other guests.

Today's art project was making beaded jewelry. Arlona made a bracelet in the morning and earrings in the afternoon.

I participated in a Name That Tune team trivia. Unfortunately, it was all about show tunes - we had to name the song and the musical it came from. Out of 40 possible points, we scored 20 - a solid "fail". The winning team, obviously theater enthusiasts, scored 32/40.

We fared better at trivia. Today was the start of a nine-day progressive trivia. We finished today in second place, a good start to the tournament. Our interesting misses:

• What was the Heinz company's first commercial product in 1869?
• They let us know it wasn't ketchup - we guessed baked beans, but it was bottled horseradish
• What was Michael Jackson's first #1 solo hit?
• We guessed She's Out of my Life - it was Ben
• What female has won more Academy Awards than any other, regardless of category?
• We guessed Merly Streep who has three - it was Edith Head, a costume designer and the inspiration for Edna from The Incredibles
• What were the Titanic's two sister ships?
• We got Olympic but failed to come up with Britannic - all three were Olympic-class ships

We did this with a team of only six out of a potential of ten - two of our teammates missed the time change last night and didn't show up.

We dined at The Patio for lunch, the grill near the pool on Deck #8. We both had a taste for a simple burger and fries and that fit the bill.

Let's talk about the ship a bit. We like the Sojourn. It is nicely sized and easy to get anywhere from anywhere else. There are some oddities. For example, this narrow walkway on Deck #5 between our suite and The Club at the back of the ship is odd.

It's only wide enough for one direction at a time, and the floor curves up and then down as you walk through - we don't get its purpose

Another oddity is the power in the room. There are European 220V plugs on one side of the bed plus one USB-A and USB-C port on both sides. There are dual 220V/US110V plugs in the make-up bench area between the closet and bathroom and on the floor next to the TV. Neither is in a convenient place for general use. There is one limited-use 110V plug in the bathroom for shavers and such. The lesson is that you must carry a plug converter if you plan to plug in anything next to the bed. The USB ports do help with that.

As of today, December 4, there are no Christmas decorations on the ship beyond a couple of poinsettias here and there. We're hoping that the Christmas spirit shows up soon. We took matters into our own hands and watched the movie, Elf, in our suite this afternoon. We had The Grinch (with Jim Carrey) on last night as we went to bed.

One of the perks of this Grand Voyage is laundry. It was time for us to avail ourselves of this benefit. Arlona sorted the pile into three laundry bags and we sent it away.

Seabourn held an interesting event today - a block party. Cruise Director, Nick, came on the P.A. and announced that it was time to start the event. Everyone was directed to exit their suites and meet their neighbors. Crew were in the hallway with mimosas and champagne cosmos plus a tray of hors d'oeuvres. The senior staff walked through every floor, greeting guests and mingling. It was a fun idea and a great way to encourage guest interaction.

Aftward, we headed to The Club on Deck #5 for a pre-dinner cocktail.

Barman, Kent whipped up perfect vanilla vodka - limoncello - pineapple martinis

We had a reservation at 6:30 in The Colonnade for tonight's special event - family-style fried chicken.

We enjoyed fresh salad, green bean casserole, polenta, and delicious fried chicken

It was a fun dinner and a nice change from "gourmet" dining.

From there, we went to Deck #10 forward to the Observation Bar for a post-dinner cocktail. We struck up conversations with several guests and had a nice time chatting.

Around 9:15, we headed to Deck #6 aft to the Grand Salon for a piano performance from Dominic Ferris. He put on an energetic and entertaining show, playing music across multiple genres.

Tomorrow is the second of four consecutive sea days en route to Cabo Verde.