20241220 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 25/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 25/96 - More Sea Day Activities

In yesterday's port talk, we learned about possible upcoming itinerary changes. We are scheduled to be in Maputo, Mozambique, on New Year's Eve. According to the U.S. Embassy there, "Protests, roadblocks, looting, and civil unrest related to national election results are expected to continue throughout the holiday season, beginning December 17." There have been multiple killings, all related to the unrest surrounding their election. Nothing is definite yet, but we expect Maputo to be removed from the itinerary. We're hoping that our second stop in Mozambique, Ilha de Mocambique, will remain on January 3rd.

The second change will likely be missing Mamoudzou, Mayotte on January 18th. Cyclone Chido, a category 4 cyclone, devastated Mayotte in the past week, An already poor country, Mayotte is struggling with widespread power outages and a lack of water.

Of course, everything has to be kept in perspective. Missing a few ports on an amazing trip is an inconvenience. The people living through the mass violent protests or island devastation have so much more to deal with. I can't imagine what they are dealing with.

On to today's sea day activities. Baggo this morning was a bust. I had no juju and failed miserably. Arlona fared much better with today's art projects, a pearl-beaded necklace, and bracelet.

We had a good day at trivia, moving into second place overall for the progressive tournament. The mistakes today:

• Most cats are lactose intolerant - true or false?
• We thought it was a red herring and said false - it turns out it is true
• Ibiza is part of what group of islands?
• We didn't know - it was the Balearic archipelago
• Alexander Hamilton was born on what Caribbean island?
• Nevis in St. Kitts and Nevis - we guessed Bermuda even though it isn't technically in the Caribbean, but it does have a town named Hamilton, so it seemed logical
• According to legend, where was King Arthur born?
• We guessed Camelot - it was Tintagel Castle in Cornwall

We have four more days to go so it's anyone's game.

Arlona continues to find cruising ducks. She found five yesterday and two more today. I even discovered one today. We keep hiding them again for others to find and enjoy.

This afternoon, they did something a little different - a 100-yard golf challenge. Cruise director, Nick, an avid golfer himself, brought his personal launch monitor up to the hitting net on Deck #11.

The monitor tracks specially marked balls, measuring the launch velocity and angle to estimate both the carry distance and roll-out distance. The challenge that Nick presented was to hit five balls, trying to get as close to 100 yards on the carry. Roll-out distance didn't matter. He recorded just your closest shot.

About 20 guests participated. I was in the middle of the group and took an early lead with a shot of 101.1 yards. 

Guest after guest hit, but coming in shorter or longer. Then, one guest hit shots in the 40s, 60s, and 70s, and on his final shot, hit 99.9 yards, taking over the lead. The final golfer, on his final shot, hit 101.0, dropping me to third. Still, I wound up on the podium and walked away with this spiffy Seabourn international power adapter.

Even though I didn't win, I was the most consistent with all my shots landing between 94.5 and 103 yards. It was a fun activity and Nick said that we'll do it again.

After being on the ship for three weeks, I think we have a pretty good feel for the food. We can say that in our opinion, Seabourn's food is outstanding. It certainly ranks right up there with Oceania and they bill themselves as the best cuisine at sea. It is a step above Viking's food, and their food is excellent.

Here's a look at tomorrow's dinner menus.

Solis - the reservation-only specialty restaurant

The Restaraunt - the main dining venue

The Restaraunt also offers a "classic" menu of items items available every day.

Earth & Ocean - a new casual dining concept on the pool deck

The Colonnade - the breakfast/lunch buffet restaurant that changes to plated dining at night

The Colonnade also offers a set of items available every day.

So far, we haven't had a bad meal and we expect that trend will continue for the remainder of the cruise. Tomorrow night, we will dine in The Restaurant at a table hosted by our Cruise Director, Nick.

Speaking of Nick, tonight's show was a solo show by none other than Nick Martland, himself. It ranged from Billy Joel to Elton John to Stevie Wonder to Carly Simon to Michael Bublé to Phantom of the Opera to Spandau Ballet to Jersey Boys. It was high-energy and fun to see.

We dock in Luanda, Angola tomorrow morning. We have a tour booked through Viator to tour Luanda and the surrounding area. We set foot in country #92 and our seventh country in Africa tomorrow.