20241229 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 34/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 34/96 - Sea Day - We're Getting Younger

We are sailing extremely close to the South African coast - less than ten miles away. That is unusual on cruise ships. The Captain explained that the Agulhas current, one of the strongest ocean currents, runs farther offshore. By tucking close to land, we avoid opposing that current, making better speed and a smoother ride. We all approved of that decision.

Under ten miles off the coast of South Africa

Since the new passengers came on the ship in Cape Town, there has been a noticeable change in the passenger makeup. As a whole, we're getting younger. To be sure, there are still a large number of senior citizens (now including me) on the ship, but since Cape Town, there are a lot more folks who appear to be in their 40s or 50s. Plus, in addition to the one child we had on the ship, there are now four more. Two are one of the guest musicians' kids, and the other two are one of the guest conversationalists' kids. It is certainly more lively by the pool.

Hotel General Manager, Harry did confirm today that of the 250 guests that were sailing, roughly 100 of us are in for the full 90 days. Roughly 150 disembarked in Cape Town and we picked up 200 new folks so we'll have right around 300 guests until we reach Mahe in The Seychelles. We'll do a similar exchange in The Seychelles, and again when we reach Cape Town again, adding around 50 guests in each port. Once we depart from The Canary Islands, we will be 100% full for the final two weeks until we reach Barcelona. It will be interesting to see how the ship's dynamics change.

Speaking of change, we did a fairly large crew exchange in Cape Town, picking up many new crew members. That routinely means a brief hiccup in service level as the crew finds their footing and gets into their groove. We found that not to be the case with Seabourn. The new crew integrated in seamlessly and service continues to be excellent.

I will air one grievance we have and that is with the Seabourn Source app - the phone app that is supposed to contain all the up-to-date schedules, events, menus, and such. There's no pretty way to say it - it sucks. The tech behind it sucks. It routinely fails to detect a WiFi connection even though our phones are continuously connected. This forces me to kill and restart the app multiple times each day. The data in the app is routinely wrong as it differs from what is in the printed Seabourn Herald daily newsletter. As an I.T. guy, I find this appallingly bad and expect more from a top-tier cruise line like Seabourn. I missed an event today because it simply wasn't in the app. It was on the printed version, but they told us to rely on the app for the most current information. Well, that's wrong. OK, that's enough ranting.

Today was the kickoff for another accumulative trivia for the next seven sea days. We started strong only missing a single question and the bonus. That placed us tied for second and in a good position after the first day. The two misses:

• According to IMDB.com (the Internet Movie Database), what is the highest-rated movie of all time? (hint - it was from the 80s or 90s - nothing current or a golden oldie)
• We guessed Titanic but kicked ourselves when we heard Shawshank Redemption
• What actor (male) has won the most Best Actor Academy Awards?
• We guessed Tom Hanks - it was Danial Day-Lewis

Arlona was back at beading today. Today's projects included earrings and a bracelet.

This afternoon's Name That Tune was all Disco and it was brutal. Out of 40 possible points, 20 songs, one point for the artist, and one point for the title, we netted only 20 points but that was good enough for second place! The winners scored 25 points, 62.5%, a solid D-, but still better than everyone else. It's funny - when you hear 20 disco songs back-to-back, how much they all sound alike.

Since we're on a new leg of this cruise, activities, and menus are starting to repeat. Tonight, we had the Seabourn Signature event, Block Party. At 5:30, everyone is requested to come out of their suites and meet their neighbors. The senior officers, led by the Captain, make their way, floor to floor, greeting every single passenger.

After that, we hit the Observation Bar for a drink and then The Restaurant for another nice dinner.

Tonight's entertainer was comedy magician, Mandy Muden. 

Her show was funny, a little irreverent, and entertaining.

When we got back to the suite, a nice present was waiting for us.

This soft duffle bag will come in handy

Tomorrow, we're making the replacement stop in Durban, South Africa, replacing our stop in Maputo, Mozambique. We have an excursion planned, and we hope to include a neat little surprise. Tune in tomorrow.