20250130 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 66/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 66/96 - Sea Day Recovery

This morning was our second attempt at sleeping in. There were no unexpected phone calls so it went as planned. We did get up with enough time to grab breakfast before the first Baggo session of this new leg of the cruise. I was in the lead at the end of two rounds and went into a one-round playoff with Les, the guest in second place. With scores reset to zero, Les went first, putting three bags on the far board for 90 points. Then, I missed on his first bag, but then put two on and one in the hole on the far board for 100 points and the win. It was a good start to this new leg, sailing from Cape Town to The Canary Islands.

The guest count is up another 50 or so, bringing the total to somewhere around 400 and we feel it. The seating in the pool grill area yesterday afternoon was packed and The Restaurant was noticeably more crowded last night.

Arlona was back at the painting game today.

We lost some members and gained some new ones on our trivia team as passengers come and go on these different legs of this journey. We had a standalone game today, coming in fourth. Our misses:

• In her scandalous 2004 wardrobe malfunction, which (from her perspective) of Janet Jackson's breasts was exposed?
• A member of the team was sure it was her left, but it was her right
• What color is the "e" in the Google logo?
• We guessed yellow, it was red
• How many Bond movies did Pierce Brosnan star in as 007? And, bonus for each you could name.
• We guessed 3 - it was four, We got Die Another Day and missed Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World Is Not Enough
• In Chekov's Three Sisters, what were their names?
• We had no idea - they were Olga, Masha, and Irina
• What is the length of the small intestine (3m, 5m, 7m, 10m)?
• We guessed 5m, it was 7m
• For the bonus, we had to name the seven countries that the Andes Mountains run through
• We got Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia and missed Venezuela

After lunch, Arlona continued her painting.

The inspiration

Arlona interpretation

Garry competed in putting again today. It was a rough day, missing out on the finals by two strokes. They introduced putting with your non-dominant hand which proved to be an interesting twist.

We had a port talk about our upcoming Namibia ports, Luderitz and Walvis Bay. We are not impressed with the quality or delivery of the port talks. Before the port talk, I was asked to come to Destination Services to provide in-person feedback on our overland safari excursion. I provided a lengthy written review of the experience yesterday, both the good and the improvable. They wanted more information about it and seemed genuinely interested in learning from our experience to help improve the experience in the future.

Tonight was a formal night. We dressed appropriately and went to the Observation Bar. 

The place was packed. Tonight is a special night. At the beginning of each of the five legs of this trip, the Captain and senior officers welcome the guests in the Observation Bar and then in The Club. It is always well-attended and tonight was no exception. We did an informal count and there were around 100 guests, or 25% of the entire complement of guests, in the Observation Bar. We have a new Captain as our former Captain, Hamish, Seabourn's longest-serving Captain, retired the day we returned from our safari adventure. The new captain has a thick Greek accent and is much harder to understand. But, like Hamish, he seems like a nice guy who wants to create a great experience for the guests in his care.

We mentioned that after Seychelles when we passed the 350 mark for guests, the ship was feeling much more crowded. Now that we're at roughly the 400 mark, it is much worse. We had a hard time finding a seat yesterday at the pool grille. Tonight, by the time we were done, The Restaurant was swarming with guests. They don't seem to have enough crew. Our favorite, and outstanding waiter, Kristof, had such a huge section to serve that he was stretched thin and getting run ragged. Because he is a professional, he was doing his best, but the math simply didn't work and he had too many tables and not enough help to adequately deal with it. That's not his fault, that's Seabourn's. We're really dreading the 50 additional folks who will board in The Canary Islands. 

As we ate, the sun was setting and we had a window seat to the action.

We enjoyed dinner, but the pacing was extremely slow and we're feeling the increase in guests without an appropriate increase in crew. Or we're not noticing the impact of additional crew if they're here. We've been on much larger ships with ten times the number of passengers that don't feel as crowded as this ship does right now. This doesn't bode well for us considering Seabourn for future cruises. At dinner, we talked and Arlona asked me, "Assuming similar costs, and the same itinerary, if Viking and Seabourn offered the same trip, which one would you choose?" We both said we'd opt for Viking. The ship holds twice the number of guests but doesn't feel as crowded. We'll see if that changes as the cruise continues.

When we returned to our suite, this was waiting for us.

It is a nice pair of double-wall insulated bottles. They're nice but somewhat impractical as there is no drinking lid and they are too wide to fit in cupholders. Still, it is a nice gesture and we'll find a use for them.

On this leg, Seabourn made the questionable decision to move the evening entertainment from 9:15 to 9:30. Why? Who knows. That means that shows won't finish until 10:15. Seabourn seems like a cruise line designed for night owls. This cruise was a big change for Seabourn as dinner starts at 6:00 versus the traditional 7:00.  If they shift back to 7:00, this will be another reason we may not consider Seabourn for future cruises.

Seabourn has a lot to love, but some of the little things are starting to be deal-breakers. We have just under a month to form our final opinion, and of course, I'll write a wrap-up with our final feelings about the whole experience.

For now, we're getting ready for another early bedtime that I hope will catch us up from the sleep deprivation we had on the overland excursion. Tomorrow, we'll dock in Luderitz, Namibia and we're doing a walking tour to see the city.