What an epic adventure this has been! A truly incredible, magical, eye-opening journey that circumnavigated the continent of Africa and crossed the Atlantic Ocean and the equator twice. There were about 1500+ people along with us on this adventure and each and every one of us had a different experience. I took away a newfound appreciation of the beauty of the African continent, its people, the animals and the fauna, the different cultures and religions. I enjoyed beautiful sunrises and spectacular sunsets. One of my fondest memories will be of a young girl, carrying a load on the top of her head and waiting to cross the street while our bus was stopped in traffic. Our eyes met, I waved to her, she waved back as her face lit up with a smile and then she blew me a kiss. I will never forget her! I hope everyone on board had a similar experience that they will forever cherish.
When we got on board in Ft Lauderdale there were a total of 1577 passengers. In Cape Town 360 left and 200 more joined us. We have met some amazing people on board – fellow passengers, as well as the wonderful crew.
When we started out from Ft Lauderdale on our 73-day cruise we were scheduled to visit 21 countries and 27 ports. Unfortunately, world events altered our schedule. Our stops in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt and Aqaba, Jordan were cancelled due to the war in Israel. Added was Salalah, Oman and instead of a late day arrival in Mahe, Seychelles, we arrived early and got to spend the day sight-seeing and snorkeling. Our stop in Aqaba, Jordan would have allowed us to visit Petra and Wadi Rum, big bucket list items for me, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
It seemed that bad events followed behind us …. luckily! A ballistic missile sent from Yemen was intercepted before it reached Israel, close to the port at Aqaba. A cargo vessel was boarded and hijacked in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (between Red Sea and Gulf of Aden) by Yemen rebels and there have been a series of encounters involving missiles and drones where US warships have assisted in that area. There was a building explosion In Mahe, Seychelles after we left. And there was a minor incident in the Suez Canal with a ship blocking the canal but it was quickly dealt with. There were some protests in Tunisia which prevented us from visiting a museum downtown, but the rest of the area had no problems and the other excursions were unaffected.
I have heard, although it is unverified, that two people passed away on this cruise. There was a woman that was injured, left the ship to have surgery and rejoined at a later date. There was another woman that was unceremoniously escorted off the ship in the Ivory Coast due to the way she was treating the crew and fellow cruisers. Rumors of a couple of cases of COVID, but it doesn’t seem to be as prevalent as in previous years. The amount of people coughing is still outrageous and we tend not to go the main stage early shows as a result.
The weather has been nearly picture perfect. There have been a few rain showers, usually short lived, a very few number of cool days, and just a handful of unbearably hot days (one involving bad AC on a very long bus ride). The seas, for the most part, have also cooperated. At one point, for two days, we had 15 foot seas, but 5 to 6 foot seas seems to be the norm with a couple of days where it was hard to believe the ocean can be so calm that it looked like glass.
I have taken over 4,500 pictures! Of those, I posted 1,225 on this blog along with my color commentary of over 25,000 words. At times, especially along the eastern coast of Africa, the WIFI was lacking and it was a real effort to get everything posted … but I prevailed 😊 Had I not done this daily, I have no doubt in my mind that I would NOT have finished it after I got home.
We have seen Camels, Ostrich, Monkey, Eland, Cape Buffalo, Rhino, Zebra, Elephant, Giraffe, Warthog, Hyena, Baboon, Crocodile, Tortoise, Nyalla, Peacocks, Gembok, Gnu, Greater Kudu, Impala, Springbok, Lions, Vulture, Donkeys, Seals and Sea Lions, African Penguins, Flamingos, Cormorants and Army Ants, a Centipede, Black Lemurs, a Boa Constrictor, Dolphins and flying fish … we did NOT see a Hippo, but a few lucky people got to (Cyndi and Pat!).
They ran out of croissants, Cheerios (only for 2 days – must have raided the crew dining room!), Coors Light, IPA and cherries.
Things that surprised me on this trip. I didn’t expect as many countries to be English speaking, and quite good at it too. There were a couple of countries where French or Portuguese were the main language but they were a rarity. We were often told about the local currency and the conversion rate but our US dollars or Euros were never refused. I take that back, one place, in Ghana wouldn’t take US$ and Jeff wasn’t able to purchase Dr Pepper from the one place in ALL of Africa where we actually found it!
Although I did a lot of research before this trip took place, I was surprised at the number of African countries that are mostly Muslim, although dress code wise, it was more prominent on the northern and eastern side of the country.
Our final port of call, San Juan Puerto Rico, we have visited a couple of times before. This was the first time that we docked at the older Pan American Pier. There were 4 other cruise ships in town at the same time which increased the islando’s population by 27,000 people. Having done “Old Town” on the previous visits we took an Uber to a huge mall and spent a few hours window shopping and enjoying the Christmas decorations and music before treating ourselves to a non-ship lunch. Later that evening we ventured out with Patrick and Cyndi for a non-ship dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and congratulated ourselves after successfully using Google translate to figure out the menu! While the restaurant was loud, the food and drink were great.
While we still have one more sea day remaining before our arrival at Ft Lauderdale and our long day traveling home we will attempt to squeeze as much fun out of the last hours as possible.
SAFE TRIP home everyone and thanks for reading (or just looking at the pictures)!
