After breakfast this morning, we had to fill out and sign arrival and departure forms for Tanzania. They needed to be turned in between 9 and 10am in each elevator lobby. This sure saves a lot of time for the guests, and lot of headaches for the front desk folks. Today a lady in the front of the line on deck six was concerned that there was an error on these official papers, and insisted that our front desk fellow check it out. The line of folks waiting got longer and longer, because they must have put our fellow on hold for a while. Impatient people asked this lady what her concern was, and she insisted that these are binding legal forms we are signing, and she was not about to put her name on something incorrect. The couple behind us in line offered to sign her papers for her, which was not taken as a joke. Finally she was told not to worry, the info printed was fine. She signed it and was gone in a flash, leaving a dozen grumbling guests in line. Never a dull moment here.
We went out for our morning walk at the same time Captain Friso had a Q&A session on the World Stage. He did this often last year and has continued this year. He does have some interesting stories to share and people are not shy about asking many questions. In general, and personal questions – he handles them well. Due to the warm and humid weather this morning, the room was full of guests staying cool.
There was another Sunday Brunch Sampler in the lower dining room from 11am to 1pm. Reservations were required and dietary requests had to be made the day before. There was a menu for this brunch posted on TV, so we looked it over. The meal consisted of starters, mains both cold and hot, and dessert. There was nothing that would have appealed to us as they were tiny servings of so much food, it was off-putting . We have gone to a few of these back in 2020, but found that there were many items one of us could not eat due to allergies. There were no substitutes.
It was plenty warm at the Seaview Pool, and today the bartender brought over two glasses of ice water each. There was one sunbather on a lounge, leaving the rest totally empty. This has to be the first world cruise we have been on where so few folks are back here. At most, there were three swimmers in the pool and two couples using the Jacuzzis. Perhaps it is so empty because there is a much smaller amount of passengers this time. We did spot some "newbies" that joined the cruise on day two in the Seychelles. We're not totally sure, but we think there are no more segments. And we did not have another block party yesterday as was printed in the new itinerary's activities.
We caught up with Kimberly's talk on our next port of Zanzibar, Tanzania. She was full of info about what we expect to see there, but did add some precautions at the very end of her speech. Tanzania is a very Islamic society, and we are asked to respect their dress codes. Pretty difficult when this island is surrounded by dozens of beaches with resorts and hotels that are the big attraction for worldwide tourists. Once again, the fasting of Ramadan is still in effect until April 9th. So we have been asked not to eat or drink in front of the locals. And it sounded dangerous since Kimberly added to leave our valuables on the ship and don't carry large bags. Since the stop here and the Maldives was never scheduled, our timing for the visit was not convenient for all of us. Everything changed when the Suez Canal was cancelled. On a different subject, we discovered a $250 per person credit made to our shipboard account with refunds on port and tax charges. That amount was added to the "cash" side of our account. There was no further explanation of where these refunds came from, but this is something we need to ask. Inquiring minds want to know…..
We also had an invite to a bridge tour with the navigation team, with the choice of going on one of several port days. They scheduled the time at 2pm, but we will surely be off somewhere else in these ports. It's nice idea for those who seldom leave the ship. On the Tales of the South Pacific, we had two tours of the bridge - one privately with the Captain and one with the President's Club group. Can't get any better than that.
Then on April 10th, we have an invitation with our travel group for cocktails in the Gallery Bar at 6:30pm. They are always a nice gathering, and we will probably attend. Two of our hosts had to leave in Hong Kong, and they are truly missed by all. Now a younger couple has taken the reigns to host the group.
Lunch was Dive-In grub, which was fine. One hot dog on a brioche bun and a back-flip chicken sandwich was just enough. We shared a fresh apple for dessert. And we are proud to say, we have not eaten one cookie so far this entire trip. You cannot eat just one. So we choose to eat none.
We witnessed another tropical sunset but occurring a bit later due to last night's time change. The clouds won out over the sun setting on the horizon, but the colors were just as nice as they reflected on the overhead clouds. The cloud formations are different every night. By the way, the weather has remained very warm and humid as we head basically west towards Africa. We are still quite close to the Equator, so need to be careful not to sunburn.
At dinner, we were welcomed back by our waiter Yanwar. He did miss us last night (or so he says) and we told him if we don't show up, we will be in the Pinnacle Grill. We still have six more dinners each to use up our complimentary dinners. In addition, we can swap some of those freebies for the pop-up of Tamarind. Although the menu for Tamarind does not have the favorite items we had come to like, there is enough to put together a good meal. We shall not go hungry that's for sure.
Tonight's entertainer was a fellow by the name of Chris Bannister performing the music of John Denver. We happened to be passing by the show lounge doors when he was having a practice session. We slipped into the back of the seating area, and listened. We liked what we heard. That's our kind of music – country western. And he sang very nicely with songs we remember well. We are sure the audience will agree later on.
Looking forward to tomorrow's port, since it is a new one for us and many others.
Bill & Mary Ann
