Month: Mar 2023

S2305 – South China Sees

~ Graham Alderson ~ 7 Comments

Introduction

In my last post, S2305 – Day or Night?, I described the lovely two days we spent in one of our favourite ports, Singapore. In this post I will cover our visits to see two ports in the South China Sea, Nha Trang in Vietnam, and Hong Kong, the special administrative region of China. For Carol and I this cruise has now got a whole lot more exciting, as both these ports, and indeed countries, are completely new to us. I nearly called this post New Territories, but thought that might be confusing as we were not visiting that part of Hong Kong.

Day 29 – At sea

Our stop in Singapore was the furtherest south that we will go on this entire cruise, still in the Northern Hemisphere, albeit by only about one degree. Leaving Singapore, we had a quiet day at sea sailing generally north again, towards our next port of call, Nha Trang.

Day 30 – Nha Trang, Vietnam

Carol and I were up early in the morning, so that we could have breakfast before watching our final approach into Nha Trang – we are always keen to watch our arrival in any new port and/or country. Nha Trang was the first of just two anchor ports on this cruise, the other will be in Hawaii.

Neither of us really knew what to expect – we had not looked at photos of the port before we arrived to keep the surprise – and that is what we both got when we looked forward from the ship to see lots and lots of high-rise buildings in the haze. In front of the city were a line of red and white pylons in a line across the bay – researching later on the internet I found out that they were part of the Vinpearl Cable Car system, the world’s longest cable car over the sea, which is currently undergoing extensive maintenance.

As it was a new port in a new distant country, we had booked ourselves on a ship’s tour – a four and a quarter hour tour called Heritage & History. Once our tender had brought us to the shore, we transferred to our coach for the tour around the city. Driving along the waterfront, we soon reached our first stop, at Po Nagar, a historical complex dating back to the 8th century, and a sacred place of pilgrimage to Buddhists.

Our coach then took us across the city to the Dam Market. Here we walked right around the circular building, between stalls crammed high with local crafts and clothing.

Another coach drive took us to our third stop, the Long Son pagoda. Here a huge white Buddha sits on a lotus throne at the top of the hill, overlooking the city and several pagodas. There were 152 steps to climb up to the Buddha – and back down of course. While Carol wisely elected to wait in the shade, I decided to brave the heat and high humidity to try to reach the top.

When I staggered back down to Carol she had the wonderful offer of an ice cream – she had overheard another couple buying them for US$1 each. When we went to buy some the lady wanted US$3 for the two, until our local guide intervened and suddenly the price was back to US$2 for the pair.

After another drive through the city our final stop was at the Roman Catholic City Church.

We then drove back to the quayside, and joined quite a long queue waiting for a tender back to our ship. Guess what, the last people to get on the first tender were the couple in front of us in the queue! Fortunately a second tender was soon ready, and it wasn’t too long before we were back resting in the cool of the ship.

We both thought it was a very good tour, and would recommend it.

Later I took some snaps from our balcony of the Vinpearl resort which is at the far end of the cable car system.

Day 31 – At sea

As we sailed further north, away from the tropics and towards our next port of call, Hong Kong, it was noticeable how much cooler and fresher the weather became.

In the morning everyone had to attend the Neptune Lounge in order to do a lateral flow test for Covid, as a condition for entry into Hong Kong the next day. We had to photograph the test cassette on our mobile phones, and take both the cassette and the phones ashore with us the next day. Alas a few people tested positive and had to go into isolation, we are just keeping everything crossed that this does not affect our ability to visit Japan in the coming days.

Our third theme night – a Masquerade formal night, was originally scheduled for the day we were in Nha Trang, something we could not understand with so many sea days on this cruise. In the event it was moved to the next day, and Carol and I dressed appropriately for dinner. We did notice that while there was only a comparatively few of us dressed in masks for first sitting, as we watched the second sitting people go past a lot more of them were in costume.

They also held a Masquerade Ball Party, but this did not start until 10:30. While I am sure this would seem to be only half-way through the evening for the young things who draw up the entertainment schedule, for a lot of us more mature passengers this is too late, especially when the following day was a full-on day in Hong Kong with long tours having early starts. I don’t want people to think I am always having a moan or a complaint, but to me this is yet another example of where if they just thought of things more from the passenger’s point of view, a better decision could have been made which would have been to hold it when we have consecutive sea days and no one has to be up early or busy the next day.

Day 32 – Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China

Once again we were up very early so that we could have our breakfast ahead of sailing into port. As we sailed in on a maiden visit to the port, we were accompanied by a tugboat providing a water fountain. This time Carol and I knew more of what to expect to see, but even so we were a little taken back by just how many tall, and not very attractive tower blocks dominated the view.

Our ship docked at the new Kai Tak cruise terminal, which is some 14 kilometres from the centre of Hong Kong. For once a free shuttle bus was provided all day.

We were booked on a seven and a half hour ship’s tour called Full Day Island Tour. Our coach took us across to Hong Kong Island by road tunnel, which is where the entire tour was based.

The coach dropped us at station on the Peak Tram fenicular railway, where we boarded a train which took us to the viewing platform near the summit of Victoria Peak, which at 1800 feet above sea level should offer great views of the city and harbour below. The line is very steep, just boarding the train wasn’t easy, and we were soon pressed back in our seats as we climbed towards the summit.

At the top our guide led us around to the viewing area, and as he explained some of sights that we could see, he said that Hong Kong harbour was reckoned to be the third most lovely in the world – but with view impeded all the rain and mist around it was very hard to believe that it was better than several others that we have seen.

After some free time our guide led us to our coach, which the driver had brought up to the summit. From there we drove back downhill to our lunch venue, which our guide told us would be serving a traditional Chinese dim sum lunch.

The restaurant, on the 7th floor of a mixed commercial building, was absolutely vast, and was filled with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. To be honest I am not good in crowds and noise, and I really struggled with all the noise and commotion around me. The food seemed very much a marmite thing – some people on our table loved it, and eagerly tucked in, but both Carol and I decided we much prefered Marks & Spencer’s chinese food to traditional chinese food!

At the bottom of the building, and in neighbouring ones there were a number of high-class car showrooms. I definitely had my eye on the very nice yellow number in the McLaren showroom, but in the end decided that the logistics of getting it back home to the UK were just to great!!

As the coach took us towards our next stop, the harbour area of Aberdeen, we passed the Happy Valley racecourse, although it was very difficult to see or photograph anything with the rain. At Aberdeen we transferred to traditional sampan flat-bottomed boats for a tour around the harbour. The tour description in the tour book described seeing the “home to thousands of ‘water-people’ who live aboard junks and sampans”, but our guide had told us that the government had lured them into living ashore in council-provided tiny flats, so pretty much all we saw were lots of fishing boats, many actually from mainland China. I asked the local guide about the holes in some of the tower blocks, and he told me two explanations – they were either to let the dragons fly through the buildings, or to let the typhoon winds blow through – you take your pick!

The tour description also described visiting a local jewellery factory, but we did not do this. Instead we drove directly to Stanley Market, described in the tour description as “one of the world’s greatest bazaars”. Talking to some people who did this tour years ago maybe it was then, but it certainly isn’t now. We walked slowly around it in 10 minutes flat, and then had another 50 minutes to kill, which we spent slowly ambling around the waterfront and sitting on a (wet) bench, fortunately by then the rain had eased off.

It took nearly an hour to drive back to our ship, during which time I managed to grab some snaps through the coach window.

It was a long and tiring day, and we were glad to get back on the ship. We both think that the tour was disappointing – not helped by the weather which is no-ones fault – and the tour description definitely needs updating. At £99 each we would definitely hesitate to recommend it.

Carol and I had so been looking forward to visiting Hong Kong, and were left feeling rather disappointed by a city that just seemed ram full of unattractive tower blocks.

However once night fell, and we could see all the lights of the city from our balcony, then that boosted our impressions.

We set sail just after 10pm, heading for what we hope will be the highpoint of the cruise, our four ports of call in Japan.

Postscript

As I write this we are on the last of three sea days sailing towards Japan. Yesterday we had a letter in our cabins from Peter Deer, the Managing Director, informing us that due to Japanese COVID regulations, we need to start wearing facemasks in public areas and when moving around the ship, and asking us to keep social distance as much as possible. We know that there are quite a number of Covid cases on board, not least because we can see the extra waiters in PPE which have been draughted in to help with all the passengers in the quarantine cabins towards the rear of deck 6. Apparently when we get to Japan the authorities will come aboard and decide whether or not we will be allowed to go ashore.

We are rather concerned, all we can do is keep all our extremities crossed and hope for the best. My next post may or may not be about our visits to the first two Japanese ports.

S2305 – Day or Night?

~ Graham Alderson ~ 2 Comments

Introduction

In my last post, S2305 – India n Ocean, I described our visits to three ports in India, Mumbai, Mormugão and Kochi. In this post I will cover our two day visit to the city state of Singapore.

Days 23 to 26 – At sea

We had four quiet days at sea sailing from India to Kochi.

As we sailed south past Sri Lanka on the first day, the Captain announced that we would be making a small diversion so that we could come to a stop off Colombo, so that a medical evacuation of a crew member could be made by a launch from the port.

On the evening of the second day we had our second theme night, this time is was Indian night. Just as with the Egyptian night, there was a big BBQ and party around the pool up on deck 8, but once again we were content to just wear our costumes to dinner as usual in the restaurant. After dinner Carol and I went up to see what was happening, but the very loud music and crowds very rapidly sent us scurrying back to the peace and quiet of the decks below!

Day 27 – Singapore (day 1)

Carol and I have visited Singapore several times before on cruises (see here), and as a child Carol lived there for a few years, and it is a place we both love to return to – we love the mixture of East meets West, old meets new, and how green and clean everywhere is.

As we sailed in there were very heavy rain showers, something we normally expect in late afternoon in Singapore, which made the visibility rather poor.

We had booked a ship’s tour for our first evening in Singapore, called Singapore by Night. In the tours brochure it was accompanied by this photograph of all the lights in the amazing buildings in Singapore shining brightly against a lovely dark sky. The tour concludes on the Observation deck on the 56th floor of the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel, offering wonderful views of the city below. We had done a similar tour before in the daytime, but we were really looking forward to having the chance to see the city all lit up in the dark.

A week before we arrived in Singapore, we were given a dilemma when we were invited to an Oceans loyalty club recognition event for Diamond Elite members during the afternoon of our first day in Singapore, which was for afternoon tea at the iconic Raffles Hotel – the problem being that if we went to the afternoon tea we would not be back in time for the Singapore by Night tour. After a lot of thought we decided that the chance to see one of our favourite cities in the dark won over, so we declined the afternoon tea.

However a couple of days before we arrived, we received our tour tickets, only to be shocked and horrified to find the tour was leaving at 3:30 in the afternoon. Given that sunset was not until 7:15, and it was not due to get fully dark until 8:24, there was no way that the four hour tour was going to be in the night as advertised. When we queried this with the Tours department, they just shrugged their shoulders – apparently there were other coaches leaving later but they were full. So it was time for a quick change of plan, we sadly cancelled our tour and managed to get the last two places on the afternoon tea instead.

In the morning we just went ashore to the two shopping malls that are adjacent to the cruise terminal – after we had queued for an hour to get through immigration.

On our coach trip through the city to Raffles Hotel we saw some familiar and not so familiar landmarks.

Arriving at the hotel we saw the famous concierge on the steps having his photograph taken with guests. Our guide led us through the grounds of the hotel before taking us to the Tiffin Room for our afternoon tea.

The afternoon tea was very enjoyable, but in my own personal opinion I think the one on the ship in the Observatory on sea days is even better!

One curiosity we spotted was a robot clearly designed to direct guests around the hotel complex, which has grown enormously since Carol used to go there when she was a child.

Carol had hoped to go to the famous Long Bar for one of their iconic Singapore Slings, but alas the queue was too long.

Our coach trip back to our ship took us past the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the Merlion fountain.

Back on the ship, I took a couple of snaps from our balcony at 7:25pm, you can how dark or otherwise the sky would have been then at the end of our “Night” tour.

Day 28 – Singapore (day 2)

For our second day in port, Carol and I had decided to make our way independently to the Gardens By The Bay, which lie between the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the sea. While the gardens themselves are free to enter, we had booked tickets in advance online (discounted) for a couple of the attractions there – one of the two huge greenhouse domes (the Flower one), and the Supertree Observatory. The latter is at the top of the tallest of the man-made Supertree structures that dominate the gardens.

We travelled to the gardens on the MRT metro system – we have used this before on previous visits to Singapore and it is a great way to get around independently. We did get caught out by one change though – you used to buy tickets from a ticket machine, now you either have to buy a special card (a bit like a London Oyster card), or you can use a credit or debit card – either way you do a contactless swipe as you enter and leave a platform. Alas we only had one of our travel Starling credit cards with us, and as each person has to use a different card, we had to buy one of the special cards.

Arriving in the gardens we walked first to the Supertree Observatory, where we took the lift up to the viewing platform. The 360 degree views from there were amazing, and we spent some time admiring them before coming inside to the cool of a cafe for cold refreshing drinks.

We were about to take the lift back down when we spotted some stairs going up, which led to an even higher viewing area at the very top of the Supertree. Here the views were even better as the metal ‘branches’ of the Supertree were not in the way – we were so thankful that we spotted it.

Descending to ground level we slowly meandered our way through the gardens to the Flower Dome.

Inside this dome, which unlike the Observatory we had visited before, we wandered around admiring the flowers and plants, and also enjoying the cooler temperatures – unlike back home where greenhouse strutures are used to increase the temperatures for the plants, in Singapore they are used to lower the temperatures. We also got to see the cherry blossom, which was attracting a lot of attention. We have heard that the cherry blossom season is early in Japan this year, so we are keeping everything crossed that it is still out by the time we get there.

We then walked slowly back through the gardens to the MRT station and returned to the cool of the ship for a long rest – we had walked around 4 miles in very hot and humid conditions.

Late that afternoon the ship set sail for our next port of call, Nha Trang in Vietnam, which we will reach after a day at sea.

Postscript 1

Talking to some fellow passengers who actually went on that early ‘Singapore by Night’ tour, it turns out that due to the number of complaints they actually extended the tour a bit, so that for the last part of the tour on the Observation Deck of the hotel the skies were actually fairly dark. So we are left wondering whether we made the right call after all – especially as we doubt we will return to this lovely city.

Postscript 2

Talking to other fellow passengers who were on the later coaches doing the ‘Singapore by Night’ tour, it transpires that when they arrived at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, the Observation Deck was closed for the night, so they did not get to see the view at night. It looks more and more like the Tours Department were not on the ball with the timing of their tours. Oh, and what was the right decision?

S2305 – India n Ocean

~ Graham Alderson ~ 2 Comments

Introduction

In my last post, S2305 – Port Said on the Starboard Side, the second of my posts covering our epic Around the World in 80 Days cruise, I described our visits to the two Egyptian ports, Port Said and Safaga, and also our passage through the Suez Canal. In this post I will cover our long voyage across to India, and our visits to the three ports of call there.

Days 14-19 – At sea

After leaving Safaga in Egypt, we had six consecutive days at sea, sailing down the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and then across the Arabian Sea towards our next port of call, Mumbai in India.

Each day the weather got hotter and hotter, a foretaste of what was to come in India.

In the past, when we have sailed the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia, the ship has taken lots of precautions against attack by pirates – razor wire and water cannons on the outside decks, armed guards, blackouts at night etc etc – see W1702 – Pirate precautions. This time there was nothing, how much that is due to a reduced threat in the area, and how much is due to the increased size of Borealis compared to the lovely Black Watch or Boudicca I am not sure, but it did seem rather strange.

On the third day at sea some of the officers and crew did a two hour sponsored walk around the decks in aid of one of Fred. Olsen’s chosen charities, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

Day 20 – Mumbai, India

The weather forecast for our day in Mumbai was a nice balmy (or should that be barmy) 35 degrees, and as we sailed into the harbour we could see from all the haze and mist that it was going to be a very humid and sticky day too.

As this was the first port of call in India, everyone had to have a face-to-face interview with the immigration authorities in the terminal building before going ashore – armed of course with our precious Indian tourist visas that had proved so difficult to obtain.

Carol and I have visited Mumbai a couple of times before. One time we walked from the port to the Gateway of India – it took us quite a while due to the heat and humidity, but it was a fantastic experience being so immersed in the chaos and assault on the senses that is India. We then met an Indian friend for lunch in the stunning and luxurious Taj Mahal Hotel opposite – see W1801 – Family reunion. In the past we had also done a ship’s tour to see the city after dark, a great trip.

This time we decided not to book any ship’s tours, and we thought we would probably be content to stay in the cool of the ship. However it turned out that our friend Chandra, Maitre D’ on Bolette and Boudicca, was still in Mumbai on leave, and we arranged to meet with him at the port gates. It was lovely to see him again, if only for a few minutes. He kindly arranged a taxi for us to take a short tour around his city.

Driving around in India, whether it is by taxi or tuk-tuk, is always an experience. With one hand on the horn, drivers see a gap and just go for it, whether it is on the right side of the road or not, and whether the lights are red or green – and somehow they manage to miss each other, albeit with some frantic braking at times! This time was no different, and Carol needed to cover her eyes at times as we made our way around, seeing some familiar and some new places on the way.

We passed a lovely decorated wall.

We made a couple of stops – a brief one to see Gandhi’s house, and a longer one to see the viewpoint at the Hanging Gardens.

Our taxi then drove us back to the port gate.

Returning to the ship at lunchtime we were more than happy to relax in the cool and calm of the ship for the remainder of the day.

I did pop up on deck to watch our sailaway as the sun was setting over the city.

Day 21 – Mormugão, India

Carol and I have visited Mormugão once before, when we stayed for two days. On the first day we did two ship’s tours, one by day and one in the evening, and on the second day we met up with an Indian friend and his family (see D19GV – Early Departures).

Our plans for Mormugão this time steadily decreased. Initially we looked at doing a different ship’s tour, but that involved an Indian lunch, which neither of us can eat. So instead we just planned to wander ashore and explore the local area, which is not much more than a village.

Watching from our balcony as we sailed in, we could both see and feel just how high the humidity was.

We went back out on the rear deck after breakfast while our cabin was cleaned, and it only took a few minutes in the heat and terrific humidity before we had both decided against going ashore – we knew we would have had enough before we even reached the end of the harbour pier! So we just spent the rest of the day relaxing in the cool of ship,
just venturing out on the balcony briefly for our sailaway. By then it was noticable how much the visibility had improved since our arrival.

Day 22 – Kochi, India

We arrived at our third Indian port, Kochi, late the following morning. I went to the Observation Area at the front of deck 6 to watch us sail in, as I remembered sailing past the iconic Chinese Fishing Nets on both sides of the ship on our previous visits to the port.

As we docked we sailed past the very old warehouses that I remembered from before, and moored close to a smart new terminal building, which was set back a long way from the quayside.

Carol and I have visited Kochi a couple of times before. On our first visit we met up with my Indian friend and his family, and they gave us a wonderful day exploring the historic area of the port (see W1801 – Family reunion). On our second visit we did the ship’s tour which went for the iconic cruise on one of the houseboats along the backwaters of Kerala with our good friend Didi (see D19GV – Houseboat Heaven).

So, once again we decided not to book any tours this time, and were content to stay on the ship – although the Indian authorities had other ideas as they mandated that all passengers had to go through immigration again in the terminal building.

That evening there was a Fusion Dance show put on by local dancers.

Late that evening we set sail from India, with four days at sea ahead of us before we reach our next port of call, Singapore.

I know some readers will be surprised how little Carol and I chose to do in both Egypt and India – especially after all the problems getting hold of and Indian visa. They are both countries we have visited before, and we felt we had already seen what we wanted there. For us, the exciting and magical part of this cruise will now finally start – we both love Singapore, and for me every port we visit after that is new and special, all the way until we get to our final port in the Azores, which I have visited several times before.

So from now on there will be lots of tours and adventures, so it will be a case of writing about them as and when I find time – and of course as and when I have working WiFi to post them.

Postscript

Once of the things that Carol and I like to do on sea days is attend any of the enrichment talks that take our fancy. One of the lecturers has been brilliant – he is a former British Ambassador to Japan, and his talks are wonderful, with lots to learn interspersed with the right amount of humour. By way of contrast, we went to see a different lecturer give what was supposed to be a talk about Singapore – but there was really only one subject – him! We heard about his business career, how he lost his luggage on various business trips, saw photos of the inside of the flat he lived in when working in Singapore, heard how he had a wonderful assistant there who did all the work so he could take all the glory …. and so he went on. After half an hour of this lots of people started walking out, and so did we. In all my years of cruising I have never seen so many people walk out. To be fair though, talking to someone who stuck it out to the end, he did show a little bit of Singapore in the last ten minutes!

S2305 – Port Said on the Starboard Side

~ Graham Alderson ~ 4 Comments

Introduction

In my last post, S2305 – Passepartout and Visa, I introduced our current cruise, an epic voyage Around the World in 80 Days, which is roughly following the route taken by Phileas Fogg in the book of the same name. I also covered the first 8 days of the voyage, which included our two European ports – Lisbon in Portugal and Brindisi in Italy.

Days 9-10 – At sea

At lunchtime on the first of the two sea days they held our first BBQ of the voyage, out on the aft deck. Carol and I got there in good time to make sure we got a table, and the burgers were delicious!

That evening was our second formal night of the cruise, and we were most fortunate to have our lovely Hotel Manager, Hermann Stingeder, join us at our table. Good food, good wine and good conversation flowed throughout – Hermann is always such an entertaining host.

On the second sea day they announced that the Forecastle Observation Area on deck 4 forward (at the very pointy bit of the ship) would be open from 8am to 5pm on days when the weather permits. Access is from deck 3, and involves climbing quite a steep staircase to reach it.

Day 11 – Port Said, Egypt

We arrived in Port Said around 3am, when both Carol and I were safely tucked up in bed. The reason for this very early arrival was the long, long tours that were offered in Port Said – everyone was either 12 or 13 hours long, visiting various combinations of Cario and its museums, the Pyramids of Giza and the Nile.

Carol had been there, seen that, BG (before Graham), and I was frankly not interested enough to pay an eye-watering amount for a tour that meant enduring all that heat and all those hawkers, so we had long since decided just to do our own thing in port.

The weather was hot and sunny, and we set off on foot not quite sure where to go, but content just to wander slowly and see what we could find. The pavements were quite rough, with lots of little steps up and down, so I needed three sets of eyes – one to check where I was walking, one to keep an eye out for who or what was about, and one to look for something interesting to see and or photograph! After a while we found this lovely mosque, at which point we retraced our steps back to the ship.

I have found an indulgent but lovely way to refresh myself when returning to the ship, an iced mocha from the Bookmark Cafe. It’s lovely and cold, with lots of wicked cream and chocolate – definitely very naughty but very nice!!

The ship was eerily quiet that day and evening, with so many of our fellow passengers out on those ‘lifetime’ tours. Despite this, the Entertainments team had arranged for pre-dinner Song and Dance shows, put on by local Egyptian singers, dancers and musicians. There were to be two shows, one for the first sitting, and another for the second sitting. However the Deputy Entertainments Manager announced that due to ‘technical issues’ the first show was put back half an hour, followed a little later by a second announcement that the first show was cancelled as the performers had not yet been allowed on the ship by Egyptian security! So we went to the now single performance after our dinner, and were richly entertained – we always enjoy the shows by local performers.

We were due to set sail at 9pm, ready to join a convoy heading through the Suez Canal overnight and the following morning.

Day 12 Sailing the Suez Canal

Carol awoke at 7am the following morning, and told me that she thought she would take her morning cup of tea out onto our balcony to enjoy the scenery. I told her she would recognise the view, and she looked a little puzzled until she opened our curtains – we were still in Port Said!

Of course we were busy speculating why we had not sailed, until the Captain announced that it was because of an incident in the Canal the previous afternoon, when a ship got stuck for several hours, delaying everything. We finally set sail soon after 9am, and the bonus as far as we were concerned was that we would now do the entire transit in daylight. The delay meant big headaches for the Tours Department though, as in our next port, Safaga, on the following day there were another set of 12 and 13 hour tours, this time to the Valley of the Kings, which all now had to be rescheduled.

Carol and I spent a lovely day on our balcony, even having our room service lunch there, watching the scenery slip by.

That evening was the first of the theme evenings on this cruise – Egyptian Theme of course! They organised a big BBQ and party around the pool up on deck 8, but we were content to just wear our costumes to dinner as usual in the restaurant. After dinner I went up to see what was happening, but the crowds and noise of the as always too loud music under the closed roof of the pool area was far too much for me, and after a few seconds I returned to the peace and quiet downstairs – old age must be catching up with me!

Day 13 Safaga, Egypt

Just before breakfast the following morning, but several hours late, we sailed into our fourth port of call, Safaga in Egypt. We had both been to this port before on our World Cruise in 2017, and it has lived long in our memories for all the wrong reasons – it is the number one candidate for our coffee table book of ugly and dirty ports visited on our cruises. Once we docked, this was the view from our balcony for the day:

Of course we had long since decided just to stay indoors all day to avoid all the dust outside, but others who wanted to go ashore were disappointed and annoyed to find that no shuttle bus was being provided. We heard that one couple who went ashore were charged £150 for a return trip by taxi to the town centre nearby – having beaten the price down from £200. A salutary lesson to not only agree a price with a taxi driver before getting in, but also for establishing whether it is both ways, and whether it is per person or for everyone.

We also heard from people who were on the tours that they did not get back to the ship until around midnight – not surprisingly they were shattered the next day. At least there were now six consecutive days at sea sailing towards our next port of call, Mumbai in India. Our adventures there are likely to be the subject of my next post.

Postscript

For the evening show on our day in Safaga, they showed the movie ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. Unfortunately during the performance, they discovered they did not have the final CD, and so the voyage did not complete. We hope it is not an omen!

S2305 – Passepartout and Visa

~ Graham Alderson ~ 6 Comments

Introduction

Yes, Carol and I are back doing the thing we love best, cruising the seven seas to far flung places, and as it is hopefully going to be such an epic voyage, I have decided to do some more posts on my blog, albeit in a much shorter form and less frequently than I have done in the past. It simply costs too much to do what I did before – in money for the ship’s WiFi, and in my time in preparing all the words and photos.

So where are we going, and how long will we be away? The answer lies in the name of the cruise – Around the World in 80 Days. Our course, all the way around the world (how lucky are we to be doing this for an astonishing third time), will roughly follow that taken by Phileas Fogg in the book of the same name, and yes, we will be away for 80 days! The main differences from our previous around the world cruises is that we are travelling the other way – west to east, and we will stay in the Northern Hemisphere the whole way around. Going this way means we will lose an hours sleep on 24 nights, but in return we get to have Good Friday twice over!! The big attraction of the itinerary for us was the chance to visit Vietnam, China, Hawaii, sail under the Golden Gate bridge into San Francisco, and most of all to have several stops in Japan at what should be cherry blossom time – our fingers and toes are well and truly crossed!! We were originally going to Japan on a Grand Voyage cruise in 2020, but we all know what happened then, so this is our replacement cruise. Here is a map of our planned itinerary:

It has been a difficult and frustrating countdown to this cruise, which rather took away the excitement and anticipation we normally have before departure. This can best be summed up in two words – covid and visas. With covid, we just have not known for sure where we will be visiting – and to be honest we still don’t as things could change in a trice. For a long time it looked like Vietnam, China and Japan would all be no go areas, but at the moment we are ok, except for China where we can still go to Hong Kong, but not to Shanghai. With all the problems on mainland China, we wouldn’t have wanted to get off the ship anyway, so that is no loss – especially as we are getting an extra day in one of our favourite places, Singapore, instead.

The big problem with visas was for India, which for a long time was not allowing people from the UK to apply for an e-visa online – you had to make an appointment at a consulate which were all but impossible to get. Fred. Olsen got as far as announcing alternative ports instead of the three Indian ones, if people could not get e-visas before a certain date. With a handful of days before that date, the e-visa scheme was opened up to UK residents, so Carol and I put our applications in quickly. Big mistake. The system was jammed up with applications, and although the visa was promised in 72 hours, weeks went by. Eventually after some chasing e-mails, ours came through, but dozens of other passengers were still waiting weeks later. For those booked on long and expensive overland tours in India, it was even more stressful. However for other people like our friends Darien and Brian who waited until after Christmas to apply, they had theirs back in less than 24 hours! As far as we know everyone on the cruise did get theirs in the end, and the three Indian ports have been reinstated.

All this of course was on top of all the usual extensive preparations for a long cruise – getting affordable travel insurance (from my bank), securing enough medication to more than cover the planned voyage, arranging for family to stay at our house for security and insurance purposes, and this time obtaining costume pieces for the various theme nights we will be having during the voyage. The secret – lists – packing lists, things to do lists, things to arrange lists, lists of lists….

The cruise is on Borealis, and it is our first time on this ship. However she is the sister ship to Bolette, the ship we had our last eight cruises on, so we are sure we will soon find our way around and feel at home.

Day 1 – Embarkation in Southampton

At last the day came for Phileas (aka Carol) and her trusty manservant Passepartout (aka me) to take up the challenge of sailing all around the world in 80 days.

Embarkation was very smooth, especially as we were super organised with all the paperwork we needed to show at the check-in – passports, covid test cassettes, covid vaccine records, and our USA and Indian visas. We dropped off our hand luggage in our cabin, and made our way up to The View, the cafe, for our lunch.

Usually by the time we return to our cabin our cases are there ready for us to unpack, but not this time. We have no idea why, but they seemed to have a big problem with the luggage – it was mid afternoon before ours arrived, and some of our friends did not get theirs until just before dinner. We did hear that one lady passenger was so concerned that her luggage had not arrived that she stopped an officer in the corridor and asked him to help, only then noticing that his name badge said Captain! Still they do say, if you want something done then go to the top!

Something that was waiting for us in our cabin was our Oceans gift. Oceans is the loyalty scheme, and once you reach a certain level there is always a gift waiting for you at the start of every cruise. Carol and I have never understood why for a couple, even though each person has paid for their cruises to clock up the loyalty points, they only receive one gift between them. We are both at the highest tier of the loyalty scheme, Diamond Elite, and are once again sailing in one of the most expensive suites on board on this very long cruise, but this was the extent of the gift we received between us – a hessian bag containing this:

I will let you decide whether you think this is appropriate or just an insult…

Unusually, we did not set sail until just after 8pm.

Days 2-3 – At sea

Our two days at sea sailing down to our first port, Lisbon, were quiet and uneventful – even the sea behaved itself in the infamous Bay of Biscay.

Having made unfavourable comments about the food and menus on previous posts, I must note that we are noticing real improvements. On our last cruise we had noticed that the quality of the food, especially the tenderness of the meat, had improved; and this time the dinner menus have improved too – hurrah the British Dish of the Day providing a different meat choice is back! Well done Fred., it’s take quite a while, but it seems you have finally listened to all the comments and complaints on social media etc.

Day 4 – Lisbon, Portugal

We docked in Lisbon between two other huge cruise ships, just as a big red sun was rising over the river.

We were booked on a ship’s tour to the historic and very pretty walled town of Obidos.
There was a good hours coach ride each way, and on arrival our local guide led us up the main street, where we were able to sample Ginjinha, a local cherry liqueur which was served in a little chocolate cup. I was not interested, but Carol asked me to get one so that she could have two – not for the cherry liqueur but for the chocolate cup! We were then left to wander around the pretty narrow streets by ourselves. My first stop was the delightful parish church of Santa Maria, inside the walls were covered in the blue and white Portuguese tiles, and the ceilings beautifully decorated.

The main street was far too crowded for our liking – yes we do know we are part of the problem! – so we do what we usually do in this situation – headed off down the side streets and just explored at random.

On our way back to the ship the coach took us through the city centre, and the guide pointed out many of the lovely buildings and monuments there.

We would both thoroughly recommend this tour.

It was an early sailaway at 4pm, and although we have been to Lisbon many times before, I could not resist going up on deck to photograph again the attractive buildings, bridge and monuments we passed as we sailed back down the river towards the open sea.

Days 5-7 – At sea, including the Straits of Messina

On the first of the three days at sea sailing towards our next port of call, Brindisi in Italy, they held a coffee morning event for the fifty or so Diamond Elite Oceans members on board. As well as the hot beverages from the Bookmark Cafe, we were offered free drinks (fizz for Carol, orange juice for me), and a range of sandwiches and little cakes as if it were afternoon tea. It was all very pleasant, not least the chance to chat with some of the senior staff who were mingling.

Just before dinner the Captain announced that there would be a helicopter making a medical evacuation of a passenger from the rear top deck – how sad for someone to have their voyage of a lifetime cut short so soon and in this way.

The second day at sea was quite rough, but everything had calmed down nicely as we sailed along the northern coast of Sicily on the third day. Later that day we could see the volcanic island of Stromboli on the horizon, with smoke rising from the top, before we picked up a pilot to guide us through the Straits of Messina, the narrow waterway which separates Sicily from mainland Italy. I went out onto the rear deck to take some photographs at the narrowest point, which is just 3.1 km (1.9 miles) wide.

Day 8 – Brindisi, Italy

Around 10am on the following morning we slipped into our second port of call on this voyage, Brindisi in the heel of Italy. It was a first visit for both Carol and I, and it was soon clear that this was very much a working port, and rather than a swish cruise terminal, we would be docked on an industrial quayside. We both instantly agreed that this would be a good candidate for that coffee table book that we are always joking about writing, the one showing all the grim industrial ports that Fred. Olsen so often seems to end up docked in!

In Brindisi we had decided not to book a ship’s tour, and instead take the shuttle bus into the town centre and explore on foot. I had downloaded a guide map on my phone to sort of direct us, but as most of the places marked seemed to be either churches (mostly) or monuments, we were happy to take things as they came and divert wherever caught our eye. We wandered around for a good hour or so, but we both agreed that it was just one of those places which didn’t grab our attention, so we made our way back to the shuttle bus and our ship for a late lunch on board.

At least I could take advantage of a quiet afternoon on board to complete this post and get it posted on the internet while I had free WiFi from my mobile phone being still in Europe.

Well talking of this, this completes the European phase of our circumnavigation, as at 18:30 this evening we are due to set sail for our next port of call, Port Said, the first of our two Egyptian ports.

Postscript

We had another gift left for us in our cabin at the start of the cruise – or should I say two – one each. This was a specially bound hardback copy of the Jules Verne novel Around the World in 80 Days. A thoughtful gift, but without hopefully not sounding too churlish, does a couple really need two copies. I thought what might have been better was if the second volume, bound and covered the same, just had blank pages, for us to keep a journal about our voyage around the world.