World cruise 2024 starts here !

[piratfisk]

Originally Posted by RichardBartlett

Oh and we had a 5 day world cruise team quiz, 26 teams of 10 took part

We came second.!

Did you get stumped on a Rolex reference number question?

[RichardBartlett]

Originally Posted by piratfisk

Did you get stumped on a Rolex reference number question?

Luckily no watch based questions:-)

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[RichardBartlett]

Ok so this was all we saw of Namibia this time due to visa issues. We had the new queen Mary 2 for company

We had a south African magic act who had me up on stage as his glamorous assistant. Bent a fork whilst it was actually in my hand. God knows how he did it. Totally got me baffled. Chatted to him in the bar next day. Nice guy

He's performing again tonight.

Durban tomorrow. I have bought airlo mobile package so hopefully can post some photos.


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[RichardBartlett]

Arrived in SA . Getting through passport control was a pita.
Off on a city tour

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[RichardBartlett]

Downtown Durban busy Sunday shopping

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[RichardBartlett]

Well maybe some of our south Africans can tell me what there is to Durban that's appealing as it's not hit any sweet spots for us.

We return later to port Elizabeth which we are not expecting much and cape town which apparently is well worth it
Fingers crossed

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[RichardBartlett]

On a lighter note, occasionally they have a small quiz in one of the bars. One was about an island we'd just visited.they start by saying "it's a bit of fun so no mobiles or devices"

Half way through the quiz l caught a guy on the next table googling one of the answers
Called him out and it all got a bit tetchy. They were disqualified
However the winner who sat in a corner on his own got 10 out of 10 which considering the runner up got 3 (yes they were that difficult) meant my guy wasn't the only cheater in the room

People eh..

[piratfisk]

Originally Posted by RichardBartlett

On a lighter note, occasionally they have a small quiz in one of the bars. One was about an island we'd just visited.they start by saying "it's a bit of fun so no mobiles or devices"

Half way through the quiz l caught a guy on the next table googling one of the answers
Called him out and it all got a bit tetchy. They were disqualified
However the winner who sat in a corner on his own got 10 out of 10 which considering the runner up got 3 (yes they were that difficult) meant my guy wasn't the only cheater in the room

People eh..

Pfft, what a shame. Someone a) couldn't stand to not be on their phone & b) took what's supposed to be a fun trivia game on vacation to the Nth degree & get all competitive... No use wasting any more of your energy on them.

[123Blueface]

Originally Posted by RichardBartlett

Ok Tenerife to Barcelona then round trip ending in Southampton UK end of April



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Enjoy!
That would be just 1/4 of my wife’s luggage.

[RichardBartlett]

Oh full of incidents the past few days.
On the open deck they started to fence off some of the sun loungers. The management then started asking those sitting nearby if they knew who was on the loungers. Turns out someone had a unexpected bowel movement episode actually on a lounger and scampered off without cleaning up or telling anyone..!

Incident number 2
The animation team organised a water basket ball game. Half way through one guy held a woman under the water so he could get the ball. She naturally panicked and got out quite upset saying he needed to calm down
One of her teammates saw the incident and got a tad miffed went over to him and a proper fight broke out between them. !

Life at see : never a dull moment. :-)

[RichardBartlett]

Originally Posted by 123Blueface

Enjoy!
That would be just 1/4 of my wife’s luggage.

It's half what we took last year.. and nearly one month in it's proving sufficient. I might buy a new pair of sneakers when we reach Miami as I only have one pair

Of course we could have brought loads more but we are on vacation so how much is too much. Like getting bigger and bigger houses you just expand to a point whereby it becomes pointless having rooms you never enter, we had clothes last year we never wore.

[Knappo 1307]

Originally Posted by RichardBartlett

Oh full of incidents the past few days.
On the open deck they started to fence off some of the sun loungers. The management then started asking those sitting nearby if they knew who was on the loungers. Turns out someone had a unexpected bowel movement episode actually on a lounger and scampered off without cleaning up or telling anyone..!

Incident number 2
The animation team organised a water basket ball game. Half way through one guy held a woman under the water so he could get the ball. She naturally panicked and got out quite upset saying he needed to calm down
One of her teammates saw the incident and got a tad miffed went over to him and a proper fight broke out between them. !

Life at see : never a dull moment. :-)

Wow! Your trip sounds like a blast, random woman threatening to kill your SO, people getting called out for trivia cheating, men drowning women, and a mystery shitter on the poop deck... Sign me up!!

[piratfisk]

Originally Posted by Knappo 1307

Wow! Your trip sounds like a blast, random woman threatening to kill your SO, people getting called out for trivia cheating, men drowning women, and a mystery shitter on the poop deck... Sign me up!!

And on top of all that, you can't leave! Fights at sea can be fun... lots of fan room counseling at sea.

[996marty]

Sounds like a great trip apart from incident #1 above

[Maleg]

The mystery shitter reminds me of the movie Flight of the Intruder. Waiting for him to post his next strike.

Serves me right for thinking long sea voyages were boring affairs. This one seems like it has it all.

[jnelson3097]

Sounds like a typical Carnival Cruise.

[Speedbird-1]

How exciting Richard!

There's obviously a Jonah aboard ship.
You're not going anywhere near the Gulf of Aden perchance?


"Beat to Quarters, Mr Bartlett"

[TRS1]

At least Durban looked epic.

[RichardBartlett]

Zanzibar today and Mombasa tomorrow. Pics to follow!!

Nothing bad onboard to report.!!

[RichardBartlett]

Zanzibar was always a bucket list of mine so whilst I was excited to go l was fully prepared for it to be a let down. Which it was in the expected way. But others it was as hoped Extremely dirty and full of poverty. Beautiful beaches. Nice friendly people

Glad l went but probably never going back . PXL_20240202_094008913.jpgPXL_20240202_114557528.jpgPXL_20240202_061645280.jpgPXL_20240202_074918361.jpgPXL_20240202_090959678.jpgPXL_20240202_093541923.jpgPXL_20240202_101109736.jpgPXL_20240202_100559007.jpgPXL_20240202_101003022.jpgPXL_20240202_105156705.jpgPXL_20240202_114713891.MP.jpgPXL_20240202_110403537.MP.jpgPXL_20240202_103218056.jpgPXL_20240202_113833592.jpgPXL_20240202_114128507.jpg

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Attachment 1417481

[RichardBartlett]

Mombasa (and beyond)
Mombasa is a typical African industrial port city. Very hot, extremely dirty with rubbish and god knows what discarded at will everywhere. It's rich but extremely poor. We met a German doctor on 6 week mercy charity work less than 2 hours outside Mombasa he was highly shocked at how poor the conditions are for the villagers. No water little food and almost zero access to medical care. Hence him being there.

However we decided to go out of the city as it's void of anything worth looking at. Again although Kenya has a bad rep the people we met were extremely kind and friendly. No issues there. Ironically we passed the hotel l stayed at back in the mid 90's on the beach front.

China is building a massive new motorway and our driver said the Chinese are investing heavily in Kenya. USA and the west are fast losing any influence in Africa to the Chinese at an alarming rate.

3 days at sea then Seychelles..Attachment 1417467PXL_20240203_040344814.jpgPXL_20240203_044027047.MP.jpgPXL_20240203_095056457.jpgPXL_20240203_092224473.jpgPXL_20240203_093325035.jpgPXL_20240203_093609409.MP.jpgPXL_20240203_064533155.jpgPXL_20240203_094353320.jpgPXL_20240203_091702213.jpg

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[RichardBartlett]

Just to add we both joined the guests choir for a bit of fun. Did it last year too .
We only had 5 practice hours from formation to performance. So only two songs "Be happy" & "Amazing Grace"
Over the next few months we intend to increase our repertoire for a full 30 minute concert. (We only gather during sea days so time is limited (that's our excuse!) But as l say it's only a bit of fun and we're just passengers after all

Being 6'3" I'm at the very back of the stage.PXL_20240201_130848335.jpg

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[RichardBartlett]

Seychelles is truly amazing

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[RichardBartlett]

Just stunning

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[austinp]

Always wanted to go there. Looks amazing.


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[m j b]

Great pictures and wonderful to follow along, thanks Richard.

Hey, do you realize that the blonde woman keeps photo-bombing you?

Originally Posted by RichardBartlett

Plus being a snob the level of passengers seems a bit lower. On gala night hardly any one bothered to dress appropriately .

They must be Americans. LOL We have become a nation of slobs.

Originally Posted by RichardBartlett

The world is becoming less and less civilised sadly

It is sad. I blame most of it on Covid and ... well, I'm not sure what else to blame, but here in the USA it seems like a lot of people just don't care about acting properly and not blowing up over the smallest perceived slights.

Originally Posted by JasoninDenver

I cannot believe the rudeness we see in people at our local ski resort on a regular basis. Just last week a tourist pushed my daughter out of the way as he cut a line and then yelled at her. When I intervened, he was ready to fight.

Damn tourists, LOL.

Originally Posted by codecow

Generally I’m wondering if you avoid the riff raff by going up market?

I wonder that too. Of course, money doesn't mean manners, and in some cases, perhaps the privileged feel more deserving and are quicker to push back? And as noted in an earlier post, different cultures in the petri dish of a cruise ship could have the potential for conflict.

Originally Posted by 123Blueface

Enjoy!
That would be just 1/4 of my wife’s luggage.

My wife would need all of those bags just for her shoes.

[RichardBartlett]

Madagascar nice but very poor

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[RichardBartlett]

La reunion . Small french island
Very nice very impressive St Denis town

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[RichardBartlett]

Mauritius speedboat trip kinda went wrong kinda went right


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[JasoninDenver]

Looks like a great time. Keep them coming!