Cruise Day 58
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
"Your past experience will flavor your future ones, that is human nature.” -- Deborah Cater
Today is a sea day and a very welcome one after two busy days in the heat and humidity of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. We slept in until 9:00, had breakfast in the Neptune Lounge and then I began writing up the blog for the last two days and Val went out to read on the balcony. We were going to go to the port talk on our upcoming port of Dakar, but I got so busy, I forgot all about it. Oh well, we can always watch it on the TV.
I finished the blog for Ghana and started in on Cote d’Ivoire, but I was tired of writing and joined Val out on the balcony until lunch time. We opted for burgers again from the Dive In and they hit the spot.
Tomorrow is our concierge Kristine’s birthday, and we wanted to get her some flowers, so after lunch we went down to the front office and ordered some for her to be delivered tomorrow morning. She was all upset about turning 30, but we told her it wouldn’t be long until she wished she was thirty again.
After that, Val resumed her spot on the balcony, and I finished up the blog from yesterday. After that, we were off to the Neptune Lounge to look at the pictures from our last two days then returned to our room and relaxed until dinner time. We do have to turn in our passports again before we get to Senegal to get our visas. Usually on a cruise you only have to turn in your passports once or twice, but on this cruise, we have had to do it numerous times and we have had to get many more visas than any other cruise we’ve been on.
Tonight’s dinner attire was dressy, so Val and I took a little extra time to get ready before going to dinner. Dinner was very good tonight and that’s more than I can say for the casino. Val’s winning streak ended at three days and my losing streak continued. After the casino we read for a while and then called it a night. Tomorrow is another sea day.
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| Now that we are sailing westward, we get a better view of the sunset from our balcony. |
Cruise Day 59
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste it, to experience it to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for richer and newer experiences.” -- Eleanor Roosevelt
Today is our last sea day before we arrive in Senegal, our last port on the African continent. We got up around 8:30 and by the time we got to the Neptune Lounge, Kristine had already gotten her flowers. She thanked us over and over for them and said it was a big surprise. She also had some flowers and birthday decorations from the front office staff, so the Neptune Lounge was in full birthday mode today.
After breakfast we headed off to the theater to see a lecture on Cape Verde, an upcoming port. Before this cruise, I had only vaguely heard of Cape Verde and didn’t even know exactly where it was so I knew almost nothing about it. The lecture was very interesting, and we learned a lot about Cape Verde.
After the lecture, I organized the photos we had looked at yesterday and after backing everything up, I relaxed until it was time for lunch. After lunch we heard a knock on our door, and it was one our fellow Neptune Suite guests with a card to sign for Kristine and asking for a donation for a cash gift for her. Everyone was to gather in the Neptune Lounge for a surprise party for Kristine. We thought it was a great idea and were looking forward to being there.
I answered some e-mails and then read for a bit until it was time for our surprise party for Kristine. We met at the end of the hallway and then all went to the Neptune Lounge as a group singing happy birthday as we went in the door. She was completely surprised and started crying. She is a great concierge and a really wonderful person and the friendliness, enthusiasm and happiness she shows is infectious.
When she opened the card that we all signed and found more than $400 inside it led to more tears and she wasn’t the only one with tears in their eyes. One of her qualities is her ability to do her job well, but at the same time let her personality come through so you really know who she is. She is focused on taking care of her guests and always goes the extra mile for them and her birthday was a chance for all of us to show how much we appreciated her.
After the birthday celebration we returned to our room, and I continued going through our safari pictures for candidates to go on our 2023 calendar. There are a lot of pictures to go through, but it was very enjoyable reliving our safari again.
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing. It was too hot and humid to go out on the balcony, so we stayed inside. It is about the same temperature as yesterday, but the difference is higher humidity and clear skies. Yesterday was overcast so we didn’t get the effect of the sun hitting us. Now that we are on the west side of Africa, our balcony is facing west, and we are no longer shaded from the sun during the heat of the afternoon.
We did our usual evening routine including losing in the casino and then called it a night. Tomorrow we will be in Dakar, Senegal.
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