Cruise 04: Seychelles - Victoria and La Digue

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Port: Victoria, Seychelles

Country 135: Seychelles

I was relieved when I woke up this morning and we were finally docked in the Seychelles! The past four days had been long days at sea and, though the relaxation was nice, I was ready to get back on land for a little while. Our first port of call in the island nation was in Victoria on the island of Mahe, the largest of the Seychelles. I had booked a shore excursion to tour around the island during our stop and I hoped that this would be better than the one in Abu Dhabi.

After having a small breakfast at the buffet, I made my way down to the theatre for the tour departure procedure. We were again given stickers with numbers on them that matched up with our chosen tours (there were several different day tours offered in each port). When my group was called, I followed the crowd to the exit to head ashore. This was our first port when were had to use tender boats to travel between the cruise ship and land – basically smaller boats that ferried passengers back and forth. The boats could fit many people, but they were very hot and stuffy in the morning heat. Even though the ride to shore was short, it felt longer due to the conditions inside the tender boat.

Once ashore, everyone made their way to their designated tour buses so we could start touring the island. Our local guide provided a lot of information about the country and about the city of Victoria. The Seychelles had been uninhabited prior to European colonization. After first being colonized by the French, the islands were eventually taken over by the British during the late 1700s (during the French Revolutionary Wars). They remained part of the British Empire for nearly 200 years, until, in the 1970s, they achieved independence.

We drove through the city of Victoria, which is the capital of the country and was surprisingly bustling with activity. The first stop was at the botanical gardens, where our guide told us a lot about the local plants and wildlife in the area. One section of the gardens had a an area full of turtles, where visitors could feed them and get up close to the animals. Outside of the turtle sanctuary was a gigantic, larger-than-life statue of a turtle… and one woman in my group actually asked our guide if it was a real turtle! I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, but I did stifle a groan – the statue was nearly twice as tall as an average person, I couldn’t fathom how anyone could possibly think it was real.

The tour then dropped us off in the city center and we were able to spend some time walking around the streets of Victoria on our own. It’s a charming colonial-style town, with a pretty central clock tower in the center of one intersection. I also walked over to a nearby Buddhist temple, where some ceremony was taking place. I didn’t go inside since it was packed with people, but it was nice to visit. Much of the town is made up of nondescript buildings, but dotted here and there were some true architectural gems (again, mostly from colonial times).

The group was then driven around the island until we reached a hotel resort, where we had our final stop of the day. We were given a voucher for a free drink as we entered, which I used to get a cold soda from the bar. We were then given 90 minutes of free time at the resort which was located along the beach. The time was intended for people to spend enjoying the beach, but there was not much to do there. The beach was covered in seaweed and there weren’t many chairs for people to sit on, so it ended up being rather dull. There was a pool area, where guests of the hotel were swimming, and, overall, it felt a bit strange to be spending time at some random hotel.

I was relieved when we eventually returned to the ship. The excursion was a bigger disappointment than the one in Abu Dhabi and I was now apprehensive about the future excursions I had booked. I spent the rest of the afternoon either on deck or at the café lounge, per my usual routine. I had snacks in the buffet before dinner as well. During the previous four days, I had learned that the snack options were often superior to lunch and dinner. They changed up the food options each day for each meal service, but I was consistently disappointed. The snacks, however, had some nice sandwiches (including a tasty chicken salad sandwich) and different types of scones each day! The scones quickly became a favorite of mine because they always came with jam and cream – proper scones!

In the evening, the ship departed from Victoria for our next stop in the Seychelles.
 

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Port: La Digue, Seychelles

The ship arrived into our second port in the Seychelles early this morning, La Digue. We spent much of the evening docked outside of Victoria since it was a short journey away from La Digue. I started the day with my usual breakfast at the buffet. By this point I was disheartened by the buffet meals, but there was nowhere else serving breakfast. My typical breakfast consisted of bacon, pancakes, and some juice. I would occasionally have something else, such as chicken and waffles, if it was on offer.

I had booked another shore excursion for the time in La Digue and I again went through the departure process (meet in the theatre, wait for group to be called, etc). We took the tender boats from the cruise ship over to the island itself and met up with our tour guide. There was not much around the port area, so I was glad to have the tour – I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I simply had free time on the island. We boarded converted pickup trucks to drive from the port over to today’s sights.

The tour first visited the L’Union Estate Farm, which is a colonial-era coconut and vanilla plantation. Our guide walked us through the process of harvesting the coconuts, demonstrating how the farmers used to crack them open, shave out the pulp, drying parts in a hot house, etc. The group was also taken to the large wooden manor house, which was the largest building on the estate. It was an alright experience, but not terribly exciting.

Our guide then led the group on a short walk over to the Anse Source d'Argent beach, where we were given nearly two hours of free time. I was shocked by the huge amount of free time we had at the beach – half of the entire tour would be spent there and I was left wondering what the tour cost had actually covered!

I spent a few minutes walking along the beach, which was very pretty. The water around the island were pristine and crystal clear – I was reminded a bit of the Maldives. There were no lounge chairs or anywhere to sit along the beach, other than in the sand, but I had not brought a towel, so that was out of the question. There was a small walking path along the beach that I decided to explore. The path wound around some large boulders and led to a small section of the beach. Again, the views were stunning, but there was not much to keep visitors occupied.

I returned to the main area of the beach where a small food stall had been setup, complete with a few picknick tables. It was the only place with seating and the awning provided some relief from the sun, so it was already crowded with other tourists. I managed to snag one of the only empty spots at a table and settled in to spend the rest of the free time there, waiting.

I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me, who was an older American who now lives in Mexico. He was continuing with the Norwegian Dawn through this cruise, on to South Africa, and then all the way to Europe (apparently they were repositioning the ship). While we sat at the tables, other passengers from the cruise were loudly complaining about the shore excursion. I was not quite unhappy with the tour as well. The other excursions were underwhelming, but this one was terrible. For the price that we paid for the tour, everyone expected to see or do more than just hang out at a beach (the tour description with the booking did not in any way indicate that the majority of the tour would be free time).

I ended up buying a cold drink from the food stall once we determined that they accepted credit cards. It was cool and refreshing! They were selling some banana bread as well, but only as an entire loaf rather than slices. I knew I couldn’t possibly eat the entire loaf before returning to the ship, and we were not permitted to bring food back on board, so I skipped trying the bread.

Everyone was eager to get back on the trucks so we could return to the cruise ship. La Digue was a beautiful island, that much is undeniable, but the tour was so underwhelming and disappointing that it nearly ruined the day. I spend the remainder of the afternoon lounging around the ship, nibbling on afternoon snacks at the buffet, and doing my daily walk around deck six. Overall, my time onboard the ship was more fun than the time ashore today, unfortunately.