By this Author: Glichez

Monday, March 3, 2025 – Tuesday, March 4, 2025

I landed in Singapore at 04:30 this morning and I was delighted to be back in this wonderful country and city. It was obviously far too early to check-in at my hotel, so I spent most of the morning at the nearby Jewel Mall, where there was a Starbucks open 24-hours. Later in the afternoon, I took the metro over to my hotel. I have stayed at this hotel several times over the years and it has become my usual place whenever I visit Singapore. The rooms are modern, comfortable, and they had excellent WiFi (not to mention strong air-con!). I didn’t do much the rest of the day though because I was exhausted after the long flights to reach Singapore.

The next morning, I slept in before heading into the city for the day. I intended on going to a bagel place for breakfast, but I had some difficulty finding the location. I eventually found that it was just a small “hole in the wall” place, but it was closed today, which was disappointing. I spent some time walking around in search of something else to eat, eventually going to a food court at a nearby mall.

In the afternoon I went down to Marina Bay, where I hung out at Starbucks for a little while (mostly to get out of the intense heat and humidity). I then went for a long walk around the bay until I reached the Marina Bay Sands and the shopping mall. The gush of cold air as I entered the mall was refreshing! I ate dinner at the mall before heading out to the bay to watch some of the water and light show in the evening. I took the metro back to the hotel after the show so I could get some rest.

I was spending these few days in Singapore because my vise for Vietnam was not valid until the sixth of the March. I had selected that date for the start of my visa so I wouldn’t have to do a “visa run” before leaving on my next trip at the end of May. Since Vietnam doesn’t legally recognize same-sex marriage, I am unable to get a residence.

 

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Today was the primary highlight of my time in Singapore: a day at Universal Studios! I love theme parks and the one in Singapore, while small, is a lot of fun. I took the metro over to Sentosa, where Universal is located, and arrived just as they were opening.

The first ride I always rush to whenever I visit Universal is the Battlestar Galactica “dueling” rollercoasters. These are two of the most popular rides in the park and always have long queues later in the day. After storing my shoulder bag in one of the free lockers nearby, I entered the queue for the Cylon coaster. This is the most adrenaline-fueled ride in the entire park, zipping around, corkscrewing, and looping upside down. When that ride was over, I went next door to ride the Human coaster, which is far tamer than the Cylon ride. Thinh has always stated that he will never ride either of these coasters with me if/when we go to Universal together. He doesn’t like these types of rides, preferring more calm and easy-going attractions in the park.

Up next was the Mummy dark-ride roller coaster. I have ridden this one so many times over the years, but I still find it a lot of fun each and every time. I intended on riding the Jurassic Park water ride next, but it was not yet open for the day, so I walked around the park to find something else to ride. Since my last visit they had opened a new section of the park that was entirely Minions themed, though there were only a couple of new rides (most of the area was fully of shops and food). I got in line for the main attraction in the Minion land, which wasn’t too long, but after waiting for quite some time an announcement informed us that the ride was closed due to a technical issue.

For the next ride I went to Thinh’s favorite, located in the Mummy section. This ride puts visitors in a small car that slowly drives around a small track, stopping at certain points to have animatronic animals “scare” people. There was nothing scary whatsoever about any of it though – I kept thinking that Universal should be ashamed for putting together such a tame ride. I also smiled to myself throughout the ride, thinking about how cute it was that Thinh loved this ride.

I then had some lunch at the 1950s-style diner before heading out into the park some more. I rode the Transformers 3-D attraction and then made my way back to the Jurassic Park water ride. Thankfully it was open and I was able to use the single rider line to jump to the front of the queue. This is, without a doubt, my favorite ride in all of Universal Studios Singapore. I love the dinosaurs and the nature of the river raft ride. I got quite wet during my first ride and quickly went back through the line to ride it again.

I decided to give the Minions ride another try when I appeared that it had opened up again. It was a bit lackluster though. Everyone was ushered into a large theater and sat in various cars, which were then raised up off the ground slightly. As we watched a film on the giant screen, the cars bounced and rocked around to create a somewhat immersive experience.

All in all, I had a great time at Universal Studios today.

When I left the park, I took the metro over to a mall in the city center where I was meeting my friend Lynette for dinner. She and I had met back in 2023 during our group tour of the Five Stans. I had suggested that we get omurice for dinner and thankfully there was one near her work, so we agreed to meet there this evening. The restaurant was very busy when I arrived, but we had a reservation so there was no long wait for a table. The food was very good! I had a great time catching up with Lynette while we ate. After dinner, she offered to drive me back to my hotel, which wasn’t too far from her home.

I was back in my room by 21:00 and I spend the remainder of the night relaxing at the hotel. It had been a short visit to Singapore, but it was just long enough. I was able to see and do everything that I wanted – my visits to Singapore are always laid back and relaxed. I never have to rush around to sightsee, etc; I can just hangout and go at a leisurely pace.

Now it was finally time for me to head home to Hanoi!

 
Thursday, March 6, 2024

Sleeping in a bit today, I woke up around 09:00 so I could pack my bags one final time on this trip. I was excited to finally be heading home to Hanoi. I had been traveling for three months and I was ready to get back home to see my friends and return to my routine. Of course, the most exciting part, above everything else, was to get back to Thinh! I could not wait to be together with him again. Having my wonderful husband to fly home to makes the end of my trips far more exciting because, rather than being sad that a trip is ending, I now look forward to returning to him. He has truly made everything in my life so much better!

My flight to Hanoi departed at 13:25 and I landed at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi a few hours later. After clearing passport control, I went outside to get a Grab car into town. As I was waiting, Thinh ran up to greet me! I hadn’t expected him to come out to the airport this afternoon because it was a workday. His schedule is extremely flexible though, and he always finds a way to greet me each time I fly home from a trip. I was overjoyed to have Thinh there! After giving him the biggest hug and several kisses later, we ordered a Grab car so we could head into town.

The past few months had been full of exciting adventures, from taking a road trip across the western United States to spending New Years Eve in Times Square to honeymooning in Europe. The best day of the entire time was, of course, the day Thinh and I got married! Nevertheless, it was good to be home and together again with my

Thursday, February 27, 2025 – Friday, February 28, 2025

Leaving Madagascar behind, the ship set sail for Reunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean. This would require one full day at sea before reaching the island and it would be the last entire day at sea for the cruise. However, the weather had other plans for our itinerary. The cruise director and the captain both made an announcement around midday notifying everyone that our stop at Reunion was unfortunately cancelled. Cycle Garance had formed off the east coast of Madagascar a few days earlier and was barreling directly towards Reunion. On the 27th, the storm was rated the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane, and it was due to make landfall on Reunion the following day (the same day we were due to arrive).

With no other options, the cruise had to cancel our stop on the island and head directly to our final destination, Mauritius. We would still arrive at Mauritius on the first of March, which meant that we had two full days at sea ahead of us now. As compensation for both the loss of Mauritius and the cancellation of our stop in Zanzibar, the cruise line gave everyone on board some on board credit towards our accounts.

These two days at sea were very rough as we were sailing in the wake of the storm. Before this, I had not really felt the movement of the ship as we were sailing, but everyone aboard the ship could feel every swell that we sailed through. The staff put seasick bags throughout the ship for passengers to use – and they were quickly being used (happily I did not need one). The pool had to be closed during this time as well because the rough seas had basically turned it into a mini wave pool: the water was sloshing back and forth violently, splashing water onto the deck.

During the entire cruise, the company had been pushing passengers to either book future trips with them or to purchase credits for future cruises, offering all manner of discounts to entice people. With the credit I was receiving from the company due to the cancellations, I decided to use it towards buying a credit for a future cruise. There were a few that looked appealing, and so I ended up buying a $250 credit and I was given an additional $250 for free, all of which was fully covered by the cancellation credit.

Later in the evening I noticed that my onboard account showed a massive balance of several thousand dollars! Looking into the transaction history, I discovered that they had charged me $2,500 rather than the $250 for the future credit! The next day I brought it to their attention and they were able to get it quickly corrected.

I attended one final show on the ship during these last few days. A Broadway musical review was being performed, and it was billed as performing songs from several well-known shows. Being a fan of musicals, it sounded rather fun (and it was free, so why not?!). The theatre was packed when I arrived, but I managed to find a lone seat near the back. The show itself was lackluster. The singers themselves were good, but the volume of the speakers was far too loud, and the music drowned out the singing throughout the show. The majority of the songs were from shows that I did not recognize either – I believe they were from fairly recent shows. They did perform a medley of songs from Les Mis, as well as one song from Wicked, but the rest of the songs were unknown to me. I was surprised by this because the vast majority of the audience were older people and I expected the show to cater to shows an older generation would know – classics such as Sound of Music, etc. It was better than the magic show I’d attended several days ago, but it wasn’t anything special.

During our final day at sea, everyone had to reclaim their passports, which had been held by the cruise staff since we first docked in Abu Dhabi. This has helped facilitate our entrance/exit stamps at the various ports we’d visited throughout the cruise, which was much better than making everyone go through passport control in each port. We were called according to the deck numbers where our cabins were located and mine was near the end of the list. When I arrived to get my passport, the queue was quite long, stretching down the hall and almost out onto the pool deck. I had to wait roughly an hour before I reached the front of the line. While I waited, some “Karen” began complaining to a member of staff about the wait, whining about people not adhering to the schedule, etc. Disappointingly, the crew member took her to the front of the queue, rather than just telling her to deal with the wait like everyone else.

As my turn came up, it was very quick to get my passport back – it was a very well-organized process that took so much time simply due to the sheer number of passengers. Passport in hand, we were then directed to a passport control table for entry into Mauritius. The officials had come on board at some point and were able to complete our entry process there and then, rather than when we arrived in port.

I spent the remainder of the last day relaxing around the ship and getting my bags packed for disembarkation the following morning. Overall the cruise had been better than I had anticipated, but not an exceptional experience. The ship itself was nice and there were plenty of places for me to hangout during the day. The food had been my major complaint though. The quality of the buffet food was been very disappointing and I was thoroughly tired of eating the same few dishes each day. On the last day I had tried the mac and cheese for lunch, thinking that they couldn’t possibly screw up this relatively simple dish. While it appears quite cheesy, it was astonishingly bland without any flavor! This is just one example of how bland the food was throughout the cruise.

I was also looking forward to my trip coming to an end so I could fly home to Hanoi – and my wonderful husband! We’ve been apart during several of my previous trips, but it never gets easier being away from Thinh, especially for so long a time. Thinh has always been very supportive of my passion for travel, stating that he’s perfectly fine with me taking trips by myself. He’ll obviously join me as his work schedule permits (we’d used up his leave from work already with our time in the States and Europe). There are also numerous places around the world that I want to visit that hold zero interest for him, and I would never make him travel there with me. This is just going to be the reality of our marriage and life together… but we both miss one another a lot when we’re apart. We’d messaged and done video calls on an almost daily basis since he’d flown home, which helped a lot. There was now less than a week to go until we’d be back together though and we were both very excited!

 
Saturday, March 1, 2025

Port: Port Louis, Mauritius

Country 137: Mauritius

The ship docked in Port Louis in Mauritius very early this morning, but we were not permitted to disembark for several hours while the crew finalized the entry procedures. We were initially supposed to arrive at 06:00, but this was rescheduled over the past couple of days. I had arranged a shuttle from the port to my hotel, so I had to message them several times to update my pickup time. As it was, we began disembarking around 09:00, though my pickup was not for another two hours. I stayed onboard as long as possible, hanging out in my cabin and then the café to pass the time.

When I disembarked around 11:00, I made my way out to the passenger pickup zone so I could find my driver. There were dozens of people for passengers, with names written on paper or boards. I spent about 30 minutes waiting for my driver, but no one appeared with my name on a paper. The hotel messaged me that the driver had arrived and I discovered that he was waiting outside of the main port entrance, which was only a short walk away. Once I figured out where he was, I was able to quickly find him and we set off for my hotel.

I was spending one night in Mauritius because the only flights departing from the island heading towards southeast Asia were in the early morning, and there was no possibility of making one today. This also gave me some time to enjoy the island on my own as well.

Upon arrival at the hotel I was shown around the property and then told that my room was not quite ready (it was still a bit early for check-in). I left my bag at reception and then settled in at one of the charming lounge areas so I could do some reading. The hotel-resort was not huge, but what it lacked in size it more than made up for in charm. Everyone was very friendly, the public lounge areas were luxurious, and the on-site restaurant had a wonderful selection of food.

I had a nice lunch at the restaurant and was then able to go to my room. It was a comfortable room with good air-con, which was much needed on the hot and humid day. After freshening up in the room, I decided to go out for a little walk in the area near the hotel. There was a small convenience store nearby where I bought some snacks and drinks for the rest of the day. The store also had a large section of souvenirs, so I bought Thinh and myself matching keychains with the dodo bird on them. The dodo had been native to Mauritius and, by the late 1600s, had been hunted to extinction.

Returning to the hotel, I went down to the beach to have a look around. Cyclone Garance had also impacted Mauritius and the beach was strewn with seaweed that had been washed ashore. Thankfully the storm had lessened in strength before making landfall in neighboring Reunion, and only the outskirts of the storm had hit Mauritius.

I had dinner at the hotel restaurant this evening and then spent the night relaxing in my room before bed.
 

Sunday, March 2, 2025

I was up very early this morning so I could take the shuttle to the airport, which was located on the opposite side of the island. The airport was very nice and modern – much nicer than I had anticipated on such a small island! I didn’t have too long to wait there before it was time to board my first flight of the day.

My flight to Bengaluru in India departed at 09:30 and I spent much of the six-hour flight napping and watching movies on my phone. We landed at 17:00 and I had a four-hour layover before catching my next flight. It was good that I had such a long layover because the transit process was a total disaster.

Airline staff were waiting for the transit passengers as we entered the terminal, and they collected all of our boarding passes. We had to wait there for quite a while until the last of the passengers had left the airplane. The staff then walked us over to the transit area, which was only about 100m from where we’d been standing. They proceeded to hand back our boarding passes (why even collect them in the first place?!) and we then had to stand in line for another 30 minutes. When the doors to the transit area opened, an officer examined our boarding passes and passports one-by-one, checking our names off of a list he has in hand. Once that was done, we were told to wait even longer before we could proceed through the security screening (no one understood why we had to stand around waiting for so long – it was getting ridiculous). Finally, we were ushered towards security, where I went through the most ridiculous scanning in any airport that I’ve ever visited. Not only did we have to take out our electronics, but we also had to remove anything with metal from our carryon bags (could their x-ray machines not detect anything at all?!). Since I had so many items with metal on them in my bag, I essentially had to completely empty it out. As my bag went through, I was stopped and made to open my umbrella for the officers – again, could their x-ray machine not adequately scan such things?! It was taking everyone a long time to repack their bags since we’d had to dump everything out, and the security officers were rudely telling us to hurry up. I was exasperated and over this ridiculous transit process by this time.

Once through security, I was able to enter the departures hall itself and made my way to my gate. At 21:15 my flight departed for Singapore!
 

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Port: Nosy Be, Madagascar

Country 136: Madagascar

I was relieved to finally arrive in Madagascar after spending so many days onboard the ship! Our first stop in the country was at Nosy Be, a popular cruise destination on an island off the north coast of Madagascar. We had docked in the bay outside of the city of Hell-Ville (named after a French admiral – though the town is now known as Andoany). This was the new stop on the cruise and I was excited to get out to explore the town on my own.

I took the tender boat across to the port, which was packed with people, locals and passengers alike. As I made my way out of the port, I had to walk by dozens upon dozens of people trying to sell tours, clothing, souvenirs, tuk tuk rides, etc. They were quite relentless at first, but I firmly told them no and continued on my way – and I was glad that they left me alone. There were quite a few other passengers from the ship walking around on their own – they were inescapable everywhere I went in Hell-Ville.

From the port, I walked up a small hill where a small public square was located. A park extended through the city from the square and I decided to walk through it to see more of the city. Locals were everywhere, selling various goods on the street (primarily aimed at tourists). Women sold some beautifully pattered fabrics and clothes, as well as carvings of animals, and various knick-knacks. None of them approached me to sell anything, for which I heaved a sigh of relief. I am such an introvert – I dislike having strangers approach me no matter where I am, whether in a foreign country or at home.

Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in Africa (and indeed the world), and it was sadly evident as I walked through parts of the city. Nosy Be is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the country, so the area benefitted from the influx of tourist money. Due to this, there are several restaurants and cafes dotted across Hell-Ville that cater to foreigners (I saw several pizza places), but in between them were more run-down buildings. Some colonial-era buildings remained as well, though understandably not very well maintained.

I made a circuit through the city center and then decided to find a café where I could hang out. Casa Mofo was a nice looking café with a covered outdoor patio and a large indoor seating area that looked inviting. I ordered a Fanta and some mint ice cream to help cool down on the hot day, and then settled in on the patio to do some reading. The staff were kind and friendly. At first I was the only customer at the café, but others from the cruise soon arrived to enjoy some ice cream as well. The mint ice cream I had was amazing – creamy with strong flavoring!

After about an hour at Casa Mofo, I decided it was time to return to the ship. There was not much to do in Hell-Ville, but I was happy with the time that I had spent there on my own. This was a much better experience than any of the shore excursions that I had taken earlier in the cruise!

When I reached the port, I noticed so many passengers from the ship haggling with street vendors over souvenirs. So many of them had bought similar wood carvings or shirts, which, I admit, were unique and a nice way to remember the place. As I queued up for the tender boat back to the ship, there was a group of local women singing and dancing nearby to entertain the passengers (they were hoping to earn some money as well, which many passengers put in their bag).

I arrived back on the cruise ship too late for the afternoon snacks unfortunately – the scones had become my guilty pleasure, and they were only served in the afternoons. I went back to my cabin to cool down in the air-con before dinner. I decided to try one of the included restaurants for dinner tonight, rather than going to the buffet. The bar in the atrium overlooking the café served dinner and the menu looked decent, so that’s where I ended up eating. I ordered pasta carbonara which ended up being food brought down from the buffet rather than being made by the restaurant. It was so-so, but it lacked any real flavor. This was my biggest complaint about the food on the cruise: while there was a large variety to choose from, virtually nothing had any flavor.

Sunset tonight was very pretty as we anchored off Nosy Be for the night.

 

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Port: Antsiranana, Madagascar

This morning the ship was docked in our second port in Madagascar: Antsiranana. Once again, I had a shore excursion booked for this stop. When I made the booking for the cruise, I had initially picked a different day tour, but once the cruise began, I started to rethink the tour. Luckily the cruise line allowed passengers to change their tours anytime until 24-hours prior to the date, so I changed the tour several days ago. I was initially supposed to take a tour of the rain forest area, but when I discovered that this wouldn’t allow me to see any baobab trees, I switched my booking to the tour that did make the stop. The process was quite easy: I simply stopped by the tour desk and the staff there facilitated the changes, which ended up refunding me a small amount to on my on-board account (the amount refunded nearly covered the cost of the few drinks I had purchased up through that point).

I took the tender boat across to the mainland where I found my tour bus for the day. We set off for a long drive around the area, quickly leaving the town behind. Throughout the drive, I could admire the natural beauty of the region, which was lush and full of vegetation. In the bay sat a small island called Nosy Logo which resembled a small volcano. The bus made a short stop at a lookout point so we could take some photos.

The highlight of today’s tour was when we stopped at a small park to see some baobab trees. Madagascar is famed for their baobab trees and I was a bit gutted to not be able to visit the so-called “Baobab Avenue”, which is a road lined with gigantic trees, but that is located far to the south of the country. Instead, I had to be content with seeing a few smaller trees. When we arrived at the park, street vendors were everywhere hawking their goods. There were already several other tour groups there and many passengers from the ship were buying souvenirs.

The park area was small with a small field where we could walk, but, in the distance, we could clearly see a couple of baobab trees. Our guide suggested that we get closer, but warned that it would be a somewhat difficult hike. To reach the trees, we had to cross what resembled a dry creek bed that required us to go down and up some steep slopes, all while navigating through thick bushes. It definitely wasn’t easy, and several people in the group required assistance, but everyone eventually made it to the trees.

The baobab trees stood next to one another, towering over the surrounding vegetation. Their unique trunks and branches made them stand out from the other trees as well. The trees we were seeing was just one type of baobab – there are eight different species. There were several tourists already at the trees when we arrived, but we all took turns taking pictures. The entire area was very pretty and serene. The group didn’t spend a long time there and soon we had to retrace our steps back to the bus. My legs got a little scratched from the thorny bushes as I jumped and climbed back across the dry creek bed, but not bad enough to draw blood.

The bus continued to drive around the bay towards the second, and final, stop of the day: the beach. Sigh. We arrived at a small hotel where we would be spending the next 90 minutes so people could enjoy the beach. The hotel had a very small seating area for guests with just four tables, which were quickly occupied. I was lucky enough to snag a seat before they were all taken. Everyone was given a voucher for a free drink and snacks at the hotel as well. I got a cold Fanta to drink, but I skipped the snacks. The small buffet of snacks was grim and there was nothing that looked appetizing to me (many people who did get some food ended up not finishing everything). I spent the time watching movies on my phone, counting down the minutes until it was time to leave.

I walked over to the beach, which wasn’t a particularly nice location: it was dirty and full of seaweed, and locals were constantly walking around trying to see things to tourists. The hotel had set aside one guest room where people could change into swimwear. At one point an argument broke out between two women (in different tour groups from my own). Apparently one of the women had decided to take a lengthy shower in the room’s bathroom, preventing the second woman from being able to change her clothes. The hotel had put up several signs stating that using the shower was not permitted, so the first woman was clearly in the wrong. Their argument was the highlight of the visit at the beach.

I returned to the cruise ship in the early afternoon and I was able to nibble on the afternoon snacks at the buffet – more scones! The rest of the day was much the same as others onboard: reading, relaxing, eating. The cruise was nearing it’s end, with only two ports of call remaining.

Friday, February 21 – Monday, February 24, 2025

Port: At Sea and Mombasa, Kenya

Leaving the Seychelles behind, we set off towards mainland Africa, which would take two full days of sailing. I spent the days at sea much as I had during the previous ones: breakfast, reading, lounging, afternoon snacks, walking around the ship, etc. I had managed to develop a rather pleasant routine on board and I didn’t end up getting bored at all, which surprised me.

One night there was a magician performing in the theatre, so I decided to go and check out one of his shows. I didn’t have high expectations, but it was free, so it would help pass some time in the evening. The theatre was very crowded with passengers when the show began. The magician had performed around the world, though it seemed like cruises were his primary gig. He performed some very amusing tricks that were fun to watch. His banter with the audience though was cringey. He tried too hard and was overly sarcastic, which quickly lost any semblance of humor. The crowd, like me, enjoyed his illusions, but people seemed disengaged from his banter.

The best part of having my work pay for the onboard WiFi service (which was provided by Starlink), was that I could chat with Thinh the entire time! We messages throughout the day and night, and had several video calls as well. I could only have WiFi on one device (my computer) and I managed to get WhatsApp Web working there, thankfully. I was missing him like crazy ever since he flew home back in Prague. We both knew that being apart this long would be difficult, but he has always been incredibly supportive of my desire to travel the world. Nevertheless, I was counting down the days until I could fly home and be back together with Thinh.

The next port of call was in Mombasa, Kenya. I had not booked any shore excursions for this port because they were all horrendously expensive! While the ones that I had taken were around $75 each, the ones in Mombasa were $300+ per person and I could not justify spending that much money on a day tour. Besides, I visited Kenya back in 2016 during my safari trip; at that time, I saw and experienced far more than these shore excursions could possibly offer.

My plan was to spend the day onboard the ship, enjoying the relatively empty public areas while everyone was ashore. I was able to spend a long time near the pool, laying back in the cushy chairs while I read my book. The buffet hall was nearly empty when I went to eat, which made it much easier to find a seat. Usually at mealtimes the tables were all occupied, and I often had to circle around in search of an empty table. Later in the afternoon, while I was doing my daily laps, I was able to look down at the cruise port where a group of locals were waiting to both greet and bid farewell to passengers as the came and went. They were dressed in traditional clothing, playing music, and performing a simple dance. It reminded me of a time during my 2016 safari when we had visited a small village – the people living there had done almost the exact same thing.

Our next port was supposed to be in Zanzibar, Tanzania. However, the itinerary had been changed during our days at sea. Several countries in the region have strict health requirements for visitors to enter (for example, yellow fever vaccine). The ship was due to dock in Madagascar after Tanzania, which is where the health issues cropped up. Madagascar had introduced some strict health guidelines for tourists who had visited certain countries prior to arrival, including Tanzania, and these would essentially prohibit the ship from visiting Madagascar if we first went to Tanzania. The ship was basically left with the decision of skipping Tanzania or Madagascar – there was no way for us to visit both as originally intended. The captain had made the decision to therefore skip the stop in Zanzibar. In exchange, we would visit a second port in Madagascar!

I was personally thrilled by this announcement! First, I had not planned on going ashore in Zanzibar (I’ve been there before and thought it was just so-so). Second, Madagascar was going to be a new country for me to visit, so I was happy to have an opportunity to visit more than just one port in the country. Obviously, the news was not as well received among the other passengers, many of whom had been looking forward to their time in Zanzibar. However, the captain made the wisest decision possible given the situation. If we had docked in Zanzibar (and therefore skipped Madagascar), we wouldn’t have any other destinations to add the itinerary to compensate for missing Madagascar. By skipping Zanzibar, it was relatively easy to add the second stop in Madagascar though.

The schedule change resulted in us having an entire day at sea after leaving Mombasa. By this time I was starting to get a little stir crazy from being cooped up on the boat for so long. The four-day stretch of sailing from Dubai to the Seychelles had been long, and I’d had another four full days onboard after leaving La Digue (that was partially my own fault since I skipped Mombasa).

With the addition of a new port, the staff distributed a list of new excursions that passengers could book. Those who had booked excursions would have their payments refunded to their ship account automatically, though it didn’t stop a ton of people from lining up at the reception desk on deck six. I perused the list of new tours, but nothing jumped out at me. I was also wary of paying for another tour that would turn out to be a disappointment, like all of the previous shore excursions. In the end, I opted to not sign up for anything new and to just spend the day walking around the town on my own when we arrived.

I was eager to arrive in Madagascar so I could both visit a new country and get off of the ship!

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.