Around the World. Week 19 Wrap Up

I blinked and another week was over. Even with an unexpected sea day, I still fell like there was so much packed into these 7 days!

Schedule

• Day 127 / May 13: At Sea

• Day 128 / May 14: Maputo, Mozambique

• Day 129 / May 15: Durban, South Africa

• Day 130 / May 16: Durban, South Africa

• Day 131 / May 17: At Sea

• Day 132 / May 18: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

• Day 133 / May 19: Mossel Bay, South Africa At Sea

  
  

Day 127 / May 13: At Sea

Given the majority of the passengers are now Around the World cruisers who have been on the ship for over 100 days, the Cruise Director and Staff are trying to figure out new shows they can help spice up our itinerary with. Today, they added a mid-day game show called The Liar’s Club. The basics were a lot like the game Balderdash where the panel had to define a word that no one has ever heard of, with only one of the panel giving the correct answer. However, the game was for the teams in the audience to guess which one was telling the truth. The panel consisted of the Cruise Director, the current onboard speaker, a Guest Comedian, and the Future Cruise Consultant. Basically, each one took the opportunity to tell the most ridiculous story or joke that was tangentially related to their definition, having us all laughing at each answer. There were five (5) rounds of this madness. My team got 4 out of the 5 correct! So we all earned 3 Big O points!

For those of you wondering what Big O points are since I rarely mention them, passengers receive them for winning or participating in different activities. At the end of each segment, you can turn them in for different Oceania Cruise swag. For the Around the World passengers, we’re told we should save up because they will have special swag for us at the end of our entire journey as we return back to Miami. Some passengers have over 2,000 points. I just broke 30. Obviously, it is not one of my top priorities to collect more stuff.

We had another Solo Dinner meetup today, which included cocktails in Horizons and dinner at the Grand Dining Room. Afterwards, the evening entertainment was the Sister Violinists again. This show was more pop-rock music instead of focusing on their classical genre like they did last show.

Day 128 / May 14: Maputo, Mozambique

We arrived into Mozambique late-morning. The sun was peaking through the clouds as we docked. Once the ship was cleared, the storm clouds moved in and never left.

I had planned on a Walking Tour, thinking that would help give my bearings to the city and then I could go wander afterwards. Turns out, the tour wasn’t scheduled to start until after 2pm. With an All-Aboard time of 5:30pm, it meant I was not going to have time to wander afterwards and with the rain, it meant I was not going wandering beforehand either. So I stayed onboard for the morning.

Eventually, it was time to go and the rain had not let up. Deciding it was still worth exploring the city, even if we got soaked, I headed to the terminal to meet with the group.

Our guide, Orlando, was the most animated one I’ve had yet. When we got to the Historical Fort, there was a room that contained a couple dozen models depicting the history of Mozambique and he took his time to explain era about their history, with very exaggerated motions and vocal inflections. It was great!

We trudged through the rain to a nearby restaurant where we were served coffee and a pastry. It seemed like all the tour groups were there, not just the walking tours, so they crammed us in and cleared us out quickly to be able to seat the next round.

Continuing our adventure, next stop was the Central Market. Here is where many vendors sell produce and various foods, similar to other markets we’ve visited to day, but in the very back, there were also wig shops with racks of hanging hair displayed. It was a bit of a surprise to be looking at piles of vegetables and then turn to see what looked like backs of heads staring into a window. (Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of that…) One other memorable part of this market is how persistent many men were to sell you a magnet or figurine. We were swarmed from the time we got in to when we left.

Back into the rivers and lakes on the roads, we treaded past a very beautiful yellow mosque. Again, the guide animatedly explained the history and culture, which I completely ignored because I was just laughing at how much water was flowing through the gutters and onto the streets.

Finally, we were headed to the last stop. Up until this time, the insides of my shoes and more importantly, my socks had stayed dry. However, one miscalculation of the water depth changed that for the worse as the mucky liquid surged over the edge, filling all voids and soaking my feet. (Side tangent - My shoes are Vessi, which is a Canadian brand that markets waterproof, fashionable, and comfortable walking shoes. I bought them last fall and so far, they have lived up to the reputation! Highly recommend even in the current soaked state.)

Ok, so last stop was the Train Station, which is considered one of the most beautiful in the world. It was built in the early 1900s and features quite a bit wrought-iron latticework. After a tour and more lively explanations, Orlando herded us to an awaiting bus. Apparently the tour company decided that the walking tours had soaked enough and came to collect us to take us back to the ship.

For the whole time, I don’t know who was more on display - Us looking at the locals or the locals looking at this crazy group of mostly Americans, with their blue and white striped Oceania golf umbrellas, trekking in a single file line through the streets in ankle deep lakes and rivers that were gushing down towards the already over-full drains. I’m sure we left more questions that good impressions.

Back on the ship, the Production Cast entertained us with Headliners. This is a show that consists of songs from all Legends. Don’t ask me who those people are because as the Trivia games have confirmed, I still know very little about music or musicians.

Day 129 / May 15: Durban, South Africa

My absolute favorite ship event happened today! It’s Country Fair day!!!

If for some reason you have not read about this before now, Country Fair includes silly games put on by each ship department for the passengers to earn a raffle ticket or three. When you complete a challenge, you get to enter your ticket for a chance to win some Oceania swag, including beach bags, champagne, and other branded logo. I had only completed some of the games and was hopeful that one ticket was enough to win the very adorable plush sea turtle. Turns out, it was not. I technically won nothing. Not a thing, again. However, there was someone near me who did win a bag full of nice trinkets that turned around and gave it to me. While I’m still zero for eight (8) in terms of luck, I now have two other passengers’ stuff that they passed on to me after a win!

Anyone remember the great Malaria Pill incident back in Brazil?? Where I almost died?? Yeah, so I tried again. This time with a different prescription, but one that advertises less side effects. Woo hoo, I survived! No side effects!! Take that mosquitos!

Middle of the day event was a Murder Mystery Game!! I was definitely all in until I realized it was an individual game where the bulk required you to know a song title based a quickly played song. Out of 25 opportunities, I was able to guess 5…. BUT I did get the murderer correct! So at least that counts for something!

Technically we were docked in Durban today, but didn’t get in until 5pm and we had to process through immigration, so the earliest I could have gotten off the ship was about 7pm. However, they announced that due to the risk in the area, they would close the port access from 11pm to 6am, highly recommending that no one go out alone. Therefore, I stayed on the ship for the evening.

Finishing the day, I had to say goodbye to more friends. Because Durban was the same date as the original Dubai, many of the officers and crew were expected to exchange to keep with the original rotation plans.

Day 130 / May 16: Durban, South Africa

Finally time for the animals! I took an excursion to the Tala Game Reserve, which advertised to have a good variety of animals; not all of the Big 5 though.

Upon arrival, the guides sorted us into 4x4 trucks, which took a bit of rock climbing skills to get up into. The seat I ended up in was right next to the door, which was latched with a piece of wire. This bit of information becomes important later in the ride. But we were off! The excursion blurb mentions this trip is not recommended for people with back issues and we understood why as we bounced along with each deep hole along the path.

We saw zebras and wildebeests and antelope and ostriches and giraffes and rhinos and tons of birds. My favorite was definitely the giraffes as they walked among the trucks. Someone mentioned it was like Jurassic Park, but lucky for us, the ending was not the same.

The ride took about 2 hours and at some points, the truck was off-roading so much, it leaned pretty heavily to the right, which is the side I was sitting on. Just on the other side of the door was a marsh, so I had to hold on very tightly because none of us were confident that the wire would actually hold the door closed. Thankfully, the route leveled out and the risk of becoming very up close and personal with some of the animals was over.

Back at the reception area, they served us coffee and snacks. Since we’ve been heading south (away from the equator), the weather has cooled down quite a bit and in the open Jeeps, it was pretty chilly, so the hot coffee was a much welcomed treat!

That evening, I was in one of my hermit moods where I just wanted to stay in after a hot shower. However, I had planned to go to the show that evening since I had met the group the night prior and said I would. So I forced myself to get cleaned up and head to dinner. Very much wanting to turn left to get pizza to go, I managed to turn right to Terrace so that I would stay out of my cabin. Heading to our normal spot on the back deck, I somehow managed to catch the edge of one of the rugs with my toe just by the buffet tables and slow motion plummeted to the floor. There was nothing in sight to catch myself except for the very hard ground. Luckily, nothing was sprained, broken, or potentially going to be swollen, except I walked away with a pretty bruised ego and soon-to-be-bruised hip. However, I survived. (Post edit note - Oceania medical did call me the next day to ensure I was really okay, so that was nice, except it did extend my embarrassment a bit longer…)

I did go to the show! They are a Frankie Valli cover group, so I knew a few of the songs. It was a lot of fun to photograph this group!

Finally to end the night, I finished another book. This one was recommended by another passenger. It’s called Look What You Made Me Do by Nikki Smith. All I’ll say is this book is not my typical preferred genre. While it had me wanting to finish the book to find out what happened in the end, the whole time I was reading it, I was stressed out.

Day 131 / May 17: At Sea

Even though I stayed up way past midnight to finish the book, I still woke up at my normal early morning, so headed to the Solo Breakfast. Those are enjoyable to attend because it’s the only time I actually eat breakfast in the Main Dining Room. They have a nice menu that includes a smoked salmon eggs benedict. It’s my favorite thing to have there.

Following breakfast, I did my chores, which is sometimes funny to say while I’m supposedly on vacation. Chores equates to doing laundry and tidying up my room. Then I took a nap.

The rest of the day was like normal sea days. I went to play pickleball, headed to Red Ginger for dinner, and finished with the evening show. It’s nice once in a while to not have a crazy story to tell for a whole day. I should try it more often… but that would be a very boring read for all of you.

Day 132 / May 18: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Today started early with a planned 8-hour excursion to the Schotia Safaris Game Reserve. Thankfully, the bus ride was under an hour to get there! As we were coming into the park, they sent around a form to divide ourselves into trucks. When we got out of the bus, it became a free-for-all to find a guide and a group, but we did manage to keep our original group once we found an unclaimed guide. It was a little bit chaotic, but we quickly sorted it out.

Once on the trucks, we headed into the park and almost immediately a massive elephant approached the pod of trucks that had collected at an intersection. He satisfied his curiosity and decided that we weren't worth much, so left us by sashaying his truck in the opposite direction. As he left, we spotted another one eating closer to the road, so we moved to him. We watched as he used his massive trunk to rip out full trees and crush the trunks into his mouth. They were just so giant!

Along with the Big 5 Animals, Africans have also named the Ugly 5: the Warthog, Wildebeest, Spotted Hyena, Marabou Stork and the Vulture. We were able to see tons of Wildebeests. Although, I actually think they look pretty cool with their big rounded horns and goat-like chin hairs. Especially when they are silhouetted against the bright blue sky.

There were also quite a few warthogs around. The guide explained that while they have a great defense mechanism with their horns to protect themselves against the lions, they are idiots because they almost immediately forget that they are in danger after surviving a lion attack. So in Round 2, they normally lose.

Speaking about lions and warthogs, the main event for the day was during our own lunch. Earlier in the day, we saw a lioness start a hunt, but she never made the final attack so we had moved on to see other animals. After arriving at the hut for lunch, a commotion started with people exclaiming that "she got it". I just happened to be sitting in the most perfect place to capture a photo of the lioness who had just captured a baby warthog.

After the kill, her brother came and stole it from her and finished eating it under a tree. Apparenlty that's how it goes with lions. The females do all the hunting and the males eat first. Once the brother was full, the two lionesses were able to eat the very few remaining scraps. The guide expected they would need to hunt again soon to feed themselves a larger meal.

Even after all of that, I still went to Jacques for dinner followed by another show by The Other Guys.

Day 133 / May 19: Mossel Bay, South Africa At Sea

As we came into the Mossel Bay Area, the seas were swollen and when the familiar Ding Dongs came across into the state rooms, we all knew what came next. The port was canceled due to unsafe tendering operations. Another unexpected sea day, which for me meant to turn off my alarm and go back to sleep!

After heading out around the ship and not seeing many folks out and about, I landed in Horizons to read for a bit. Due to the crazy swells and therefore, bouncing front end of the ship, I realized that was not a great place to stay for long and headed back to my cabin for some Ginger Ale.

Eventually it was time for the final production show of the segment - Our World. It's still my favorite of the four (4) production shows, but sadly, it's always followed by the Crew Salute. Tonight, that included saying goodbye to the General Manager, Evan, who has been very helpful and kind since he's been on.

And with that, it's a wrap for Week 19 as well!

#2026aroundtheworldcruise