LIVE from the 2018 HAL Grand World Voyage!

Who is this?

The groundhog who predicted 6 more weeks of winter back on Groundhog Day (February 2).

Sounds like another wonderful day.

Keith

To anyone who has taken a Grand Voyage and had their luggage shipped at HAL's expenses: I know that the FedEx pick-up is usually around two weeks prior to sailing (?), but how and when are the necessary shipping documents sent to us - by U.S. mail, e-mail,or what? Deciding when I need to be in town to accept them. I don't trust the USPS forwarding service.

An arrest warrant was issued this morning for Punxsutawney Phil.

That critter should have been dealt with years ago!;)

Victoria, Seychelles – March 25, 2018

After taking some pictures from my deck, I decided I needed a bite to eat. On many of the all day tours lunch is not until 2 or 3 in the afternoon and I can get very hungry. I had two glasses of juice and a not so wonderful roll and headed to the Queen’s Lounge for my tour.

When I arrived I found that Cyndi and Ed were taking the same tour (Mahe Discovery) so we made sure we were on the same bus. Mahe is the largest of the Seychelles, where the majority of the people live, and where the capital city (Victoria) is located.

The tour was listed as 7.5 hours but it ended up being 7.75 hours. A few facts about the Seychelles…

• There are three official languages – French, English, and Seychellois Creole

• 76% of the population is Roman Catholic

• There is a population of only about 94,000

• 115 islands make up the country that became independent (from the UK) in 1976

• Average temperatures range from 75F-88F but today the high was about 92

• Cinnamon and vanilla are still produced here but tourism is the main industry

We started with a hot, half-hour or so walk at the Botanical Gardens where we saw the coco de mer palm tree. The fruit take 6-7 years to mature and have the largest seed of any plant. We also saw some of the Aldabra giant tortoises. Our guide, MaryLise, pointed out the fruit bats high in the trees.

Our second stop was for some walking through the capital city of Victoria which is the smallest capital city in the world. We walked through the market but most of it had closed at noon because it was Saturday.

As we headed out of town we stopped at the Craft Village. Unfortunately, most of the buildings were under renovation and we only had a few minutes to shop.

It was by then 2pm and we stopped at a Double Tree hotel for lunch and (if you wanted) a swim in the infinity pool or the Indian Ocean. There was a delicious buffet and free wi-fi but I had not brought along my iPad. I was one of the few whose eyes were not glued to an electronic device!

We left at 4 pm and headed on a scenic drive along the coast and up into the mountains. Our last stop was at Mission Lodge where there was a school for the children of freed slaves back in the 1800s. The steps were steep, eneven, and there was no hand rail so I opted to stay on the bus.

Back to the ship about 6:15. There were stalls set up so I decided to see if there was anything else I wanted to buy.

Returned to the ship at 6:45 and since I had already decided to eat in the Lido, I dropped my purchases and headed there. Tonight was a Seafood Grill Dinner with special glasses and tablecloths. The crew were dressed for the event, too. Lobster, crab legs, shrimp and other seafood was available.

At 9:30 pm there was a “Creole Cultural Cabaret”. Lots of happy music and dancing.

Watched the sail-away from my deck and then came in for a shower and to write the blog. The pictures will have to wait until tomorrow (actually later today since it after 1 am) because every time I stop typing I nod off. Check back for the pictures.

To anyone who has taken a Grand Voyage and had their luggage shipped at HAL's expenses: I know that the FedEx pick-up is usually around two weeks prior to sailing (?), but how and when are the necessary shipping documents sent to us - by U.S. mail, e-mail,or what? Deciding when I need to be in town to accept them. I don't trust the USPS forwarding service.

they are sent by fedex to your door.

The groundhog who predicted 6 more weeks of winter back on Groundhog Day (February 2).

Thank you for your explanation.

Wonderful report.

I envey how you endure all these long tour days. Not having lunch until 2 or 3 -- not good for us.

Can wait for pictures.

The sounds of that seafood buffet -- we would love that.

Pretty sure Bruce&CJ are on this cruise. We are sailing with them on a 14 day Alaska cruise in May.

That sounded like a wonderful tour.

Thank you for sharing the details.

Keith

What an interesting day you had, Kathi.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Yum on the seafood in the Lido for dinner, too. Sounds scrumptious :D

Pictures are finally up. The Wi-Fi has been horrible today. It took me five tries to get all the pictures up because it kept cutting out.

Sorry to hear that the Internet is bad today.

Great pictures. Thank you for all your effect to get them posted.

they are sent by fedex to your door.

Thank you. But how far in advance of sailing are they usually sent?

At Sea – March 25, 2018

There was no water aerobics today so I was able to sleep until 9:30 (I didn’t go to bed until 1:30).

On the way to Sit and Stitch I checked out the deck sale (did not purchase anything) and picked up a glass of orange juice.

We had about 10 people stitching. I usually leave at 11:30 to go to trivia but today trivia was in the Crow’s Nest because of the silent auction.

We had ten correct but the winning team had 14 (we did not live up to our name today).

1)In Greek mythology, how many Olympian Gods were there?

2)Which Saturday Night Live star was the voice of Shrek?

3)How many mother sauces are there in classical French cuising?

4)Broomball is played on what surface?

5)What is a group of monkeys called?

After trivia I checked out the silent auction. The proceeds are going to Mondesa Youth Opportunities in Namibia. This group provides afternoon enrichment programs for promising disadvantaged children. I bid on a few watercolors by fellow passengers and received a phone message this afternoon that I had won one of them.

We received a notice a few days ago that Mozambique has started charging $75 for a visa. If you were not going ashore, you did not have to pay. Over the last few days I have heard many people say that they were not that interested in Mozambique anyway so they were staying onboard. The government may decide that charging cruise passengers that much is counter productive.

Ate lunch with Cyndi and Ed and then we made a beaded necklace. For the last month or so Nancy has had some jewelry projects where you make one part on the first day and you bring it back and you automatically get to do the second day’s project. The idea was to cut down on the number of people who come and sit in the Lido for an hour or two waiting to be sure they can do the day’s craft. Evidently there has been some complaints about this and Nancy announced today that it is back to first-come, first-served.

Took two books (one I finished and one I did not care for) to the book exchange. Unfortunately, I found two others that look interesting. That was not part of my master plan to not bring home any books!

I spent most of my free time trying to get my pictures on the blog. The wi-fi was not cooperating. I would get on and then a minute later lose the signal. I finally got all loaded at 6 pm.

We only had 12 out of 17 correct for afternoon trivia (the winners had 15).

1)The Bermuda Bowl is the World Championship of what?

2)What nation produces the most major league baseball players per capita?

3)What is Chubby Checkers real name?

4)From 1993-2001, what was the world’s most expensive city?

5)What two states have three consecutive vowels in their name? (We misunderstood and thought he asked for three and we went nuts trying to find the third.)

When I returned to my cabin I noticed that the LRADs had been dismantled and the bases are covered. We must be out of pirate territory.

After getting ready for dinner I went to SINGO with Jamm. I have needed only one number on my card for the last three times I’ve played and it never comes up.

I did something at dinner tonight I never thought I would do - I bought a wine package. I don’t care for most wines but the glass of muscato the other night was so good I decided to buy the package. All of us were back together for dinner tonight. I had fruit, black bean soup (which was not very good – give me Panera’s any day), barbecue pork ribs (which were great), and a mandarin sundae.

Skipped the show which was some kind of comedian who I had heard yelling for the last 30 minutes.

Another sea day tomorrow.

Morning trivia…

1)12

2)Mike Myers

3)5

4)ice

5)troop

Afternoon trivia…

1)bridge

2)Dominican Republic

3)Ernest Evans

4)Tokyo

5)Hawaii and Louisiana

Smooth sailing until next time!

Thank you. But how far in advance of sailing are they usually sent?

This varied greatly for our roll call. Some only got theirs a few days before the pick up and others (like me) had them for well over a month. As I recall (which could be faulty), mine came the end of October for a December 18 pick-up.

Pictures are finally up. The Wi-Fi has been horrible today. It took me five tries to get all the pictures up because it kept cutting out.

I so feel your pain with this Kathi :(

thank you for persevering and sharing with us. Your pics and posts are always a joy.

This varied greatly for our roll call. Some only got theirs a few days before the pick up and others (like me) had them for well over a month. As I recall (which could be faulty), mine came the end of October for a December 18 pick-up.

Thanks, Kathi. Just trying to map out our summer schedule.

Love your review.

Sorry that your craft session for some days will be a free-for-all and some people may not be able to finish matching items.

Do you realize how much paper we go through doing the Trivia questions? We each have our own paper to write down our answers while I read the questions out loud. DH writes LARGE!!

Hi Kathi! Been reading your blog and so appreciative that you take the time to do it and post pictures! I also love that HAL does the arts and crafts and the items are so cute; is it free or is there a fee? Any word on the WC 2020? Will you be doing that as well?

Pretty sure Bruce&CJ are on this cruise. We are sailing with them on a 14 day Alaska cruise in May.

They are.

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Hi Kathi! Been reading your blog and so appreciative that you take the time to do it and post pictures! I also love that HAL does the arts and crafts and the items are so cute; is it free or is there a fee? Any word on the WC 2020? Will you be doing that as well?

I'm very interested in that as well. Right now I'm leaning towards half of Crystal's and half of Cunard's (they visit Sydney 3 days apart) but I want to see what HAL has as well.

Scrapnana will surely correct me but I don't think there's a fee for the crafts. Perhaps if there was a fee it wouldn't be quite such a free for all.

Roy

They are.

 

 

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Tell them I said hi. :)

I’d like to but sadly I disembarked in Hong Kong

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Kathi, sorry to see that the craft classes are still causing some problems for those who want to attend. However, I feel that the fact that so many want to attend them is proof of what a great job Nancy Grace and Mary have done both in developing the types of projects they did and in the quality of the projects. I sure hope HAL appreciates that fact.

We really miss our trivia teammates but see that you guys are continuing to fight the good fight to come in first more than a couple of times (lol).

How is the guy doing who was interviewing trivia team members prior to boarding the cruise?