Cape Town to Singapore cruise

[no fuss travel]

I am still totally jet lagged as we just got home yesterday from our holiday so will make a few comments about the cruise.

Embarkation was very smooth and well done. We did all private tours and after listening to several of my ship mates were glad that we had arranged our own tours. If you do a safari prior to sailing, then don't waste your time doing the safaris offered by the ship or privately arranging on your own. The viewing times due to the times in port are not the best for seeing animals. Also the drives to the parks is something else, particularly Mombasa. They play chicken on the roads while driving. It was more than a bit nerve wracking. They pass on hills without being able to see what is over the crest of the hill, over solid lines, when trucks are heading towards you and it does not look as if there is enough space for you to pass safely. It does not matter if you are on a large bus or a smaller tour bus, the drivers all drive the same way. The Oceania tour was late getting back to the ship as the traffic is horrendous. Everyone else made it back before the assigned boarding time, but the last Oceania tour pulled in at 7:10 pm, 40 minutes after boarding time. They had a police escort to get them through the traffic, otherwise the tour bus would have been even later. Oceania does offer a tour that overnights for a safari and everyone that went on that or did it themselves really enjoyed that excursion as they were out at the right times of the day to see the animals.

Penang traffic is awful. All one way streets with bumper to bumper traffic. One of my tour mates stated that it was worse than driving in New York City where he was from. We had to cancel part of what we wanted to do as we simply could not get everything done due to traffic congestion. Part of the problem was that we arrived in port just in time for Chinese New Year.

Speaking of Chinese New Year, most of the cities were beautifully decorated for the celebration. We saw dragon dances, Chinese entertainment, special gifts for the new year and lots of families celebrating the holiday.

Cape Town is beautiful. We were on a pre-arranged private tour so covered a lot of area. The only problem was that the clouds moved in and we could not see the top of Table Mountain for the four days we were there. It also rained when we went to see the penguins and by the time you got back to your bus, you were soaked, but it was still fun. We had lunch at several restaurants while there and the food is fantastic. The food at the Radisson Blu Hotel was better than the Nautica's food especially for breakfast.

The one port I would not get off the ship for ever again is Mozambique. You were hounded by street vendors, the traffic was horrendous, and the city is not as clean as South African cities. Lots of litter and pot holes. Poverty was very noticeable. The poverty was not as bad as I have seen elsewhere in the world, but you see how the very rich live versus the majority of the people and there is a huge discrepancy.

We were so busy with tours that we did not shop for much, good for the pocket book, but you walked away thinking I really should buy something to help the economy.

Zanzibar had the best snorkelling. The coral has not died off and was beautiful. The tour guide we used here was exceptional and the lunch provided was good.