Morocco Malta and the Med: Between Tunis and Algiers, A Day at Sea
Awaiting the Sunrise and anticipating a quiet day.
We are mostly of a demographic, the 900 odd passengers on the Viking Saturn, and the pace has us wearing a little around the edges. Today, the washing machines in the laundry started very early, according to the woman whose cabin is across the hall from the laundry room.
We were in the back of a Land Rover heading into Wadi Rum a couple years ago, on a Oceania trip that went from Barcelona with stops en route to Haifa and the entrance to the Suez Canal, through the Canal and down the Red Sea turning east at Yemen to get to Oman, and eventually Abu Dhabi. We hadn’t been on the ship all that long, maybe a week. One of our companions bouncing around in the back of the Land Rover had been on the same ship as the Captain several times, and told us the Captain said that the worst problem cruise ships have to deal with is passengers getting bored.
They are contained. They rush rush rush at each port and then a day at sea seems very long. He was telling us this because we were approaching four concurrent days at sea. I guess they didn’t want to stop in Saudi Arabia, or the Sudan, or Yemen, LOL.
The ship has a lot going on this sea day – several scheduled tours of the Bayeux Tapestry panels, which has proven very popular, and two or three other lectures, trivia games, movies, tea in the Winter garden. My husband and I sleep in, have a lazy breakfast and then we hit the spa. We love the spa. I love trying to swim against the waves and turbulence and hitting the snow room, and then flopping on a lounge and falling into a deep stuporous slumber. Then, when I gather the energy, I head upstairs and hit my book.
I should be taking notes, or something, I am sure, but I am happy just to have a day off.
Many passengers are a-twitter about the announcement that in Algeria, we can only get off the ship in official organized groups, and that those groups will be accompanied by armed guards. Actually, before the ship sailed, we got e-mails explaining the situation, and I think most didn’t pay any attention. We changed our tour from the panoramic tour, after which we intended to take off on our own and explore the Kasbah. Once we learned that wasn’t going to be possible, we booked the walking tour of the Kasbah. We think you see and experience more on the ground.
We think this is going to be interesting. We were never allowed to go to Algeria when we lived in Tunis. It was considered too dangerous.
😁😳😎🥸
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