October 10, 2022, Fort Lauderdale, USA

Two plus years later and the day has arrived, the Grand African Voyage. We decided to keep it simple and more or less stay on board. With our, in transit, passes on hand we headed down to the Wajang Theatre and escorted off the ship at about 9:45, waited about a half hour and then headed back on - well not directly on, we were told of a waiting room with good wifi, 7 days at sea you know, time to download a few movies, shows etc.

We met many cruise friends while in this wifi waiting room, so it turned out to be a great way to greet people, we were like a welcoming committee. Fun. Back on board we headed to the Mariner Lunch, hmm, same menu as before, hmm. In our stateroom we were given a card that we were to present at the lunch for a free glass of bubbly, this was nice. Strange though, no Mariner Welcome reception? On our 9 day shuttle cruise we had a Mariner Reception, hmmm, something doesn’t feel right here. Other than the Grand African logo showing up on our printed material, this “Grand Voyage” seems a little bit more hype than delivered. We then checked the front of the ship for the flagship logo, ah, seems pretty white up here, no logo which is a fixture on all Grand Voyages. Then we had a hour line up at the front desk to deal with a wifi issue. The pre boarding package we purchased did not activate, so the person at the desk told me to repurchase the package (at the on board rate) and they would reverse the charge, six hours later and the charge is still on the bill, guess where I need to go back to tomorrow, oh what fun. I was going to deal with it after the show tonight but there was still a half line at guest services. I know all first world problems. I had some fun with the Apple Tags today though, after I had some wifi, hey, let’s check where the luggage is. The map came and I followed along to the side of the ship and looky there, there was one of our pieces on the top of the luggage cart like a cherry on top of a sundae, these Apple Tags work great, love ‘em.

Back to our room tonight and waiting for us was a letter from the new President of HAL, a nice touch. So, my take on what is happening has to do with Covid and the ship trying to limit super spreader situations. For the first 7 days masks are mandatory inside and if there are large gatherings outside. This ship does not want a repeat event from the Voyage of the Vikings, well nobody does. I remain cautiously optimistic that the bang will return to this amazing adventure we are on. Oh this just in, we are returning to port for a medical evacuation, oh boy, we all feel for this person and traveling companions. Travel when you healthy folks, you never know, you wait two years for this cruise and this happens, thoughts and prayers. And no this will not effect our timing to our first port, the ship can easily make up this time. Insert dark humour here, A person at the table behind us said to the waiter as the ship was turning around, “hey, I thought this was a 71 day cruise, not a 71 minute one”. 

Fair winds and following seas to us as we head across the Atlantic Ocean. Only a few pics of the day, hopefully our internet connection will remain strong as we cross (I use the word, strong, very loosely).

A Very Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family back home in Canada, yes they had a Turkey dinner on the menu tonight. Yum…