Month: February 2024

After 7 sea days across the Indian ocean, we are excited to be on solid ground today. … Because after this, 5 more sea days…

We decided to take it very easy, not join any excursions, just be on our own and explore….

First stop is a beach called Mont Choisy…. There are many beaches but our taxi driver helped us pick one and it’s a beautiful one…. Not too commercial not too touristy

People here mostly speaks French and then English… Lots of soft spoken people and a lot of Indian, Chinese and creole influence… When we pulled in the Port we were surprised to see many Taiwanese fishing boats at the harbor flying Taiwanese flag! Apparently Mauritius is an important international seaport base for Taiwan… Traffic is very congested in the city area

Fresh seafood meal and mojito for lunch….. There are many sugar plantation on the island and the major ingredient of Mojito is rum which is made from sugar molasses… Thus mojito is big here 

We checked out their central market and lots of fruits look familiar….. Love how they carve mini pineapples that are palm size into a swirl

Now we cannot visit Mauritius without mentioning the dodo bird… It went extinct since 1681 due to over harvestation but somehow the memory of these adorable birds lives on and grew strong…. Now it’s the national mascot and ambassadors of Mauritius… In the city, almost Every where you turn there’s either a statue of it or a merchandise of it….

Goodbye Mauritius…

Thankfully no cabin fevers yet…. How can one get bored when nature puts out  spectacular shows daily …

We managed to know 45 fellow passengers name out of around 2000 on day 41…already a record for us and for someone who are both really not very sociable… Cant help to seek comradity and connections with others, after all we are “on the same boat”!!… That said. So today is especially ” chatty” for us.  In the morning, ran into  Tiara ( one of the amazing resident singer on the production show), thanking her for her great performance.. And later chat with our cabin attendant Grandeur from Philippines about bats (apparently our encounter with one the other day excites him), and then while we are at the stairs we met Grant the Royal butler from England  that we mentioned from 3 days ago and chat even more, from his busy schedules to the Queen’s coogis, and then while we are at the excursion desk, Jessica the amazing ship destination expert (she’s from Australia) praise the shirt P bought in Figi… And all these before lunch and they are either crew or entertainers… We did not even add in fellow passengers that we ran in and talk to and wave to….. Cruise ship living put you into a special laboratory situation where you can experiment with different sides of you. Super fun!

In order to keep us busy, many activities has been arranged and R had selected to do ukelele and flash mob dance practices and performance, yes, they want to schedule performances for everything you learn on ship… Many hours were spent on rehearsing and practice…. Although quite exhausting but fun for sure…..we need a vacation from our vacation….

Looks like we passed through stormy seas and the sun and humidity is out in full force

And then we were told that we might cross path with space debris within the next 24 hours… How exciting 😜

Some fun things going on in the ship

One of the enrichment class today is a talk by a Former Butler to King Charles III…. Heard he is also going to do classes on etiquettes…. Someone asks him what is a day like in the royal palace and he said it’s kind of like on the ship.. Preparations for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and midnight supper 😆…. We really felt treated like royalties on Princess Cruises

Another sea day… Nothing much to share, only the spectacular show put up by the horizon.. So here’s more pics of sun and moon and clouds

“I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at ALL”

                                                    … Joni Mitchell

Meanwhile someone is having a little fun with deck towels

There’s a new enrichment talk by a Captain Chris Rigby and he had 10 sessions prepared to talk about the history of Aviation…. Great presentations!! Today’s topic is his analysis on what he thinks happened to flight MH370…. Cant wait…

Almost full moon again…

Below are two shots from today at the same time

Moon rise on the right of the balcony

This leg of the trip is super tough and it’s all because of the reroute from red sea to south Africa (we blame it on the Houthis).. 7 sea days to Mauritius and then 5 sea days to Cape Town…. We are crossing the Indian ocean now after crossing the Pacific ocean…. The crews are all working very hard to throw in as many activities as possible and here’s today’s platter just to show what they are…

Took  a 40 min train from Fremantle to downtown Perth,, the students on the train were probably wondering why there are so many foreigner’s on the train this morning 🤔….. There are many super tall and lean people in Australia, and Perth is more obvious…. Also city of Perth is much more lay back than Sydney or Melbourne

P got a nice haircut while I enjoyed a wonder coffee at downtown Perth… Win win!!

Back to Fremantle and found this seaside town absolutely charming with beautiful architecture and small seaside town vibe…packed with small cafes, pubs, thrift shops (called opportunity shops in Australia) novelty stores… Many Asian themed restaurants as well

Enjoyed Happy hour by the Bathers beach while P took a dip 

After Fremantle /Perth, it will be 7 sea days before we reached Mauritius…. Last night after we return from the nightly show, we had a surprise guest…..

Yesterday evening they did an Australian party and the band is playing music by all Australian singers….. Includes Those we are familiar with : Olivia Newton John, Kylie Minogue, Bee gees… And some only familiar to P : AC/DC, INXS, man at work…whenever there’s a chance for party dancing we will always try to join since no one knows us here and we can go all out and crazy 🤪

We can see that the weather is getting nicer and nicer as we are getting closer to Perth…