Cruise day 1

[fbhjr]

I had thought this ship would have a photo center as the last ship we were on with this company did. But, I guess that’s only “expedition” cruises. So, still not having luck uploading the photos.
(If I had brought the laptop, it would have been fine, but I was all “it’s so heavy”. And, to be honest, I don’t like lugging it around…)

Our first day of the cruise, the ship was still in the same port where we got on. But, this time we had a tour: https://phezulusafaripark.co.za
We had the Zulu dancing show and the reptile park.

The Zulu show was interesting, but not for the reasons intended.
These folks did a great show, it was interesting, fun, and at least a bit entertaining.
But, it was so much like watching a ren faire show back home that we were able to call out what was going to happen next, who was in which role and when the tip bucket would be produced.
My wife even talked to one of the dancers about it and showed him a photo of us at a faire and he said something along the lines of “well, you know what this is like…”

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. I just would have liked something a bit more in depth.

The reptile park was OK. I’ve got nothing against reptiles. But, when one of the exhibits is the kind of snake you used to have as a pet? Maybe not so exciting. And, “Alligators imported all the way from America!” Yeah, that’s nice.
For the “now you pet the turtles” part, I actually saw turtles turn and run from the tourists. I did not chase them. Even at Gatorland in Florida you’re given food for them. He it is “go pet them!”
It was interesting to see the mambas. They had both black and green. And a variety of other venomous snakes. Some I hadn’t seen before. (The rattlesnake imported from America… )

In the evening they had a “chocolate extravaganza” on the pool deck. That was all kinds of chocolate deserts while people sang disco hits from 40-50 years ago and danced at you.
It was good desert.

My wife and I are below the average age here, even with me now 60. So, I’m sure that the disco music was the music of their youth as well as mine. A good portion of the folks watching seemed to know the lyrics. And, I did too. Even if it reminded me of a high school dance from the 70’s.
I will say the dancers were better. Flips, handstands and such on a moving deck? That’s pretty good. Not sure the best use of that skill is YMCA, but they’re getting paid for it, so good for them.

Strangle the ship rocks much more than the one we took to Antarctica. There we had 5 meter waves. Here they are about half a meter, so 1/10 of the size, but the ship moves more.
Not sure why. Maybe the icebreaker class they sent us on in the south had much bigger stabilizers…

The other thing that is strange to me here is folks are very friendly. Not just the ones who work here, which was true on the other ship.
The ship to Antarctica was full of assholes.
Here, everyone says hi. The folks in the next balcony chatted with us for at least half an hour yesterday as we were leaving port. Very friendly. And, that seems to be generally true.
That’s much nicer than the folks on the other cruise.
Not sure why that is.
But, it is making this trip much nicer.