Live from the Sojourn - 21 Days in the Med

[Fletcher]

1: NOTHING VENTURED, SOJOURN GAINED

 

I genuinely thought our last cruise would be our last cruise.   That was early 2019, it was on the old Silver Galapagos and it was perhaps the least memorable cruise we’ve ever done.  So much so that I tend to regard Norway on the Seabourn Ovation in 2018 as our last proper cruise.

 

Now we are on the Sojourn and I have say it was rather exciting to find ourselves climbing up the steps from the pier in Barcelona, feeling and smelling once again the allure of a great vessel.  As Longfellow wrote, ‘the beauty and mystery of the ships and the magic of the sea.’  Our only issue is one of pronunciation - So-jern, Sodg’n or So-jawn.  We will know by the end.

 

The funny thing is, we were not meant to be here at all.  We had booked one of the first trips to Svalbard on the Seabourn Venture and that was a thrilling prospect because we began our cruising lives on expedition ships and this Venture thing looked like a game changer.  We couldn’t wait.  But as you all know, the Venture took quite a bit longer to get all slapped up, shipshape and Seabourn fashion, so we were cancelled and offered a few alternatives, including this Sojourn trip which is the one we went for, 21 days for less money than the 10-day jaunt on the Venture.  Compared to Svalbard’s ice floes, polar bears and walruses, the Med is going to seem very tame.  We’ve had a long time to make the adjustment and convince ourselves that, after the worst two or three years we have ever experienced (and it’s still pretty crap isn’t it?), we’re ready for three weeks of tameness.

 

No new countries for us - that’s quite hard for us to do without grubbing around for a dirty corner we haven’t been to - but plenty of new ports of call, such as Melilla, Gibraltar, Sardinia and even tomorrow in Valencia.  It will be good to see a lot of the Old World while it’s still here.  Stick around and I’ll tell you all about it.

 

 

[galeforce9]

Bon voyage!  I will be avidly reading along.  

[Cybercsp]

We will board Sojourn in Lisbon in November for our first Seabourn cruise.  I eagerly await your reports! 

[cruisr]

Had some friends on board this summer and they said the ship looked tired.  Stains on carpeting, some decking coming up near pool (don’t remember which pool he said) and skuff marks on walls.  Service varied from great to meh.  I am looking forward to your take on it.

[mieu]

We spent 21 days in the Mediterranean this summer on the Sojourn. Ship did not look tired, and we had a great time.

[kjbacon]

Bon Voyage, Fletcher. Looking forward to your live report!

[texanaust]

You will be rare soon...

[highplanesdrifters]

@Fletcheris already rare. Unlike myself, he can write! Looking forward to this ride.

[Fletcher]

2: Cid, Paella, Majesty

 

We are unashamedly using the Sojourn as a hop on, hop off bus and today we hopped off in Valencia where, as everyone knows, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar  became Spain’s national hero, proclaimed as El Cid.  This happened a long time ago, before most of us were born.  One bright and breezy morning Rodrigo led his army out of the citadel of Valencia and did bloody battle with the fanatical Moors on the beach.  Rodrigo was mortally wounded and later that evening he made an oath that, whatever happened, he would lead his army out the next day.  During the night, with Sophia Loren by his side, El Cid died.  And thus, in the morning, with a lance shoved unceremoniously up his bottom, The Cid was strapped to his steed and rode out of the gates of history into legend.

 

While the Cid drove the Moors out of Spain they bequeathed one lasting contribution  to world culture and that is the culinary dish we know and love as paella.  It is usually made with seafood but I believe the original was made with rabbit and chicken.  Anyway, Valencia is where it was born and that has led to dozens of restaurants to claim that their version is the only authentic one and maybe that it was actually invented in the restaurant you are considering from the pavement.  A place like Piaggi near the harbour.  Apparently El Cid popped in for a plateful for breakfast each morning.

 

Seabourn had a shuttle to the city centre and after a few pastries in the Colonnade we grabbed the first one at 8.30am.  It was a huge coach and we had it entirely to ourselves.  Valencia sprawls vastly and it took about 30 minutes to reach the Torres de Serranos, the ancient gateway through which Rodrigo . . . well, you already know all that stuff.   We had targeted four buildings - the central market, the ancient silk market which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the museum of ceramics and the cathedral.  This being a Monday two of the four were closed but that didn’t matter as far as the ceramics museum is concerned because we really only wanted to see the entrance which is simply breathtaking.  This little perambulation took an hour and we left rather liking Valencia, especially the way that a drained river has become a public park, garden and recreation space. In 1957 the river Turia which ran through the centre of Valencia flooded with catastrophic results so they decided to divert the river and create this green space.  Such vision!

 

So what about paella I hear you asking?  Well, we had a paella dilemma as this was the day of the State Funeral of Elizabeth II.  Fealty to the crown won the day over a planned lunch of paella, which was bound to be disappointing anyway.  Seabourn were commendably showing the ceremony on big screens in the Grand Salon.  Sadly the reception was so bad it was unwatchable.  The Captain came on the blower to apologise but couldn’t explain why it was so bad in this age of mind-boggling technology.  Then I had a brainwave, one of the many I have each day.  Back in our cabin we connected our MacBook Air to the BBC iPlayer and enjoyed the entire ceremony in superb HD quality.  The whole thing filled us with awe and pride of the national variety. It’s amazing how the reassuring tones of Huw Edwards and David Dimbleby and even Alan Titchmarsh can bring a tear to the eyes of those far from home and alone on the high seas.

 

Dinner tonight was at Fire and Ice, Wet and Dry or whatever it’s called.  By the pool.  A great place on a balmy evening and wonderful for people watching.  Next to us was your typical Seabourn wine snobs.  They brought down a bottle of Cote Rotie and then took it back to their cabin presumably because the menu didn’t harmonise, grape-wise.  Another wine was summoned from their cabin.  This matched or would have done had their food arrived which it didn’t until the wine was decanted into their refined stomachs.  Across the way were a couple of guys we encountered at the airport.  They were throwing a strop because their private car hadn’t showed up.  Now they had the captain to dinner, then the second officer, then more of ship brass came to pay homage.  I remembered a line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,   ‘Who are those guys?’

 

Tomorrow we are at sea, heading down through the SoG to Cadiz.  I might have to talk about the ship and associated stuff . . .

 

God Save the King!

 

 

[markham]

Fletcher,

 

I hope you find the old standards of Seabourn quality restored to Sojourn, and for that matter to all the Seabourn ships.

 

Please report who the senior officers are. The Sojourn has long rotated Capt Tim Roberts and Captain Hamish Elliott. Also, please identify the Hotel Director.

 

So there are needy attention-hungry divas on board? I am shocked, I tell you!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[Mr Luxury]

Well done Fletch.

I did love Porridge.

We call the outside dining facility Wind and Pixx if you get my meaning.

Doesn't a proper Paella have snails in it?

I can also confirm that Cote Rotie goes with almost anything.  Dominos,Subway,Thomas Keller and Alain Ducasse.

[Fletcher]

1 hour ago, Mr Luxury said:

Well done Fletch.

I did love Porridge.

 

Wrong reference entirely.  Think mutinous dog.

[Mr Luxury]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

Wrong reference entirely.  Think mutinous dog.

Aye Aye Mr Christian 

[Fletcher]

3: Testing and trying times

 

The Sojourn looks pretty smart and service levels are fully up to speed as far as we are concerned.  But we are fairly low maintenance and can forgive the odd bit of rust or staining on a carpet.  Today was mostly about finding somewhere to sit in the shade as it was searingly hot, making those lying by the pool acquire a radioactive glow.  In the morning we eventually settled for the empty Observation Lounge which has a slight vibration that we cannot recall on the Quest.  At first you think your heart is palpitating before you realise it’s just the beating heart of the ship.  The vibration followed us to the forward sun deck and the back of Seabourn Square.   Maybe it was our speed and the weirdly flat sea.

 

Getting ready for this cruise had been a bit of a trial.  Both Seabourn and British Airways tried their level best to put you off travelling for good.  To begin with was the small matter of the pre-cruise PCR or antigen test.  Do we need it or do we not?  Seabourn said oh yes you do, most definitely.  Then they dropped the requirement for virtually all cruises except those of more than 16 days.  We are aboard for 21 days.  The ruling seemed totally illogical to us but we had no option but to play along.  As we do not have a smartphone we needed to book a physical face-to-face test with a living person and that proved to be harder than we thought.  None of our local pharmacies did them anymore - that was just so last month, they said.  Eventually we found a testing clinic at our nearest airport and booked and paid £80.  Then other cruise lines started to drop the requirement  completely but Seabourn was sticking to its guns.  We talked to them, emailed them, and finally got a definitive answer from Seattle.  We did not need a test, even though the requirement remained on the Seabourn website for at least another week.  We cancelled our tests and got a refund.

 

Seabourn’s new check-in procedure was interesting.  For instance, we love the new DIY luggage labels, so much more elegant and sustainable than the leather labels and wallets we used to receive.  When we started to print up the labels our ageing Epson gave up the ghost so we drove 40 miles, bought a new printer, printed up six  labels and folded them.  What a clever design, just like origami!  And how thoughtful of Seabourn to provide labels that would not survive a single second on an airport conveyor belt and how crafty of them to make you slowly realise that you should attach them to your luggage after the flight and before you board the Seabourn bus.  That meant taking a stapler with you!  I have always regretted not having a stapler on a cruise.  Except security people will confiscate staplers as they could be dangerous weapons.  We considered taking sticky tape and then gave up.  Life’s too short, especially at our time of life. We took the labels and they remained unused because Seabourn didn’t want them anyway.  I might sell them on eBay. But those labels did provide us with a new printer.

 

Seabourn’s health questionnaire was really tough.  It made Mastermind look like a doddle.  Seabourn wanted to know if we had any ominous symptoms.  Just that one fiendish question.  It took us an age to figure out an answer.  We finally opted for NO.  At the cruise terminal they were quite keen to see our paper NHS Covid certificates and that was reassuring.  That was a positive.

 

British Airways had their own games to play.  No mention of testing until the day before our flight and the online check-in.  Upload your Covid passports! Couldn’t.  Doesn’t matter said BA, just show them at check-in at Heathrow.  Now print your boarding passes!  Couldn’t.  Doesn’t matter said BA, just show up at Heathrow.   The next day we successfully checked in without engaging with a single human being or showing a Covid pass.   

 

BA had implored us to take hand luggage because so many suitcases these days are ending up in Manchester’s landfill.  So my wife spent a good day methodically packing two hand luggage bags and just one sort of expendable check-in bag.  Then, right at the plane doorway, BA said sorry, no more hand luggage allowed on this flight, check in all your bags.  Everything that BA said would happen, didn’t.  It’s a miracle we got to Barcelona with all our luggage and our nervous system intact. No heart palpitations at all.

 

Tomorrow, we are in Cadiz.

 

[cruiseej]

31 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

And how thoughtful of Seabourn to provide labels that would not survive a single second on an airport conveyor belt and how crafty of them to make you slowly realise that you should attach them to your luggage after the flight and before you board the Seabourn bus.  That meant taking a stapler with you!  I have always regretted not having a stapler on a cruise.

 

😂😂😂

[Fletcher]

4: Cadiz

 

Today we are in Cadiz where, I am reliably informed by Mrs Fletcher, the notorious scallawag Sir Francis Drake ‘singed the beard’ of the Spanish  king by burning several of his galleons.  A few centuries later, another Brit, Admiral Nelson, gave the French a pasting at nearby Trafalgar.  This place, on the cusp of Africa, is redolent with history.   Step off a beach and you are likely to stub your toe on a doubloon.

 

Joining us today in Cadiz was the Spirit of Discovery, an almost new ship operated by the British company Saga which caters specifically to an older crowd and excludes anyone with their original hips and knees.  Saga describes their new ships as ‘boutique’ which is a joke considering the Discovery and the Adventure have 1000 passengers each.  But the joke stops there because Saga is a class act, offering high levels of service, including chauffeured pick-up from your home to Dover or Southampton.  Saga also include travel insurance, a godsend for many of their passengers.

 

However, lunching today in the Colonnade aboard the Sojourn and scanning our fellow passengers we might well have been aboard our neighbour, the Discovery, because the current Seabourn demographic is rather older than we have encountered before on either the Ovation or the Quest.  I guess this is because of the cosy itinerary and the time of year.   

 

It was still completely dark at 8am when we arrived in Cadiz.  Spanish time is bonkers.    Walking around the town at 10am we thought it looked way out of season and a bit of a bomb site, as if a civil war had ended only five years ago, much like Mozambique when we visited there.  But we slowly realised that Cadiz only wakes up at 11am and by the end of our walk it was quietly buzzing with activity.   It’s not the greatest place in Spain but it has its virtues, such as a fabulous market with the sort of fresh fish displays that make Rick Stein go into paroxysms of pleasure.  There is a cathedral, scant remains of a Roman theatre, attractive public gardens, lots of narrow streets with elaborate overhanging balconies.  You can get lost quite easily.   The whole thing has that appealing Moorish, Andalucian vibe that can be seen on the grand scale in cities like Cordoba and Sevilla where many Sojourners went today.

 

This evening Seabourn staged a super-spreader event, aka Block Party.

[SLSD]

9 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

4: Cadiz

 

Today we are in Cadiz where, I am reliably informed by Mrs Fletcher, the notorious scallawag Sir Francis Drake ‘singed the beard’ of the Spanish  king by burning several of his galleons. 

 

However, lunching today in the Colonnade aboard the Sojourn and scanning our fellow passengers we might well have been aboard our neighbour, the Discovery, because the current Seabourn demographic is rather older than we have encountered before on either the Ovation or the Quest.  I guess this is because of the cosy itinerary and the time of year.   

 

It was still completely dark at 8am when we arrived in Cadiz.  Spanish time is bonkers.    Walking around the town at 10am we thought it looked way out of season and a bit of a bomb site, as if a civil war had ended only five years ago, much like Mozambique when we visited there.  

 

This evening Seabourn staged a super-spreader event, aka Block Party.

Your writing style is greatly entertaining.  Just what I need while recovering from Covid without even attending a superspreader event!  Have a great time on this cruise.  For the record, I am always surprised by the older demographic on SB--even through we fit right in at ages 70 and 71.  

[galeforce9]

43 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

4: Cadiz

 

Today we are in Cadiz where, I am reliably informed by Mrs Fletcher, the notorious scallawag Sir Francis Drake ‘singed the beard’ of the Spanish  king by burning several of his galleons.  A few centuries later, another Brit, Admiral Nelson, gave the French a pasting at nearby Trafalgar.  This place, on the cusp of Africa, is redolent with history.   Step off a beach and you are likely to stub your toe on a doubloon.

 

Joining us today in Cadiz was the Spirit of Discovery, an almost new ship operated by the British company Saga which caters specifically to an older crowd and excludes anyone with their original hips and knees.  Saga describes their new ships as ‘boutique’ which is a joke considering the Discovery and the Adventure have 1000 passengers each.  But the joke stops there because Saga is a class act, offering high levels of service, including chauffeured pick-up from your home to Dover or Southampton.  Saga also include travel insurance, a godsend for many of their passengers.

 

However, lunching today in the Colonnade aboard the Sojourn and scanning our fellow passengers we might well have been aboard our neighbour, the Discovery, because the current Seabourn demographic is rather older than we have encountered before on either the Ovation or the Quest.  I guess this is because of the cosy itinerary and the time of year.   

 

It was still completely dark at 8am when we arrived in Cadiz.  Spanish time is bonkers.    Walking around the town at 10am we thought it looked way out of season and a bit of a bomb site, as if a civil war had ended only five years ago, much like Mozambique when we visited there.  But we slowly realised that Cadiz only wakes up at 11am and by the end of our walk it was quietly buzzing with activity.   It’s not the greatest place in Spain but it has its virtues, such as a fabulous market with the sort of fresh fish displays that make Rick Stein go into paroxysms of pleasure.  There is a cathedral, scant remains of a Roman theatre, attractive public gardens, lots of narrow streets with elaborate overhanging balconies.  You can get lost quite easily.   The whole thing has that appealing Moorish, Andalucian vibe that can be seen on the grand scale in cities like Cordoba and Sevilla where many Sojourners went today.

 

This evening Seabourn staged a super-spreader event, aka Block Party.

Will be there again in a few weeks.  Have previously headed to Jerez on the train, or stayed in town for tapas later on. This time probably Seville.  

[CanAmBrit]

Thank you for some great laughs, Fletcher. My husband has travelled with a tiny stapler since cruise ships started this dreadful practice of having passengers print their own luggage labels!

[markham]

Hey!

 

The main takeaway is that the Howdy Doody Git to know yer neyber party is back. Woohoo!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[GreenFamily]

Now this is how to do a Live Report. Thank you! 

[markham]

Did you do the block party? Was the captain and hotel director doing the rounds with the cd?

Please name them.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[Fletcher]

5:  The Rock

 

The Sojourn is a night-time prowler, sneaking in and out of ports under  cover of darkness.  This means we have now sailed twice through the Straits of Gibraltar without us ever seeing it.   There will be a third time tonight, Deeply frustrating, if you ask me.  This has got to stop.

 

I have always fancied visiting Gibraltar and my wife has always wondered why.  To be honest, I think it’s mostly the completist in me - this is my fourteenth out of the sixteen British Overseas Territories, leaving only Bermuda and British Indian Ocean Territory yet to be the proud recipient of my footfall.  I suppose the ease of getting there kept Gibraltar (and Bermuda) until late in the day.  Getting to Pitcairn and Tristan da Cunha was a real challenge while BIOT will doubtless remain off limits unless, of course, Britain reluctantly hands the atolls over to Mauritius, as the United Nations requires, in which case BIOT will cease to be a BOT.

 

The whole issue of overseas territories or possessions is an increasingly controversial one.  It’s impossible to avoid the issue of colonialism, imperialism and all those other isms that bother today’s intelligentsia who are educated on social media and lack any historical perspective.  Gibraltar is embraced on three sides by Spain and the fourth side looks across the water to north Africa where Spain itself has possessions, as we will discover in a few days’ time.  Britain, France, Spain, Netherlands and the USA still cling on to overseas outposts and I can’t see that changing despite the woke brigade.

 

Seabourn was offering a Gibraltar tour for US$80 per person.  That’s about £150 for two.  We did it for £33 for two.  This meant walking from and to the cruise terminal, shuffling around the town, and taking the cable car to the Top of the Rock.  Up on the Rock the view is marvellous and you do need to go in the morning because of the sun.  Europe’s only free-range monkeys live here and we saw four of them, gorging on fruit and vegetable peelings thrown down by the authorities who want to keep them away from the tourists who pester them like crazy.  These days the monkeys have been weaned off wallets, smartphones and Nikon cameras and prefer carrots and bananas.  It was quite clear up here today so we could see Europe and Africa in one unbroken vista.  And below us the Sojourn, of course, alongside and without another cruise ship to exchange itineraries with.  I love to eavesdrop on cruise ships boasting to each other about where they have been.

 

Gibraltar has something of a reputation for relentless tourist tat but I found it no more and no less tacky than many English seaside towns.  Falmouth for example.   And Gibraltar is far classier than Blackpool or Great Yarmouth.    And if you want tacky central look no further than Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, our answer to Gatlinburg or Deadwood. Yes Gibraltar’s Main Street has a mile or two that resembles an airport duty free zone but there are some nice Georgian era buildings, a few churches, a cemetery where one might find the resting bones of men killed at Trafalgar, a Marks & Spencer and a Morrisons.  I spotted a Bentley but not a Waitrose.

 

While the city itself has scores of apartment blocks of varying degrees of banality,  there is nothing like the futuristic development you see in any of the Gulf States because Gibraltar still has the mentality  of the English village (as indeed do all of the BOTS) so even if there are considerable tax advantages they are kept discreetly hidden.   Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU and now it is firmly out.  That’s democracy for you.

 

Tomorrow we are in Tangier, Africa.  I have my eye on a certain cafe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SLSD]

Fletcher, You must have  written travel books in a previous life.  Mr. SLSD and I are enjoying your writing.  Now, we wait for the name of the cafe in Tangier.  

[marazul]

Fletcher, 

You have a new fan.  You are a gifted writer. 

Looking forward to many more posts.

Thanks. 

Edited September 22, 2022 by marazul