Sea Day – March 21

Sea Day – March 21

Today was interesting. The sun was out at breakfast and by the time I came back to the cabin to change into walking shoes, it was pouring rain so hard it was a white-out. Then, it seemed to stop so I headed up to the track. It sprinkled a little which was fine, but then it started to pour again. The track had a lot of puddles and I finally just gave up on walking this morning. There was a brief double rainbow which was beautiful. (you could just see a small part of it between the sky and the ocean)

Greg won the first game of Bingo but had to spit it with one other Bingo winner, so they each got $15. I came close but didn’t win anything today.

We had lunch at the buffet and sat with our evening table mates, Roy & Rondi. They really are a nice couple.

Captain JP came on to tell us that indeed they have made the decision to stay on ship time, but also a decision was made for the port time to remain the same, making our get off time an hour later. So, more emails to the tour company to ignore the last email that we were arriving an hour early, now it’s back to the regular time. (as far as they are concerned) Also, our last tender will be 5:15 port time, but 6:15 ship time. Are we confused yet? So, I made the calls to tour mates to change our meeting time one more time. Good thing it is a small group and all people we know and they are easy going.

Tonight, is another random formal night which we again opted to eat upstairs at the Bistro. The only “fancy food” was desert so we decided not to dress formal for dinner just to eat in the dining room. The Bistro is a nice alternative. What a surprise for us when one of their deserts was the same Chocolate Journey as the dining room. Whoo Hoo!

The evening entertainment was Felipe Castro a saxophonist. (Latin Grammy nominee) He was entertaining and high energy.

If you will allow me a couple of rants……

Rant 1: All of these entertainers like to ask the audience to clap along. There aren’t 2 people in the entire room that clap to the same beat. There are also those people that think we come to hear them sing or hum along to the music. Those snoring louder than the entertainment is just downright amusing.

Rant 2: One couple that was added as a replacement for Charles & Judy on the Seychelles tour single-handedly have nearly convinced me to never set up shared tours again. I lost count of the number of phone calls from the same person with the same question. (somewhere between 6 and 10 from the time of joining) First he complained that the tour was too long and why it was that long. I said I like to fit as much as possible in our day. If it’s too long, this may not be the tour for you. He said, but it’s a private tour and we can decide to come back earlier. I said no, I would be the one to decide that.

The cost of the tour changed every time the number of participants changed. I called and left messages for all of the tour mates for the dollar amount in euros or dollars when it changed. He could not understand why the number for 8 didn’t stay the same when it changed to 10. He also decided to spread the word to fill up my 15 pax van when I had capped it to 10. I told him no it was full. He also had the people he wanted to join call me and I told them it was full. Then, he recalculates the cost (the same base number for 8) divided by 15 since the van was “full”.

Another call was made to say we have 10 people as I wanted some extra space in the vehicle to spread out. He said well, I’ll have those people meet with us in the morning and maybe they will find a tour at the pier. I called again and said no, the prices I gave you are correct. He could choose to pay in either euros or dollars. He also had told me he didn’t plan on getting any rupees despite me telling him that the Spice Garden would only take rupees. I reiterated the cost and said we have a stop to exchange dollars to rupees, feel free to do what you want, but the rest of us are getting the rupees. The morning of the tour I got another call. This time it’s from his wife saying he still doesn’t understand the pricing. I gave 2 numbers (euros and dollars) and he could pay in either. Then, he gets on the line and questions it. I then told him the pricing I got for 6 people, 8 people and 10 people. We were 10. The base went up a bit, but the total was lower per person with more people.

I think it’s finally settled, but when we met downstairs on the day of the tour and I started collecting the money he again complained about the cost. He wanted to know what exchange rate I used to get the numbers, since it was a better deal for him to pay in dollars instead of euros. I said, the tour company said that was the rate per person. His wife thanked me for “putting up with them”. I “joked” that one more phone call and they wouldn’t have been on the tour.

One of his tablemates told me all he did was complain about the tour. They were upset that we didn’t talk to them on the tour. I did talk to his wife occasionally. In the van the guide talked almost nonstop so not sure how you talk amongst yourselves. When touring I like to listen to the guide and actually enjoy seeing the sites. They were upset that we all split up at the Spice Garden. It was an hour or more of free time and we were all to meet back at the entrance. Free time, not we are their personal tour guides. We all got maps and were free to do what we wanted. They were upset with some of the statistics the guide told us. (compared to what others at his table said) Apparently, they did enjoy the lunch.

End of rant……

Most of our tour mates are great people and fun to be with, but it’s always those that give you problems that you remember.

We’re very excited about visiting Madagascar tomorrow!