Silver Cloud-Capetown to Lisbon-March 28-May 1

[Daveywavey70]

Gone very quiet on this thread. Anyone been thrown overboard?

[WesW]

Lighten up DW70, Rich48100 is doing an excellent job sharing Barbara and his experiences in words and beautiful

photos on this voyage.

[Daveywavey70]

Yes I know he is and I, as I’m sure do many others, really appreciate his postings. It’s a part of the world I’m yet to visit.I think you maybe didn’t appreciate either my sense of humour or my curiosity as to why his excellent postings are no longer being detracted from with daily rants Wes. 

[rich48100]

Nice to know some people are reading the posts and appreciating them.  We had a nice day at sea before getting to Ad Dakhla in Morocco (Western Sahara].  Days on the ship, at sea or otherwise, have a number of activities including many excellent talks by expedition staff, and a fellow from the Royal Geographical Society.

 

yesterday in Ad Dakhla we went out in the desert in 4x4s and had tea, cookies, and other goodies in tents set up.  Entertainment, singing and dancing and music.  Now another day at sea until we get to Agadir Morocco where another term in the desert awaits.

 

here are a few pics from the desert encampment.unfortunately, a number of my photos didn’t upload because of slow internet.  Just something to deal with on the ship.

[celles]

We finally made it to the Ile of Gorée for an evening event. I wouldn t say that the food was excellent and I rather would have donated the money for a good cause. Yesterday we had the Dakhla Highlights and Sahouri Camp. As always the name of the tour sounded better than its content. Virtually it was only a long drive to a mock camp in the desert. On our way back I managed to take some pics of beautiful Ad Dakhla. At the expedition desk I was told that there was nothing to see. The last two stops will be Agadir where TUI cruises and low cost carriers go to and Safi. In general the cruise was only kind of expedition in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast..

Edited April 27, 2019 by celles

[shipsmail]

9 hours ago, Bill B said:

 

I was on the same cruise. We got 'lobster' at Tristan da Cunha. 

 

I tried to talk the chef into an elephant seal BBQ the night we left Gold Harbour on South Georgia. However, an ecomentalist pax and some of the expedition staff overheard the conversation, went nuts... and had that idea vetoed. 

Yes, here is the Tristan lobster. So good.

[alithecat]

I have also been following this thread. Thank you to Rich48100 and the others. We board the Cloud in Amsterdam on May 13th and are getting excited!

Edited April 27, 2019 by alithecat
typo

[Miss Merry]

😂

[Bill B]

rich48100,

 

I'm following this thread... and appreciate being able to understand (vicariously through your posts and pics) what, exactly I would have seen had I not disembarked at Cape Town on March 28.

 

Thanks,

Bill

[rich48100]

Yesterday we went in Agadir, Morocco and went on an excursion to Paradise valley and trekking in Immouzer.  The scenery was nice and the trekking easy.  Several stops for pictures and lunch at a resort was pleasant.  Got a chance to see the countryside, and the weather was ideal.  Good overall excursion for seeing the countryside.

 

here are some pics

[jpalbny]

Cool landscapes! Are those a few peaks of the Atlas Mountains in the distance?

 

Enjoy the rest of your trip; sad to see that you are getting close to Lisbon.

[WesW]

Echo JP's kudos Rich (and Barbara), your photos instantly bring back fond (and hot) memories living in Morocco for nearly a month in the late 80's.  Serving in the US Army then we supported the Moroccan Ministry of Defense by working jointly with their Army at one of their desert bases about 100 kilometers from Rabat.

[rich48100]

Thanks to Wes and JP for their comments and Jp, those are the Atlas Mountains.  Looking forward to meeting you and cruising around Iceland in AUgust.

 

we had a long tour yesterday, 12 hours, went to Marrakech.  Botanical gardens, Yvette st Laurent museum, fabulous lunch, Souk etc.  well worth the 2.5 hour drive to get there.

 

Now cruising to Lisbon and then back to Tulsa.  A range of emotions on this cruise, but glad we did it and had a chance to see and do things we wouldn’t otherwise.

 

here are just a few pictures from yesterday

[WesW]

Thanks Rich and Barbara for taking us along on your fascinating Cloud expedition voyage.  Safe travels home to Tulsa.

 

Rich, now that your voyage is near its end, how do Barbara and you like the Cloud expedition ship?

[LittleRedJohn]

Cloud arrived on time in Lisbon. Disembarkation very smooth. Overall a fine cruise. Ship and crew great. Food mostly good to very good. Some excellent off ship events, but too many shore excursions were poorly planned and badly supervised. On board expert speakers came up a little short. But we saw and experienced a lot of Africa. That was the goal.

[Silver Spectre]

35 minutes ago, LittleRedJohn said:

Cloud arrived on time in Lisbon. Disembarkation very smooth. Overall a fine cruise. Ship and crew great. Food mostly good to very good. Some excellent off ship events, but too many shore excursions were poorly planned and badly supervised. On board expert speakers came up a little short. But we saw and experienced a lot of Africa. That was the goal.

Thanks for the report, what were your highlights?

Edited May 1, 2019 by Silver Spectre

[Unibok]

15 hours ago, LittleRedJohn said:

 Some excellent off ship events, but too many shore excursions were poorly planned and badly supervised. On board expert speakers came up a little short. But we saw and experienced a lot of Africa. That was the goal.

 

Glad to hear your primary goal was achieved, LittleRedJohn. Can you say more about these 2 areas that need improvement?

 

Wishing you a smooth journey home,

[celles]

Glad to be off the ship. Extra day at Lisbon was superfluent. Interconti room was fine, breakfast wasn t even anywhere near 5 star. Had a gourmet burger at BK which was far more tasty than the fatty one I had before on SC. SCs regular crew was ace, very nice butler, very good staff at all the food venues. Officers seemed pretty stand offish to me. Expedition crew was nice but I cannot see any link to an expedition on this very cruise. As for Shore excursions, they tended to differentiate from their description and were not better than on cheaper cruise lines. The Dakar city tour is in need of a major improvement as well as the Ivory Coast one. The food became better during the cruise. If you are a meatlover with a tendancy to rather not so well done meat or prefer your food done with an extra portion of fat and oil you might have enjoyed the food. The Marinara Pizza I ordered was littered with tons of minced fresh garlic, sorry but get the recipe from MSC dear SC. At least we did not skip any ports whilst the Dakhla stop was just a mock camp. The city itself would have been really interesting. The Silversea cruise was an once off and my 63rd cruise will be on the Maasdam. I cannot tell whether I would recommend this cruise or rather not but there will be some less expensive cruise options to choose from as for the West coast of Africa destinations in the yeara to come.

[spinnaker2]

Thanks for posting the photos and commentary!

 

[Fletcher]

19 hours ago, celles said:

Had a gourmet burger at BK which was far more tasty than the fatty one I had before on SC. The Silversea cruise was an on[c]e off and my 63rd cruise will be on the Maasdam. 

 

Now it all makes sense. 

[tgh]

Celles , please don't slam the door as you exit Silversea,  ….  🤣

[Daveywavey70]

🙂

[Tothesunset]

Different strokes... 

[spinnaker2]

1 hour ago, Tothesunset said:

Different strokes... 

Yep.

[TLCOhio]

On 4/30/2019 at 3:33 AM, rich48100 said:

Now cruising to Lisbon and then back to Tulsa.  A range of emotions on this cruise, but glad we did it and had a chance to see and do things we wouldn’t otherwise.

here are just a few pictures from yesterday

 

YES!!  Appreciate all of this great reporting, wonderful visuals, etc.  Did want to highlight this above picture as it caught my attention.  Nice eye-candy and a good morning "wake-me-UP"!!  Personally, we want to see and do more in Africa.  But, not sure we would do this type of cruise up the entire western coast of the very large continent.  As reported, there were and are some "mixed" areas and results.  

 

THANKS again for letting us travel along!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

AFRICA?!!?: Fun, interesting visuals, plus travel details from this early 2016 live/blog. At 45,311 views. Featuring Cape Town, South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337