Good-bye Mariner, Hello Cape Town.

November 24. Good-bye Mariner, Hello Cape Town. Easy off since we cleared customs last evening and we had been notified that "Grey 2" was to disembark at 9:00 am. There were no announcements made on the ship so there was never a rush for the elevators and an extremely orderly exit. A delight! Best disembarkation ever!

Luggage was easy to find, even though Oceania had arrived and their luggage was mixed in, luckily with different numbers and colors! Luggage found, and we exited the building only to find chaos with two ships looking for taxis! It was about 20 minutes, so not too long before we were 1st in the queue and whisked off to the Portswood, a lovely little hotel close to Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, which is just where we wanted to be!

Rooms weren't ready when we arrived, so we stored the luggage and hoofed it over to the V&A. I remember how much fun it was from my last visit in 2009 - then there was one warehouse that was filled with African artisans and their goods. Of course it's all changed, the old warehouse is no longer there, but they have consolidated all of the artisans into one beautiful, new facility now called the Water Shed. It was fantastic! Filled with outstanding little stalls and just about every craft you could imagine - all hand-crafted: beadwork, pottery, wooden bowls, clothing, jewelry, carved masks, paintings, linens and Christmas ornaments; a shopper's delight! I found a few treasures... And for a Tuesday, it was very busy!

We stopped for lunch at the Victoria and Alfred Hotel, outside on the patio we enjoyed the lovely day, with a cool breeze in the shade. There was street entertainment that would stop to do their act, collect Rand, and move on to the next. We even saw a few people from the ship! Katherine from the gift shop had been on the "Hop On Hop Off" and highly recommended the trip.

The luggage was bursting at the seams, so I went on a hunt for another bag... again! There is now a huge shopping mall, Victoria Wharf, filled with every international shop imaginable. In one of the shops, I mentioned needing a suitcase, and the lady in the shop guided us to "Edgar's", a department store. On the way, we found a bar called Quay Four offering "Husband Day Care Center. Leave your husband with us, we'll take care of him for you. You only pay for his food and drink." Perfect for John! A couple of hours of husband-free shopping with a new suit case in hand, I returned to find John enjoying his beer on the waterfront. As we left, the flip side of the sign read "Husband's Wait Here for Collection!" We packed all of our purchases into the suitcase and headed up the hill to the hotel! We arrived just in time for COCKTAILS!

We dropped our new suitcase in the room, settled in our luggage and watched the Regent Seven Seas Mariner sail away in the distance. Sad to think they are going on without us... and to think that people will now actually expect us to pay for our bar bills and dinners! Yikes, getting bills?

Downstairs to try to get back to reality, and discovered a fantastic bartender who made excellent Cosmopolitans! Who knew! What a treat... from scratch no less, no mix! John switched from Scotch to Castle Beer as they use the English method of measuring booze... that stupid little, teeny, tiny shot glass!

Now sated, relaxed and exhausted from all of the shopping we opted for dinner at the hotel. One of the items on the menu was Kingklip, a wonderful white and flaky fish - a specialty in South Africa, and oh my, yummy!

Lovely dinner, nice bottle of Constansia wine and we were ready for a quiet evening... reading then off to the feather ball. We survived the first day transition from the ship!