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In the interest of the safety of passengers and crew, the Captain announced the port stop in Ecuador has been canceled. The ship will proceed to arive at our next port stop as scheduled which means we'll have 3 consecutive days at sea. On 9 January 2024, an armed conflict broke out in Ecuador involving the country's government against several organized crime groups, most notably the Los Choneros cartel. On 8 March, President Noboa extended the state of emergency by thirty days. The murder rate had halved from 24 killings a day to 12 and over 11,700 people had been arrested. For further information see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Ecuadorian_conflict.
Sapphire Princess -- Voyage H407
March 25, 2024
Dear Princess Guest:
Most of you will be aware that the country of Ecuador is currently under a national state of emergency and that travel advisories cautioning travel to Ecuador have been issued by several countries including the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Our Global Security team has been actively monitoring and assessing the security situation in Ecuador. Given recent developments, and out of an abundance of caution, we have made the decision to cancel our call to Manta on Tuesday (March 26). As always, the safety of our guests and crew is our highest priority.
We will now proceed directly to Puntarenas, Costa Rica, where we will arrive as scheduled at 8:00 AM on 28 March.
For guests with Princess shore excursions booked for Manta, your onboard account will be credited automatically (you do not need to visit the Shore Excursions or Guest Services desk to receive your refund).
We appreciate your understanding of this situation, which regrettably is beyond our control. We are not prepared to let our Guests and Crew go ashore during a government declared state of emergency and then hope for the best.
On behalf of the officers and crew of Sapphire Princess, we remain, as always, at your service and with your safety and well-being at the core of our decision-making process.
Kind regards,
Todd McBain
Captain
Sapphire Princess
Points of Interest: Montecristi & Archaeological Museum. The village of Montecristi is renowned for the hand woven straw hat that originated not in Panama but right here in Ecuador. Lying at the foot of a large hill of the same name, the quaint little town has many attractions to visit. We also visit the Cancebi Museum, which preserves the ethnographic history of the Manabi region and its people, viewing some of the almost 300 original objects used in days of yore. But the highlight of this moderate, half-day tour is surely the chance to browse the shops where Montecristi's skilled artisans display ceramics, wicker ware and the famous Panama hat. Made from toquilla straw, hand-split into strands not much thicker than thread and woven so finely the finished product seems to be made from the softest linen or silk, these stylish chapeaus sustain a thriving cottage industry. Child Price: 12 years & under only.
Every day my wife and I have been walking the Promenade Deck 7 and also the stairs up to Deck 8 to get around the front of the ship. Three rounds of Decks 7 and 8 equal one mile. We've been only going around twice up until today. Today was the first day we went around 3 times to do a full mile. We are also walking much more briskly to try to get our heart rates up into the aerobic range. I used to walk 3 miles every day and see I'm going to need to work my way back up to doing that again. While we were walking I captured the above sunset over the ocean.
Neither my wife nor I are much into magic tricks or illusionists. Though most people must love Illusionists as the Princess Theater was packed beyond capacity with people standing in the aisles and the back of the theater. This illusionist started off with all the same magic tricks that we've seen a million times: cards flying out of everywhere, dancing hankerchiefs, etc. I do have to give him credit for one thing: he got my wife and I to vanish from the theater. We left after the first ten minutes and headed over to a performance we found much more entertaining: Acoustic Guitar & Vocals with Danny Rembadi.
Up until I was about 12 years old, which would be up to 1963, I could go out on my back porch in Massachusetts and see a dark sky full of stars. I could even see the Milky Way. I can't remember any time since then that I've ever seen a sky full of stars. Mostly when I look up all I see is a few major stars and the rest of the sky is sort of a featureless dark grey. I've been out in the middle of the ocean a number of times, but the sky has either been overcast or the light from the cruise ship itself would drown out a clear view of the sky. Tonight was only a little different.
We went up on the Sky Deck and walked out toward the front of the ship. They had the Captain turn off the lights in that area to make it easier to see the night sky. I was able to make out the Orion Constellation and The Big Dipper, which I hadn't seen in years, but that was about it. Most of the rest of the sky was still a washed out grey. I'm still hoping to have the opportunity to head out to somewhere that has a dark sky to once again experience the night sky full of stars as I once was able to do when I was a child.
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If in this report you see any typos, misspellings, factual errors or other types of errors, please let me know.
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