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Agadir was the first of three ports we would visit in Morocco, on the northwest of Africa. Gail was especially excited to visit Agadir for the first time, as it is the home of the Atlas Mountains. Gail has dreamed of visiting these mountains ever since she was a child. After arriving on Thursday, April 25 at 6:00 pm, we would have an overnight in Agadir, departing on Friday, April 26 at 1:00 pm.
More than 100 of our fellow guests have opted for another multi-day “off-ship” experience. They would depart from the ship Agadir on April 25 and take a four-hour drive to Marrakesh, a famous tourist town. They would then return on April 27 in Casablanca. Because we have no ship duties during these three days, we could have gone to Marrakesh as well. But Gail had a higher priority.
Gail found a non-Viking excursion that would take us in a hot air balloon over the Atlas Mountains. We would start early on April 26 with a quick continental breakfast, then go up in a balloon. Afterwards, we would be treated to a full Moroccan breakfast. All told, the excursion would take five hours. Gail felt comfortable that we would get back to the ship by Friday mid-day before the all-aboard. The only catch was that the excursion would not pick us up from the cruise terminal. Instead, we would have to make our way to a hotel by 5:30 am on Friday morning.
Gail struggled to find a car or taxi we could book that early. When we received our Viking Daily newsletter for Agadir, we found out why. The port is closed from midnight until 7:00 in the morning.
Gail was devastated. The balloon cancellation deadline was rapidly approaching. But we came up with “Plan B.” Since the ship would dock on Thursday evening, we would simply disembark that night and stay in a hotel. That way, we would already be at the hotel at 5:30 on Friday morning for the balloon excursion pick-up.
Gail was squeamish about booking a $250 hotel for basically a few hours of sleep, but Russell told her it would be worth it. So she booked it.
Right afterwards, still on the afternoon of April 25, Captain Richard came over the loudspeaker. Due to rough seas, we would not be docking as planned at 6:00 pm. Instead, we would (hopefully) dock “sometime that night.”
We watched the time tick by. If we did not dock and clear immigration before midnight, we would not be able to get off the ship before the dock closed. If we could not get off the ship, we would be stuck until 7:00 am the next morning. The balloon excursion would depart at 5:30 am.
By mid-evening on April 25, it was obvious that we were not going to dock and clear immigration before midnight. The good news is that Gail received a message from the balloon excursion. Due to the rough weather, the excursion was cancelled. We would get a refund. The bad news is that we were out $250 for a hotel we could not get to.
We did not end up docking until 2:00 in the morning on April 26. Poor Shore Excursions had to scramble yet again at the last minute to accommodate the 100+ guests who were supposed to depart the night before for Marrakesh. The excursion was re-configured to leave Friday morning (instead of Thursday evening). The guests would still go to Marrakesh, but they would have much less time there. Some guests opted to continue, while others opted to cancel.
In the meantime, we now had no balloon ride and no plans for our (now) single half-day in Agadir. Fortunately, we had secured tickets for the free excursion as a “Plan C.”
So on April 26, we took Viking’s 3.5-hour included excursion, “Postcards from Agadir.” This was a combination panoramic bus tour and 1.5-hour walk that took us through the main sights of Agadir. The last part was a cable car ride up to one of the Atlas Mountains (actually an Atlas foothill) for a panoramic view.
Once again, rough weather resulted in us (and many guests) missing a highly anticipated adventure. But once again, we have the possibility of returning here next year. With the current world situation, we fully expect we will visit Africa instead of the Middle East again in 2025.
