“Experience the historical splendor of Casablanca and its landmarks during this scenic, half-day panoramic drive through the city.
Leave the pier by motorcoach and proceed to the amazing and beautiful Hassan II Mosque. This is the second-largest mosque in the Islamic world, and you’ll stop for photos and some to admire the immense and ornate exterior of this masterpiece of building.
From a nearby viewpoint you’ll take in another view of the mosque with a backdrop of the city and the coastline. From here, the mosque appears to be floating on the sea.
Head to the New Medina — the Habous Quarter — via Notre Dame de Lourdes on a panoramic drive through this historical part of the city.
Your tour concludes with a photo stop at Mohammed V Square, where you are surrounded by examples of rather beautiful Islamic architecture. This public open space is graced with a monumental fountain, a public garden and the statue of Marshal Lyautey.”
Wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring a hat. Suitable for guests using a wheelchair. Do not take photos of military personnel without first specifically obtaining their consent. Mind your belongings at all times, particularly in crowded public places.
In one of my earlier messages, I mentioned that there are many activities available to passengers. Sometimes there are four or even more activities listed for one time slot. One activity offered daily is watching movies. It may sound a little strange to watch a movie when one is on the “cruise of a lifetime” but occasionally it makes sense. The movie is shown in the Wajang theater in the evening and then broadcast on the in-room televisions the next day. Ever thoughtful, Holland America supplies little bags of popcorn in the theater.
The majority of the time we have extraordinary live evening entertainment but on rare occasions, the evening entertainment will be a movie shown in the Queen’s Lounge. Movies may be selected because they were recent Academy Award winners but other times, they may be relevant to the place we are visiting.
When we were in Greece, I watched a romantic comedy called “My Life in Ruins.” The story setting was Greece. I got to see places in the movie that I had just viewed on my excursions. The amusing plot of the movie was the challenges faced by a tour guide while she did her best to conduct a week-long bus tour. It reminded me of a 1960’s movie, which I have thought about often on this cruise, called “If it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium.”
Nothing goes right for the reluctant tour guide who aspires to have a better job. At the end of each tour, the people get to rate her performance. Her supervisor confronts her with the fact that she is consistently rated as “average” which is the lowest rating the survey offers.
I would give our Casablanca tour the lowest rating if I were offered an opportunity. Holland America sends a representative out on each tour bus so I am pretty sure the feedback provided by that representative reflected my own negative impression. On a scale from 1 to 10 I would give it a 1. If I had to rank all the tours I took, Barcelona would be at the top and Casablanca at the bottom. The bus was dirty. The tour guide seemed to be a cross between a preacher and low-quality comedian. Our two opportunities to get off the bus were more than disappointing.
I think the name “Casablanca” stirs up positive memories of the Academy Award winning movie. Ironically, the movie was not filmed in Casablanca but now you can visit Rick’s Café where the movie is shown all day long. We only looked at the outside of the building as we drove by on our tour.
The beach in Casablanca did not hold a candle to the one I had enjoyed at our previous port. The giant mosque we visited only to take pictures reminded me of the nice pictures I have of the University of San Diego. I did not even get off the bus.
At the other stop, I did get off the bus and wished I hadn’t. It was a run-down area with trash and an overabundance of pigeons. There was a fountain which looked like it had not had water in it for a long time. There were vendors hawking cheap plastic souvenirs. A man dressed in a costume, which represented a benevolent religious group of years ago, gestured that he wanted me to take his picture. I complied. Within seconds, two additional costumed men rushed up. The next thing I knew, I was posing with two costumed men while the third took our picture. The one who took my camera to take the picture put his hat on my head. I got my camera back but they expected money for this experience. I had not anticipated this. The tour guide did not make it clear that would happen. The tour guide had said there was a group of “Sophists” (or something like that) who would bring water for people in the olden days. No charge.
I paid the posers no money and scrambled back on the bus. I immediately began worrying that I could have picked up head lice or something worse in this cultural exchange. My scalp began to itch but that was probably psychological.
When our bus was pulling up to the pier, I spotted some friends who were heading out on the shuttle to the center of town. Mary gladly joined them while I raced frantically up to the on-ship beauty parlor and got the most thorough scrubbing my scalp has ever experienced. I mentioned in my last message I fear germs. I fear cooties too. I am very grateful that Christa got all the way through school without contracting head lice. The last thing I wanted to do was bring some home from the world cruise!