Nungwi Beach, Zanzibar - we compare a beach resort to a cruise ship

Zanzibar is the most beautiful country with beautiful sunsets and fantastic people. I mean seriously I've traveled all over the world. Zanzibar takes some beating for people and beaches and sunsets. This is Ningwe Beach which is where most Brits go. It is the north of the island facing the sunset. Beautiful sand beaches and they are building resort after resort after resort. Building is happening at quite a speed. There's not much you can say about a resort with a beach because that's exactly what it is. So I thought I would compare them to a cruise ship as most of the people we have on our chat groups are people who cruise a lot. What is the difference between a resort and a cruise ship? Well to be honest they're both pretty much the same. I found there was more to do on a cruise ship, not so much to do here. The entertainment is better on a cruise ship, not so good here. Perhaps you could argue there's a bit more space but when the weather turns bad you really crave for those inside areas that the ship does have. Pools it has more than one, the same as a ship. We'll get to the food in a minute but let's look at how much they're building. We're in the local village. Today they booked a quad bike tour which is great normally but today it's absolutely boring and that's the thing here. It can rain at the drop of a hat so the best thing to do is wait until the morning, look at the sky, look at the weather forecast because you don't want to end up doing a dolphin tour in the pouring rain. Just as our travelers will have seen in Polynesia, in the Caribbean and all over the world, the Chinese are investing and developing in land worldwide. If you're sitting here sipping a pina colada and you fancy a little jet ski or a fishing trip, you may have left your best bargaining tool at home. You've probably got an old iPhone in a drawer somewhere. Bring it with you. You can use that as currency here. One thing I loved when I went to Mumbai, I discovered that all of the fridges that we get rid of because we think they've gone wrong, all of the freezers, the washers, the ovens are put in containers and sent to places like this and they fix them. The kids fix them. On the beach they've got the latest drone technology so if you have a jet ski they'll photograph you as you go out. Here's our room. Okay, it's bigger than a cruise ship but you're never in it. No, our honeymoon was 46 years ago but their use of English is not perfect but it's not their first language. They speak Swahili, German, Dutch, Italian, French and then English. This is where you spend your time on the beach and going off to the bar at the end of the pier to watch the Sun drop on the horizon and then have dinner in one of the specialist restaurants. Now to compare to a ship again and to be fair, like for like, this big resort is not like comparing it to a small ship. This will be comparing it to a big ship and on a big ship if you were in Africa you would be able to sit outside and enjoy the sunset just as we are here in this specialist restaurant away from the Buffy. Same as a ship except this is all-inclusive. Everything's inclusive, drinks, the whole lot but it's more expensive than a cruise ship. A cruise is definitely a much cheaper holiday. How does the food compare? So we're in the culinarium which is the gourmet restaurant. Happily we don't have a juicy appetizer that's automatic. We're having plantain for our starters. This is the plantain soup. And we're having baby lobsters for our main and we haven't chosen our dessert yet. Each of the three specialist restaurants are free but you can only eat once in each. We'll compare the buffet in a minute and this is where the resort beats the cruise ship hands down. But after eating, partying. And it does appear that people at resorts dance and party more. Jean thought she was in Ibiza for an evening dancing away to old soul classics. I think the only ship I've been on that actually parties and dances as late as people did at the resort are the Cunard ships funnily enough which are very diverse and do have live bands beyond midnight. Most cruise ships would be asleep by now but cruise ships have better theater entertainment which is where the resort fails. Both resorts and ships are run like top-class hotels. Spotless, cleaned up as you go. The all-inclusive resorts like this throw drinks at you with a smile and are very pleased to do it. Whereas on the ships some of the all-inclusive ones the waiters can have rather blinkered vision. I need to be very clear here this is filmed at 10 o'clock at night just before the buffet closes and they are still replenishing all of the main dishes quite happily. In comparison this resort food here would be a good 9 out of 10 whereas many ships barely hit 5 out of 10 and even the ones where you think the buffets good 7 out of 10. Still cooking noodles 10 o'clock at night. Where the cruise ship wins without a doubt is the main ordinary dining room where you sit and dine as an experienced be served like a silver service dinner and dress up. There isn't one here at this resort and not at many resorts and they do not dress up. There is a mild dress code for the buffet but in general no one really dresses and Jean and I shared a small case and both of our clothes weighed 17 kilos for the two-week holiday and we took too much. However we do pretty much get that amount for a cruise as well and by the way that included creams, wash bag, makeup bag and hair tongs and if you think this buffet is endless let me tell you it is. It goes on forever and it has all kinds of food but we are now in the Asian buffet which is a specialist buffet that you have to book but it's right next door to the normal buffet and it is endless absolutely endless of different kinds of food. Both fantastic holidays check out our cruise ship videos. The cruise is cheaper and easier now let's have a look at Stone Town in Zanzibar which is where cruisers may stop in Africa. We're going to prison island and we're getting on the boat. The fishermen used to come here and then it was prison island because it was used as a quarantine hospital for the slaves. This is where the boats would arrive with the slaves and they would come up here. That gate is called the door of no return and through this gate the oldest tortoise here is 201 years old. It's lovely to meet you. The monument made by Clara Sornas to the slaves. Over the road is the tattoo lounge bar and another champagne bar. Can you imagine Freddie Mercury sat here and composed stuff. Typical Swahili cuisine one of the recommendations is lookmans. This is the size of my margarita. We're in happy hour cocktail hour. This is Stuart's. It's happy hour and this is the skyline view from happy hour. The park at night is very alive. By comparison let's take a quick look at a cruise ship and then I'll show you Cape Town. Fun fact there are over 2,700 books in this library so nearly enough for every person on board because the capacity is 3,000. This ship has too much to show you in a minute. Just outside the artisan food hall is the panorama pool club. So this is the Royal Court Theatre and it has about 835 seats. Beautiful theatre. Just past the pub is the bright light society where you can take part in an immersive interactive show. An evening of burlesque dance and immersive theatre. Still on deck two this is the Queen's room. This is a very clever space. This ballroom has a balcony around the top but as well as being a ballroom as it's in the round it can transform to having a club feel. Moving on along deck two there's the chart room. It's quite quiet in here during the day so it's a great place to come and sit and read. This is the Britannia restaurant where we have our dinner and look how beautiful it is. The full 18 minute tour is on the Doris Visits channel. Cape Town is busy and buzzing day and night. When you leave the cruise terminal just follow the yellow brick road. We also have films on Senegal, Namibia and Cape Verde. If you want to venture to Robben Island that's where you get the ferry. We're at the Time Out Market in Cape Town. It's not quite as big as the one in Lisbon but it is just as fuzzy and it has great toilets if you're at the waterfront. We stopped at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Also see our film on Robben Island. That's the prison island where Nelson Mandela was kept for many years of his sentence. Search Doris Visits Robben Island. And if you've discovered our thrilling cruise novels the best way to read all ten is in the Mega Box Set because it's about the cost of one book. On Amazon the CSCI Mega Box Set.