My husband was so excited to take this cruise because it stopped in Morocco.  I remember going to Tangier almost 30 years ago from Spain by hydrofoil.  It was a fun day with a tour, but I was in my early 20s.  I was not sure I would be a fan of Morocco now, but since most of this cruise was all about Spain, I did not balk at stops in Morocco.  We booked a tour excursion through the ship because there were no other options available.  I’m happy we booked the excursion because I would not have wanted to wander Casablanca on our own. 

There was a big back up trying to get off the ship.  I think almost everyone that disembarked took an excursion.  It was a little crazy since they only had one way out.  We had to walk to to the port security and there we got on the bus. We found out afterwards that is because so many people want to try to get to Europe without a passport.  The shuttle bus that took people to the center of town had a stowaway this afternoon that they had to escort out of the port!

Our tour guide was named Mohammad.  He spoke at least four languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, and English) which was pretty impressive.  He enjoyed using the work “like” a lot while describing things, which was distracting at first, but you got used to it.  Our first stop was Hassan II mosque.  It is the third largest mosque in the world, after the one in Mecca and another in the Middle East.  It was only built about 30 years ago. It was very impressive.  

As women, we had to wear something to cover our shoulders and knees, but did not need to cover our heads. The men needed to cover their knees as well.  We had to take our shoes off to enter the mosque. They gave us a little green bag to put our shoes in and carry them around.  Mohammad told us a lot about Muslim traditions and beliefs and described the mosque.  Since I listened intently when we were in Egypt, I already knew a lot about Muslim beliefs and traditions.  What i found interesting about this Mohammad is that he was 31 years old and he talked about how younger people got around some of the traditions.  They are not supposed to drink, but many people do. They are not supposed to have girlfriends, so they say it’s their friend.  He presented these facts as though he was preserving traditions, however, I wonder how he will deal with these things when he is a parent. Will he go back to Muslim tradition and expect that from his children or will he understand that is not happening?  

There are separate areas for men and women to pray in the mosque.  The women’s area is obscured and you cannot see if anyone is there.  There are also separate areas to wash (which is normal to me). Since the mosque is open for tourists they allow you only in certain areas.  If you want a tour of the minuet, it costs at least $1,000.  The decorations at the mosque were beautiful and intricate.  

We had a few minutes to use the bathroom before we looked at the bathing area.  The bathroom was a hole in the ground with two spots to put your feet.  There was no toilet paper (I was in the men’s room because the line was too long for the women, so I don’t know if they had toilet paper or not). There was a water spout to wash yourself off though. I guess if you need to go #2 you just use your hand?  It was interesting. 

After the mosque, we drove to a memorial for what was basically a man who they considered a saint.  He lived on an island, so they buried him there and built a mausoleum around it and a bridge to the island.  It was very pretty and we even saw some cats and a camel on the beach. 

Mohammad warned us that since it was Friday, the old town area probably would not have many stores open since it was their Holy Day.  When we arrived we could hear the call to prayer over the mosque loud speakers.  Mohammed said it’s basically a calling to come pray.  It sounds like a song.  It’s pretty cool. I heard it first in Turkey.  As we walked around we could see all the places that would have goods for sale, but there were men sitting outside these closed doors.  They were all listing to the speech before the prayer. We tried to go to the olive market, but it was also closed.  Honestly, it was kind of cool to see all these men putting down their blankets and all praying on the sidewalks.  After the prayers, a few more people opened their stores.  My husband and I walked around and ended up in an area where there were no tourists but us.  I felt uncomfortable, but no one bothered us.  I was not impressed with the offerings in the stores and we didn’t even buy a magnet.  

At this point, I was ready to head back to the ship.  However, we stopped in what was called the United Nations Square, which had the French consulate and a whole bunch of pigeons.  Mohammad said they are working on making things more open for tourists, but Casablanca is not really a tourist town.  

We had one more stop at another square that had a McDonald’s and KFC as well as a bazaar we could browse.  The bazaar was really cool.  They had some scabbard type knives that my husband and I really liked, but were not interested in buying.  We stopped briefly at McDonald’s where we discovered a burger was $8.  Even though we had not eaten lunch, we thought that was a bit much.  

We arrived back at the ship a little before 4.  I was saddened to see that many people did not tip Mohammad when we got off the bus.  It was not the greatest tour, but he did try his best to complete what they asked of him.  I thought it was pretty rude not to tip him.  

Since we were kind of hungry we went up to the buffet area along with everyone else who just finished their excursions. The only thing open was the two lines in the back. The lines were ridiculous.  I don’t know why they didn’t have something else for those who couldn’t eat lunch.  We ended up eating supper very early.  

We went to the Latitudes Cocktail party a bit early because there is usually a line to get in.  There were only about 20 people that even went to the party!  It was really weird. We are not quite sure what people are doing for entertainment on this cruise.  We don’t see many people in the bars, casino, or shows.  The only place that always has a lot of people is the atrium area.  It is very odd.  We played the art scavenger hunt tonight (it’s one of our favorite things to do) and there was no one there.  Then we went to the jewelry give away and it was packed!  Give aways are always very popular.  

Tomorrow we have Agadir. I have a feeling it will be similar to our tour today, but the Medina should have more shops open.  In any case, I don’t think we will need to visit Morocco again, even though our guide invited all of us to his wedding in April. 

By the way, this is a fake Rick’s Cafe. They created it after the movie made it popular. It was never a cafe here.