Day 94 - Saturday April 1 At sea day 2

Luxor Itinerary
position at 7:00am: N14 30.20 latitude E42 30.05 longitude
(about 1530 miles SE of Safaga, Egypt our next port)
temperature: 80F, 100% humidity, cloudy
distance since FLL: 30,561 miles
It was warm and muggy on deck this morning with very little breeze. This made for sweaty walking. Clay was the first on deck around 5:20am, but when he quit at 6:35am, there were maybe a dozen people walking, and some people had already come and gone during this time. You cannot really start walking before about 5:20am as that is when the crew finishes its work washing down the ship. If you get up there before then, you are in their way and you also might get hosed down. Right at the end of his walk, Clay saw some dophins off the starboard side of the ship.
It is April 1, and there was an April Fool's version of Passages delivered to our cabin last night. It was clearly marked as April Fool's, so hopefully people will not try to take it seriously.
Debbie finally gave it up and went to see the Doctor after breakfast this morning about her cough, congestion and fever. He told her she has a raw, sorethroat, a fever of 100 degrees, swelling in both ears and both eardrums have ruptured and there is a bad spot in her left lung. This pretty much jibed with the symptoms she reported. He thought she might have pneumonia and did a blood test and told her to come back after an hour when he had the results of the test. When we went back, he said she had a high white cell count and that her sed rate was high. He recommended some intravenous antibiotics, so Debbie spent about 30 minutes or so with an IV in her arm, and was told to come back tomorrow to check the status of things then. (price of this visit $397) The name of the antibiotic is rocephin. She hopes to be much better for her trip to Luxor day after tomorrow. Some comments on a new part of the ship for us, the Pax Ward where Debbie received her IV. This was like a regular hospital room. It had its own bathroom with shower. The bed had the same bedspread as our cabin, so that it gave it a safe and familiar feel. The room we were in had one strange thing. It had a full-sized refrigerator in it! Also, the room had a porthole. We had never been on this side of a porthole before, so it was interesting. We were very close to the water and the porthole is at standing height, eye-level. But, it did let in natural light. Debbie could see the reflection of light on water on the ceiling above the bed. We still don't think we could cruise in a cabin without a balcony. A porthole was OK, but a balcony is better. (Bob is a little upset about missing out on visiting a new spot on the ship, but hopes Debbie feels better soon.)
We went directly from the infirmary to Laurens' cooking demo of olliebollen. These are special Dutch, fried dessert treats. We liked them, but if we made them we would not use candied fruits. Ick! Laurens did a good job and was funny talking about his Dad cooking this for the kids every New Year. They will be served for dessert tonight in Compass Rose.
Well, we are in the Red Sea now, and it is not red, but it is very, very calm. It is hazy and has a lot of freighter traffic. It is cloudy with the sun showing through about 60% the time. Clay did see some more dolphins, flying fish and jellyfish in the afternoon off our balcony.
We ate dinner in Compass Rose with Debbie getting a filet mignon off the back page of the menu and Clay ordering a New York Steak that was on the main menu. Debbie finished with an order of Olliebollen and Clay had ice cream. Olliebollen are better served warm like we had them at the demonstration than cold like they were served in Compass Rose.
We received our itinerary for our trip from Safaga to Luxor. We have posted it in the pictures. We have our fingers crossed that this will be a good trip as this is one place we had tried to visit in the fall of 2001 after 9/11 but could not go.
One follow up comment on the Constellation Theatre queuing system that has been used the last couple of times that a large number of passengers have to be off the ship at essentially the same time, like when we get to a port with time being short for some reason and all the tours are trying to leave at once. The current queuing system is much better than the less organized efforts we had seen earlier. People are seated and not standing in a Disney World line, and there is an attempt to let the people who arrive there first, leave first. In the past, some special people had problems with queuing when the queue was not formally organized. The current queuing setup works well and is a case where the ship's staff are adjusting to provide everyone a better experience. Of course, no one likes being herded and queued for long periods and it is never a happy part of a luxury, 6-star experience, but it is what it is. This forced, seated queue is a big improvement over the free for all of biggest and meanest first.
Luxor Itinerary