Day 104 - Tuesday April 11

Ortygia photos
position at 7:30am: N37 05.55 latitude E15 45.15 longitude
(about 25 miles E of Siracusa, Sicily)
temperature: 66F, 67% humidity, cloudy and windy (85km/h for NW)
distance since FLL: 33,570 miles
It was cool and windy again this morning for Clay's deck walk. Debbie slept in and was glad for the extra hour. We went to a late breakfast again in Compass Rose since we are still not in sight of land. Debbie had a double order of Swedish Pancakes and Clay had blueberry pancakes. Land was visible by the time we finished eating and we headed up to Deck 12 for the sail in to Siracusa's harbor. It is pretty scenic. The old fortified island of Ortygia is right next to us and that is where we have been told that we will tender into, Ortygia. We were at our anchorage by 8:30am. By 9am the Captain came on and his Vords of Visdom were not so philosophical or poetic today. He said he got a call at 11pm last night that the local port authority would not allow Voyager to use our own tenders. Capt. Dag said that by the time he went to bed he had arranged that to allow the local tender's union to make its money they would pay them and still be allowed to use our own tenders in addition to the local ones. By the time we arrived here this morning, it was back to only local tenders could be used. The first local tender arrived at about 9am. Capt. Dag announced that the capacity was 40 people and he did not know how we could get even all the tour-booked people ashore. He said he would continue negoatiating with the locals and handed off to Jamie. Jamie said that he would start handing out tender tickets in front of the Voyager Lounge and that once you came and got a ticket you should be prepared to stay there until you were called, that he would not make shipwide announcements. He apologized for the inconvenience. At 9:30am, Jamie announced that we had finally convinced the locals that they could not provide adequate tendering capacity and they had consented to let us drop our own 2 tenders into the water. Jamie said that we had not yet received permission to start loading any tenders yet and that there about 350 people booked on tours who had to be offloaded before they would begin tendering individuals going ashore independently. They started loading tenders just a few minutes after Jamie's announcement. We are flexible here since we spent a day here before and just planned to wander Ortygia and review the old sights. Clay has almost no memories of the day we spent here in 2000, so it will all be new to him anyway.
The last tender back to the ship is at 1:30pm. We are expected to sail at 2pm. It will be a short day here in any event. We are due to sail past Stromboli volcanoe around 11pm tonight so we are looking forward to that and hope it does something for us. This should also mean that we sail through the Straits of Messina but there have been no announcements about that. Anyway, it should be a nice sail for the rest of day after we depart Siracusa.
We received our interim bill today and they only charged us $140 each for the tour to Petra in Jordan. This is a reduction of $49 each, or $9 less than what we would have paid to just take the plain Petra tour vs. the Concierge Choice tour there. We never received any kind of response regarding that tour after we submitted our written complaint. We assume that this price reduction is the response and not some accounting error.
We got a letter this morning informing us that the Kitchen Cabaret concept has been extended in Latitudes through 4/14. Latitudes will be closed on 4/15 and will reopen on the 16th as a Spanish Bodega. We have a 7pm reservation for Tuesday, the 18th so we will report back on this. We are still skipping the Kitchen Cabaret. We have heard mixed reviews about the entertainment there and not many raves for the menu. Many who have been on the whole time stated they thought it was the weakest offering in Latitudes to date. In any event, we are skipping it so cannot make any first hand reports.
We went down to the Main Atrium after all the tender ticketing had stopped and tenders were just being freely loaded. We wound up on a Voyager tender and were ashore by 10:30am. We docked just across the bridge from the island of Ortygia. The island is only about 1 mile long and a 1/2 mile wide so it is easy walking. The whole island is paved. We looked and did not see any dirt or grass. It is paved with marble and brick and other pavers but the whole thing is covered. It was fairly cool and partly cloudy which made for a pleasant day. We were here before in late summer with glaring sunshine and every surface reflected and it was stunning but not comfortable. Sadly, the Duomo was covered with scaffolding on the front, so we have no pictures. Also, the Palazzo Bellomo museum of art was covered with scaffolding and was closed. We ended up having a nice leisurely strolland then a long leisurely and delicious Sicilian lunch. Clay had misto frito (mixed fried seafood plate) with a Moretti beer and Debbie had pasta alla Norma (tomato sauce with eggplants) and a Sicilian white wine that was not bad.
The good news was that they delayed our departure until 3:30pm or 3pm. The last tender is now scheduled for 2:30pm instead of 1:30pm. One assumes this is because we were delayed by the politics of getting permission to be here at all at the last minute. Sadly, a few greedy Sicilians may have messed up this port in the future for RSSC and Voyager. When we arrived to the tender dock to return there was a long line and people were balking at riding in the local tenders. Apparently, after the ship got unloaded the locals told RSSC that they had to stop running their own tenders. Those people back on the dock were taking a moral and safety stance but they may have had a long wait. We rode in the last 2 seats on the next local tender on the outside benches and it was fine. It was not as safe or convenient as the Voyager tenders but we were not in fear for our lives or anything. We saw Voyager's tenders being loaded back on as we arrived, so those people making a stand ashore may have a disappointing wait.
The ship was docked directly in front of the Fonte Arethusa which is a fresh water spring that made the island so desirable in ancient times. We had a view of it from our balcony. It was a very scenic anchorage. Later after we were on the ship, we saw one of the ship's tenders return to the tender dock ashore, so it was not a pleasant day for the ship's personnel dealing with the locals today. That is too bad if it costs Siracusa future cruise stops. It is a lovely place to spend a half day. The most amazing thing here aside from a whole island of Baroque architecture is the Duomo. It was built over the ruins of the 5th century BC temple of Minerva and incorporates 26 of the original Doric columns. You can see these columns from the outside as well as from the inside of the cathedral. The facade was destroyed along with most of the buildings on the island in an earthquake in 1693 and was rebuilt, again like most of the buildings on the island, in the Baroque style.
The phone rang just before 3pm as Debbie was inside typing this and Clay was pondering our sail away up the coast of Sicily. It was one of the social hostesses, Lisa, requesting our presence at the Captain's table tonight. It is Formal tonight. Debbie consented without consulting Clay. Now Clay is not happy. Debbie plans to miss much of the sail up the coast by napping, now Clay says he will have to too. Oh, well such are the rigors of life on a World Cruise.
The weather turned on us later in the afternoon. The seas were choppy and the visibility was low with misting rain and strong winds. So, the naps turned out to be a better use of our time anyway. You could barely make out the mountains around Taormina. We entered the Straits of Messina around 7pm. It was still a little light out and even with the rain and wind you could see both Messina on Sicily and Reggio di Calabria on Italy on either side of the ship. There was a lot of ferry traffic.
We got dressed up and went to the Constellation Theater for the Captain's Farewell. He was still pretty steamed about the behavior of the port/harbor people today. He said he came very close to getting so angry that he would just bypass the port. He said it would be a very long time before he will return to Siracusa if ever. It did seem to be beyond greed and into the area of stupidity to be so shortsighted in their treatment of Voyager today. Too bad for them.
Dinner was at the Captain's table. We were seated with a couple from Texas that we had met previously and 2 women from Florida that we have had a few meals with one of the women. The other couple from San Francisco we had not met before. It was a good dinner. Debbie was seated at the Captain's right and if he was scrutinizing her picky eating he was polite and did not comment. They both had pasta and beef. Capt. Dag did not order any dessert but he was staring at Debbie's white chocolate cheesecake which was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. She finally asked him if he wanted a bite. He said no he couldn't. She rolled her eyes and handed him the spoon she was not using. Well, he said, maybe one bite. Is it really good? She told him, it will melt in your mouth. He took a big bite and held it with his eyes closed. When he opened them, she asked him, well. He said, yes, it did melt in my mouth, delicious, thank you. The really funny thing this evening involved bakery goods from Siracusa. Apparently, when the Captain went to the Harbor Master's office today to lodge his official complaints about our handling here today, the Harbor Master gave him a big box of finest pastries that Siracusa has to offer. Capt. Dag said he tried some and it was really good, so he saved it to share with the table this evening. Capt. Dag said he gave the box to Patrick to take to the kitchen to be served with petit fours. Capt. Dag asked the waiter serving petit fours to get the cookies from Patrick. The waiter did not return. Mike came out to ask how our meals were and Capt. Dag asked him where are the cookies I sent down to you with Patrick. Mike shrugged, he did not know about any box of pastries. The waiter finally appeared with Patrick, and Patrick told the Captain that the cookies were gone. The Captain could not believe it, Patrick assured him the cookies are gone. No cookies. Debbie asked Patrick, Patrick did you eat all those cookies? Patrick pulled out his jacket and looked down at his stomach in surprise. We all laughed but then Capt. Dag and Mike and Patrick huddled and the Captain was pretty upset that his cookies were gone. He told us about them and how unhappy he was about the "miscommunication." We all told that the desserts off the menu plus petit fours was going to be fine for us all. Patrick came back and promised that he personally was going to go shopping in Sorrento tomorrow and deliver special pastries to everyones' cabins. Mike reminded him that it was Easter week and that it might be a problem. Patrick assured us then that Monte Carlo would be his backup port. OK. It is OK. No one would have even missed them if Captain Dag had not raved about them. He described what Debbie thought was marzipan and cassata cake and we don't love either of those anyway. We visited several bakeries today and while we looked we did not buy, so we are sure that no matter how Capt. Dag was raving about his lost box of pastries that it could not have been as good as that white chocolate cheesecake. Capt. Dag had some cufflinks with nautical signal flags on them. Debbie asked him what the flags spelled. He was embarrassed to tell her that they were a gift from old friends and former passengers years ago and that he wore them for a year before he got out a book and looked up what they spelled...TIFFANY! Very funny. We had a good evening, but it was not over yet!
At 10pm we were to sail past Stromboli. The Capt. called the bridge from the table and they said it had stopped raining and visibility was 8 miles and they could see the eruptions ahead. We went to the cabin and changed to go up to Deck 12. It was 55 degrees F with 80 km/h winds, so it was pretty uncomfortable. Debbie made good use of that big red parka again. Stromboli sent up a plume of flame andsparks just as we came out on Deck 12. It did it again about every 5 to 6 minutes. We had arrived earlier than expected but no one inside the ship knew. We stayed until we had to watch from the back of the ship. We saw one really enormous blast with flaming rocks falling far down the slope as we were sailing away. Stromboli had saved the best for last. It was raining again by the time we got back inside. Tomorrow morning we are expected to anchor off Sorrento at 7am and that will be an early morning now.
Ortygia photos

Day 103 - Monday April 10 - surprise visit to Katakolon, Greece

Katakolon photos
position at 7:30am: N36 31.22 latitude E22 06.15 longitude
(about 380 miles E of Siracusa, Sicily)
temperature: 58F, 92% humidity, cloudy
distance since FLL: 33,168 miles
Even though it was chilly on deck, it was pleasant walking this morning mainly because of the light winds. Clay had the deck to himself for the first couple of miles, but there were maybe 8-10 people walking by the time he quit.
At the start of the night leaving Kusadasi, the winds and swell had the cabin cracking and the ship swaying from side to side. But during the night, the cracking subsided, and this morning there is only a slight vibration that you can feel.
We received a letter overnight from the tour desk wanting to confirm our disembarkation details for FLL. This trip is rapidly coming to an end.
Debbie is still dealing with the anitbiotics' side effects, but she has started taking the stairs again instead of using the elevators so that is a good sign. She is still short of breath, but can make it slowly for 4 or 5 flights without gasping and coughing up a lung. We're happy for any small improvements at this point. Thanks to all for the good wishes for her improved health.
Did we mention yesterday that we love Turkey and the Turkish people? We do! If anyone out there is looking for a place to visit or revisit, we highly recommend Turkey. It is such a wonderful country and the people are so warm and friendly. There is so much of interest to see there. While we are eager to get home and stay there for a good, long while, we do look forward to returning to Turkey one day. We are still sad to have skipped Libya, but Kusadasi was an excellent substitute and we are very happy that we got to return there. If you are reading this Sue, we did not forget about Jessica's 7-day bracelet. Since Kusadasi is where we bought the first one, we did look for one yesterday. It seems that in the cleanup and improvements of the port area that they got rid of all the stock that they did not think would be of interest to tourists. Those bracelets were a kind of folkloric thing and they just did not carry them in any of the stores near the port any more. Sorry.
We are closely skirting the coast of Greece this morning before crossing over to Sicily. We are happy for the very calm seas this morning. This is the Mediterranean that we love and remember. We don't love the rough one! Though weremember that one, too. We were on TV this morning on Voyager Today! Clay was on his funnel climb and there was a lot of good footage of the inside of the funnel as well as the views from that high vantage point. Jamie also videotaped Debbie waving up to Clay and that was on TV, too. There was some footage of the woman passenger who went up with Clay and her big, long camera lense. Then, the footage of Clay with his little tiny pocket-sized camera. Clay has lamented long and hard about not having a smaller camera until this morning. Poor Clay with his little tiny camera! Clay got himself a brief case of lense envy this morning! Too funny!
Debbie slept in again today and we had a late breakfast at Compass Rose. We had a view of Greece going by the windows with the sun shining brightly behind the mountains. It was very scenic. Debbie had Eggs Benedict and Clay had 2 eggs over easy with baby lamb chops. Debbie also got a chocolate croissant. It was a good breakfast. We are happy for this sea day and hope to get lots of rest before we hit Europe.
Well, so much for the best laid plans! We were enjoying skirting Greece this morning but had wondered about it. As Mishiel finished off her morning deliveries of ice and fruit and Debbie was ready to take her morning nap and we just got a letter off the door that says we are docking in an hour to spend from noon to 6pm at Katakolon, Greece! Also, as SSS Gold members we are invited to a Special Event onshore. There will be a Greek Taverna Experience 10 minutes walking from the dock and will be open to us for Greek snacks, wine and music from 1pm to 3pm. OK, time to go go go again! Capt. Dag is speaking into our cabins right now and said that he would just be too sad to sail the Greek archipelago without a stop there on a World Cruise. Well said.
Dag said it is harder to arrange surprises for World Cruisers but that he is happy when he can do it.
Well, we are happy too and we are really surprised! Apparently, Olympia is a 45-minute drive away. We would hate to be this close and miss that but we will have to see what happens after we arrive.
Debbie decided to go ahead with her nap since the GPS looked like we were still pretty far away. We wound up not being docked until 12:30pm, so she got a one hour nap and that helped. We docked on the starboard side today and Capt. Dag must have been sad to have to pull straight in since that meant we had to leave by backing out. No signature spins here! We were on the dock by about 1pm and there was a bus to take people to the taverna, Mouragio. We walked around the other way on the dock to take pictures of Voyager and then started strolling towards the little, one lane village of Katakolon, of about 1000 people. There were a lot of taxis just outside the dock and several were offering Olympia. We discussed missing the Greek Taverna party and thought it would be OK with both of us. We asked about the 3rd driver who offered us Olympia, how much it was and how much time we needed. He said we could leave right now and have lunch on the road and he would wait for us 1 hour at Olympia and still get us back in plenty of time for the ship. He said that we could not do the archaelogical site and the museum at Olympia, just the site with stadium in 1 hour. The cost would be 50 Euros. He said it was about a 30-minute drive each way. He had a nice, new Mercedes with 4 doors. We decided we had to see the site of the original Olympics and off we went. Apparently, the taverna party was very nice and we were sorry to have missed it, but Olympia closed at 3pm so we could not do both, we had to chose. We still think we chose right. We stopped for lunch and to use an ATM to get some Euros in the modern town of Olympia. We ate at a nice little sidewalk cafe. Clay had gyros and a Mythos beer. Debbie had souvlaki and a Coke. It was a quick but very tasty lunch. We invited our driver, Andreas to eat with us but he said he already had lunch. He did sit with us and drink some juice. He had lived in Melbourne, Australia for a dozen years or so and that is where he learned to read and speak English. Debbie joked that he did not have an Aussie accent and he gave her a perfect 'gooday mate.' Debbie asked him when he knew our ship was coming, because we had not found out until 11am. He was shocked and said that he knew it on Friday, 3 days earlier. He lives in Pirgos now and comes to drive mostly tourists from the port to Olympia. He said that in the busy season of July and August there are an average of 35 ships a month through this tiny port of Katakolon. It has berths for 2 cruise ships and it can accept much larger ships than ours. He said that there is construction under way for a 3rd berth, but that work has been stopped for months and it was not clear why or when it would resume. He thought that the missing 3rd berth was costing the town some cruise business. It was a beautiful spring day at the archaeological sight. There were probably fewer than 100 people there and probably most of that was 2 buses of schoolkids. One bus of German tourists. We only saw one couple and the Spanish father and his 2 boys from the ship at Olympia. The 2 boys raced the length of the stadium, they pooped out and played on the way back up the length though. Debbie asked their Dad if he was clocking them, but he wasn't. Surprisingly for us, the stadium had no seats so you kind of had to use your imagination. But there was a lot of the temple complex left behind and they let you walk through the ruins of most of the big temples and other buildings. It was an another amazing place to witness history. The lawns were full of blooming wildflowers in white, yellow, purple, red and there were purple-flowered trees in bloom everywhere. There was a kind of tree like aspen, or cottonwood, that was sheding and the air was full of white fluff. It was a very scenic and photogenic place and we can only hope that in our rushed one hour tour that we got a few excellent pictures. We were back to the village of Katakolon by 3:30pm. We had a couple of hours to stroll the one street and the seaside walk of shops and restaurants. We were very surprised by how friendly every one we met in Greece was this time. When we traveled around Greece before in 1999, everyone was really nasty to us. We were in a lot of tourist towns then and not just Athens and the abusive treatment was uniform at that time. It did not leave us with a very good first impression of Greece and we had not thought to ever return to this country. So, we had pretty low expectations of our surprise visit here. Here all the shop people we spoke to in Katakolon and Olympia were welcoming and friendly and they all spoke English. Many of the taxi drivers seemed to speak English as well, and ours spoke excellent English, with either an American or Aussie accent on demand. This was an even bigger shock than the calming of the Turkish merchants in Kusadasi. (It was really funny that they all pointed out to us that they were "not aggressive" each time we did not buy from one of them. When we did buy they asked us if we appreciated that they had been "non-aggressive" and did not price so high that we were uncomfortable, but still high enough that they had time to work us through the bargaining deal. They had clearly gotten the memo about making Westerners uncomfortable with the yelling and grabbing.) We did not enjoy our time in Greece at all the first timein 1999, but today was a really pleasant shock. In addition to the shock of visiting Greece at all, the people could not have been nicer or more welcoming. We will have to reevaluate Greece as a place to return again in the future. Debbie picked out the house she wants to renovate and it is on a hillside near Pirgos. Clay thinks it looks like to much work. We did not see a house for us in Turkey though! Clay told Debbie not to look in the jewelry store windows today, but she did anyway and is still very happy with her bracelet.
Tonight is Informal and we are going to dress and go to Compass Rose. It was very crowded in CR tonight. Debbie had a plums appetizer and pear sherbet followed by a plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce. She also had her first glass of wine in 3 weeks or so. There was a welshreisling tonight and she likes that is drugfree at present (other than the continuing OD of meclizine, but that doesn't count.) Clay had 2 scallops, pear sherbet and rouladen. Clay had ice cream and Debbie had a custard and meringue dessert called Brasso di Mercedes. Debbie really liked her dessert but would not have ordered it based on what was written in the menu. She asked the waiter, Jason, and he accurately described it. Good.
We move the clocks back an hour tonight which is a good thing because Debbie is really desperate for some extra rest now. We are not scheduled to arrive in Siracusa, Sicily tomorrow until 10am, so hopefully she will sleep in again as well. The seas are very calm and smooth so far. It was not dark until about 8pm. We could see the island of Zakinthos pass by the windows of Compass Rose during dinner. It was nice. While a restful day would have been much appreciated today, we are very pleased with the big surprise day that Capt. Dag had for us instead. Now, we missed Libya but we got Turkey and Greece instead, so even if you had been to both it was a two-fer and that is always a good deal.
Katakolon photos

Day 102 - Sunday April 9 - Kusadasi, Turkey

Kusadasi photos
position at 8am: N37 51.50 latitude E27 15.15 longitude
(Kusadasi, Turkey)
temperature: 56F, 100% humidity, mostly cloudy
distance since FLL: 32,855 miles
Here is the description of the tour we are taking today.
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PRIENE, MILETUS AND DIDYMA - ANCIENT SITES
Duration: 6 1/2 Hours Price: $82.00 pp
Departing early from the pier, your first stop will be the ancient harbor city of Priene. Priene was laid out at the foot of a spectacular cliff on Mount Mycale, and contains many famous examples of Hellenistic art and architecture. In addition, its streets intersect at right angles.
Next visit Miletus. As one of the largest and most important cities in Anatolia, Miletus was the most active member of the 12 cities of the Ionian Confederation. From the 7th century B.C., the Persians, Romans and Seijuk Turks have controlled the city.
The last visit in the tour will be Didyma, the place where, according to Greek mythology, Zeus and Leto bore their twins Apollo and Artemis. Didyma was famed as a prophecy center dedicated to Apollo, and served a similar purpose as the Delphi of Anatolia. It was not a city, but a sanctuary linked to Miletus by Milesians by a 12-mile sacred road. A lunch consisting of simple but delicious Turkish specialties will be served at a local restaurant. At the end of the tour you will return to Kusadasi, where, time permitting, you can stop in town to explore the shops or return to the ship.
Please note: This tour involves an uphill walk in Priene, and many steps in both Priene and
Miletus. Since pathways contain loose gravel and rubble, good walking shoes are suggested.
Total walking required is about 2 miles over 2 hours. This tour is not suitable for those with
walking difficulties.
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Clay slept in with Debbie and did not walk this morning. It was very chilly this morning and the forecast high for the day was 74 degrees F. It did reach exactly that temperature in the afternoon, but it was a cool start. LaVeranda opened at 7am and we were there for a quick breakfast before the bus boarding time of 8:15am. Debbie had oatmeal with a banana. (Don't know if we noted the return of oatmeal. It was only gone for about 4-5 days at the beginning of this segment.)
We arrived at Kusadasi on time at 8am. There was another cruise ship, Emerald, already docked. Kusadasi hasreally built up and cleaned up since we docked here in 1999. There are new cruise terminal buildings and a bus parking lot. The salespeople along the pedestrian shopping streets right near the port have ratcheted down the aggression by about 50%. We were very pleasantly surprised by the positive changes and beautification that had taken place.
We visited Ephesus in 1999 when we were here before and while it was an awesome site the tours here were for only 3 hours and that included transit time. While we believe Ephesus would be worth a return visit, we feel it warrants more time. We decided to take the tour described above and we were well pleased with it. It was pretty much exactly as described and we saw some beautiful countryside and views from the cliffside city of Priene. None of these sites was as extensive as Ephesus but they were all impressive in their own way. The lunch was served at a restaurant that overlooked the Apollo Temple in Didyma. They had an amazing selection of cold appetizers and salads, a good selection of hot appetizers and pastas, rice, vegetables and a meat dish in gravy. The main course was served at the table and was described as sea bass. They served each person 2 fried fish, one was smaller than the "sea bass" that they had displayed and did not have much taste. The "sea bass" one was white fleshed and flakier and moist and very tasty. Debbie did not want fish, so after she declined it, they came back and offered her a "meat" kabob. She accepted it. The plate had 2 sort of meatballs and several chunks of a meat that may have been goat and a big scoop of rice. The "meat" chunks were very chewy, but the "meatballs" were very nicely flavored. She ate most of it. Clay got 2 Efes Pilsner beers and like them. For dessert, they served a very lightly nutted and very honeyed baklava. It was delicious too. It was a very nice lunch. The only down side here was that an hour was shaved off the back end of our stop and instead of the originally scheduled 6pm, it was all aboard at 4:30pm and we sailed at 5pm. It turned out to still be enough time for us though. We got back to Kusadasi and parked the bus outside the dock area at about 3:10pm. Debbie finally found a new gold bracelet. Actually, she found 2 at 2 different stores and had only about a 20-minute window to decide and purchase. If you have ever purchased as much as a T-shirt from a Turk before, you know what an amazing feat this was. Plus, somehow the store owners still thought we were leaving at 6pm and acted like our short time argument was just a bargaining ploy. No, we really did sail at 5pm and not 6pm. For some reason, all the shop keepers kept speaking French to Debbie and seemed surprised when she replied in English. We don't know why they all thought Debbie was French. She was wearing a blue cableknit cotton sweater with blue Lee jeans and black Ecco shoes. Maybe it was the black shoes but Clay was with her with his big white New Balance. It is a mystery. Clay made a last purchase in the Cruise Terminal building's duty free shop of an Efes beer in a can. Debbie was standing outside the shop waiting when Capt. Dag came by and stopped and took her shoulder and followed where she was looking. He boomed out that Clay should get a case, it is good beer. We gave Laurens some grief 2 days ago about not stocking Stella beer from Egypt or Efes beer in Kusadasi. He seemed not to know that these were the local beers and had no plans to stock them. Clay said if the Captain wanted a case of Efes onboard that he needed to talk to Laurens. We only have 18 days left!
Tonight is Country Club Casual. We may go up to LaVeranda tonight. Jamie said on Voyager Today on TV that the past week or so has been very low attendance in the Constellation Theater for the shows. We can imagine. People have been working too hard during some long port days and with overnights away from the ship. Jamie said that 150 people went to Cairo for the overnight and skipped the Suez Canal transit. We are very happy that we had chosen to skip this even without knowing that Debbie would not have the energy for it. We found the Suez Canal transit one of the most fascinating days of the cruise.
We did eat in LaVeranda, and were finished before the sun set. During dinner, we sailed by the island of Samos. After dinner, we went up on deck 12 to watch the sun, but it was too chilly. So, we stopped by our cabin to get the camera and a jacket and went out on deck 5 to watch the sun set. The seas were rough and we saw many high waves as we watch the sun set.
Kusadasi photos

Day 101 - Saturday April 8

position at 8:45am: N30 10.41 latitude E32 34.08 longitude
(590 SE of Kusadasi, Turkey our next port)

temperature: 64F, 90% humidity, mostly cloudy

distance since FLL: 32,233 miles 

Clay was up early for a really nice walk with only a handful of other people. Debbie slept in again. Since we were late to breakfast with nothing pressing to do and see today, we had a late breakfast in the Compass Rose. It was confirmed that the raspberry supply for the cruise is gone and that strawberries were also not fit to be served alone leaving only blueberries. Debbie has an aversion to blueberries. Don't ask. She did get an affirmative answer to chocolate croissants today. Unfortunately, the answer also volunteered the repeated information that chocolate croissants are served every other day. Now we know that is not true and we disabused the waiter of that company line. He laughed and believed that we might be right and they are only served every 3 to 4 days. Debbie had one chocolate croissant and swedish pancakes. Clay had his usual fried eggs & sausage.

It was in the low 60s degrees F this morning but there was no wind so it felt warmer. The seas were pretty rough this morning. We bounced from wall to wall after breakfast and happened by the Club.com as one big sideways lean dumped the refrigerator of sodas as we entered the room to look for a video for our quiet sea day. We did pick a video. Given her fatigue and the rough ride, Debbie was pretty quick back to the cabin and to bed for a morning nap.

They were having an International Country Fair Food Court on the Pool Deck for lunch according to the daily Passages. "With over 30 nations represented onboard the Seven Seas Voyager we invite guests to enjoy all the fun of a Country Fair Buffet on the Pool Deck (11), today for lunch. Choose from a vast selection of delicious hot and cold dishes from around the world, each region represented by a 'stall holder' of his or her own nationality. Savor specialties from Europe, India, Asia, as well as the USA. One visit is never enough, so be selective and then come back for more, betwen 12 NOON and 2:00PM. (weather permitting)" So, it being a perfect weather day we headed up despite the rocky ride. Here was a classic example of the hyperbole exceeding the reality. There were no stalls, no nationalities manning them, not even a bowl of rice to represent Asia. It was for RSSC Voyager's World Cruise, a pretty standard seafood extravangza with the German sides. We have seen this buffet before and it is copious, but it was nothing like the description above. There were cold salads and seafood. There was an enormous pan of paella looking like all the sea had jumped in there. There was a large selection of breads and cheeses. There were grilled lobster tails, steaks, sausages, chicken and drumsticks. There was caviar and pan-seared foie gras. There was champagne and German beer on tap. There was beef goulash, spaetzle, fried potatoes, white sausages and sauerkraut, meatloaf and sauerbraten. It was a big lunch buffet with lots of choices, but no Indian or Asian or national stalls, etc. We ate up there at a shady table. It was good food.

We walked slowly around the top deck and found a small flock of small birds sheltering up there. They must have gotten on and then found themselves too far from land to leave. This raises our observations about flies. The world is full of flies. There must be nowhere on the planet without flies. Now you would have to assume that there are different flies in different areas and continents and islands. We are not fly experts. We have not observed any differences that would indentify different fly species. However, there must be, right? So, here is our ethical dilemma. We pick up a lot of flies everywhere that we stop. Some of these flies survive the voyage from one place to another and are either replaced or supplemented by a new influx of flies in the next port. We assume, again, that some flies leave here and some stay for the next stop or perish onboard and new ones are always arriving. Assuming this to be true, then we are seriously diversifying the gene pool of flies around the world by introducing new blood at each port. Given the number of flies already plaguing the planet, this cannot be a good thing that we are doing. Well, put another way, it cannot be a good thing for us, no matter how beneficial it is for the crossbreeding of the flies. Anyway, the one difference we have observed is that flies from the continent of Africa are the most clingy of all the flies in the world that we have encountered. We have not been to South America yet so cannot confirm if it is a southern continents thing, or just an African thing. We did not notice this clingy flies problem in Australia either, but then all life is weird there anyway, so it hardly counts. Just an observation, no offense to Australians, you live there, you already know this.

We did watch the movie "The Statement" this afternoon with popcorn. Debbie took another nap. She is still hoping to regain her old energy enough for the continued busy port schedule before the long sea stretch home. At this point, she has abandoned any hope of returning to her gym schedule and is pretty sad about that. She will be very pleased if she can just get enough energy and wind back to do some heavy sightseeing. With the antibiotics side effects still lingering and no return of the fever, she is loathe to return to the Doctor's office for another round of $200 daily visits.

Tonight is Informal. We will probably return to Compass Rose this evening.

Some more catching up. We were surprised by the number of curves in the Suez Canal. It is a straight ditch in the northern part, more or less. But, the southern part was surprisingly curvy. Not just to get between the lakes either. There were a lot of fairly large curves just out of nowhere. This was interesting as it allowed you to see forward and back pretty far in the convoy. The other thing that we forgot to mention was a point of interest about Petra. The highest mountain overlooking Petra has a white building on the top that you can barely see. It is a monastery at the site of Aaron's Tomb. This is where the brother of Moses is supposed to be buried. Like Job's Tomb, we have to asked the question again. Did they die up there, or did someone haul them up there after? We don't know. It seems unlikely that either would have died on these mountain tops. We did not see them but there are supposedly stairs cut into the mountain all the way from Petra to the top and Aaron's Tomb. Just thought some people might find this an interesting factoid.

The seas calmed down some later in the day. We continued to have pretty big mostly following swells though through the day. Capt. Dag this morning attributed the force 6 pushing wind and seas with aiding our progress. It also explained the no wind phenomenon. As Debbie, had commented there can't be no wind if we are doing 20 knots. We should create our own wind if nothing else. Clay postulated that there was wind being cancelled out by the wind our motion would produce, producing a null effect. The Capt. apparently confirmed this theory in his Vords of Visdom. You can probably tell, it has been a slow day. Later the wind became a head wind and we slowed down. Still a rougher ride than we have been experiencing.

In other news, Debbie lost 4 pounds overnight. She finds this very disturbing. We have a pretty accurate travel scale with us and Debbie has been using. We will not publish any actual weight statistics, suffice it to say that we both admit to being fat. The disturbing part is where did this 4 pounds suddenly come from and just as suddenly go. Debbie is unwilling to attribute it to an equipment anomaly. She weighs herself at least twice with the same number before calling it THE number for the day. Anyway, went to bed weighing 4 pounds more than she weighed when she woke. Now she is worried. A very slow day.

Day 100 - Friday April 7

Suez Canal photos
position at 8:45am: N30 10.41 latitude E32 34.08 longitude
temperature: 64F, 73% humidity, partly cloudy
distance since FLL: 32,116 miles
Today was Clay's appointment with Capt. Dag for his long-awaited visit to the bridge for the entrance to the Suez Canal. Clay was up early and ready to go. Too early! He watched from Deck 12 until we started for the mouth of the Canal and then headed to the bridge. There were 6 passengers there with Freddie, the Navigator, and the staff captain, and Jamie and Capt. Dag. Capt. Dag had requested to be the first ship in our convoy today. Voyager wound up number 8 of 28. This is apparently a much larger number of ships than is usually allowed in a convoy. But, they evidently decide based on demand, the size of the ships, the priority, etc. For example, Freddie explained that by some treaty all United States warships are given first priority and are always the first to go through, thus Voyager is number 8, but the first non-US warship. One of the 7 US warships was a submarine. At first, they could not figure out what the gap was between ships and then they noticed just the conning tower sticking up in the gap. Clay was back in the cabin to return Bob at 7:10am. He told Debbie that he had to go back. What? Capt. Dag had invited Clay to climb the smokestack with Jamie to take pictures. Dag told Clay he was not insured for this, but that if Clay wanted to take the risk he could go. Of course Clay wanted to go! The Captain ordered him a white jumpsuit. Now, if Clay can just fit in the jumpsuit and through the ladder hole, he is ready to go. Clay is on the last and largest set of clothes we packed for him and has not been the least concerned that they are getting tight as well, and now he is worried that he might be too fat! Debbie pointed out that breakfast would not be served for another 15 minutes yet. OH. Clay had to be back up there by 8am to go up the smokestack. OK! We both ate a quick breakfast of cold cereal and then Clay was off before Debbie could drink her coffee.
Sandra Bowern is a lecturer and our onboard commentator today. She spoke over the loudspeakers most of the time that Clay was on the smokestack, but they could not hear anything up there. She said that the average charge to go through the Suez Canal is $200,000USD. She said for most ships it was worth it because of the amount of time and fuel it would take to go around Africa instead. Having sailed from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean by going around Africa, we can confirm that if the Suez Canal is an option almost any ship would be willing to pay that price for the one day instead to transit the Suez Canal.
It is fascinating that the west side of the Canal is green and the Sinai, or east side, is just miles and miles of sand. We passed over a road that came towards the Canal and then vanished into the sand at one point. Sandra said that it is the only tunnel under the Suez Canal. Clay was up top and did not hear this, so he may or may not have gotten a picture of it.
Debbie asked Clay to give her another camera before breakfast and he said that we did not have one. He apologized again for breaking the Sharper Image waterproof camera, but said he was taking our only camera up the smokestack. Debbie asked again, if there was not another camera. NO. Clay also refused to take Bob up the smokestack. Bob will NOT forget this! Clay said it was for Bob's own safety. Right, now Clay is concerned with Bob's safety! After breakfast Debbie returned to the cabin and rummaged until she found Clay's camera bag and his old Olympus digital camera. It did not work, plus she did not know how it worked anyway. As she was packing it back up, she found another set of batteries. She figured out how to get the batteries out and changed them. These had a low charge, but the camera did come on. Now to figure out the memory card. There were 3 memory cards inside the case, but no empty card cases. So, what did that mean? Finally, she figured out there was a card in there and she rushed back upstairs. Mishiel did not appreciate Debbie's frantic trashing of one side of the cabin while she cleaned up the other! Debbie arrived out the aft door onto Deck 12 as Clay was coming out above. She could hear the officer's accented speech to them, but could not see them. Finally, she walked out far enough to see them through the slats above the stairs. Clay popped out and Debbie tried the camera. It is old and works strangely and the low battery light was flashing the whole time, but Debbie did manage to capture some reasonably decent photos of Clay's special smokestack ascent. When Clay came back down to the cabin, he asked her who she had borrowed a camera from and still did not remember that he had this camera or that he had brought it along. Hello, talk about a senior moment!
Clay spent about 45 minutes up there and said he could see forever. There was another passenger with Jamie, an officer, a regular smokestack worker and Clay. The same woman passenger was on the bridge this morning with him, but he had not met her. She had a great long camera lens and Capt. Dag told her he wanted a picture with the bow of the ship and sand on either side. She definitely had the equipment! There was not a lot to be seen from up there. Of course though, he could see off both sides of the ship without walking back and forth across it! It was very noisy and dirty up there and he was glad for the jumpsuit use. Then, he changed clothes and went to do his morning walk. Clay had a very exciting morning.
Later in the morning, more exciting news was delivered to our cabin via letter from Lars Olsson, Hotel Director. The letter says that as of April 13th we are Seven Seas Society Gold members and entitled to free Internet. It says that any time left on our $600 "time plan" that we purchased when we boarded would be credited to our onboard account within a few days and that our usage of the Internet will be free. It says that we should just continue as we have been doing and it would be handled by billing. The letter also says that the next time we cruise a Regent vessel that we have only to sign-on as indicated in the Club.com instructions and select a "time plan" of either 100 minutes for $25 or 250 minutes for $50 and then click "purchase plan." The letter says that since we are "known" as SSS Gold Members that our onboard account will not be billed. This is nice. Too bad it is only in effect for our last 15 days, but we are still happy to have it.
Today the other big news is our passing the triple digit milestone. 100 days is a very long time. Only 21 days left. It is hard to imagine, but it will be hard to pack up and leave. Of course, we have been wishing for departure day for a long while, but at some point you get over it and know you are on to stay and then it gets hard to think about leaving. But, we will be leaving in 21 days no matter how hard it will be to actually pack up and go. Strange days.
The Suez Canal transit was just fascinating. It was actually much more interesting than the Panama Canal transit for different reasons. The Panama Canal was obviously more interesting from an engineering point of view. But, that was only in the locks. There are no locks here and so you think, well, you're just sailing through a big ditch in the sand. Yes, you are and you aren't. You are, but it is a big ditch through Egypt! There is something to see all the time here unlike transiting the Panama Canal. There are soldiers everywhere along both sides and although lots of ships must pass them everyday, they all look with binoculars and whistle and wave. People live along the way and come out to wave. Farmers in the fields stop to wave. There are ferries and towns and then there is all the sand. It was really just an amazing day and while it was a tough choice to skip Cairo, we are extremely happy that we chose to stay on Voyager today.
Debbie fought with exhaustion and amazement until mid-afternoon when exhaustion won out and she decided to give up and take a nap. Clay would wake her if something really amazing and new came up. She did get a nap, unfortunately she got it in 2 parts instead of one long nap. There was a laundry delivery in the middle, however we did not have any laundry out! Debbie did not get up in time to stop the woman who left it and fled when she realized she had woken someone. Fortunately, it did have a name and cabin number on it, so Clay took it down and across the hall. No one answered the door, so he hung it up on their door. Debbie missed the fork in the north end of the canal. We took the left fork to stop at Port Said. The military convoy in front of us took the right fork and went straight out to sea. Just before Debbie's nap, we passed a large suspension bridge, Mubarak Bridge. There did not appear to be any cars on the bridge. As we approached you could see people on the bridge, but still no cars. Debbie ventured that the bridge had been shut down and no cars allowed because of the US military ships passing. Eventually, Sandra did point out the lack of cars and that they were stopped because of the military convoy ahead of us. We did spend part of the afternoon in the Observation Lounge and there was a point at which you could see all 7 US military ships in front of us including the mostly submerged submarine very clearly. Sadly, we were never close enough for a clear photo with the camera that we have.
There was another happy surprise this early evening. There was a 2 hour technical stop scheduled at Port Said. Jamie and Capt. Dag told us if we arrived early and it could be arranged with the Port Said authorities that we would be allowed ashore during this time. Well, we docked a little before 5pm right next to the town. It had some charming old surviving architecture and a beautiful mosque on the other side of the Canal. Not sure how we did with photos, but the town had much more character than Port Suez. Also, here we could just walk off and the town was here, vs. the bus ride in Port Suez. We did not leave the gated port area. The many vendors that were arrayed along the cruise ship dock area were aggressive enough to keep us on our side of the fence. We docked on the port side and right behind Costa Marina. Capt. Dag set the all aboard at 7pm because that was when he expected the buses returning from Cairo to be here. We happened to be up on Deck 12 taking a look at the lights after dinner in LaVeranda when we heard the sirens and saw the flashing lights of the convoy of buses being escorted at 7:25pm. The returning passengers were forced by the port authorities to walk a zigzag pattern through the vendors to return to the ship and it was 8:50pm before they all got back onboard. People we spoke to ashore or returning to the ship as we exited it seemed really disgusted or put out with the shopping area on the dock. After we had strolled it, we think they are in for big trouble in Kusadasi then! This was a very controlled and patrolled area and the vendors, while aggressive, were not as aggressive as those we experienced in other ports earlier.
Some other Suez Canal facts we picked up today. The speed limit is 8 knots. There are 3 convoys every day of the year. Two southbound and one northbound. The northbound go straight through. The southbound have to stop in the middle in one of 2 places. Either anchored in Great Bitter Lake or in a canal siding further north, near Ismailia. The convoys leave at about the same time every day, just like we did today.
Some catching up with things that we missed reporting earlier. Petra on Wednesday. Don't know if the pictures showed the sheets draped over the butts of the horses. There was a reason for that windbreak butt drape! We don't know what they were feeding these poor animals but those horses had some serious gas. Every few steps there would be an eruption. It was a tragically hilarious accompaniment as we got the life jostled out of us as we raced up and down that rough stone path. We also forgot to tell about our horsecart wreck in the Siq on the return trip. It is not very wide, certainly in many places there is not room for 2 carts to pass. These guys drive up and down here all day and must know that. Anyway, as we were going up an empty cart was coming down. They yelled at each other, but neither stopped until the wheels met and locked together. The horse going downhill had the momentum, of course, so our cart and horse were yanked back and started to tip over. Debbie was screaming. The driver fell out and Debbie was sure he had broken his leg when the cart came down on him wedging him against the water trough that runs down that side. We continued to tip over and be pulled backwards until our horse was up against the wall and that stopped us going any further. Debbie had ahold of the driver's left arm and kept him from falling all the way down. As the other cart driver realized what was wrong and started to back his horse and cart up, she drug him back up onto the cart. Debbie stopped screaming. Then, there was a lot of yelling as the 2 tried to unlock the wheels. Clay seemed not to understand what had happened or the danger as he hung out his side looking at the wheels behind him. After Debbie got the driver back in the cart, she had to ask Clay to keep his head and arms inside the cart, to keep them being broken off when the 2 carts slid back by each other! He did eventually get it and comply. Debbie turned back to the driver and yelled are you OK. Clay yelled back, yeah, I'm fine. Debbie pointed out to him that the driver had been thrown from the cart and pinned to the wall of the Siq and was bleeding. She asked the driver again and he said he would be OK. He did get out and stand and walk later, so any injuries he had were probably not disabling. This is the same driver we had going down. Clay had tipped him $1USD going down and tipped him $2USD going up. The driver acted very offended by the $2 tip. Clay guessed that he expected more because he got hurt, but he was the one driving the cart, not us. It is lucky that no one was more seriously injured including the poor horses. Following up with the status of our official complaint about the Petra - Jewel of the Desert tour, we have not had any response at all. And, we forgot to tell about the baklava. There was no dessert served at the Bedouin tent lunch buffet. After the bathroom stop at the hotel in modern Petra, Raed told us he had a treat for us. Then he spent a few embarrassing minutes wrestling a mile of plastic wrap off a tin. He finally got it off and had a variety of homemade baklava in it that he passed around with a package of paper napkins. It was a very touching and generous gesture. Also, we don't know if we said that at the beginning when we were waiting on the bus that he passed around postcards with a picture of the Treasury building at the end of the Siq. He told us to fill them out and he would collect them and post them for us. We decided instead to keep ours for souvenirs. (An explanation may be required here. Don't know if we wrote it here before. Debbie's Mom, Margie, gave us a set of 48 postcard stickers is the best way to describe it for Christmas. You print a 4x6 photo and then you peel the backing of the back side of a postcard and you stick it to the back of the photo and voila, personalized postcards. So, we have been using those to mail to family during this long cruise.)
We have to advance the clocks by one hour tonight. Too bad. But, tomorrow is a true sea day and we should be able to sleep in and nap without feeling like we are missing anything.
Suez Canal photos

Day 99 - Thursday April 6

Port Suez photos
position at 7:00am: N29 15.28 latitude E32 43.29 longitude
temperature: 60F, 75% humidity, clear
distance since FLL: 32,051 miles
It was brisk on deck this morning as Clay walked. There were 60-80 km/h headwinds and only one other person made it on deck this morning for any length of time. Debbie slept in this morning and we had a late breakfast in Compass Rose. There were no raspberries left on the ship. This will be a long dry spell to Rome. Debbie had the double order of Swedish Pancakes. Clay was craving McDonald's Egg McMuffin, so he ordered 1 medium scrambled egg and 2 sausages and 2 pieces of white toast. He told Debbie about the craving after his weird order had been placed. She pointed out that all he needed to order was Eggs Benedict without hollandaise sauce and he could make a perfect substitute. Maybe next time.
The Captain in his 9am Vords of Visdom said that he had just heard that we would be picking up the pilot at 11am instead of the expected 10am. He said he hoped that turned out to be true since that time would still let us make our scheduled appointment to make the canal transit. He hoped there would be no more inshallahs because that would be more delays. (He actually used the word inshallah!) He said that if we had the pilot by noon, we would be OK for docking. He hoped for no further inshallahs after we left the dock as well. He said that if anyone had sailed the Suez Canal before they would know that you just show up and hope for the best and deal with whatever happens on its own schedule. Anyway, we seemed to have avoided any problems so far and appear to be on schedule for our Suez Canal transit early tomorrow.
When Debbie returned to the cabin, while Clay went to Roger's port talk on Kusadasi, Mishiel met her to tell her that the ship's supply of Caffeine-Free Diet Coke was gone. She had substituted plain Diet Coke and hoped it will be OK. Debbie told her OK. If Mishiel meant it the way she said it, Clay will have a long spell without his habit. Long enough to reacquire a caffeine addiction that it took him years to shake. Oh, well, such are the sacrifices of life onboard a ship.
The morning was at sea on the way to Port Suez where we docked around 12:15pm. This stop was primarily to allow peole to go overland to visit Cairo for the evening, catching back up with the ship in Port Said tomorrow. We opted to skip this trip, and instead to remain onboard so we could transit the Suez Canal, for symmetry with our earlier Panama Canal transit.
There was grilled ham & cheese in Compass Rose, so that is where we went for lunch. We skipped dessert and got cookies from the Coffee Corner and got ready to go ashore.
In an unexpected surprise for us, the ship offered a complimentary shuttle to the center of the town of Port Suez, but everyone was warned there was not much here. It turns out that it is a city of about 300,000. The shuttle dropped us off at a particular street, and the guide on the bus recommended very strongly that we not leave this street for our own safety. This particular street was very well patrolled by armed local police (both uniformed and non-uniformed) while we were there. There were almost as many police as passengers there. Our shuttle bus also had a police escort, and the later shuttles had armed guards. There was an armed perimeter around the dock with a couple of canine units as well. It is clear that the Egyptian government does not want any more mishaps with tourists. The country in general had lots of security check points and armed guards were everywhere.
We spent about 1 hour on the safe shopping street. We bought some Egyptian candy for $4USD. It was a real deal. We also bought 2 ice cream (sort of) cones for $1USD. The ice cream was sort of an icy fruit sorbet, but was good. We had strawberry and mango.
We got back about 4pm and walked through a little shopping strip that had been set up on the pier while we were downtown, but did not buy anything.
We left the dock around 5pm to take our place in anchorage so we can be in place for the canal transit tomorrow morning. We ate a quick meal in Compass Rose this evening so Debbie could do laundry afterwards. About 9:30pm, a very large fuel boat docked to us on our port side. They were really noisy during the docking. Today we got the news that we may actually be allowed ashore at Port Said tomorrow evening for our 2 hour stop there. We hope for another chance to go ashore at all even if it is only on a dock.
There is a lot of excitement onboard about the visit to Kusadasi, Turkey the day after tomorrow. We have booked a long tour that was not, of course, previously offered because we were originally scheduled to go to Libya. We will post a description of the tour later. We have been to Ephesus before, so we have chosen a different tour. We will keep our fingers crossed for a happy day. The tour is 6.5 hours and we will be docked here for 10 hours, so we should have time to revisit the port town itself also.
Port Suez photos

Day 98 - Wednesday April 5 Aqaba, Jordan

Petra photos
position at 7:00am: N29 30.55 latitude E34 59.44 longitude
(Aqaba, Jordan)
temperature: 63F, 65% humidity, clear
distance since FLL: 31,767 miles
Here is the description of the ship's tour that we are taking today.
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Petra - Jewel of the Desert

Duration: 10 Hours.
Concierge Choice, Walking.


The ancient Nabataean city of Petra comes to life on this full-day excursion to Jordan's most impressive national attraction. The fascinating excavated site of Petra, consisting of massive tombs, which were carved from the sandstone hills more than 2,000 years ago. Lost for almost 12 centuries, these fantastic ruins were "discovered" in 1812 by the Swiss explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. Today the ancient capital of Petra stands as a timeless tribute to the ingenuity and creativity of the Nabataeans.
Leaving your motor coach, you'll begin your tour to Petra down by horse drawn carriages through the Siq, the official entrance to this great monument. Your carriage will lead you into a natural channel, which is often, no more than 16-feet wide with walls that tower over 650-feet high. This path served as a means of protection for the Nabataeans and eventually the Romans and was used for the collection of water. You'll see the remnants of the 2,000-year-old terracotta pipes, which made up a part of the incredible water system for the city of Petra.
The passage will eventually lead you to the magnificent Khazneh, or the Treasury, where you will leave the horse carriage and continue on foot. The Treasury whose impressive red coloured façade was used in the final scenes of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." Carved from solid sandstone for use as a tomb, the Khazneh received its name from a legend that pirates had hidden their treasure in the urn on the upper level. Your guide will point out the bullet marks on the exterior of the urn as many treasure seekers have tried in vain to shoot open the solid container.
The tour continues on foot down the path to the impressive 8000-seat Roman Amphitheatre. Archaeologists first believed that the Romans constructed the site in the 2nd- century; further excavations have now shown that the amphitheatre was actually carved out by the Nabataeans around the time of Jesus Christ. The final point of your tour will be to view the Royal Tombs, which are considered to be themost impressive burial places in Petra. Carved into the face of Jebel Khubtha, the Royal Tombs consist of the vaulted Urn Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb and the three-storied Palace Tomb, which is one of the largest in the monument.
From the Treasury return by horse carriage back to the main gate through the Siq. Your return journey back to the entrance of the monument will take you by numerous carved temples, burial chambers, tombs, water channels, gates and arches.
Then board your bus and drive to the Ammarin Bedouin Camp for a special lunch under shady tents. In this Bedouin village you will also experience a Jordanian Folklore Dance group as they perform a traditional dance "Dabkeh" in a magical atmosphere. Observe the local Bedouin culture and community as well as the environment through creativity and preservation of the Bedouin society.

Please note: The Bedouin style of seating in the tent for lunch is low seating on cushions, low tables and does not serve alcohol. Often it can be cool in the site, please bring a wrap for warmth. There is approximately 3 to 5 miles of walking over uneven gravel and uneven packed sandy surfaces, there is a long, gradual decline / incline from the entrance of Petra to the Treasury and the Royal Tombs.
Price: $189 pp
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We arrived on time and docked on the starboard side. Clay walked this morning and was one of only a few out. The last 2 days were not too hot, surprisingly, but this morning it was cooler still. The newsletter forecast a high of Aqaba of 79 degrees Fahrenheit. The tour description warned that it would be cooler still in Petra (it is at a higher altitude) and could be quite chilly, so to take a wrap. Roger had also warned of this in his port talk and on Voyager Today. Of course, although this chill memo was widely broadcast, it was not received and read by everyone. Dionne was standing at the security checkout podium when we left asking everyone if they had warm enough clothing, but even that last ditch effort must have missed a lot of people. There were many in our small group of 20 in sleeveless tops and shorts or lightweight cotton blouses and capris. They were very cold today. (Some people shopped at the Visitor's Center during our potty break for jackets and shawls. The jackets were very nice. There was a local women's handicrafts shop in the Petra Visitor's Center and they obviously do a lot of cross-stitch work locally. We were dressedappropriately so we did not delay the group with shopping now as requested, but made sure we would have time to do so when we left the site. Sadly, when we returned to the shop after our tour, the salesmen were on break and we could not buy anything.) One piece of information that we were not able to ascertain before boarding the bus was the actual distance between Aqaba and Petra, 150km and that the bus ride would be 2 hours each way. We had an early breakfast at LaVeranda and we were on the bus early. Our tickets said to be on the dock at 7:50am. We boarded the bus about 10 minutes early. There were 9 Ancient Petra buses in line before we got to the sole Jewel of the Desert bus. We had chosen this tour back in October when online booking first became available. It was sold out and waitlisted before we boarded the ship in December. There were a few unhappy people aboard who waitlisted and never did get on this tour. This was one of the expensive Concierge Choice tours. It was $40 per person more than the almost identical 10-hour Ancient Petra tour. It was to have fewer people on the bus for more personal guiding opportunities as well as a horse-drawn carriage ride to the Treasury and back to the entrance gate of Petra to allow for more time at the site. It is about a 2 mile walk in and they usually allow an hour for the walk each way whereas the horse-drawn carriages should only take about 15 minutes each way. The last difference between the 2 tours was the location of lunch. The Ancient Petra tour would have a buffet lunch at a local hotel and we would have a buffet lunch at a Bedouin tent on cushions (no tables and chairs). We had to travel in a police escorted convoy again here and we also had an armed Tourist Police Officer onboard our bus with us. We did not leave the port until nearly 9am. According to the guide (and later the Tour Desk) there was another bus that had a 9am departure for the Jewel of the Desert Tour. Not sure how they could have sold another 10-hour tour leaving an hour later because ours only left a 30-minute window of error at the sailing time. But, that is what we were told. If true, no idea what time they actually left since our loaded buses were still sitting there at the time they should have been loading 9am buses.
We suffered the absolute low point in tours here sadly. Abercrombie & Kent was the ground operator and they have an excellent reputation worldwide. But, someone is at fault here. A&K could not provide the horsedrawn carriages that were sold as the main difference in this tour. The guide could not have been informed of this prior to our arrival because he seemed stunned by the news. We arrived inside the ticket gate and there were no carriages. He had us sit on a rock wall and he talked to us about the site and the Nabateans, etc. After about a half-hour, he excused himself to go check on the status of things. He returned with a A&K rep in a coat and tie and they told us that there are fewer than 10 horsecarts operational here and permitted to go through the Siq. All the other buses and tour groups had gone on. All the people who had come to Petra independently had gone on. There were 6 people left behind us that had come independently and needed horsecarts. They were all told that it was at least an hour's wait. Our group trickled off down the hill in pairs as horsecarts appeared. There was a fight for each cart as the A&K rep wrested the cart away from the independent guide. We were the last couple to be loaded and we had just stood or sat in the desert for over an hour for it. It was a very bad ride. There had been no warnings for pregnant women, people with neck and back problems, etc. and there should have been strong warnings. This was an adventure ride. It was extremely rough. It was a very primitive and basic way to move people from one place to another with little regard to safety or comfort or sightseeing, or very sadly the condition and treatment of the animals. The guide explained at some point in our wait that he was surprised when he got this tour because he had never heard of this; that the horsecarts were usually only used for handicapped people. He thought that the reason there were no horsecarts for us is that the cart men had hired themselves out to all the handicapped people who arrived before us. That still does not explain the hour plus wait. We saw each cart arrive and leave and return and our own trip each way was only 15 minutes. So, even if all the carts had gone down with the 9 Ancient Petra buses before us, they could have returned in 30 minutes and we did not see the first cart until after 45 minutes. In any event, what was sold could not be provided and that is just unacceptable. This is the first time we have made an official complaint onboard since the luggage theft incident. So, like that time we will have just left behind a paper trail.
We were the next to last couple to load a horsecart and the last toarrive. The couple behind us must have had a fresh horse, because they raced by and we ate their dust all the way. The guide had to run. The group had departed in 2s over about a 40-minute period. They just had to stand there and wait at the other end with no idea when the tour would resume and the guide rejoin us. He was not far behind us and was red-faced and winded. It was pretty awful. He took 15 to get his breath and round everyone up. Then he told us about the Treasury building in front of us and gave us 5 minutes for those who had not been waiting down for a halfhour to go look at it closely and inside it. Then he led us to the amphitheater and the Royal Tombs. He told us we could take 5 minutes to see the amphitheater inside if we wanted but to catch up before he got the group to the Royal Tombs. We did go inside for a couple minutes and when we got back out the group was gone. We caught up near the restrooms. He talked about the Royal Tombs and pointed them out. He told us we could take 5 minutes to use the restrooms if we wanted but that we had to be back at the Treasury in 30 minutes to load the horsecarts back. There was no time for us to walk up to see the details of the Royal Tombs, so we only got a brief glimpse inside the theater and the Treasury during our visit. Debbie took the 5 minutes at the restrooms and was happy she did not wait for the Visitor's Center. Because when we arrived back at the Treasury, we lined up and for an hour we witnessed the fight over each horsecart as it arrived but we were again the next to last cart to load. This meant that we would not have much time at the Visitor's Center before it was time to get on the bus again, but we knew what we wanted. Sadly, the men there were apparently on break with some of the guides from the buses and they would not sell us anything. We used the restrooms again, not knowing when we might get another chance and walked back down to some T-shirt stalls that we had passed and got 2 t-shirts. The stalls were not selling any of the local handicrafts though, so that was a missed opportunity for the locals and for us. We were back to the bus before our guide, Raed, had run back up through the Siq. While we were waiting in front of the Treasury someone asked him about lunch. He said that we would eat at a Bedouin camp on the other side of the mountain, inshallah, about 2pm. Raed, was in a difficult position for most of the day. He was very ironic though and it seemed that most of the group did not get or appreciate his sense of humor. Debbie, though, found him very funny. When he told us about lunch, she was the only one to laugh. Raed rolled his eyes. Debbie explained to Clay. After the explanation, Clay still thought that "inshallah" was a town. He asked Debbie why that was funny. Debbie thought that was even funnier. It was not a good day for laughter for her. It was hard, dusty walking and she was very short of breath and having coughing fits. It was still funny. Debbie explained again, starting in Dubai, about inshallah. Clay finally did get it and realized why Debbie found it so funny now, but it had lost something in the 5 minutes since Raed first said it. Somehow, Clay has spent the last 2 weeks in the Middle East and never picked up on the phrase inshallah (not sure how this is spelled, not having seen it written!). Anyway, it is not clear if when the locals say it, they mean it in an ironic sense of something that will not in all likelihood ever be happening, or if it is really meant in a wishful, God-willing, sense. In context, it generally seems to be meant ironically rather than hopefully.
We did get to lunch just a little after 2pm. This was a permanent business camp. The floor, benches, and about 2 feet up the walls were poured concrete. They were covered with rugs and cushions and pillows and a tent top. It was comfortable and scenic. It began with a beverage ceremony. The Bedouin host did not speak to us, but to Raed and he explained the customs and how it would work. The host poured himself a little thimbleful of coffee from a brass pot and drank it. Then service is from the right no matter where the most important guest is seated. Honor is at stake, but Raed told us they would understand if we did not drink coffee. (Well, now how could we not. That would be too rude!) We were the 3rd and 4th from the right in the seated group. They only had about 4 cups. You do the math. We each got our little thimble and had to drink it immediately for the cups to be dipped in a bowl, by a man following the pouring host and reused for the next person. This was not coffee. Clay does not even drink coffee and tried to give his to Debbie after a sip, but she would not take it. She was choking her own down. We did finish them off and return the empty cups. Debbie asked Clay what it was, he looked surprised and said, coffee. No, that was not coffe was Debbie's reply. Clay found this very funny. (Later Debbie asked Raed and he saidit was mostly cardamom and was a delicacy but also an acquired taste. We guess.) The entertainment followed the coffee ritual and was a little strange. If the Bedouins were such a loose-knit, nomadic people, how would they ever have gotten those military-looking costumes? This was not explained. They did a couple of dances and songs. The first one with a bagpipe and drums and the second one with a lute-like guitar instrument and drums and 2 of the dancers carried swords. While the dances were going on another man came through with a tray of small glasses filled with hot tea. We took those too. These were very sweet and we don't know what kind of tea, but as soon as they cooled enough to be drunk we finished them off too, just in case they wanted the glasses. (They were standing there watching expectantly and picked them up as soon as we set them down.) Then we were rousted up from our cushions for the buffet. We got to see a woman making a few pieces of the fresh bread we were served. The rest of the food was already in serving dishes covered with foil on the table. We had a choice of chicken with rice or lamb with rice or a vegetable mix with potatoes. All the dishes were very flavorful and tasty. The hummus was particularly good and Debbie has never liked it before. Raed had told us about the extraordinary numbers of olive trees in Jordan per capita and how valuable olives were locally. There was a variety of local olives, green and brown and both were good. There was a pickle bowl. The pickles were unusual and very spicy hot. There was a salad with diced tomatoes and cucumbers. There was no dessert. As soon as we seated ourselves with our plates filled, a vicious cat positioned itself at our end of our table in a very cat-like fashion as cat lovers at the other two tables called to it and offered it food, only to be ignored. No, a cat always wants to be where it is least welcome. So, it menaced Debbie through her entire meal and at one point lunged onto the table and her plate. Bob was horrified! Debbie was already using her water as a defense, but the cat just seemed to want the water since it would take a good spritzing and then lick all the water off and come back for more. Now, Debbie was force to use her knife as a defense. The cat ran under the table hissing. Debbie was really worried now, because the cat could claw us until we surrendered. Clay pooh-poohed that until he took the first scratch. Debbie said, all those shots and now we'll need rabies! The woman in the walker, laughed and told Debbie, oh you're an optimist. Debbie said, no just practical. A woman sitting on the other said replied that she had not been vaccinated for rabies either. Clay showed the group that while he had been scratched, that blood was not drawn and since he kicked back and the cat had fled the area that no one would need a rabies shot. Inshallah!
We drove back through a different village than modern Petra. Raed told us this village was built by UNESCO beginning in the 1970's to entice the Dools (spelling?) who were living in the caves of Petra to move out. He said they did not all move out until the 1990's and were still entitled to free housing, education, medical care and free access to do business in Ancient Petra. Their village does overlook the open end of the ancient village of Petra. We did have one last potty stop at the Movenpick Hotel in modern Petra. (There were permanent toilets and showers built at the Bedouin Camp, but there was no electricity on, so you had to go in the dark and many people balked.) Soon, we were back to the roads we had originally come in on for the return 2-hour drive. The roads were much better here than they had been in Egypt, so it was a much easier ride. The rides there and back were scenic and interesting in a different way than the ride to and from Luxor. This was really almost all desert and mountains. We drove through a sandstorm on the way back to the ship and that was dramatic. You could see it a long way off in the distance as we came down the mountains. We saw a lot more camels than donkeys here. We also saw a lot of goats.
Ancient Petra was just an amazing place and we are sorry that we did not get to visit it more thoroughly and in happier circumstances. We arrived back at the ship about 6:20pm. The ship sailed at about 6:50pm. This was 10 minutes before scheduled so everyone must have gotten back early. We had a quick dinner and then early to bed. We gained an hour tonight, so going to bed early and getting back the hour from last night should help us catch up with our rest.
Petra photos

Day 97 - Tuesday April 4 Luxor, Egypt

Luxor Day 2 photos
Ship still docked at Safaga
We were told that we had a wakeup call at 7am, but that is also when they were supposed to be serving breakfast and then we were to be on the bus at 7:55am. So, we had set our travel alarm for 6am. We did not wake up or maybe even roll over between 11pm and 6am! Debbie woke up coughing again. She is not looking forward to today's morning pill. The 2 pills she took yesterday caused terrible burning and pain in her stomach about an hour after she swallowed each one. She is also finally suffering the ill effects of taking antibiotics. They have killed off her internal flora if they have not yet completely killed off the infection. She is dragging, but very happy to be here and not on the ship! We went down to the breakfast buffet early and it was already open. We got seats out on the balcony of the restaurant and it was very crisp morning air and pretty out there with the view over the pool to the Nile in the morning light. Breakfast buffet was pretty extensive. They had the special local dish of fava beans that Hoda had described, but neither of us braved it. Sorry! They also had a complete Japanese buffet and we did not have that either. Clay had eggs cooked to order and Debbie had pancakes. Debbie had a cup of coffee and Clay had a glass of orange juice but they would not serve water without an extra charge. This was very strange because they put a great big liter bottles of water out at lunch and at dinner. (Dinner last night was catered by our hotel and served out there at the Habu Temple on their china!) We wandered around the floating patio on the Nile and just soaked in the ambience and then went up to the room where we had a bottle of water left from yesterday for Debbie to take her pills. (There was no cranberry juice here. Though they did have a juice bar set up at the buffet. It had orange, lemon, watermelon and some others, including a sign for Karkara? But, Debbie is allergic to citric acid and careful about beverages, it is either cranberry juice or water for her in the morning.)
We were back on the bus by 7:55am. Today we are touring the Valley of the Kings, a photo stop at Hatshepsut, back to Habu, a photostop at the Colossi of Memnon and then back to the hotel to check out, have lunch and drive back to Safaga and Voyager.
The Valley of the Kings is a barren looking place. You walk through the valley and see what looks like man made cave entrances leading into the hills oneach side of the valley. These entrances are tombs of the pharohs that have been excavated and opened to the public. You cannot take pictures inside the tombs. Your entry into the Valley of the Kings lets you visit 3 of these tombs. We visited Ramsses 3, 4 and 9. We also went into Tut's tomb which requires a separate ticket. Inside these tombs, you can see reliefs and painted walls. Tut's was by far the smallest, but it still had his burial vault and mummy still there. His other relics at at the Cairo museum.
The photo stop at Hatshepsut was quick. This is a large, multi-level mortuary temple built into the side of limestone cliffs. It is a natural placement that melts into the cliff. The photo stop was from about 200 yards away, so you can see it situated against the cliffs.
We then rode back to the Medinat Habu temple where we had dinner last night. The drive took us through the Nile Valley and its agriculture. It is clear why the Nile is the life of Eqypt. Once you move away from it, all you see is desert. Habu was certainly different in daylight. It was much larger than it looked at night, and our guide was able to point out special scenes and stories in the reliefs that we would have never spotted on our own (certainly not in the hour or so we had here). Ar dinner last night, we were facing a column that had an 8-foot tall Egyptian holding a serving tray with what looked like 4 ice-cream floats. It seemed appropriate for our dinner experience. In daylight, we saw this same relief in a couple of other places. Have no idea what it signifies. We had about a 40 minute guided tour of the temple, and then were set free to roam for about 30 minutes before we had to be back at the bus.
The photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon was also quick. These are 2 50-foot statues that were part of a mortuary temple for Amenhotep III. They are about all that is visible now from the temple.
By 12:30pm we were back at the hotel and checked out of our room. We have to be back on the bus by 1:45pm. We are to go in one big convoy back to Safaga and have to meet the other buses and our police escort to leave by 2pm. The lunch buffet was pretty much like the one the day before with the main courses cooked a little differently. It was good. We were seated at a table for 4 with one other man alone. (Yesterday we were seated with 2 sisters from Mexico that Debbie knew from the gym.) The man's wife could not come to Luxor because she is too ill with whatever it is that has made its rounds of the ship. He said this was her 2nd bout with it and she had been treated with antibiotics for the first bout as well. He said he is a retired neurosurgeon and he called whatever the respiratory illness is, "the crud." Debbie felt terrible about his wife being too sick to come and told him about the IVs and how devastated she would have been not to come. He told her that he thought she must have been very sick to be given IV antibiotics. (This was a little strange because last night at dinner one of our companions was minus a friend who is about 12 treatments into IV antibiotics and she herself had had 2 of the treatments just like Debbie. We were joking that there is quite the IV antibiotics franchise being run out of deck 3 and it must be turning into a real profit center for Voyager.) He hoped that his wife was better when he got back and so did we. We had time to use the restrooms and wander a little in the hotel shops before it was time to reboard the bus. Debbie found a granite canopic jar that she liked and Clay asked for a price on it. The price quoted was $45USD. This was clearly too much, so Debbie put the jar back on the shelf. The salesman became very agitated because that was the price for a set of 4. We did not want 4 granite, lidded jars so we still passed. He tried to sell us a single alabaster canopic jar, but it was not at all as appealing as the granite ones were so we just passed and went back to the bus.
By a little after 2pm we were under way for the 3 hour drive back to Safaga. The route was the same and so were the dramatic scenery changes in reverse.
We had been warned that we would unload the buses the same way we boarded them. One at a time at the gangway and that we might have to sit in the buses on the dock for as long as an hour or so again on our return. This was sadly not to be. All 20 buses parked and opened their doors. It was a free for all of luggage retrieval and mass shuffling between idling buses for the gangway. It was not pretty. The Voyager band was on the dock playing Dixieland jazz as we turned in passports and reboarded the ship after a long and busy 2 days. We sailed right away.
Tonight was Country Club Casual again and we had another time change. Since we are headed back to the east for a change, we lost an hour. Too bad because we could really use an extra hour's sleep about now with another early morning and long day of touring ahead. We should bedocked in Aqaba, Jordan by 7am and our tickets for tomorrow's tour, Petra, Jewel of the Desert, say we should be on the pier at 7:50am. More wonders await us.
Luxor Day 2 photos

Day 96 - Monday April 3 Safaga, Egypt

Luxor Day 1 photos
position at 7:00am: N26 44.20 latitude E33 57.05 longitude
(Safaga, Egypt)
temperature: 74F, 26% humidity, clear
distance since FLL: 31,564 miles
It was a pleasant 69F and a slight breeze when Clay walked on deck this morning. Safaga was already visible.
We docked portside about 7:20am. LaVeranda opened at 7am, 30 minutes early since all but about 60 people are leaving this morning for Luxor, 20 buses worth. We ate a quick breakfast and then we went down early to the Doctor's office for our 8am check. We were the 3rd ones to be in the waiting room and we arrived 10 minutes before the office's opening hour. There was already a patient in there. It is not clear what time they actually opened this morning. Debbie's fever had broken overnight. She told the Doctor this and he confirmed a normal temperature. He listened to her chest and said there was still a problem in the right lobe of her lung. (She is not breathing easily yet.) He asked her if she was going to Luxor and she told him yes. He told her to keep taking the expectorant and gave her 4 big tablets in a foil sheet. They made her take one immediately and one was for tonight and one each for the next 2 mornings. (The bill was $143. $50 for the office follow-up and $93 for 4-500mg tabs of Zithromax.)
We were in the pink luggage tag group. We were about the 6th group called and that put us in bus 11. Shortly after we got on the bus, a convoy of the first 9 buses left the dock area. That put us in the 2nd bus of our convoy. We left about an hour after we got on the bus. It was a 3 hour drive. This is a tightly policed state and they control the movement of their citizens. Thus, the convoys. We had a police escort to drive us through roadblocks and checkpoints. When we boarded the bus the first row of seats was marked reserved for security, but we did not get security on our bus, so our guide Hoda, freed up one side for passengers. We first had to cross the Red Sea chain of mountains that you could see from the port. Then, we crossed a mix of rocks and sand. Then, sand. Finally, we approached the Nile and things started to get green. There are lots of irrigation canals and agriculture spreading out pretty far from the Nile and we drove through lots of villages and farms for the last hour or so. These were some pretty dramatic landscape changes. There are a lot more donkeys here than you might imagine.
We stopped first at the Sonesta St. George for bathrooms and a buffet lunch, but did not check in yet. We had about an hour for lunch. The hotel and the restaurant are right on the east bank of the Nile River and overlook it. It is a very pretty setting from the rear. The hotel was very nice and the lobby was beautiful. The restaurant was below the ground level and looked out the rear over the pool and the Nile. We were seated near a window and had a nice view. The buffet was a fairly International one with not much of local interest. There was soup, pasta and rice and a selection of breads and salads as well as fish, chicken, and beef. There was a dessert and fruit buffet as well. It was tasty food. Debbie also had a Coke and Clay finally got a local beer, Stella.
After lunch, we were back to the buses to tour Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. We went first to Karnak. This was just amazing. It was huge. It is hard to imagine what it must have looked like when all the surfaces were both carved and painted. There were a few places, like the undersides of remaining roofs that still had color visible, which is truly amazing. A four thousand year old surviving paint job. We toured quickly over the whole thing with Hoda and then we had about half an hour free to make our way back to the bus. Then we were off to Luxor. This temple is much smaller and is right in the middle of the town and surrounded by it. On top of part of it remains a mosque. The rest has been cleard as the town was built right on top of it. There is a avenue of sphinxes at each temple and originally it stretched 3km between the 2 temples. Eqypt is trying to relocate all the current inhabitants and excavate the avenue back out to its original state. Good luck. It was nearly sunset by the time we got back to the hotel and checked in. We watched the sun completely set from our balcony looking out west over the Nile. Then, we went out to do some quick shopping before dinner. We had just over an hour and thought it would be plenty of time to hit the few nearby shops and get showered and changed. Good thing it was all casual because we did not get our showers or clothes changed. We got caught up in a cult of merchant personalities. The people here are very friendly and happy to see Americans. They all asked where we were from and many had nice things to say about America and what we have done to help their country. It is nice to see our tax dollars earning a happy benefit. We bought a couple of gifts and some T-shirts. Clay had his name in hieroglyphs but on a T-shirt. Debbie's name in hieroglyphs was not so interesting, so she got a scarab on hers. Their T-shirts have the world's tightest necks! They are made of 'Egyptian' cotten.
We got back and just freshened a little before reboarding the bus. Dinner is a special event for World Cruisers tonight. We are having dinner in Medinat Habu temple on the west bank of the Nile. We had not seen a bridge crossing the river and wondered how far it was. It was pretty far. The drive to the temple was about 40 minutes. We are coming back here to sightsee tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see it at night and in daylight. We were the first bus to arrive. Roger held everyone at the turnstile until all six buses had unloaded. There was torchlight lining the path into and through the temple. As we stood there, they slowly uplit the temple with colored lights. It was very dramatic. Finally, they gave the go ahead and everyone pushed through the small opening. The way was very rough and irregular. It was only lamplit and so it was even harder walking. It is really rough sightseeing when the walks are so uneven and you only want to look up! It is kind of funny. Everyone has to walk funny to move forward and look up, look down, look up, look down... They had probably hundreds of carpets out for us. It was not clear if this made it harder or easier to walk. The carpets hid a lot of the obvious bumps and holes, but they were still there. They had our tables set in the center of the biggest part of the temple. It was beautiful and amazing. Again, it was funny though, you had to manuever your chair around to find a place that enough legs were in contact with the floor that you could sit on it. The carpets hid a lot, but they did not make for level floors! At last everyone was seated and a string quartet played chamber music while we were served dinner. We started with bowtie pasta and chicken in a creamy basil sauce. Next was cream of asparagas soup. The main course was tournedos de boeuf au poivre. (The beef here and at the lunch made us really appreciate how good the beef is on Voyager!) Next was cheese with nuts. Then rum cake. After that was a long pause and the music stopped. We got up from the table along with Shane, the Art Guy, and Sonja, the new tour desk person to tour around the temple and take pictures in the colored light. After we got up and behind the stage area, there was some loud dramatic drumming music and the waiters came marching through with torches flaming and a big cake decorated with fruit. They arrayed themselves behind the cake like oompaloompas from Willy Wonka and stayed there with their flaming torches until the music stopped then they marched back out. Roger took the the microphone and announced that the evening was over. There was an outcry as people said they were not going without cake and coffee. It was a little strange. About half of us were already out of our seats because we had already been served cake with no coffee. The menu ended with coffee, tea and petit fours as the last item. Apparantly, they did serve the big cake and coffee. We don't really know. We returned to our tour of the site and made our way back to the bus without returning to the table. This was an excellent evening. It was really special and not in a bad way. This was our first really spectacular "special event." We were happy for it. We look forward to seeing Habu Temple again in the light of day. Back to the hotel and in bed by 11pm. The hotel room is nice, but it is mainly about the view from the balcony. It is otherwise a pretty basic room, and the bed was not too comfortable. Again, we have been spoiled by Voyager. We slept right through until the alarm clock woke us at 6am.
Luxor Day 1 photos

Day 95 - Sunday April 2 At sea day 3

Sea Day slideshow
position at 7:00am: N21 17.20 latitude E30 02.05 longitude
(about 440 miles SE of Safaga, Egypt our next port)
temperature: 76F, 74% humidity, breezy headwind
distance since FLL: 31,110 miles
It was very beezy walking early this morning with 60+ km/h headwinds, but there was still a sizable crowd on deck due to the hour we gained last night. There were chocolate croissants at breakfast. Debbie showed no improvement overnight, so when she went back to the Doctor's this morning he had her get another IV dose of antbiotics ($278). This time he told her to keep taking ibuprofen in addition to expectorant while waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. Tomorrow morning we are supposed to go to Luxor, and there is some concern that we will not be able to make the trip. We have another appointment with the Doctor and his staff at 8am and expect to be loading a bus by 9 to 10am.
We saw a very large pod of dolphins off our balcony this morning. They were small brown dolphins, but were not jumping like some we have seen. The seas have been a little rougher today and the air a little clearer. There was a lobster BBQ for lunch on the Pool Deck today, but we went to Compass Rose. Debbie had her best dessert of the cruise, a chocolate creme brulee.
Roger Condon, the tour director, mentioned on Voyager Today that this was his last contract with Regent. Jamie, who hosts Voyager Today, said they would discuss this on a later show. They say that we are taking 20 buses to Luxor tomorrow and staying in 4 different hotels. Also, there are 3 different touring programs depending on if you have been before and are seeing different things this time, or if you prefer less walking. It must be a logistical nightmare. We hope for a repeat of our Agra experience and we will be very pleased.
In the evening right before dinner, Debbie took her temperature and it was normal. Hopefully, it will stay that way overnight. Tonight is Formal. At 6:15pm, we went to the Seven Seas Society Cocktail Party. The Captain asked Clay why he had not come to the bridge yet. Clay told him he was saving it for a special visit. Captain Dag told him to come during the Suez Canal, that he could get some good pictures.
We received World Cruise gifts in our cabin this evening. They were some kind of small leather portfolio we think. We also had special turn-down candies.
Tomorrow, we should be off to Luxor, so it will be two days before we post again. Sorry for the suspense, but someone has to go off and have all the fun and it might as well be us.
Sea Day slideshow

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