On to Rome

Civitevecchia tomorrow


And the end of this wonderful cruise and life experience. I probably should take a photo of what this cabin looks like while packing is going on, but I don’t think I ever took one of it on an every day basis so for all you know, this is the way it looks all the time. Getting peeks into some of these “staterooms” I’m convinced some folks never unpack and just leave everything lying around. Not everyone of course, but my heart goes out to the poor cabin stewards who must do their best in these situations.
Sorrento
What a gorgeous place. And while rain was forecasted, we had absolutely breathtakingly beautiful weather. It was cool enough that I needed a jacket sometimes and while I could have used a hat, I certainly didn’t have to have one. I had a nibble in the Panorama Buffet and then waited for Ed which took much longer than my comfort level. Eventually we headed out to the tender and the Commendatore was on board dressed in a suit and tie. He was going to give a talk in Sorrento. There are a few other cruise ships in the bay of equal size. We finally landed at the base of this huge Cliffside. Princess provided a shuttle up the hillside and we decided because of time to take it. Last time we walked up and down it. Must be at least a 100 steps each way and requires dodging crazed Italian drivers hell bent to make it around those hair pin curves at a new speed record. We were dropped off near a store we had visited last time. We walked around a little and in one of the stores asked a lady for a recommendation on a restaurant. She gave us a few ideas including one that had caught Ed’s eye on the corner of the intersection with a minipiazza. Along the way, there was a cathedral somewhat hidden in a shopping area where a marriage had just finished. With body language, I asked the priest if it was OK to go in to see the church which was, not surprisingly, absolutely breathtaking. On the way out, we ran into Tom and JoAnn having cappuccino. Many folks wanted to have it in Italy to see how authentic it is. Since I don’t drink coffee I can’t give you a report.
So we found our way to the Aurora Pizzareia where that is only one of the dishes. I wanted Insalata Caprese (of course) which the waiter was trying to discourage us from ordering. He was pushing a veggie plate. We ordered both and each was fantastic. Not sure why he wasn’t very encouraging of the Instalata Caprese; Perhaps they were low on the gorgeous (looked like heirloom) tomatoes. Then we had decided on a pizza that had cheese, ham, mushrooms, and other goodies on it. This was big enough for 3 people though it was advertised as being for one person. We ordered a small bottle of white wine, enough for two servings, which was Ok by me and Ed said was really good. We both ate way too much but boy was it good! Before we went back to the tender, we got gelato: hazelnut for me, double chocolate for Ed. Mine was terrific; his was way too sweet even for him. But if we had not done that, we wouldn’t have forgotten the fact.
Many other folks from the ship wound up here as well. In fact, as usual, we saw folks from the ship everywhere. We even ran into Max, our dining room waiter who looked like a teenager though he must be over 50. We teased him about looking for a Chinese restaurant since that’s usually what his entourage eats when on shore. Ed also picked up a USA Today and an International Herald Tribune along the way. (as an aside: this morning I dropped off the IHT we picked up in Athens at the library on board and it was scooped up and devoured right away.
We went another direction but not before Ed went in search of the olive oil they served us at lunch to sop up with bread. It really was good but I would have been satisfied to look for it in LA. Not Ed. He wanted a bottle right away. So a waiter told him to try the supermarket down the block. Turns out they didn’t have it so he finagled the head waiter into selling him a bottle from the restaurant. I better not break in the luggage when that 400 pound gorilla in baggage at the airport slings our bags around.
We walked past churches which were (disappointingly) closed—a sign of the times I’m afraid. I recall when the church building was never closed. Lots of shops with lots of lemoncello themed goodies to get as mementos. We dropped a few Euros here but the economy will never rest on our shoulders. The strategies vendors use to manipulate you are fascinating though. When Ed presented his Amex card to pay at one place, the guy said he needed Euros since his “machine is broken.” He did speak THAT much English. I laughed to myself and we acted dumb about that strategy.
We took the tender back and soaked up more astonishing views of the shoreside in this bay that goes from Capri to Naples. And when we hit our cabin, it was back to the reality of packing.
Athens vs. Sorrento
I keep hoping I’ll like Athens more than I have so far. I haven’t been anywhere else in Greece except Rhodes which hardly counts in a way. But as Ed and I were walking around Sorrento, I remarked on how both countries have a long history with old everything but Athens is depressing and not at all a draw and Italy is gorgeous and happy and a wonderful draw. Go figure. I haven’t written Greece off, but I’ll need to keep looking for things that would draw me there.
As I write this, Ed is finishing up bags while I’ve been doing the tip envelopes, “you made a difference” cards, and the evaluation of the cruise and delivered everything (almost) where they’re supposed to be. So I’m going to close off and upload all this so that I can also pack the electronic gadgetry as well.
I’ll try to post a closing reflection sometime after we get back.

We fly home tomorrow

In the bay near Sorrento as I post this.
Tomorrow Sorrento


And the day after that, we fly out of Rome back home. With luck that is because of the volcanic ash cloud which seems to be meandering over Europe and North Africa willy nilly.
Disembarkation Lecture
This is a review of the process and all the requirements for leaving the ship and getting to the airport safely. I think they do a magnificent job considering the logistics but it is not without it’s “challenges” as Ed’s problem with the luggage tags, and thus our time to leave, can attest. I’m putting a positive spin on it: it means we will have more buffer time to make the airport and thus our flight, comfortably.
Culinary Demonstration
He did Baklava. Wow! That’s a LOT of work. He also showed us how to do manicotti dishes and cannelloni. At the end, there was a tour of the galley which I passed on since we’ve seen it a few times. We got our certificates of completion attesting to our participation in these culinary classes (which we are told would cost us $5K in LA.
Trivia
I got there late but we did well as we won! It is also the time to redeem our tokens so we are having some choices to make. We have over 60 and the “prizes” are things such as Princess mugs (actually quite nice but too big and heavy for us to take), luggage tags, recycle bags, lanyards, passport cases, hats, and playing cards. In the afternoon we didn’t win but we were only 1 point from the winners. We gave Frankie an envelope with our tokens in it and a wish list. He sent a bag of our “order” to our room.
Whatever will we do with it?
Last world cruise, we were given a crystal globe a little larger than a golf ball. In our room today was a wall plaque for each of us engraved with our name and the dates of the cruise. It’s gorgeous but…
Lunch
Visited with some folks we have come to know on the cruise including an 80+ man from Slidell near New Orleans. This will be his last long cruise (he only does about 30 day cruises now) as he’s tired of the long flights. He’s sticking to the Caribbean in the future. Not a bad idea: these ships are pretty good assisted living facilities.
Packing: yuk!
This is never a good time for us. And today was no different. I tried to arrange things as Ed wanted them but without much success so I simply left him to do whatever with the packing. I no longer even attempt to pack as he has always undone it and redone it as he likes so I gave up long ago. But it does mean this cabin is waaaayyyy too small for us.
The Hero’s Journey: Timeless Tales from the Mediterranean
While Ed went to take a computer class I went to this lecture by the anthropologist. She discussed the commonalities in cultural terms, think Joseph Cambell’s mythological lectures, of the Odyssey, the Aeneid, and Dante’s Inferno. Since I missed these in my education, and you hear of them all the time, I was interested in the synopses and analyses of these three classics. Now I won’t guarantee you I can remember any of it long enough to explain it to others but I enjoyed the lecture.
Captain’s Cocktail Party
This was the last hurrah for everyone and the place is packed for free booze. It is also formal night so everyone’s gussied up—well most anyway. It’s fun to see people in their finery.
Dinner
David brought champagne so we toasted everyone’s health and a safe journey home. The other couples are both spending some time in Italy before returning home. Jo Ann’s ankle is better off and on. She has to elevate it frequently and keep ice on it. The Commendetore met us at the door to the dining room and we each got a parchment menu. Fancy dinner time. Food as always was scrumptious. In fact too much so. We’ve been celebrating so much I know I’ve gained a few pounds this last week. It’s back to Lean Cuisine when we’re home.
Tonite’s show
It’s the musical extravaganza they do on formal nights. This one was new and it’s title was Sounds of the city. As they always do, the singers and dancers were outstanding.
The Straits of Messina
The weather and the views have been spectacular today. After the show, it is still light since we are going so far north so it was twilight as we viewed Sicily on our port side and the coast of Italy on starboard. It was absolutely like something out of a movie.
Tomorrow is Sorrento and we’ll take the tender in and just walk around this fun hillside city between Naples and Capri. It is also the beginning of the Amalfi Coast which is noted for it’s small towns clutching the sheer cliffsides. Positano where the movie “The Postman” is set is one of the first as you go south. You need to leave the driving up to the Italians though as there’s no room for error on these roads around these cliffs. Packing will be done tomorrow evening with only our roll aboards left with us. We are taking the Princess transfer bus to the airport; this is so much easier and their prices became competitive closer to the voyage. Even though we get another hour tonite (YEAH) it still means a 5 am docking of the ship and we must be ready to leave the ship at 6:45 am. Ed has finally settled with that. I’m just as glad for the extra time.

Headed to Sorrento, Italy

Athens on your own


Ed got up and started getting ready so I did as well. The ship was in the process of docking. The Aida diva ship was to our side scooting up to the pier beyond us. There were 5 cruise ships in port today. That does not include all the ferries and small boats, plus so many other vessels. This is the major port for Greece and it shows it. I did my internet stuff while Ed went to get breakfast. He met Tom there and he is on his own today as Jo Ann has an appt with an MD in Athens to have her foot checked. She’s been here before but this is Tom’s first time.
We met them both in the hallway and made it out to the terminal where Jo Ann left to return to the ship while we strolled out to find out how to get to the metro/subway station. As it turns out, we kept walking and decided to take the bus from Pireas to Athens and this was not only cheaper (1 Euro per person each way) but we got to see so much more of Athens and vicinity on the way. We also went by the hospital where Jo Ann had her appt and so on the way back, Tom got a photo for her album.
We made it to a square that sounded something like Smyrna and then we picked up the Hop on Hop off bus. We went one stop to the Plaka area where we walked in. You could see the Acropolis from everywhere in this area with the Parthenon on top. We also saw the brand new Acropolis museum. Clearly this was a busy tourist day. The weather was warm enough but not blazing as it has often been on this trip. We walked around various cute little streets and finally decided on a restaurant, Evisla or something like that, where we decided after a while to dine family style. Ed ordered Mousakka, we got pita bread, hummus, tzadzeki (sp) and Aubergine (I can’t recall the English name now but it’s the Eggplant dish. We also ordered a salad and the guys had beer while I had tea. We shared a bottle of water and at the end, the waiter brought us some ouzo. Yeech. What a waste on me. I can live without licorice and this is definitely strong flavored. But I do have to say it was really smooth.
This was Tom’s first time having Tzadzeki and I’m glad he liked it. This was a little more bland than I like but it was very good. We (again) asked for directions to the cathedral where Ed wanted to get another Greek fisherman’s hat from the same place. We did eventually find the place and Tom also bought one. We then wandered all around and eventually made it back to the hop on hop off bus and we took the full circuit and listened to the acoustic guide. At one point we saw bullet holes, and they looked fresh, at a metro entrance. Later we saw an impromptu memorial with lots of flowers where obviously someone had recently died. We don’t know the details about any of this.
We caught up with the bus to Pireas and off we went. I still am not impressed with Athens; perhaps the rest of Greece would be more interesting. But I am glad we did the bus and saw so much of the back alleys of Athens. We made it back to the ship with 30 minutes to spare.
The advantages of going off on your own as we did is the fun of exploring an unknown place and transport. People want to be helpful and many speak excellent English. And it’s less expensive by and large. But the disadvantages are considerable. You waste a lot of time trying to get around and find places. You’re out to sea in terms of prices and good shops and restaurants. The main thing that is nerve racking for me is the time factor. If we were staying in a hotel, it wouldn’t matter if we were late getting back. But there is simply no fudge room if you’re delayed in returning to the ship. We did very well today but we had planned on being back before we actually made it.
Ooops
In addition to the expected sweating and such, I looked in the mirror and discovered that some bird had left a rather large “present’ on my right shoulder, so I showered and changed before dinner. We are not sending any laundry out now so we can be sure that we have everything when we leave the ship so I will be doing hand laundry again tonite.
Dinner
All present. Jo Ann was very funny in telling her story of going to the doctor in Pireas. Basically he said she has a Level 2 strain and gave her some advice on how to manage it. The taxi ride to the hospital cost $44 Euros; the one back only $8 Euros. The charge for the hospital and MD costs? Zero! The other couple took a hydrofoil to an adjacent island, rented a car and travelled around that island where there is a temple to Poseidon. They had a nice lunch in a seaside restaurant.
Tonite’s entertainment
It’s hard to describe this except to say that it was the crew doing a pub night. They were very good and there was a singing competition with the Lounge divided into two teams singing two different songs. Later there was a balloon bursting game which I’ve seen before and which is hilarious. One of the poor male dancers had a pin on him to break the balloons to spare him the pounding from the women. Long story. And finally they did my all time favorite skit: If I were not upon the sea. Each time it is different and each time it is hilarious.
Disembarkation “challenges”
We have completed 3 questionnaires about our flight plans. This information is important because we must be able to leave the ship and take the transfer bus in time to comfortably make our flight. The tags were here tonite and they were wrong. So Ed went down to clear it up and picked up white tags. I was looking at the schedule and it is true our tags should be white, but they should be a different number. So Ed went down to the purser’s desk to clear it up. They would not change it which means we must get up earlier and leave earlier than what would otherwise have been necessary. He is steaming so I’m keeping busy until it passes over.
And the days are definitely getting longer as we go farther from the equator.

Currently in PIreas Greece

At sea before Athens


That sun is BRIGHT! It’s impossible to ignore it blaring around the curtains. I was up first about 7:30 and Ed woke up pretty soon after I came back to bed. I did my usual with the internet in the library.
Today’s purchase
They are having outlet sales on board and I got a congrats card for Kathy and Chuck as they will be getting married soon after they get home. And I got a jogging suit I had been interested in earlier in the cruise but it wasn’t present in my size at that time. I had a little pang about getting anything additional at this point but Ed didn’t bat an eye.
He had asked me earlier to put out the hanging clothes that I didn’t need between now and Rome. So I drug out all but a few things, put them into two piles (those that should stay on hangers and those that could be folded. Well somehow we got our wires crossed and so I had to put much of it back. Since Ed just redoes it if I pack, I simply put things out and get out of his way as a rule. Since Sorrento is our port before we disembark at the port of Civitivecchia a few miles from Rome, that last day will be nuts. Perhaps we can get some packing done during the day at sea between Athens and Sorrento.
And speaking of Athens, we got another letter from the Captain today keeping us up to date about the unrest in Athens where a protest has been planned for the foot of the Acropolis tomorrow. So they are playing it by ear. This will be interesting.
Port Talk: Sorrento
We have been to Capri, Naples, and the Amalfi Coast on earlier trips so I’m not quite sure what we’ll do in this tender port, but we will enjoy doing nothing but walking around if that’s what we decide. What an interesting part of the world and how colorful.
Trivia
We are getting to the end and so we took a photo of our “team” since Susan and Hazel do not often show up in the afternoon. We had our usual fun and WE WON! We scored 19 missing the question about the nationality of the first woman to top Mt. Everest (Japanese just in case). So now we have to deal with these 60+ tokens and collecting our gifts. This afternoon we lost fair and square. Even had we gotten the question for which we selected the wrong answer among us, we would not have beaten the top team this afternoon.
Lunch
Since we have a BIG dinner tonite, I stayed in and enjoyed an orange while Ed went for a snack upstairs.
In the Shadow of Mt. Etna: Volcanoes & Tectonic Plates
This was done by the professional Journalist and he did a very nice job of describing the top 10 volcanos in the world and why they made that list. Along the way, he talked a little about Pompei near Sorrento which is our port in two days.
The Pacific Princess Choir Farewell Concert
David Crathorne has done a magnificient job of pulling together between 40 and 50 passengers into a very credible choir. The concert had a great theme of friends and the selections of pieces from various genres were perfect. A very unusual thing to expect on a cruise.
Red Hat Society Social Tea
I went down for this get together but not with much enthusiasm. One of the ladies just turns me off so badly; the others are pleasant and I enjoyed the visit but left after 30 min for trivia. That time was long enough for me. But I was able to show everyone the photo of the wedding dress I dyed as many of them want to try it too.
Cocktail Party for World Cruise passengers
There are a lot of folks who have been on here for the whole cruise and this was a get together for us. We were introduced to all of the staff who oversee things. A few we had heard of but never seen at least where we knew who they were.
Choosing photos
This was a chore I didn’t look forward to completing but I also didn’t want to put it off any longer because the lines will be fierce after tomorrow. We have been saving the best of the photos along the way and so today we winnowed out and whittled down until we had a manageable stack of photos from which to choose. One of the cutest is from the formal night where we wore somewhat matching Chinese outfits and Carlos had us bow to the camera. It’s probably our favorite from this cruise.
Chef’s dinner
Ed wanted to do this again and while I enjoyed it, it is waayyy too much food at one time for me. It is impressive how they put all these multiple courses together. The service is impeccable. The food unbelievable. I most enjoyed visiting with a fellow who worked most of his career with the Public Health Service including a few years in Gallup, NM. He is an engineer, born in Kansas, and he and his wife are now retired at a Del Webb site in Arizona. You can see his humble beginnings in his personality and I just simply enjoyed how genuine he is. There was a young couple present as well. They do trading on-line so they are working on this cruise. They have four laptops with them and have to keep track of the time in the US and work those hours no matter where we are in the world. I have seen them on some of the cruises but had wondered why we didn’t see them very often while on ship. I actually thought they were ship’s staff in some fashion and simply lived somewhere in the bowels of the ship laboring away at some menial task.

Pireas Greece tomorrow

In the Mediterranean Sea


Someone came on the PA system between 5 and 6 am to tell us that we were entering the Suez Canal. Well needless to say, there wasn’t much sleep after that. Eventually we both rolled out and Ed went to the gym. I got ready and went to the library for the internet stuff.
Holiday Store at Sea
This is (supposedly) our last chance to purchase goodies for $10 USD. The prices are certainly lower than other places I’ve seen them but then you have to figure out who would like them as gifts. So as usual, I just looked.
Spectacular Culinary Demonstration
Commendatore dazzled us again with his quick, and deceptively easy looking, preparation of Caesar salad served two ways, pork chops with veggies, and creama caramel in individual or group servings. Along the way we learned a lot of helpful hints. And we received two recipes not to be found in the cookbook: one for moussaka and one for a dessert that is loaded with Calories!
World Cruise Lover’s Luncheon
There were folks from the 2008 and 2009 world cruises who are on this cruise. There were probably 40 + people. It was a fun reunion. We sat with the two Chucks at a window seat with a wonderful view of the Suez as we sailed along. Commendatore prepared a wonderful luncheon. We looked at the menu and figured we’d get choices. As it turned out, we got a little of everything on the menu. And there were wines to join the foods.
I went to the computer area to see if I could audit a course. No one showed up for it and Tim had an agreement with another passenger for a private lesson if no one showed up for the class. I got a few answers to some challenges in Photoshop and then ran down to see what was left of the 1:30 pm program
Reflections: A Voyage of a lifetime 2010 World Cruise Highlights
Werner, the videographer on board, prepared a video of less than an hour of many highlights from this cruise. There are 4 DVDs of his videos and Ed had ordered them some time ago so we’ll have all of it. They do such a great job in the Video and Photo departments. Simply amazing talented folks.
Port Talk: Piraeus
Marty Green did his usual terrific job of presenting Athens in a quick tour. I’m still not sure what we’ll be doing there but we may take the Metro Subway into the Plaka area and just walk around. You can see lots of the sights we’ve already seen from that area and Ed hopes to buy another Greek fisherman’s cap.
Transiting the Canal
Originally, the plan was to stop at Port Said, Egypt on the northern exit of the Canal to refuel from a barge. The Captain came on around noon to let us know we wouldn’t be doing this as the seas are too high near Port Said for a safe transfer of fuel. While the transit of the canal was quiet and smooth as you would expect, as soon as we approached the mouth of the Canal near the Mediterranean, the seas became very choppy and the ship began it’s usual swaying when you are in choppy waters. After all this while, we can feel when the ship leaves a harbor or quiet waterway. It is almost winter like outside with wind, sprinkles, and gray skies.
On either side is this sugar fine sand. Periodically there are sentries who seem to be perpetually sleeping on duty, so what’s the point. Here and there, fishermen can be seen plying their trade. The unique pigeon domes are seen here and there. Egyptians grow birds in these beehive looking, tall structures for eating. Occasionally, there were fields with crops growing on the edges of the shore.
Did you know that the Statue of Liberty currently standing in NY Harbor was originally conceived to appear at the southern mouth of the Suez Canal? There was no money to pay for it and through a very circuitous route, it eventually wound up in America. Another bubble burst.
Frankie’s International White Elephant Auction Sale Extravaganza
This is where people put their regretted purchases up for auction for themselves or to donate to charity. It’s amazing what people have. Two dresses were actually the nicest. There were two bottles of wine. One person introduced a bag of the chocolates they put on our pillows each evening. Go figure. But sometimes the competition for the most mundane things is astonishing. One fellow paid $5 USD for a faux (of course) Rolex watch. When I left, it was up to $20! Ed came back with a pareo with Vanuatu, his favorite port on this trip, on it in large letters. He paid $5 for it. Now….I want to see HIM wear it. Ha.
Yikes! No water
There was an announcement at one point that the transfer to fresh water on board is taking longer than expected and that it will be an hour before the water is back on. First time ever on a ship where they provide water via desalination. And then I went to the restroom and forgot…
Afternoon movies
There were two documentaries about the Suez Canal and one about the Egyptian Pharoahs. Both well done and full of great photos and old videos. Ed missed them. He was either at the auction or slept through them.
Dinner
Everybody present. JoAnn’s foot is still a problem so she will be seeing a MD in Athens. She asked Nikolas if the MD will speak English. He said he’ll be an expert to address her needs.
Tonite’s Entertainment
This was a professional pickpocket who has done videos showing how pickpockets work and explains the techniques to you. But in all of this, he is madly picking pockets in the audience. It’s amazing how fast and subtle he is. We have seen some of the same tricks at the Magic Castle, where all the magicians are members. But he went much further. He had folks put things in a bag unknown to him (though he did know who had the bags) and then he would first guess what was in the bag with a great deal of accuracy. He’d then describe the item and what type of person the item would fit. Eventually he returned all the items to the people who had originally put them into the bag(s) with 100% accuracy. Ed was one of the “victims”. He put in his coffee card for the ship. Of course, he just blended into the audience with his shirt with the tiger emblazoned front and back, in gold, on a black shirt!
World Cruise Costume Party
Dancing and games where passengers wore costumes they had picked up in the various countries. I put a purple Red Hat T-shirt, pants I bought in Sharm El Sheik, my Egyptian headdress, and over the body, I wore the belly dance outfit I got in Dubai (or was it Oman?). We had dancing and then the costume contest. I made the first cut but in the end there were two ladies who won. One was all in black with only her eyes showing. I thought this one was a worthy first place winner. The other lady came into the contest well after it had started. She did have a good sense of humor (you’ll see why I say that in a minute) but I thought she took advantage by popping up after the first cut. She was about 5’ tall and about as wide. But she had a lot more guts than I did. I wore the t-shirt and pants UNDER the belly dance costume. She just wore the belly dance costume! She had a shawl on and covered her face with a lacy top with coins all over it so it was a cute and authentic looking costume.
All of this was followed by a Champagne Waterfall: greatly overrated imho. Even so, Ed and I went up to be silly with the rest, help the Maitre d’ pour the bottle, and have our photo taken. There were in excess of 600 wine glasses in that pyramid. We get free champagne with this event. I took a few sips, and then put the glass down with the comment: “life is too short to waste it on cheap champagne.” One of the perhaps not-so-good things to happen on this cruise is that I’ve tasted some really good champagne and I am now ruined forever. Now I know why I’ve never liked champagne before!
I’m not sure when we left but it was after the ship’s crew had departed. It takes a while for my body to cool down after dancing and such so we surely got to sleep well after midnight. We were laughing at ourselves because we have been in smooth seas for so long we’ve had to learn anew how to hang onto the side rails when walking around the ship, and anticipate the movements of the ship.

Transiting Suez Canal now

Into the Gulf of Suez


We had a 9 am mtg so I set the wake up call for 8 am. Though we were both awake long before then, it still wasn’t fun getting up.
Health Check
Since Ed has signed us up for another Chef’s dinner, we had to appear to be sure we understood the rules. For example, no open toed shoes, must wear a lab coat while in the galley, must wash our hands on the way into the galley and sing Happy Birthday, to ourselves if we wish, twice as we wash our hands. There is a video on the ship’s channel that reviews the handwashing procedure at regular intervals. So I guess we passed! Whoopie!
Port Talk: Suez Canal
I’ve heard other port talks about the Canal and have transited it twice before, but I learned so many new facts about the Canal. I never knew there is a 2 lane tunnel under the canal, joining Egypt with the Sinai peninsula, at the south entrance. There is a swing bridge which I may have seen but forgotten. Many of the little towns along the way were new to me—at least what I recall. 50 ships a day transit this crucial waterway. Oil tankers who are too tall can off load some of their oil into a barge which follows them through the canal, and then take it back on at the opposite end.
Trivia
Those taking the dance classes had champagne right before Trivia so they may not have been as sharp as we’d expect. Our team again was one point below the winners. I think the teams must be pretty well matched since this is often the case and not just with our team. Occasionally one team will blow the others away but it’s rare. And the winning team changes a lot and is certainly not a given. The afternoon session was awful with questions that defy description. Perhaps it’s the staff’s revenge for our (meaning that all of us are responsible for how all the trivia players behave) behavior. We lost this afternoon; our score was 9, the winning team got 10. The team who’s quiz we graded got 3. That tells you what it was like!
Mother’s Day/Sunday Brunch
The Commendetore put together the big Happy Mother’s Day display by himself and it was gorgeous. He just used stuff available on the ship: wine glasses, red covered chocolates, serpentine, balloons, and an enormous cake the pastry chef made which is likely not edible. The decorations inside were ice carvings and the ones made with fruits and vegetables. Many of them were of a mother and child.
Afternoon project
I was toying with the idea of submitting a photo for this segment’s contest where I have put monkeys around Ed in our cabin. I borrowed Chuck’s Mac and spent the whole afternoon trying to get it where it looked seamless. Eventually I decided not to spend more time on it. I don’t have the documentation to help me over some of the hurdles, and the handouts from the computer class are often absent the little side things you want to achieve. And finally, my neck and shoulders were hurting and so it became clear to me that this was not something I should be doing. Fortunately there wasn’t anything compelling this afternoon; Estelle Harris was talking about her life again and the book club was meeting about Nicholas Sparks’ book “The Choice” which I had read before we came on board.
I was checking out the computer classes to audit and there were none this morning and only one this afternoon that I had taken before and I couldn’t deal with auditing it one more time. Of course, just wait until I try it on my own with my own photo and I may be sorry I didn’t try to embed those little traces in my brain yet one more time.
Dinner
All present. JoAnn’s ankle is up and down. Of course, she walked Petra yesterday with it wrapped in Ace bandages and it’s getting back at her today. We laughed about some odd behavior on the part of fellow bus travelers, the book club discussion, and such. The dessert tonite was Cherries Jubilee so I sinned again and had some. We did talk about how going on a world cruise changes your thinking about world events. You begin to see how and why other cultures and ethnicities think as they do. Some of achieve this learning but certainly not all. Some folks are still very sure that their way is the best way for all. Wonder how they’d feel if they were on the receiving end of that attitude in their native land.
And speaking of the Petra experience, I think we are finally rehydrated. I was surprised that a little muscle that runs parallel with the tibia in the lower leg is letting me know that it was not happy with the walk yesterday. I don’t ever recall that muscle being a problem. And my plantar fasciitis (at least that’s what my MD thinks it is—it’s gone on for a year now) is not really any better though I’ve certainly been doing what I’m supposed to be doing.
Entertainment
Tom Fletcher is billed with the idea “no thinking required.” That fits this population pretty well. We saw him on the last world cruise. He’s an older guy with a booming voice and is a good joke teller. Of course, we have heard some of them before but it’s still fun to hear them with someone else’s twist to it. And he put JJ into some of them which was great fun since we are all so fond of him.
Our view over the ocean today
We can often see land on either side but the haze is such that it’s often indistinguishable. We are clearly in the Gulf of Suez and creeping along as we must transit the Suez Canal in a convoy. There isn’t enough room in many areas of the Canal for a two way passage so ships go to the Bitter Lakes and wait until the transit ships from the other direction pass on. There are two convoys from the South and only one from the North; I don’t know why.
We saw some oil rigs out in the water at several points, some huge container ships very close by, and someone claimed to have seen some dolphins though I couldn’t see them (that doesn’t mean much as folks who know my vision will understand). The weather has been hot and humid but the sun hasn’t been searing. The mountains in the distance loom as giants lying on their sides watching us sail by.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow afternoon Frankie will have the customary International White Elephant Auction. This is done at the end of the cruise so folks can get rid of those purchases that now seem incredible. The money can be kept by the person or donated to a charity of the person’s choice. This is always hilarious because you cannot imagine what people have picked up. There is a wall hanging from Phuket that we’ve seen several times that was originally purchased for $24. And there’s a red manual penis vacuum pump (I’m not making this up) which draws a lot of interest but no bids—at least none anyone is owning up to!

On to Suez Canal

Petra, Jordan


The tap on the door woke and room service was delivered with a smile. As I looked out the balcony doors, you could still see lights on the shore in the distance. We gobbled down our breakfast, got ready, and went down to the Cabaret Lounge a few minutes early. Since we were on bus number 8, it tells you a lot about the enthusiasm of the other passengers for tours. Since we all leave and travel in caravan, there was little incentive to rush except to get one’s preferred seats.
Our Guide
Soli (Sol-ee) is one of those ageless young Arabic men. He’s not married and happy that way. He was born in and lives in the little town of Petra, and has degrees in tourism and archeology. He was fun. Just before the front of the Treasury appears as you emerge from the groove in the high walls, he tricked us into turning opposite the site (we hadn’t seen it yet---long story—and didn’t suspect it was right around the next curve), closing our eyes, and then eventually, pulling up the theme music from Raiders of the Lost Ark and having us open our eyes to see the front of the Treasury peeking out at us. His English was good compared to many of the guides we’ve had along the way, and he learned it all from tourists. His pronunciations are sometimes British, sometimes American. And he uses slang expressions in many dialects and languages. We had fun with him. He sometimes takes two full tours into Petra for a total of about 15 miles a day. He’s a skinny little guy.
Their eyes
I have been struck by the piercing eyes of the peoples in these countries. They are a rich, golden brown, with very white sclera and with the dark lashes, it’s quite mesmerizing. Think of Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia. And speaking of that movie, Lawrence’s headquarters was in this area so you can imagine the rough life. And we even saw the train tracks as we travelled both ways today.
Going out and returning
We traveled by caravan through an ever changing topography. The mountains are craggy and sharp peaked in most places, and then others they are rounded at the tops. There is basalt and granite for the most part, but limestone prevails nearer to Petra. It was over a two hour drive and toward the approach to Petra, we began to steeply climb the mountain range. Along the way, there were some adjustments to the air conditioning which either froze most folks out, or was nonexistent. Ed thinks the driver didn’t know how to work the controls.
Along the way, we saw Bedouin encampments with their vehicles parked outside. Sheep were seen periodically, often right at the side of the road and you could always find the shepherd nearby if you looked long enough. We saw camels here and there and there were signs to watch for camels crossing the road; I gather they can be wild in some of these areas.
We saw men and women in various versions of native dress, but Western attire was common particularly for the men and the young women. Overall, however, the landscape seems pretty barren of human life. One wonders how they survive. Tourism is the main industry. Aqaba has some minerals to export and there’s potential oil reserves underground, but other than a patch of green here and there were someone had eked out a patch of wheat or barley, and a few scattered very spindly looking trees, there’s nothing out there. I believe they essentially get their water from Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The Bedouin tents are made out of skins and tapestries created from the hair of animals. They look pretty sturdy and I assume they must be cool inside. The flooring is all carpets.
Petra
Spectacular. Amazing. Stupendous. Remarkable. Eye popping. Well you could go on and on. It is a five mile walk to see the small part of this whole complex that we saw. You walk down to the Treasury, the most well known of the structures, so that means you must walk UP to get back out. There are horses and donkeys nearby that you can use for a tip of about $5 USD (what an interesting way to say it rather than the fee is $5 USD). The little horse traps (carriages) hold two normal sized people very snugly for a spine jarring trek down, or up, to the Treasury. The cost is $35 USD one way if I heard accurately. There are only 10 available and while they said they wanted to save them for disabled, clearly lots of folks weren’t what we’d call physically disabled.
The weather was mild for this area but it was still hot and we still sweated our share. We each had carried a bottle of water from our room and had consumed it on the way down. Many folks were upset that there was no water given to us on the bus; this is almost always the case in these hot climates. On our bus, our guide found 14 bottles but we were 34 passengers. At the Treasury Ed got another bottle and a Diet Coke (a little puny, skinny can that looked like they had slapped a diet Coke label onto a miniature Red Bull can). Later at lunch, he and I split a 1.5 liter bottle of water plus more. I went to the restroom before the trip back (remember: never miss an opportunity to go to the restroom on these tours) and when I tried, there was only a drop or two there. When I was back in the cabin, maybe half a cup. Clearly we were dehydrated by the heat.
4000 visitors a DAY visit Petra so you can imagine the crowds at this point. Our 10 busses were but a small part of the fleet in the parking lot there. There are several souvenir shops but nothing extravagant and the aggressiveness of the vendors is tolerable.
The land is a combination of similarities to the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion all rolled into one. But it’s not any of these places. The geological formations could sometimes be mistaken for each other but Petra’s surroundings are not those of SW USA. The heights of the walls around you as you enter are impressive. These walls also have carvings into the walls which have been eroded away by the flash floods through this wadi through the years, but they are still recognizable with the help of a skilled guide. One area had a camel caravan carved into the sides of the walls. This was a stopping point on caravans and so that it was very appropriate for the times. I’m amazed folks could find all this but clearly the locals never “lost” it.
As we drove away, you could look back on the mountains behind us and see where Petra is hiding amid all these colorful rock formations. When shown what to look for, you could identify where you had just left at least in a conceptual fashion.
A decent visit to the area around Petra requires a minimum of three days to do it justice. We only had a few hours but that’s better than nothing.
Recommend going to Petra?
Without exception I would highly recommend everyone go see this incredible place while you can. By that I mean not only that it will still be open to visitors, but also that you’ll have the physical stamina to do it. I am so glad we went, but I wouldn’t do it again. The heat is something I cannot deal with comfortably and it absolutely drains both of us.
Lunch
Near the visitor’s center for Petra, there is a Movenpick hotel. Locally it’s called the “move and pick” and there is a shop near the front gate of Petra titled: Pick and Move. Those of you who know this chain know how nice it is. Probably 5 star. We had to go through a scanner before entering and lunch was buffet style. It had a mix of offerings with basic Middle Eastern dishes. The hummus was so good. There was a chicken dish that was great: the chicken wasn’t special but the sauce and veggies with it were scrumptious. There was a strawberry and cherry dessert that was indescribable. And I’ve told you about the bottles of water they made available to us.
But there was another side: If you ordered anything not included in the voucher we were given, it could cost you dearly. Our guide had cautioned us to ask the price before ordering. A man at the end of the table ordered a beer: Amstel is all they had and a small can at that. I asked how much the hotel was charging and the wife said she had no idea but it wouldn’t be cheap. The waiter delivered the beer and later another, older man came along to tell the man that the beer would be “seven and a half US dollars”. When Ed joined me, I passed this along as he had requested one too. In the interim, the older man came back to collect for the beer and it was now $8 USD. No explanation. At the movie tonite, we heard that some folks ordered three beers and it cost them $27 USD. Highway robbery is alive and well.
Welcome home!
When we came back to the pier at 6 pm, we were welcomed (all of us, not just Ed and I) by the Commendatore and the Maitre D’. We were given cold wash cloths to wipe down with and a cup of lemonade. Very good PR!
Dinner and a movie
Because I didn’t want to change out of my grungy clothes from today, I told Ed I didn’t want to go to the Dining Room for supper. We were late anyway for our usual time. So I checked out the back deck of the ship at the Panorama Buffet and it was still too hot for my still too warm body, so we sat inside and watched the sun go down over the mountains behind Eliat (which is easily seen directly across the Gulf of Aqaba). In it’s own way, it was pretty and very interesting. No rainbow of colors, but pretty nonetheless.
Up in the Air:
Well this was a strange movie. It had some amusing moments but the whole idea is pretty unsavory. One fellow said as we were leaving the Lounge: I can’t believe I didn’t walk out of this crap. It wasn’t as bad as Sunshine Cleaning but it isn’t worth the effort to film it. Just a heads up.
Athens
We all got a letter in our mailboxes today telling us that Athens is still on. The State Department hasn’t issued any extraordinary precautions about it. So, none of the other exciting ports we had contemplated. Sigh.
Eeeek! Only a week left!
And it will be busy. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and the Sunday brunch they do so well. We have to appear at 9 am for a health check as Ed wanted to do the Chef’s deluxe dinner….again. So that is tomorrow night. Nothing like two tempting meals to bust a good intentioned diet.
Then I’ve got an idea for an entry into the photo contest but I need access to Adobe Photoshop and that’s a stretch. We’ll see if I can get access somewhere to play with it.
We transit the Suez Canal on Monday and that is the luncheon the Captain is giving for those of us on board for whom this is our second (or more) world cruise. Can’t miss that one! And I think it’s also the Egyptian themed night The 12th is Athens and the 13th is our last formal night. We also need to decide on our photographs before then as well. The 14th is Sorrento and then waaayyyy too early on the 15th, we are off to fly home from Rome.

Eye feasts everywhere

Sharm El Sheik, Egypt


Boy was it bright this morning! I woke up to hear Ed’s quiet snoring. I was good; I stayed in bed long after it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep. When Ed did rouse, I asked him to decide whether he was going to the gym. If not, then I wanted to get out early (while it’s cool and you have more time). He made a remark about walking in the afternoon when we got back to the ship but I knew when he said it that it wouldn’t happen. Still, he did get ready while I went to do the internet stuff. When I got back, we eventually left.
The pier here is huge. The weather was clearly warm and the sun is blistering but the breezes are also brisk so it was livable. We had to carry our passport and be ready to show the page with the Egyptian visa along with our cruise card to move around. So we memorized the page ID so we could find it easily among the multitude of pages in our passports.
There were three tours today but none rang a bell with us. Too much money for something that isn’t unique to this place. Glass bottom boats have lost their luster for us.
We walked the several blocks to the gate of the pier (I can’t really think of it as a port despite the size of the pier) where there was a van with several other folks waiting to go. It is Friday and the shops and such close at noon in this Muslim country. It was $3 per person, one way. The van probably should have held no more than nine. Forget that in these countries: I lost count of how many people they crammed in there before they would finally agree to leave. Need I remind you that nothing like this is air conditioned around here. That would cost you a double fee likely for the short trip. Think of those trucks in India and the Middle East where people are hanging off of everything on the vehicle and you wonder how the driver can see the road to navigate! Among the other passengers on this van was a native Egyptian and he reminded everyone, including the driver and his buddy, that we’d all be happy to pay him AFTER we were dropped off. It’s possible they sometimes get ripped off too, but the more likely scenario is that the passengers get dumped very quickly or blackmailed (only this if you’re lucky) into paying lots more.
Alas, we were dropped off at the Old Market. I enjoyed this area but Ed (these are his words) was “uncomfortable” so we walked to another, more modern area. Eventually, we found our way across the roads to the beaches on the other side. It is one long bay with cabanas, thatched umbrellas and such dotted with people of all sizes, shapes, ages, nationalities, and colors of skin. And some of these folks should NOT wear skimpy bathing suits. Most offensive were the men in speedos that wouldn’t fit their 7 y/o grandsons; their butt crack showing above the back and I don’t have to describe the looks of the front. Jeesh.
There were lots of families with little kids running around playing in the sand and the water. One little girl, perhaps 3-4 y/o, was buck naked and dark skinned all over in an even color. I thought it was cute except the thought of pedophiles also entered my mind.
I began to tell Ed that we needed to find a place for lunch. Neither of us had had much fluid and he needs to eat regularly. It’s also self defense on my part. Finally, he agreed to go back to the ship since we couldn’t identify a place to eat that appealed to him. Speaking only for myself, I’m adventurous in these places but I’m careful about food sources. The upscale resorts would have been OK with me but these were not that reliable. So we found an old Egyptian guy who needed to find a younger one to translate so we were sure about the amount we were going to pay. The price started out too high. Eventually it came down to $5 but I think this was a mistake on the driver’s part as Arabic and English were, by this time, flying between 5 of us. We told him we’d pay him $6 for the two of us and that’s what we did. It wasn’t a long drive but we had no idea how far it was. His cab was comparatively new, certainly MUCH more recent than the morning’s van! And when he put his seat belt on, something we rarely see anywhere on this trip, I felt much better. We both put ours on as well and they had all the requisite parts, also a major find on this trip!
Ed is watching the TV as I write and mumbling about the fact that we STILL do not have CNN!
Istanbul perhaps?
We had lunch on the ship and there was conversation with others about Athens and the fact that we likely will not be going there given the unrest there. So someone said they’d heard a rumor (where does all this speculation originate?) that we’d instead go to Istanbul. I’d be delighted if we did. It isn’t easy for the cruise line to make such a thing happen. There’s the issue of pier space, visas, and those are just the beginning. But I’d be tickled pink if that turned out. OR I’d recommend another visit to Ephesus. Hee Hee
Afternoon Movie Matinee: Sunshine Cleaning
A lady at our luncheon table had seen this movie and recommended it so both Ed and I decided to go. I cannot imagine what she saw in this movie except the actors all of whom I liked. I would have left after a few minutes but felt I owed it to Ed to remain. When it was over, Ed volunteered that he almost left too. Now you KNOW it’s a bad movie for Ed to feel like leaving!
I’m knocking out all these books I’ve been reading so I’m on my last 100 pages of the memoir by Madeline Albright, secretary of State under Clinton. I could live with a lot of the fill in the narrative but I’m loving the behind the scenes analysis of the various countries, cultures, politics, strategic interests and such.
I was on the balcony as the ship left the pier. I’m amazed at how smoothly, silently, and swiftly these ships leave ports. The Egyptian policeman who sat under the tent at the bottom of the gangway blasting Arabic music and sitting in a broken down chair, sat in the middle of this huge pier for a long time and then began dragging that bedraggled chair across the pier to some destination I couldn’t identify. There was nothing there but concrete bunkers—all open air—and two huge tanks with god knows what in them.
As the ship was backing into the main area, there were at least 20 smaller vessels who played chicken with it. This amazed me. Some tooted their horns as if to be smiling at this large ship. We are going south for a ways as the sun is shining on the aft starboard side from the west and it’s nearing sunset. We should start going north pretty soon to Aqaba and Petra tomorrow.
Tonite’s Entertainment
Kyle Esplin is a Jerry Lee Lewis type of piano player and boy did I love this show. We saw him 2 yrs ago on the world cruise. He is only 28 at this point and has played for 3 of The Killer’s birthday bashes. He was a real hit with the audience. He’s Scottish and self taught. Wow.

Now in Sharm Al Sheik

Safaga, Egypt


Ed got up around 8 and later went to the gym. Over 300 passengers went on tour to the Valley of the Kings, Luxor and Karnak. A few others went snorkeling and swimming nearby. Ed and I have been to the Nile area twice before and decided against going this time. It is a long drive, 3.5 hours each way, and the expense is not minor though certainly worth it if you’ve not been there before. So we decided to just stay in Safaga.
During the morning we asked around concerning what there was to do in Safaga. The concensus was: nothing. Further, the ship/port/pier is not close to the town itself so it requires a taxi ride both ways. There is a mall apparently, but why would we care?
So we stayed on the ship. We had lunch in the Panorama Buffet and sat on the back of the ship and enjoyed the brisk breezes and temperate (at least for this part of the world) weather. It was glorious. The contrast between the dark blue of the water and the creamy color of the sands is almost amusing. There is a large ship berthed next to us but instead of being alongside the pier, it has it’s backside straight up to the pier. It is apparent that you can drive onto it this way.
The port clearly transships grains as there is a huge grain elevator in view and these long conveyers to bring it to a transport. Other than the construction going on everywhere, there is nothing else in this port area. The ship has several Egyptian police near the side. I met some Egyptian officials on the ship as I was going down the stairs at one point today. In many if not most of these ports, the “officials” come onboard to eat here as the meals are very good. In India it was a huge joke as we estimated there were over 20 here mostly to eat.
Games
I love to play board games so I talked Ed into going to the game room with me. We played a round of Scrabble and he beat me sooooo bad that I didn’t even smell his smoke I was so far behind. Then we tried Junior Trivial Pursuit as we had played it once before with lots of howls. This version on the ship was waaayyy too simple. I started first and I got all of the answers right very quickly, so we abandoned the game room. As we left, there were two old guys in there playing chess. I would have been a great painting.
We read and watched TV until it was time to go to dinner. It was open seating since there are so few people on the ship (comparatively) so we sat at a window on the port side and watched dolphins of all sizes cavorting in the harbor area. It was fun to watch. The surface of the water was very flat and then the wind came up and rippled it in places where it turned very dark in contrast to the very light blue of the surface.
I finished reading the interviews with Gerald Ford and I really enjoyed reading his candor about the various people and events before and after his unexpected Presidency. He always struck me as a decent fellow and the interviews seemed to bear this out even considering that it was bound to be a puff piece.
Ed had me try his Kindle today and it has it’s plusses but the minuses are still considerable for me at this point. It wasn’t converted frankly.
We spent some time on the patio and the weather really wasn’t bad. The sun however, is blasting and will burn you very quickly. As dusk came, we could hear the iman singing the call to prayers from a minaret nearby. Earlier in the day, the Egyptian taxi drivers had their radios blasting Arabic music. I hope they didn’t think that was a draw for customers because the impact reminded me of the Manuel Noreiga school of harassment where you blast an area with hated music to get folks to surrender.
Pireaus, Greece
There’s some question about whether we’ll make this port, which is the one for Athens, because of all the unrest there. It’s a week yet before we’re there. It wouldn’t break my heart to miss it. I was disappointed in Athens as was Ed. I’m glad we got to see the Acropolis, Olympic stadium and the archeological museum, but other than picking up another Greek fisherman’s cap for Ed, there’s not much there that interests us.
Egyptian folklorico show
This was something Princess arranged for those of us who remained on the ship. Thus the audience wasn’t as robust as it otherwise would have been. But the ethnic dances were terrific, the belly dancer was outstanding, and the whirling dervish was a special treat for us. We’ve seen whirling dervishes before but this guy had lights on his costume toward the end and they turned off the lights. Now that was spectacular. And I still can’t get over the endurance of these guys who seem to twirl non stop for interminable periods of time.
As the dancers were leaving the ship, the overland busses were returning. We stopped counting at 11 since some were peeling off as others arrived. But what struck me was the length of the line of passengers waiting to board the ship. It seemed to fill the whole pier. We left a little late because of the tardiness of the busses but given the distances and the number of people, they weren’t that late and the ship can make up 30 min. or so easily.

Alternate blog site

Just in case I can't use this one at some point:

bfaherty.spaces.live.com

Thanks!

Well go figure

We are in the port of Safaga Egypt at the moment and will go out later as I'm hoping for a camel ride at a minimum. If we're fortunate, we'll find a souk.

In the meantime, I had no problem at all getting onto the blog site this time. Perhaps they were doing repairs yesterday? It also occurred to me that I'm using up a lot of space with this blog. In any event, I'll post yesterday's blog and also create a new site just in cast. I'll hopefully put that new address into this site as well when it's established.

Cinco de Mayo


The sun was BRIGHT as it came through the drapes this morning. Still we didn’t get up until after 8 am. I got ready and left to do internet stuff in the Cabaret Lounge and Ed came in sometime during the demonstration.
Spectacular Culinary Demonstration
Commendatore did his usual phenomenal job of making the preparation of quiche, Tequila shrimp with rice, and other side dishes look deceptively easy. I do learn a lot of new tidbits about foods and equipment but I doubt I can retain it long enough to put any of it into practice.
Trivia
Since this was done by another passenger, the man who spoke on King Tut the other day, we were ambivalent about showing up. We decided we owed it to our team to show up. There were the core 4 of us. We thought this time, it might be different with a passenger doing the trivia but after about half the questions, it began to get deep. And when the answers were read, this became an opportunity to wax on and on about various thing Egyptian. By the time the answers come along, we all just want to know the answers and get on to lunch. In the afternoon, there were 5 of us. In each instance, our team scored one point below that of the winning team.
Cinco de Mayo Luncheon Buffet
Everything was delicious. I’m just sorry I couldn’t afford the calories to try every thing. We sat on the back of the ship outside where the weather was so pleasant. I just hope it lasts through our next ports! We were joined by the Aussie couple who teach the Bridge classes. We enjoy their company and spent time talking about the financial crisis all over the world and the housing “bubble” in the US.
Computer—audit
Ed joined two other folks to take this class which I audited. I used some videos on our computer to do the various tasks since it is done in Windows MovieMaker. I was actually able to remember more about how to do this than I expected.
At 2 pm Estelle Harris who played George’s mother on Seinfeld was speaking again. We aren’t that crazy about these kinds of programs but I was really put off by her use of foul language repeatedly (never matter that she was quoting others) even when JJ indicated he didn’t want that on tape. She is in her 80s and while I know she thinks it’s cute, it was very unattractive and off putting.
So Ed sat on the patio and watched the ocean float by. His neck is bothering him but he did say he forgot to take his arthritis medication this morning. I kept reading the interviews with President Ford.
Princess Grapevine
There were a few new wines today but the speaker drones on and on and we simply want the core information and to try out the wines and get out on time. At a little after 4 p, I left to meet our trivia team and Ed followed a little bit later. This is the last wine tasting of the cruise.
Two Stories, two histories: a profile of Egypt in contrast to it’s neighbor Israel
We were at the wine tasting when this was given so we watched it on the TV between 5 and 6. This was kind’ve a stretch in terms of the theme but I could see her point though I thought it was simplistic and really doesn’t comprehensively explain all the problems in the region from an anthropological perspective.
Dinner
We had made arrangements to meet Chuck at Sabatini’s for supper so we could visit. He was also on the 2008 cruise and lives in LA. We know many of the same public figures and he’s just a very nice fellow and a good conversationalist. Our discussions range widely including discussions of folks we know in common, some of the ship’s gossip, and talk about our waning years and how we plan to situate ourselves so we are intellectually stimulated but not a burden to our family. We opened up the restaurant and when we left at 10:30 pm, there were only 2 people left there and they had arrived much later compared to us. Besides the air conditioning had gotten to Chuck and he was pretty congested and needed to go out on deck to see if that helped his lungs.
Yippee! We get another hour back tonite. We always look forward to that.

ooops

For some reason I'm being blocked from this site and I'm not sure why so this may be the last blog fromthis site. I have an idea for another site so folks may need to share information.
Happy Birthday, Ed!


Yep, the old man has a 68th birthday today. He got up after 7 and went to the gym. What a great way to begin today! (Never mind about me and exercise, please). I made my usual trek to the library to do the computer related stuff.
Port Talk: Aqaba
This was really interesting since we had seen the bio on Queen Noor the other night and Aqaba was their favorite place to relax. I also did not realize that it is directly across from Eliat: one can practically throw a stone from one across the water to the other. The tours that are offered are snorkeling, swimming, SCUBA, of course. And one to the Wadi Rum: you go a long ways in a bus and then switch to 4x4s for a trek through the desert including visits to bedouin tents. (Some folks laughed that they probably leave their apartments in Aqaba each morning to go to the tents to receive visitors and then return to town in the evening.)
The one we’ve been excited about the whole cruise is to go to Petra. This is an old city cut into limestone mountains. It is a very long bus ride there and then you walk 3-5 miles to see the better things to see there. My concern is the heat but some folks say the weather is predicted to be high 70s to mid 80s. This sounds too good to be true but I hope it is the case as I don’t mind the walking but I absolutely dread the heat! And I’m glad we’re doing it while we’re “younger” because I don’t plan to do this again this way.
Trivia
We didn’t win this morning but we didn’t shame ourselves either. But this afternoon, we tied for first place with another team and the staff member didn’t have a tie breaker question so she just gave us all tokens. This was a good start to what followed—see later in this entry.
Lunch
They had a French buffet today so Ed and I went there and tried out odds and ends. I love the Brie cheese though Lord help me, I don’t need the calories. Ed went to do some stuff on the computer while I went to audit another computer class. But before the class started, I managed to take some monkey photos Ed had taken on Elephanta Island near Mombai and seat the monkeys around Ed on the couch as if they were actually in the cabin. I need to do a lot of clean up work for it to be a good job but I was so excited to be able to do that even crudely. Even Ed was impressed and the computer instructor who is about the same age as my oldest daughter, was smiling broadly.
In the Land of the Pharaohs: The Egyptian Quest for Immortality
This is the lady I’ve described before with the soporific voice but terrific content. This time her husband, who is a professional journalist, did a good part of the presentation and talked about Alexander the Great. He declared himself a Pharaoh of Egypt when he conquered it. He really was astonishing since he conquered all those lands before he died at the age of 32! He apparently had a serious drinking problem along the way though.
Egyptian travel slides 1968-1989
This was an impromptu slide show by a man who was born in Egypt, went to Berkeley, taught at the University of Cairo and has many other credentials. It was fun to hear his version of his native country and see it through relatively older slides.
Celebrating Ed’s 68th b’day
When we left the cabin this morning, there were three balloons of different colors with Happy Birthday attached to our “mail box”. So now everyone who knows your cabin, knows you’re celebration.
We took a bottle of Port I had purchased in Ensenada (yes, there ,and terrific!), dark chocolate, and dates so that we could celebrate with our trivia team and two spouses after we played trivia. We had such a good time just having fun and celebrating in this funny way. I had washed up all the little appertif glasses we get each time we go to a wine tasting, Ed had purchased the dark chocolate at two different ports, and the dates were from Muscat. We put everything on a tray, laid out the cocktail napkins from our room and just had fun toasting and visiting.
Supper
All present and we had Sunil, the junior waiter, served the remainder of the port to our table mates while we passed around more of the dark chocolate. Again more toasts and fun. But that wasn’t all: Princess always brings a special cake and birthday card to the table and the wait staff sings Happy Birthday so that was a nice touch as well.
Earlier in the day we had found the formal photographs from the other night including the two Carlos took of me with my Middle Eastern headdress on. I thought it was pretty dorky but they are kind’ve cute and we’ll see if they make the final cut when we decide on our final set of photos. We have been having the photogs save our favorites as we’ve gone along.
The ocean view today
Gorgeous. Lovely. Blue, nice seas, smooth ride. A few ships in the distance here and there. Not one mention of pirates. Yippee!
The Pacific Princess Crew Karaoke Pop Superstar Spectacular!
This was many crew members from various departments: Purser, Maitre’D, computer instructor, hair stylist, quartermaster, waiter, stewards, cook. All of them were fantastic entertainers. All but two were Filipinos and on all of our cruises, they are the majority of those who are in the crew shows. They entertain families from an early age. There was only one woman in the show. We were supposed to vote on a winner but the audience simply didn’t want to decide so we toasted all of them as winners. I tell you the talent and the potential is amazing. And I was glad to see that the Lounge was filled and the audience was wild in their support.
One of the photographers (I love them all and they are the age of my g’kids!) was there to take some fantastic photos of the performers. Really outstanding photos. We were teasing him (this one is from Brazil) that half of his photos are of the sole woman in the show. It turns out, they are an “item.” I had to laugh at my naivete. And Ed took two photos of Carlos and I together and Carlos had me nose to nose for one of them. He is so adorable. And JC, the other one, is also so much fun.
Thought for today
From a blog written by a cousin of Trudy who is travelling in SE Asia, now with a group of students from Evergreen University where he teaches:
In 1963 Thich Quang Duc got in his car, drove to Saigon, and lit himself on fire. How does one do that? Were his actions positive or negative?

There is a story in the bible: when the Jews escaped Egypt and wandered in the desert for 40 years, they came upon the land of Moab. The King of Moab feared them, and ordered is priest to go to the Jews’ camp and curse them. The priest went to their camp, but instead of cursing them, he blessed them.

My rabbi explains the important lesson here: at every moment, you have the choice – to curse or to bless. Every event is a blessing, even the painful ones, for they are often the most important lessons.

I heard a story about the Dalai Lama, the God-King of Tibet, who fled the Chinese to India in 1959, and has been a refugee ever since. Depending on your sources, one to four million Tibetans have died due to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The Dalai Lama, believed by the Tibetans to be the reincarnation of Chenrezi, the God of compassion, was asked about the Chinese government. And he said that this had been one of his most important lessons, for it is easy to feel compassion for those similar to you or for those that you love, but to feel compassion for the Chinese government has been a challenge for him.

Sometimes you feel anger, jealousy, pain, or frustration
All those feelings are inside of us
No one is doing anything to you, or making you feel a certain way
No one else is responsible for your feelings
Each one of us is responsible for our own thoughts and feelings
Things happen. You have no control over that. But you do have control over how you respond.
Maybe the only power we ever really have is how we respond.”
Reminds me of Viktor Frankle’s “Man’s Search for Meaning”, the second half.

Happy Birthday, Neal

In Gulf of Aden


Each of us woke up several times before and after dawn but we kept still and tried to get more sleep. Eventually Ed got up a little before 9 and I followed him. We wanted the morning show for the details about the Crew’s upcoming show which will be great fun. They did an advertising type video where they went to the work site or cabins of the participants to interview them. One poor fellow works at night and there was a “night worker” sign on his cabin door. He has the upper bunk and still had his cafeteria hat on. I was glad to see they have curtains around their bunks so they have some privacy. Of course all of this was arranged in advance but it is still cute and we are all interested in how they actually live in those rabbit warrens downstairs.
Computer audit: nobody showed up to take the class though there was another woman there to audit it along with me so I went to the lecture.
Port talk: Sharm El Sheik
This is a new place for us and the only way I know anything about it is because of the terrorist bombing there a while ago. Just think of the selling points: visit all the places where terrorists have set off bombs! This place appears to be mostly a snorkel and SCUBA site but they do have a few restaurants and it looks like, souks. The trip we’d like to take, to see Mt. Catherine, is too far away and too long to do on this brief port stop. Darn.
Trivia
We didn’t think we’d done well at all but we wound up in a tie breaker with another team. Since we both got the correct answer to the tie breaker question, the staff simply gave all 12 of us a ticket. In the afternoon, we came in second. Well, that is if you only count the 3 teams that tied as #1. Ha!
Lunch
Nothing scintillating at the luncheon table, at least nothing I can recall.
Repacking
Since we’re going to celebrate Ed’s 68th b’day tomorrow by treating our trivia team pals to port wine and dark chocolate, I needed to get out all those appertif glasses we’ve been getting at the wine tastings and wash them for tomorrow. Ed had wanted to pack at least one suitcase during these sea days anyway, so he packed the harder sided luggage and it weighed at 55 lbs. Since he can get up to 70 lbs on overseas, he still has some leeway for 15 more pounds.
Tutankhamun, Ancient Egypt’s boy king
This was a pleasant lecture by a professor of archeology from the University of New Orleans. Some of it we knew of course, and it was fun to see many of the photos of what Carter found when he first opened the tomb, but the lineages and names of those pharaohs eludes me. He debunked some of the stories the guides may tell you and added a little juicy historical gossip to the pot. He had the latest findings of the study of the body of the boy king to bring us up to date. The Egyptians are skittish about DNA testing I gather or there would be more ooohhs and aaaahhhs to report.
Dinner
JoAnn will be using one of the trekker sticks when they go to Luxor so we are still adjusting the height and such. Some days her ankle is better than others.
Tonite’s entertainment: Comedy Magician
We are all getting weary of this kind of entertainment so this guy has his job cut out for him. This was a guy we had seen before I think on the first leg of this cruise. They must have had a problem getting entertainers for this leg as they’ve been improvising in some creative ways. He was still enjoyable but so much of the show was predictable as the tricks are pretty standard.
Upcoming events
Riz, the librarian, was looking for a headpiece similar to the one I wore last evening so I lent her one of mine.
Ed’s 68th birthday
Is tomorrow and I can’t believe I’m married to such an OLD man. I’m sure there will be several fun things that we can arrange to make it a special event. I already have the tray with the chocolate and port ready for our post-trivia celebration tomorrow.
Convoys and such
First an update on the reaction to the banner on the side of the ship warning folks to stay 50 meters away from the ship. I haven’t actually been able to see the lettering since it is large and faces out from the ship. Folks are musing about whether or not the Somalis can read English. And why is it only on one side of the ship. I find all this hilarious.
We are travelling in a large convoy of ships. The coast of Somalia is 20 miles to our port side; Yemen is 60 miles to our port side when we first begin the transit into Bab El Mandeb Strait. The Captain came on to explain that the little boats (with oars ostensibly) we see around the ship (at some distance but still close enough to see the occupants) are merely fishing boats. Some folks are saying: Yeah, sure. Yesterday, we had helicopters around the ship for a while. Today we are followed by a warship which I can’t see because of my eyes but which folks tell me is out there. Many of us view this as a great adventure. I howl every time someone says: “now tell me, you know for sure these Somalis read English?” Others clearly are nervous including, I sometimes suspect, some of the staff.
In Memoriam
I have received news that my children’s father passed away last Friday after a long battle with two kinds of cancer. In those final weeks, the kids were able to see the good in their Dad through the eyes of his wife and her children. Nancy did yoeman’s work bringing his affairs into some semblance of order, and Lisa followed up by getting the proper papers signed and notarized. Pat, Sylvia and even Teddy, drove to Santa Fe to spend several days with Fred while he could still appreciate their presence and serve as a comfort to the family.
I am so proud of my children and their love and initiative in such trying times. Each made significant sacrifices to provide comfort, their talents, and support to their Dad and his family.
And may Alfredo Roberto Montoya finally rest in peace after all these years of suffering.

In the Gulf of Aden

May 2 2010


I woke up before dawn as did Ed but we both worked on going back to sleep. Eventually I heard him getting ready for the gym and after he left, I think I was asleep because I remember some vivid dreams. Eventually I got out and got rolling after 8 am. On the ship’s morning show, JJ showed where someone had ripped out certain pages from one of the travel books. Further, they had highlighted many sections. This was a brand new book on a port in Egypt we won’t be visiting this trip so I presume it was from last year’s cruise. These particular books must be checked out for a day at a time. I wonder if that is why. I had told you before about those pages out of the book on Einstein.
Library
Same fellow, same chair, snoozing away for the whole time I was in the library. From there I went to the computer class area to audit a class but the instructor wasn’t there and while another lady came to take the class, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen since none of the computers had been set up. So I left after a few minutes and went to the lecture. At 11 when I came back, that lady and the instructor were working on a class and so the next class also went and I could audit that.
Port talk: Safaga
Unless you go to Luxor, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, which is a 11.5 hour tour which we’ve done twice before, there’s not much to do but stay on the ship. If you snorkel or skin dive, you can go to a beach nearby. And the Holiday Inn for $15 USD will let you use their beach and pool. But the speaker did mention one place that might have camel rides, so I may check into that. It is such a weird experience.
Sunday Brunch
Each sea day that falls on a Sunday means that they outdo themselves on a lavish buffet with everything imaginable. I found a great tomato and feta cheese salad and lots of veggies, plus some shrimp cocktail so I was happy.
Then we went back to the cabin to read. Ed took the computer to do some research. At 2 pm I headed up to audit a class again but there weren’t any students so I came back to read some more. I have three books going now. The latest is interviews with Gerald Ford which could not be published until after his death. Then there’s the Madeline Albright book, which is interesting but not compelling reading, and a novel that was on the NY Times bestseller list. The latter two are large print. The first I must read only in the daytime as it’s print is too small otherwise.
Quest for cloves and ivory: the story of Oman and Tanzania
The content is interesting but she has such a soporific speaking style. I looked down the row of folks next to me during her lecture and everyone was asleep. Honest. And her husband (I presume) gets up to introduce her each time. This is a little too much. For the most part, our guest speakers simply get up there and give a brief introduction about themselves and move on. And she could tell the story in half the time.
Trivia
My team didn’t win this morning and we certainly weren’t any threat this afternoon. Some very tough questions this afternoon. The team with the Brits on it won; there were a large number of British oriented questions. That’s fair as most of them are more USA oriented in focus.
Hor d’oevres: we had ordered “tuxedo strawberries” as a part of our Elite package on formal nights. The white chocolate one looked like a tuxedo front very cute and of course they were delicious.
Formal night
We got gussied up. I wore one of the glittery headpieces with coins around the edge as it matched my red dress and JoAnn and I had agreed to wear them tonite. It turns out another lady wore a silver one. Ed and I went to have our photos taken before I donned the head piece and then of course the photographer wanted a few shots after I had it on. Oh Lordy. I can hardly wait to see those!
Captain’s Circle Cocktail Party
There are only 12 people on board who are not members because this is their first cruise so you can imagine. The drinks are not the reason you go to these events. You drop your invitation into a bucket and later, the Captain draws three of them for a bottle of (cheap) champagne.
Dinner
Rhia and Dave had won a bottle of champagne at the party, the second time they’ve won, so we shared it at supper for dessert. Tom came in a tuxedo with an Arab kifeah (think Arafat’s top) and JoAnn wore her head covering with the bangles of coins which we had agreed in advance to do. JoAnn is in a cast now for some peculiar problem that hasn’t actually gotten a label yet but the MD put her in a soft walking cast. She decorated it by swathing it in a silver shawl. It is a riot! And while she was mumbling about having to wear that cast, she wore it last night and said she felt so much better today. She even offered to give Nikolas a kiss in thanks but he said it would interfere with their professional relationship. Ha. We are such a small community on the ship that this is funny to us.
Dancers and show
Tonite was “Words and Music”, and as always, the kids did it up right. I have been taking the binoculars and they help me a lot in being able to see them. Especially, I like being able to check out the costumes. My contacts were bothering me so I wore my spectacles and it’s a little more challenging to see things this way but better than going without anything!
The headpiece with the matching glitter dress were a great hit. I was told I had to wear the headpiece for Egyptian nite which will come after Safaga. I’ll see about wearing that with my Arabian belly dance costume. Of course I’ll probably be wearing a totally black outfit underneath it all as I don’t have a body suit with me.
When we got back to the room, I had Ed unzip the back of the dress. The dress fits comfortably but not tight when it’s zipped up, so I was troubled when I couldn’t get it over my hips. Of course, you automatically think of how loose I’ve been with my eating lately and then a mild panic when I consider what I’d do if I can’t get out of the dress. Then I discovered he hadn’t unzipped it all the way. Thank you, Lord.
Local color
We saw a huge oil tanker parallel to us today and at dinner they said it was shooting off it’s water cannons as an exercise I guess since it was only us in the vicinity that anyone knew. Some folks are obviously anxious about the coming transit but most of us are pretty blasé about it. One more piece of excitement to anticipate.

Saturday

May 1 2010


I heard Ed scratching around and asked him to let me sleep. So I heard him snoring quietly later. I have no idea what time that was but it was well before dawn. I woke up and tried to sleep some more with no luck so now it was my turn to lay there and contemplate the ceiling so he could sleep. Eventually the jitters got to me and I started my shower routine. I heard the TV so I knew he was awake. I got ready and went to the library for the daily quizzes and then took the computer to the Cabaret Lounge where I did the internet stuff. Ed came in about ¾ of the way through the culinary show.
Spectacular Culinary Demonstration
Well I don’t know about the spectacular part, but the Commendatore made different sauces from scratch including mayonnaise. He made it all look so easy of course. But there were lots of “Princess cruises culinary secrets” along the way. He’s funny to watch anyway.
Trivia
We did OK but we didn’t win the prize in the morning. In the afternoon there was just the usual core four of us and WE WON! We’ve about decided that we win more often when there are just the four of us than when we have a full team. And of course we could kick ourselves for those questions where we’ve had the question before and still put down the wrong answer.
Lunch
We met with a couple who had some legal questions that Ed was interested in answering. There were dolphins cavorting in the distance through a part of lunch.
There were lots of things going on this afternoon but nothing that compelled either of us to attend. One was a woman who was George’s mother on Seinfeld and she was waxing about her experiences; we watched some of it on the TV later.
Otherwise I continued to read my large print novel about an Episcopal priest in a small town. The light during the afternoon is perfect and I lay on the couch and read which is the perfect combination for me to see well. Ed devoted well over an hour to his periodic religious ceremony: filling his prescription containers with pills and supplements. At one point, the entire bed was strewn with bottles of various kinds.
Supper
All present. JoAnn has a plastic walking air cast on her ankle which she turned a few days ago. It is swollen and hasn’t gotten better so she finally relented and went to see Nikolas who reminds her to keep it elevated each time he runs into her. She’s worried about how it will look with her formal attire tomorrow. I told her she ought to be milking it for the sympathy vote and wear it with pride.
Tom was saying that there is a huge banner off of the Promenade Deck now warning any other vessels to remain at least 50 meters away from the ship. The focused noise they will direct toward any boats that approach too close are covered in blue plastic and there are security folks around the ship at various places. We are travelling at about 18 knots which is about what the ship usually does more or less.
It was supposed to be in the 80s outside today but every time I went by a door that was open, the air was like from a very humid blast furnace. So I never went out.
Tonite’s entertainment
The casino lounge pianist was scheduled. This is the guy who also does the choir and who is very good. But Ed was “resting his eyes” (how is it that I can hear his “breathing” from across the room then?) and so we wound up eventually watching a biography of Queen Noor. This was very timely since we are going to Aqaba which is a part of Jordon. What an adventure her life has been.

Old Muscat Sultanate of Oman

Mina Qaboos (Mee-nah Kah-boos) Oman


I woke up and there was a lot of light coming through the drapes and I wasn’t sure what time it was. I wanted to sleep more but it wasn’t working. So I crept up and peeked through the crack in the drapes and it was the Moon! And it was reflected on the ocean and all I could think of was: “Arabian nights”. It’s pathetic to try to sleep and not be able to do so. I heard a pilot(?) boat in the distance and figured it was about 5 am. Eventually it was clear that we had some sunlight, so I again peeked through and I could see the moon through a mist so thick you couldn’t tell where the horizon was. But it was beyond the beginning of dawn. Ed woke up and I whispered asking if he was awake. When he answered, I flung the drapes open so I could read the clock: 5:50 am! So I slapped the curtains shut again and tried for a little more rest.
Next thing you know, there’s a tap on the door. Room service was 5 minutes early. God Bless those little guys because the order form indicates 6:30 – 7am as the earliest they can deliver. Right on time, the phone rang with our wake up call at 6:15 am. I had my cereal quickly and hopped in the shower. Predictably, Ed had MSNBC blaring (except now he, mercifully, puts it on mute during the commercials) with Keith Olberman.
The Captain came on the PA about 7:10 am to say that he was turning the ship around in the harbor since the pilot wasn’t ready to come on board, so who knows what I heard earlier. This trip between Dubai and Oman has been very slow and the sea has been very calm.
Today’s tour: mystical Muscat—Grand Mosque and Bait Al Zubair (Bait means house; Beit in Isreal)
We were a little delayed in berthing since the pilot wasn’t available until late to board the ship. Apparently, berthing fees here are pretty steep; this information comes from someone with a sailboat so I assume some degree of credibility for this tidbit. We berthed a little after 8 am and left promptly at 4:45 pm.
Our bus had only 39 folks on it and it probably held 50 and the airconditioning was marvelous. We were provided with as much water as we wished and it’s a good idea to drink at least a bottle for every few hours here.
Weather: well let’s get this part out of the way. I have a photograph demonstrating 43 degrees Celsius (I’ll save you the trouble: 110 degrees Fahrenheit) but another passenger said she has a photo showing 47 degrees (117⁰ F). So take your pick. It was hot but all of us agreed this was sooooo much better than Male, Maldives with it’s lower temperature but higher humidity! The sun is a broiler here as it was in Dubai. It takes no time to get your Vitamin D dose.
Our guide was a young man from some African country where French was his first language. He spoke of everything Omani in “we” phrases and sang the praises of how wonderful this country is with great fervor. It is hard not to appreciate the cleanliness, peace, lack of crime, etc. in many of these countries. But they are definitely not democracies and very unforgiving if you violate their dictates. We were again cautioned about keeping shoulders, arms, legs, and knees covered (both men and women) and in the mosques, which were closed anyway because today was Friday, women must cover their heads. No public showing of affection between same or different sexes, no smoking in public. I saw all of those violated, sometimes by the young folks who work on the ship and this bothered me for obvious reasons, and in some instances by folks whose skin color indicated they might be Arab. So figure it out for yourself.
Architecture
This is all low buildings of no more than perhaps four stories, all in distinctive Omani architecture. It is so white you need sunshades to look out the window. The whiteness of the buildings exceeds even those post cards of Grecian island villages.
Aromas
Again the wonderful spices everywhere but here they specialize in frankincense and myrrh. Many folks both one or both in either rock or oil form.
Grand Mosque
This was a photo stop only because it is Friday. Everything was behind walls or fences but Ed said they opened up a little area for a few folks to go in and get some photos. This was still outside the prayer area but inside the interior grounds. The outside is expansive and with many flowers, trees and lots of grass. They use grey water here for all their plants and desalination is the source of all the other water. It still amazes me to see lots of grass in patches and sprinklers running in mid day. The poor flowers are fried in this sun though they still manage to look pretty good overall and the gardeners must be wizards. As in all the mosques, there is a side entrance for the women.
Clothing
About 50/50 native and Western for the men. All the local women are in black dresses to the ground, many obviously too long for these short people. All local ladies wore black head coverings but the facial covers varied from none at all, to the peeking eyes only. The men wear the all white (and these are always squint-your-eyes white and to the floor; I believe they are called something like a “dashdish” in these parts) but the head coverings vary from the full Arab style to a flat round, brimless, embroidered skull cap. A small minority of the men wear ecru or khaki colored “dresses” instead of the more common white. The children ran the range from mini-adult to Western kid style.
Many stores had the native Omani woman’s clothing which is absolutely stunning and lavishly embroidered and beaded. It also looked heavy and hot. I suspect IF they wear this these days, that’s what’s under those black robes. Many of the “stores”, actually mostly stalls in souks, had every manner of dress including the Arab belly dance costume in various designs so who knows what they wear underneath. One shipmate remarked that the facial make up of the women is perfect and fully done up. I hadn’t noticed it that much but then I was looking at the older women. 
Muttrah Souk
You can find almost anything in this covered, native souk replete with stalls and a warren of passageways and mysterious alleyways. The path is paved with patterns of light colored tiles. While it’s not airconditioned overall (many of the stalls are with clear plastic sheeting keeping the cold air inside for the comfort of the buyers) it is cooler than outside as the lighting is subdued except in the stalls themselves.
Omani daggers-really impressive and wicked looking- and silver jewelry, clothing of various types with what seemed an inordinate number of children’s shops, spice shops where the vendors were hawking saffron and frankincense but where one could see the promise of many other spices inside, doors where you wondered how they secured these thousands of impossibly heavy necklaces and other trinkets around the sides of the walls: you name it, you could probably find it here as long as it wasn’t veggies, fruits or meat (that’s another souk). Bargaining is expected and steep here though it’s always hard to tell if you’ve really gotten a good bargain. I content myself that it’s certainly a good bargain compared to what I’d pay in LA but then we still have to get it home too!
Bait al Zubair
This is a private museum featuring exhibits chronicaling Oman’s heritage. I was especially interested in the displays of clothing on manikins in this cool, clean, marble structure. Well the latter’s rather redundant: almost all the buildings that aren’t pre-oil are made of marble. The jewelry was mostly silver and vast examples were shown. The little containers with the long stick on a chain used to store and then apply kohl around the eyes (both men and women) were of special interest. And they were all of silver. The little gift shop here had a nice, modest array of picture books and a few pieces of clothing. No bargains here but good quality post cards in books of 32 for about $15 USD.
Sultan’s Palace
Well he has several and I’m sure this one rivals all the others for it’s size and uniqueness. They have closed off the driveway which is several blocks long, to the tall wrought iron fence with the disks, probably real gold, that symbolize the sultan. This palace is rather modern in design with lots of marble of course. We saw folks of all nationalities visiting here including many women in saris.
Muslim marriages
Almost totally arranged in these countries though many will now allow the child to reject a match. The men are allowed 4 wives but most only have one. There’s the matter of the dowry the man pays to the bride’s family starting at $35K USD and going higher. Then the first wife must approve the taking of a second wife and there must be an acceptable reason. Then he must treat each wife equally: you get something for one, all must receive one. Kind’ve a steep maintenance cost. Then if you have three for example, you sleep two nights each week with each wife and on the seventh night “you rest” as he said.
Forts
There are two, one on each side of the Sultan’s Palace. These are from the Portuguese 16th century occupation and are perfectly situated to “guard” the harbor. Muscat was a part of the spice trade and thus an important port for the colonizing nations and in this area, Portugal colonized many of these areas.
Lunch
We got back to the ship about 12:30 pm and went to lunch in the dining room where we visited with a lady we had met for lunch before. She’s so charming, kind, smart, and pleasant. She lives in Vancouver BC and does a lot of volunteer work for the Canadian Cancer Society. She had breast cancer around the same time I did and she had a complete reconstruction. She knew immediately that I had lymphedema. She’s travelling with another lady but I don’t know the relationship but she is so caring to this much older woman. Her husband isn’t with her on this trip but clearly it’s a very loving relationship not based on much she said but just on the way she talks about him and their life.
Cruise Terminal
The port area is enormous: think LA Harbor with all it’s cranes and containers piled 4 and 5 deep. If you want to get a taxi, you must take a shuttle to the gate. But within about a 2 block space from the ship is a ship’s terminal. It’s stark and inside is all marble (of course) and on the second story (as everything else appears to be empty) is a duty free shop. Your local 7-11 has more to offer but some folks were buying wine. I find that amusing actually. I suspect they will then sneak it onto the ship and drink it in their cabins because if they see you bring alcohol onto the ship, they take it to return it to you at the end of the cruise. Someone said that wine could pass. I wouldn’t know as it isn’t that important to Ed nor myself.
Reading
We kept the cabin drapes pulled a little and read most of the afternoon. I’m amazed to see Ed reading the novel of our fellow passenger. I think the last time I saw him read a book cover to cover was on a long flight from Norway many years ago when he read a Tom Clancy novel. This is a chick story. Oh well, even I admit the author is cute.
Fun in the dining room
Last night, five guys came to supper dressed as Sheiks. Their wives were dressed in a quasi-Arab way but you wouldn’t have known it except for looking hard. But the guys were a hit! You don’t see men doing this very often and then usually as a result of the prodding of their wives. Tonite one fellow came dressed Arab style and folks were taking photos of him all along the way. It was a hoot. So JoAnn and I both bought the little jangling head coverings with the coins on the tendrils and we’ve agreed to wear them to dinner on the next formal night. Then we can take them off after we’ve had our fun.
This was a free wheeling discussion and there was more give and take than usual. Rhia came in a black caftan with rhinestones all around the neck and cuffs with a little tassle on the end. She had her sunglasses on and with her platinum blond hair, it was a real Hollywood look. We talked about Yuma Arizona of all places, MRIs, CT scans, sonograms etc.
Our waiter, Max, told of going into the city via taxi with some other folks who work on the ship. They went to an area and “all we saw were Filipinos.” It was funny to hear him describe all of this (he’s Filipino) and tell us about all his countrymen who work in many of these countries, and I would add, send so much money back home that the Phillipine economy is lost without it.
Diane Cousins
Wales First Lady of Comedy and Song. This is a woman of my age or probably older, rather plump to be understating it, and with a really robust personality. She’s still a handsome woman but I’ll bet she was a beauty in her hey day. Her comedy is everyday and very funny when Americans can understand her through her accent which is certainly present but not so thick that you want to leave the room. She had a form skimming dress on that Ed felt was not a good one for her. I don’t disagree with that but I will say that she had a great foundation under it because despite her matronly figure, she looked poised and nothing under the dress jiggled. Anyway, I enjoyed her.
Five days at Sea
Yeah! I love sea days though it must be a challenge for the staff. Most folks do like sea days but many aren’t sure about a five day stretch even though that’s what it was between LA and Hawaii. The entertainment staff sure has their work cut out for them at such times but they seem to put out a good selection of things to do both active and passive.
Safaga is our next port and Ed and I still haven’t decided what we’ll do. We’ve seen the Valley of the Kings, Luxor and Karnak twice before and while we’d love to see them again, it is a very long bus ride each way and it’s not a cheap tour for obvious reasons. So we may just explore Safaga. That’s not such a bad way to enjoy ourselves as we don’t mind doing exploring on our own sometimes.