Days 14 - 17 Back To Egypt

My how time flies…………….

After leaving Aqaba last Thursday evening, and probably the “bumpiest” sail since we got onboard, we arrived in Safaga, Egypt. This is the “jumping off” port for the various overland excursions to Luxor, The Valley of the Kings and also the Aswan Dam area. As we had done the overnight to Luxor in 2008 and didn’t fancy a return trip there on the 14 hour long one day excursion, we went snorkeling in the Red Sea. Actually Monica went snorkeling while Larry worked on his tan on the snorkel boat. A good time was had and Monica got lots of video of various colourful fish.

With all of the various excursions, Safaga is an overnight stop and although the local government advertises it as the “Riviera of Egypt”, it’s about as scenic and exciting as Hamilton Harbour! As a result, we spent all of Friday afternoon at the pool, did three miles on the Promenade early Saturday morning and spent the rest of the time until our 1:00PM departure at the pool. It’s a tough life, but………..

Sunday was the next “big event” of the cruise, the transit of the Suez Canal. The Cruise Director put things nicely in perspective Saturday evening for those who had never seen the Suez Canal and might be comparing it to the Panama Canal; “The sand you see outside at 5:00AM will look just like the sand you will see at 9:00AM, and at 11:00AM and at 2:00PM!!” They don’t call Suez the “Ditch in the Desert” for nothing. For all that, it did have its moments. By 9:00AM we were in Bitter Lake, about a third of the way through, when the Captain announced a tanker had run aground to the north, in the narrowest part, and the channel was blocked but they were working to clear it. Ships transit the canal in convoys, and some two hours later, after the Captain announced we would be leaving soon, Monica and I watched an enormous China Shipping Lines container ship approach, which we assumed would be the “lead ship” in our convoy. It passed in front of us at a very short distance of maybe 100 yards and we both commented on how quickly it had come to a stop! Shortly, the Captain announced it too had run aground (!), hence the “quick stop”, and we were to be the “lead ship”. Fortunately the rest of the transit passed uneventfully and we entered the Mediterranean Sea at about 5:00PM, at which point the Captain came on (again) to advise that we had to divert to Port Said due to a medical emergency. A passenger with serious heart problems had to be evacuated to a hospital. All in all a very eventful “quiet day” at sea!

The parade leaving Bitter Lake - only 3 of the 23 ships in our convoy are visible

The unfortunate ship that ran aground, causing our delay

This area was barren desert the last time we passed through the canal

Monday morning dawned sunny (what else is new) and cool in Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest city and largest sea port. The “big” excursion from Alexandria is to Cairo to see the Pyramids. As we had also done this in 2008, and will be doing it again in September with Norm, Barb and Mitchell, we took a pass, but almost everyone else on the ship left at 7:00AM! For the first time in a very long time, we took separate excursions, with Larry going to El Alamein while Monica did a half-day city tour. This caused much confusion amongst the guys in the Lido as they couldn’t fathom the idea of us not going on the same excursion. Apparently they think we really are joined at the hip!

Monica’s tour included stops at the National Museum and the new Alexandria Library as the main features. The museum is not particularly large, but includes exhibits from the age of the Pharaohs, the Greco-Roman period of Alexandria and the more modern Islamic period. It even includes some items that have been rescued from the sea floor by modern marine archaeologists. Much of ancient Alexandria’s architecture was destroyed not by conquering leaders but by earthquakes, and it is only in the last 50 years or so that a lot of the old statuary has been found in and around the Old Harbour area.

A favourite of many historians - an ancient Egyptian body/headdress with a less ancient Greek face

One of the stela from the museum collection

The Alexandria Library doesn’t look anything like what you would expect, given the age and historical importance of the original library. As everyone knows, the ancient library with all of its thousands of documents and papyri was destroyed in the mid-600’s CE by a fire. There didn’t seem to be much interest until lately to try to resurrect it, but the new library was finally opened in 2002, looking very much more modern both inside and out than any drawings we’ve seen of the original. It is also what is known as a ‘digital library’ where all of the books are duplicated in digital format, and many are available for reference on the library’s website. Our guided tour actually included a 10-minute look at the site and it is very comprehensive and looks easy to get around. The tour guide was very proud of the efforts the Alexandria Library is making in conjunction with other reference libraries around the world. A far cry from anything the ancients could ever have imagined…

The outside wall of the new library - the markings are all letters from all of the world's languages, including music!

The interior of the reading/research area

The Fort at Sait Bey, in the same location as the original Lighthouse which was considered one of the wonders of the ancient world

Larry’s tour, by comparison, consisted mostly of riding on a bus. Six and a half hours worth, interspersed with short visits to the Commonwealth, German and Italian Cemeteries and the El Alamein Museum. The museum allegedly sits in the middle of what was the battlefield, but one has to wonder what an old Desert Rat or AfrikaCorp soldier would think if they could see it today. The seafront for over 100 kilometres west from Alexandria consists of cheek-by-jowl low-rise condo “holiday apartments” and in the area that would have been the German lines sits an enormous ten building highrise condo development surrounding a golf course! Of course, as our guide pointed out, it wasn’t Egypt’s war, they didn’t participate and most people today know nothing about it. About the only reminder (other than the cemeteries) of this major battle of WW II is the occasional discovery of an old minefield! Our guide told us that between them the British and Germans planted 10 million landmines from 1940 to 1943 and that they “turn up” with great regularity. So much so that both governments still pay the Egyptian government substantial sums each year to cover the cost of clean up and to pay for damages from ones that explode! They are still dangerous some 70 years after the fact!

The Commonwealth War Cemetery at El Alamein

The Museum

                                       The Battle Monument in the Centre Court of the Museum

Today is another sea day on our way to Ashdod, Isreal, the port for Jerusalem. Tomorrow we are on all day (12.5 hours worth) tour to the various “holy sites” of Jerusalem. Being Holy Week, and Passover starting today, we expect the crowds to be enormous!

Day 13 Petra

For those of you keeping track, Day 12 was a sea day spent by most of us in anticipation of Day 13...

From the beginning, we have been looking forward to two port stops; Petra and Jerusalem and after much anticipation, “Petra Day” had arrived. It arrived a bit overcast, breezy and cool enough that we both reconsidered the shorts we had been planning on wearing! We will keep the intro short because the pictures are the “stars” of this post.


Petra is located about two hours from the port of Aqaba, Jordan, which itself is located, oddly enough, at the top of the Gulf Of Aqaba, and is the major (and only) port for the country of Jordan. The country itself is squeezed into the space between Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel, all places we have been/will go to on this trip. The city of Petra came to prominence from 700BC to about 300AD as the center of the trading routes between Rome and the “Mysterious East”. Over time it became the transshipment point for spices, silks, incense and other treasures, which made it a very wealthy and prosperous place. It is famous today for the elaborate tombs/facades carved into the sandstone cliffs that make up the valley.

Promptly at 8:15 we (and what seemed like half the ship AND crew) loaded the buses for the two hour drive. While Aqaba itself is a large city, we very quickly found ourselves driving through a barren desert landscape which gradually turned into low desert hills which ultimately topped out with us actually driving above the clouds at a height of 5100 feet above sea level. Jordan only gets 100mm of rain annually and for a while there it looked like it was all going to fall on us today!

Petra is located in Wadi Musa, or the Valley of Moses. A “wadi” is similar to an “oasis’, only a LOT larger. Local tradition has it that this where Moses struck the stone to obtain water during the Exodus. Of course as our guide pointed out, there are two other places in Jordan with similar names and making the same claim. Personally we think Wadi Musa is Jordanian for “tourist trap”. There are 58 hotels in Wadi Musa serving the Petra tourist trade and our destination was the Movenpick Hotel at the gates. This where the fun started. Imagine, if you will, 150+ “seniors” who have just spent two hours on a bus, right after breakfast, arriving at the bathroom (one Woman’s and one Man’s) at the same time! Unfortunately our guides insisted on trying to keep each bus “group” (and there were five buses!) together. Herding cats would be easier. After standing watching for almost 30 minutes, we looked at each other, said “We didn’t pay what we did to watch this nonsense.”, and took off on our own. Along with another couple, the videographer and two of the four ships’ photographers. And boy are we glad we did.

We will let the pictures do the talking from here.

On our way to Petra, one of the locals with part of a herd of sheep.

Goats and sheep grazing in the rocky terrain by the side of the highway

The Obelisk Tomb - the first facade.  The bottom central entrance is the triclenium, where the families would hold dinners where the living would 'eat' with the dead.  The upper doorway is the entrance to the actual burial chamber.  Virtually all of the tombs are constructed in the same way.

The beginning of the Siq, the ceremonial entranceway to Petra

Along the Siq passageway, which winds for three-quarters of a kilometre from beginning to end.

The end of the Siq and the first view of the Treasury

The most famous of the Petra facades, as seen in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'. The urn at the top, according to legend, was said to contain a Pharoah's treasure of gold

Along the Avenue of Facades

The Amphitheatre.  The estimated population of Petra at its peak was about 40,000

A cave showing the multitude of natural colours in the sandstone

We can't resist a bad pun:  We came to see Petra, and found 'Camel-lot'

The facade in the background is the Deir, or Monastery and is at the farthest end of the valley

One of many modes of transport available to tourists at Petra.  Our fellow traveler, Kibby, is onboard

A final view - Somewhere in that pile of volcanic rock is the city of Petra.  One wonders how they found their way to it in the first place.

Day 10 & 11 A Day in Arabia

The highlights of Monday, our last sea day of the four, were 1) spending some time around the pool, and 2) having dinner with Hugh Downs and his wife. We kept it fairly quiet since Tuesday was our Jeddah stop and the buildup was such that it began just about every shipboard conversation, whether with a fellow guest or with a crew member.


As we mentioned at the end of our last post, when we arrived for dinner on Monday, Leo, the Maitre D’, told us that as far as he knew, we would be alone at the table and would we mind if he seated another couple with us. When we said we would be happy to have company he thanked us and said “Mr. Hugh Downs and his wife Ruth like to sit with different people each night.” How often does one get to have dinner with a legend??? Needless to say, the dinner conversation was fascinating. One of the more interesting facts is that at 88 years of age he is licensed to fly virtually anything that does, including hot air balloons, and the only thing that “prevented” him from flying on the space shuttle with John Glen, was his wife Ruth. He went through all of the training with Glen and although he was never actually considered to participate, he was medically and physically qualified to go!!! It was a great evening and we both hope we are as active and full of joie-de-vive at age 88 as the Downs’ obviously are! He told us this is his third retirement and he is hoping this one “sticks”.

The other all encompassing topic of discussion on Monday was our visit on Tuesday to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In retrospect, the best way to describe the atmosphere all over the ship is to paraphrase Winston Churchill; “Never in the history of human travel, has so much energy been so expended by so many for so little.” Whether it was the requirement for the women to wear the sack-like Abhayah at all times, or how much hair they could show without it being “too much”, or the fact that ALL the alcohol on the ship, including from guest cabins, had to be locked up, the ship was buzzing. Several “public service” announcements on these subjects from the Cruise Director at the various shows seemed to only heighten the “tension”. I think it is safe to say almost everyone went to bed Monday wondering what to expect Tuesday morning.

After all the build up, one almost expected to open the blinds Tuesday and find the Clothing Police, the Hair Police and the Alcohol Police standing at the bottom of the gangway, slapping truncheons in their palms and ready to deal with any miscreant Infidels! In reality what we got was two guys in traditional Arab dress trying to decide the best place to set up a table (they moved it three times in the course of 20 minutes!) and several rather bored-looking Security types. Onboard, in the meantime, the most common sight was women fussing with their head scarves and trying to get their hair to stay covered up, while bemused husbands (who’s only dress requirement was to wear closed shoes - “It’s a Man’s World in Arabia!!”) looked on and offered unhelpful comments. The best line of the day has to go to Manuel, the Cove Barkeep; “With all these people in black robes scurrying back and forth I felt like I was working in a monastery!!”

Monica in her abhaya and white running shoes - indicative of most of the women on tour

We had been told that we would be bussed to the terminal to clear Immigration, the Final Arbiters of how much hair showing was “too much”, and would then start our tours. Finally it was time to board the buses, so with a final tug at the skirt and a touch of the hair we were off. To much ado about nothing. We’re not actually sure the Immigration Officers even looked at the women, never mind how much hair they were showing!!! Once aboard the buses, the scarves came off for the rest of the day and no one seemed to notice. Or care.

We are really not sure what we expected to find in exotic Jeddah; camels in the streets, flying carpets in the air, temples right out of 1001 Arabian Nights??? Whatever it was, we didn’t get it. What we did get was a rather gritty Western city much like any other Western city we have ever visited. If it wasn’t for the Arabic script on all the signs, we could have been anywhere, or on Yonge Street south of Steeles for anyone who has been there lately. We’re not saying it was boring, far from it, but it certainly wasn’t what comes to mind when you think of a visit to “Saudi Arabia”.

In the lead up to our visit, both the lecturers and the Cruise Director had told us that ours was the first cruise ship to visit Jeddah and the visit was generating a lot of local media coverage. (As a side-note, we actually were accompanied by a local news crew for the entire tour.) The lecturers in particular had warned us that Jeddah’s “tourist industry” was virtually non-existent and not to expect the sort of “polished” tours that we might get in other locations. We think our tour guide must have been eavesdropping on that lecture, because he repeated that statement almost verbatim in his introduction on the bus once we left the Immigration inspection. He said that many areas we would be visiting, particularly in Old Jeddah, will one day become major tourist attractions. As you can see from the pictures, that day hasn’t come yet!! Far from it actually. What the pictures don’t show are the cracked and broken pavement, the boarded up shops and homes that look like they may tumble into the street at any minute. This is Old Jeddah as it is today and our guide didn’t attempt to “sugar coat” what we were seeing, but he did try and put it into perspective. He told us that the government wants to promote Jeddah as a tourist destination but first the money must go into creating the “infrastructure” to support tourism. Things like the new luxury hotels we saw later, the waterfront area and the brand new (so new they still had plastic covers on the seats) buses we were riding in. Once this is done Old Jeddah will get a much-needed facelift.

A typical building in the old part of Jeddah

One of the restored buildings in the heart of downtown, now converted into a museum

Day tours such as this, in such a big city (1.4 million people) usually mean a lot of time on the bus, and this one was no exception. From Old Jeddah we proceeded to the main fish market. This may seem like an unlikely stop, but it was actually quite interesting. Jeddah is the major Saudi port on the Red Sea with a thriving local fishing industry and everything we saw in the various stalls had been swimming in the Red Sea earlier that day. And as you can see from the pictures, the local vendors were only too happy to show off their “catch-of-the-day” to the visiting “infidels”.

From the market our tour continued to The Corniche, the Jeddah equivalent of the French Riviera waterfront. Here is where the luxury hotels, restaurants, “Western” beaches and the King’s Palace are located. This is also the location of the (apparently) famous Jeddah Fountain, which shoots water 365 feet in the air at speeds up to 350 KMH. When it is running, which unfortunately is not during the day, so we missed it, although we could see it in the distance as we sailed out in the evening.

One of the things Jeddah is famous for, at least in this part of the world, is the eclectic mix of sculpture along the beachfront and in the traffic roundabouts. Some of these pieces are a bit odd and modern, yet they seem to fit in. Here’s one of the more interesting ones:

In describing it during a talk, one of the lecturers referred to it as the artist’s commentary on Jeddah drivers.

Also located in this area is the “almost famous” Floating Mosque, which really doesn’t float but is built on pylons out over the water to give it that impression. We “infidels” were not allowed to go inside of course, but we did get some video. After lunch at a local French/Arabic restaurant (still not quite sure what we ate, but it was tasty!) and a visit to a rather eclectic private museum/art gallery, it was time to return to the ship. Going back through the local Immigration officials actually took longer than it did to get into the country in the first place!!!

The Floating Mosque

Outside the restaurant with our tour guide, Maher

As you can see from the picture, our guide was a young fellow and he admitted that yesterday was his first time acting as a guide, something that was not readily apparent to us. Like many of his peers in Jeddah, and Saudi Arabia as a whole, he is US-college educated, but unlike in many other Middle East countries, Saudis come home to work after they get their degree, as a US education infers a level of “status” in their society. He also talked with us about his “traditional” dress, stating that while he wears it at work, at night he and his (male) friends are in jeans and t-shirts, while his female friends, although still required to be in the Abhaya, were inclined toward lighter and more colourful fabrics than the basic lack of their Mothers. And the ladies from the ship!

In talking to both passengers and staff afterward, the consensus among everyone was “I’m happy we came here. It wasn’t what I expected. I don’t plan on coming back.” Which pretty much sums up our own thoughts on Jeddah.

Outside the private museum we visited in the afternoon.  Men were just going into this mosque for the 5:00 Prayer as we were leaving.

Today we are at sea, proceeding to Aqaba in Jordan tomorrow. There we will experience the first of two “highlights” (at least for us) of this cruise, a visit to the Rose City of Petra.

Day 7, 8 and 9 Arrrgh, Billy! Them’s Pirate Waters!!

After much preparation, including a Security Drill on Friday morning for all guests and crew, we set sail into the dreaded “pirate waters” of the Gulf of Aden. The captain had already advised that the ship stays in constant contact with the monitoring forces in the area, that there was the possibility of helicopter fly-overs, and that no one should get nervous about them. We apparently did have this happen twice, but they were so early in the morning that we missed them.


As an additional measure, the Promenade Deck, Sun Deck and Sports Deck were closed from 4:00 Saturday afternoon until 2:30 Sunday afternoon as we transited the narrowest part of the area, where the pirate activity had always been the greatest. Here are photos of some of the more obvious measures that are still in place, even though we’re past the area:

The Promenade Deck, where each fire hose was fitted with a high pressure nozzle to deter any potential climbers

Golf lesson on Deck 6, Security Watch on Deck 7

This has happened a couple of times already on the world cruise. In fact, the ship had to abandon two port stops between Mombasa, Kenya and Mumbai, India due to potentially dangerous situations in the Seychelles and Maldives. Of course, this meant that some of the world cruisers were complaining that they had to do the drill all over again…

After all this preparation, we halfway expected to look out each morning and see a “pirate ship” flying the “Jolly Mohammed” (they ARE Islamic pirates after all) sailing off our beam, but after two and a half uneventful days, we safely entered the Red Sea (which, “oddly enough” is actually blue) early last evening. We are sailing toward Jeddah, our next port of call, where we are scheduled to arrive early Tuesday morning. According to our friends at Shorex, some 450 of the 580 passengers are going on tour tomorrow. Local laws prevent anyone not on tour from leaving the ship (much like in Russia) so Shorex has also arranged a tour for the crew so they can get ashore, too. As a side note, one extension of the conservatism of the Kingdom is the law banning alcohol, which extends on to the ship while we are in port. All of the bars must be closed and all alcohol had to be removed from guest staterooms as well, to be returned tomorrow evening. As you can imagine, this has not gone down well with a segment of the passenger community. This also happened in two other ports (spanning three days) on the previous segment as well. Rick (the Cruise Director) commented to us that it was quite funny watching people, who had paid “big money” for this cruise, scrounging empty water bottles from the crew to refill with vodka and gin to “tide them over” until the ship left port and the bars reopened!! For some reason Larry says he could “identify” with that!!!

Of course the lecture program was fired up 1) because of four sea days in a row and 2) to keep people off the outer decks on Sunday morning. Included in the series are lectures by a number of experts on the Arab world, from historical to social to political. Since the culture here is so foreign to almost all Westerners, the lecturers are trying to give us as much information as they can prior to our arrival in Jeddah. Crystal Serenity will be the first cruise ship EVER to visit the port. Most people coming to Jeddah are business people or pilgrims heading to Mecca; tourism is a very new and different concept for the local Saudis but the government is looking for alternative sources of income than oil, and one that will employ more people. The Kingdom is one of the most conservative in the Arabian Peninsula with significant restrictions on dress, especially for women. They are required to be covered entirely (except for the face) at all times, and all of the women have been given abhayas. These are ours to keep. The only dress restriction for the men, however, is long pants and closed shoes. This, of course, has caused a bit of a stir among some of the women on board - so much so that some have refused to get off the ship. All we’ll say to that is - their loss.

Of course, no “method of passenger distraction” on a cruise ship would be complete without FOOD!!! As a result, the Grand Gala Buffet, which is normally held toward the end of a segment, was held on Sunday at Noon. Since we know everyone is always interested in food, we have included some pictures below. As for us, after taking the pictures we went up to the Lido and had a hamburger!!! And ice cream and oatmeal raisin cookies too. We (well Larry anyway) are sooooo predictable!!

We’ve had a chance to talk to a couple of the lecturers for this segment. The most interesting is the human interest lecturer, Michael diSpezio. He’s lecturing on Brain Power - keeping your mind active and sharp, how your eyes trick your mind, etc. He’s an educator and scientist who has worked at Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute. Talking to him is like being in the middle of an episode of ‘Eleventh Hour’ for any of you who ever watched the show. We invited Michael and his wife Susan for cocktails after Liar’s Club on Saturday evening and discovered in the course of the conversation that, like Larry, he is a military history buff. As it happens, they have read many of the same authors and had also visited the Normandy Beaches. Michael has a very outgoing personality and a similar sense of humour, so as you can imagine, the conversation was lively and we actually ended up “closing” the Avenue Saloon!! He has given us a couple of very old souvenirs, one is a meteorite fragment estimated at 4 million years old(!), that we’ll pass on to Matthew and Kady when we get home.

The celebrity lecturer on board for this segment is Hugh Downs, whom you might remember (depending on your age) from the Tonight Show with Jack Parr, the game show Concentration, and/or the ABC news show 20/20.  When we arrived at our table tonight, it looked like there might only be the two of us, and Leo, the maitre d' asked us if we would mind company, as Hugh and his wife Ruth preferred to eat at a different table every night.  So, we ended up having quite a nice dinner with a radio/TV icon who has been around for over 70 years.  As Larry said afterwards, 'If somebody had told me when I was twelve years old watching Concentration on TV, that one day I would have dinner with Hugh Downs...'

Day 6 The Long and Rocky Road

Yet another clear and sunny dawn - thank goodness neither one of us indulges much in the demon spirits, because that was some kind of a St. Patrick’s Day party! Not only was the Avenue Saloon decorated in green, including the bar staff, but almost everything poured at the bar was green, too! Even things that shouldn’t be green, like Scotch, Sambucca and (non-alcoholic) beer. However we did threaten to throw Sumey, the Avenue Barkeep, overboard if she turned George’s $1700 a bottle Louis 13th Cognac green!!!!!!!! If a picture paints a thousand words…

Here's Ross with some fish 'n' chips

World Cruise hostess Jamie along with Crystal's very own leprechaun, George, and Rick Spath, the cruise director

Thursday morning found us in scenic Al Fujairah by the (Arabian) sea. We had originally booked a canoeing excursion, but two days earlier we received notification from Shorex that the tour had been cancelled due to ‘bad water conditions’. We found out later that what this really meant was there was NO water in the lake - which makes paddling rather difficult. And here we thought we were the only ones on the tour - again. The good news was that we managed to get booked on another tour; the better news was that it didn’t go out until 12:45, so we had lots of time to catch up on our (much needed) sleep from Wednesday’s late night.

The Mountain 4x4 Adventure was a real step up from the dune buggies we had in Dubai. These cars were Toyota 5-passenger vehicles equipped with leather seats, full air conditioning, leather-wrapped roll-cages (if you looked close enough)…and a driver.

Our trip took us out of the city of Al Fujairah, through Sharja and across the border into Oman. We had to take our passports along because of this border crossing, and, sure enough, we had to show them on the way into Oman - but nobody cared when we returned to the Emirates, probably because our cars all had Dubai licence plates.

Once we left the town of Dibbi, we headed up into the mountains. The third person in our car, a lady traveling with her sister and mother on the whole world cruise, is a bit of a geology nut and couldn’t get over the kinds of formations we were seeing. She also took so many photos that she’s the new queen of ‘won’t know if she enjoyed her vacation until she reviews the pictures’. And people think Larry talks fast!

While dubbed a “Mountain Adventure” this tour would be more accurately described as a “rock pile adventure”. After a high-speed drive of about an hour (vehicles here apparently have only two speeds - all the way on and stopped!) we left the paved roads behind for what could be charitably described as a dirt road. And more accurately described as a “goat track”, except that would be an insult to goats everywhere!!! In fact, we were driving alongside, and quite frequently in and through, a dried up riverbed that lead up into the local mountain range. We bounced and banged our way (thankful we had a driver!!) up this road for about an hour before stopping to stretch our legs in the middle of a gorge. Once again, the pictures do a better job of “describing” this than we can, but keep in mind that three weeks ago, after several days of heavy rains, most of the area in these pictures was under 15 feet of water, such are the extremes of weather in this part of the world.

As our tour was not scheduled to return to the ship until 5:15, getting to dinner at 6:00 would have been a problem, so we opted for Casual Dining around the pool. Although Crystal has offered this option most evenings on Serenity for years, it was something we had never tried before. The area around the enclosed pool is transformed into a casual restaurant, complete with fine china place settings and table service provided by the ever-smiling guys from the Lido Deck. While the fixed menu is not as extensive as the one in the Main Dining Room, they offer an excellent selection of appetizers, mains and some really decadent desserts (including Double Caramel ice cream!) from the Ice Cream Bar. It tasted as good as it looks in the pictures and is something we will definitely do again.

Day 5 The ‘Delightful’ Dhow Cruise

Although Crystal is prone to giving tours lyrical names, we weren’t sure if this meant we’d be going on a delightful cruise on a dhow, or cruising on a dhow called ‘Delightful’.

Ours was the first tour out, so, yet again, we were up bright and early; only this time the alarm clock (replaced on Tuesday) worked and we didn’t have to bolt breakfast.

Dhows are traditional Middle-Eastern wooden boats, used more for carrying people than for cargo. Colorful woven ‘canvas’ keeps the deck area protected from the sun, and there are no true seats, just cushions put around the perimeter on the floor. Tables in general are not a common piece of furniture in this part of the world, even in houses, as our guide pointed out to us. Nevertheless, the seating was quite comfortable. During the last part of the cruise, a few people even sat back and took a nap.

So we embarked on a four-hour cruise into the ‘Norway of Arabia’. Our destination was the closed fjord Khor Ash Sham. There is a narrow entranceway and then it opens up quite large and fairly long. The only difference between here and Norway is the colour of the rock and the amount of vegetation - as in none. The three most common colours of the day were the blue of the sky, brown of the rock, and the green of the water - most appropriate since it is St. Patrick’s Day!

Along the way, we had the good fortune to come across a small pod of bottlenose dolphins who decided to come out to play in the wakes from our two dhows.

In honour of St. Patrick’s Day, there will be an Irish theme in the Dining Room and the Avenue Saloon is being converted into an Irish Pub, complete with green beer and a fish ‘n chip dinner…all presided over by our captain, Glenn O’Edvardsen from the Irish part of Norway.

Time to get moving - mandatory lifeboat drill is at 5:30 this afternoon, just before the festivities start.