Red Sea Cruise

As I sit here contemplating what to write after our most recent expedition, one thing comes to  mind...why, oh why did I ever start a blog in the first place?  I should just post photo albums of our travels on Facebook with little comments for each picture and be done with it all.  But then I couldn't really go into detail about how I huddled (dressed in a bathing suit) under a wool blanket on the dock of the ship because I was freezing, which Grover threw up on a tour bus and how much food a 5' 3" lady could pack away in a week.  So...here I blog!

February 14
Sharm el Sheikh

We left Newcastle and arrived in Egypt without incident (even though we sat in row 13 on the plane...both ways!)  We arrived at the airport in Egypt, collected our luggage and headed out on the coach for the 30 minute drive to the port.  As we came around the corner at the port I saw a ship the size of large yacht parked (is that the right word to use in boating terms?) right next to our cruise ship.  I pointed out to the boys that this was the "kids ship" and that it would be pulled behind the bigger "grown up ship".  Jack knew I was kidding, but Mark almost started crying.  "We don't get to ride together?!"  So gullible when you're six. :)  

We walked into the check in point on the quayside.  Did you know that this word is pronounced key-side?  I had no idea until we moved to Newcastle and people would look at me weirdly when I pronounced it as kway-side.  Anyhow, as soon as we came into the building where we were issued our on board keys, had identity photos taken, etc. we were greated by a guy with a hand sanitizer bottle.  I thought oh nice, they're letting everyone get freshened up a bit after a long flight.  Little did I know that for the rest of the trip we would be assulted by people with hand sanitizer bottles.  Each time you came to eat, each time you entered from the outside decks into the ship, each time you came back from an excusion.  Turns out that a ship is the last place that you want germs.  Being in such close quarters they spread fast.  I didn't even think about that when I was filling out the required "Do you have diarrhea" form on the plane.

We found our cabins with great difficulty.  I mean, how often do you use the words Forward, Aft, Starboard and Port in your everyday lingo?  And then to mix in odd and even numbers where odd cabins go one way and even cabins go another?  I swear I got lost every day.  At least I took the stairs everywhere so I got some exercise out of it.

We knew going into this cruise that the ship was in the process of being refurbished because the cruise company was upgrading it to a "Platinum" cruise.  By the looks of it, all the common areas had been redone...main entrance, restaurants, casino, shops, theater, etc.  They had been working on about 30 cabins a month so some had been redone and some not by this point.  And which cabins do you think we got?  I'll give you a couple of clues...Duran Duran, pastels, VCR's.  You guessed it...we walked into a serious time warp.  My friend Lisa would have loved it!

After getting a quick bite to eat for dinner we put the kids to bed.   It was an early night for them as they were tired from a long day of traveling.  I, in turn, headed up to the destination services desk to make sure all our excursions for the upcoming week were in order.  As I found my way to that deck, which took much longer than it should have on the account of getting totally lost, I walked past one of the fancy restaurants.  There was a string quartet playing classical music and I immediately recalled the scene from Titanic where the quartet was playing music to keep passengers spirits up even though the ship was sinking.  I thought, if I see an iceberg I am jumping ship!

Thomson Celebration here we come!

Finally on board...time to get lost.

Luxury...you can sit on the loo, smoke a cigarette using the ashtray above the safest, most fireproof place...the toilet paper AND open your bottle of beer above the sink counter all at the same time.

More luxury...the TV remote is built INTO the nightstand.

Thumbs up on the safety drill.

One of the sports memorabilia items up for auction on our cruise.

February 15
Aqaba, Jordan

By the time we woke up, we were in Jordan.  We had sailed through the night and I knew now, without question, that our ship was not being moved by wind in its sails because I could swear that our cabin was positioned right on top of the engines.  All that rumbling and humming and I felt like I was back in utero.

In ancient times, Aqaba was the main port for shipments from the Red Sea to the Far East.  It's still used for cargo shipments today so the port was not tourist friendly.  You couldn't really walk off the ship and go sightseeing and the surrounding town was quite small so we just stayed on board for the day.

In order to stay relaxed and ease into a week of sightseeing, we decided against doing any trips on our first day.  A lot of people left the ship for their excursions which opened up room on the sunbeds for lazy loaves like us.  The 80's theme continued on deck...all the music was the likes of Huey Lewis and the News and Petshop Boys.  When the band came out later in the morning they played more current songs.  I guess 90's would be classified as current, right?

It also turned out that a friend from Mark's class was taking the trip with his older sister and parents.  Although we had never met them at length, it ended up being really nice to have someone else on the ship that the kids could play with and other grown ups that Steve and I could chat with.  We signed the boys up for the kids club so we could steal a couple of hours away from them for a few days while we were on the ship without constantly hearing the words "I'm bored" or "I'm cold" or "I hope the band plays Gangnam Style soon".

After a day of being lazy we got cleaned up for dinner and reluctantly decided to do one of the Broadway Shows later that night.  I say reluctantly because I thought that it would be cheesy and the kids wouldn't be able to sit still and would hate it.  I couldn't be more wrong!  Seeing the shows ended up being one of the best things we did...the kids loved them!  On this night they had the Dance, Dance, Dance show.  It was a compilation of different dance styles from ballroom to hip hop to ballet.  To see the kids enjoying themselves and the "mocktails" we ordered for them was priceless.  We ended up making sure that we saw each and every show they offered for the rest of the cruise.

It was off to bed after the show as we had to be up at the 6:30am (that's the crack of dawn by holiday standards) to catch the coach for our first excursion....Petra!

Ready for our first show...Dance, Dance, Dance!

Jack in a Broadway show trance.  He sat this way for every show. :)

February 16
Petra

We were on the tour bus and enroute by 7:30 for the 2.5 hour drive to Petra.  Petra is considered by many to be the eighth wonder of the ancient world.  I can now see why.  It is a city completely built into rock.  Everything is carved into the stone, from window and door openings to columns and sculptures.  It was build by the wealthy Nabataeans in 400 BC in the middle of the dessert.  Now, though, the more modern town of Petra surrounds it.  The temple built by these people was featured in the Indiana Jones movie "The Last Crusade".

The tour bus had a guide; a sweet, huggable man named Faiz.  He talked the whole way about the history of his country, customs and culture.  I was seriously overwhelmed trying to take mental notes the whole time.  I gave up at around 1500 BC.  I did remember one interesting cultural thing: If a woman cannot produce a child for her husband he has the right to marry another wife.  But it's the first wife's responsibility to find one for him.  Once the second wife has produced a child, the first wife raises the child as her own even though the second one lives with them.  Interesting!

We arrived in Petra and began our tour down into the canyon.  I've never seen anything like it.  I thought we'd see the temple that was featured in the movie and that was it.  But that was only part of it.  First there was the walk down to the temple; through the canyon where you'd see sculptures carved into the stone all along the way.  Most have been faded and worn by the elements over the millenia so you can only really see faint outlines.  Luckily they were pointed out by the tour guide.  We would never have been able to recognize them otherwise.

After the long and winding road down, we come around the corner and there, glistening in the sunshine, was the temple.  Breathtaking is just one word that comes to mind.  It was packed with tour groups and souvenir shops and I closed my eyes and imagined being the only one there.  A hard thing to do when every other person there was trying to sell you postcards or magnets or scarves.  I was amazed at the amount of children in tattered clothing and shoes with holes in them selling things.  Boys Jack's age trying to sell packs of postcards for £1 yelling key words in every language to get the tourists' attention.  Another child, a girl, who appeared to be only four sat in the hot sun on a stump next to a mat with some polished stones, while her father sat off to the side in the shade.  Every once in a while he'd shout something to her which prompted her to quietly point to the stones in hopes that she'd sell just one for the day.  I was grateful and heartbroken all at the same time.

As we made our way past the temple we came upon the rest of the ancient town, which was just caves hollowed out in the rock.  There were at one time 125,000 people living in this city as late as the mid '80's when they were all given houses in the nearby, more modern town.  I think that maybe the movie had something to do with this.  Maybe the town was given a bunch of money by the production company in exchange for filming rights and this was enough to afford everyone a place to live in the developed town next door?

After viewing the ancient city, we made our way to lunch where we had some tasty middle eastern food...feta, lamb, olives, hummus and the stickiest, sweetest desserts East of the Nile.  When we arrived back at the ship in the early evening I heard music as soon as I stepped off the coach.  Coming around the corner I saw that they had a band playing a welcome back home song and some of the waiters and chefs lined the walkway up to the ship.  I thought that was the neatest thing!  It brought tears to my eyes and felt like part of a family.  Everyone so far had been so welcoming.

We freshened up and had dinner and made it quick because we didn't want to miss the show!  On the schedule that night was Saturday Night Live.  It was a guest comedian/magician by the name of Manuel Martinez.  He was absolutely hilarious.  When he came onstage it was announced that he was "all the way from Cuba" and he started speaking in Spanish.  After a couple of minutes of head turning by the crowd he switched to English (with a heavy Cuban accent) and he said he got carried away and didn't realize that he was speaking Spanish.  I think that it was all part of his "schtik" because I overheard him later that week speaking to people on the ship and he clearly had a British accent.

Anyhow, at one point he asked the crowd by show of cheers where they were from.  First England, which got the biggest cheer, then Scotland, Ireland and Wales.  He then asked if there was anyone else from a place not mentioned so we gave a cheer and he asked where we were from.  Upon hearing that we were from America he said "You're Americans and you're willing to admit it on a cruise that is sailing near the Middle East?!"  That got a big laugh from the crowd.  Then he asked were in the States we were from.  Upon hearing us say Atlanta he said "So if I had continued my show in Spanish, you would have felt right at home!"  Most people didn't get it, but we sure did. :)  After the show, he met with the kids and we bought some magic props that he was selling.  He recoginzed me as the American from earlier in the night and said the following:

Him: "I just came off a cruise that departed from Galveston."
Me: "I'm sorry to hear that."
Him: "And it was full of Republicans."
Me: "Oh, I'm even more sorry."
Him: "Yeah, I used every gun joke I had so it all worked out in the end."

The evening came to an end and we were once again pooped from a long day.  The next day was an "at sea" day as we made our way to Sokhna, Egypt which would be our connection into Cairo.

Heading into the mountains of Jordan.

Passing by a goat herder on the way.

In the valley heading to the temple.

Lot's of people took carriage rides back to the entrance because it was pretty much straight uphill.

The Temple

You can see the holes carved on the sides of the temple.  Ladders were placed against these so that the workers could carve their way up to the top.

A little sightseeing music, anyone?

Houses carved into the rock.  The souvenir shop takes away from the feeling a bit.

More buildings.

A Bedouin (desert-dwelling Arabian ethnic group) police officer.  Looks like a character out of a movie, but his gun and the  bullets that he carried strapped across his body were very real.

Our Jordan tour guide, Faiz.

  

February 17
At Sea

The boys joined kids club this morning for a couple hours of games and fun while I tried my hardest to soak up the sun.  Since it was an at sea day, the ship was packed with all it's passengers which meant everyone and their mother was wanting a sunbed.  I found one in a sliver of sunshine but since it was so darn windy it was freezing.  I had my swimsuit on and was hiding under a wool blanket!  What?!

The highlight of the day was the Captain's cocktail reception later that evening.  Our new friends from Newcastle decided to change the time of their dinner to our time so that we could all sit together.  We all got gussied up and made our way into the Broadway Show Lounge.  It was here that we got a photo-op with the Captain, Wojtek Ziolkowski.  He's from Poland and the bio in the ships newsletter states that he doesn't even know how old he is because he's crossed the International Dateline so many times in both directions.  Does it work that way?  Or am I just as gullible as Mark?  Once seated, he introduced the Officers of the ship and made a little speech.  After that it was dinner in the fancy restaurant and then onto another show!  This time we saw West End Wonders.  It was a copulation of Broadway/West End shows; My Fair Lady, Chicago, A Streetcar Named Desire, West Side Story, etc.

Brrrr.  I'm actually wearing a cute swimsuit under that heavy wool blanket but you'd never know!

The captain making his speech and introducing the officers.  The head chef got the second loudest applause from the crowd.  The biggest went to none other than the officer in charge of all the bartenders.  Lushy Brits! :)

Like when you see the pilot come out of the cockpit in mid-flight....If the Captian is here, who's driving the ship?

February 18
Port Sokhna to Cairo

The coaches that left the port for Cairo not only had tour guides, but also security guards and a police escort.  Cairo is in the middle of some serious political/social unrest.  Having gone through a revolution a couple of years ago where the dictator was overthrown, the residents do not approve of the current administration either and so there are riots all the time.  Luckily there were none while we were there.

It's difficult to describe what we saw in Cairo without being harsh or disrespectful, but Cairo was a mess.  I'm not sure what it was like before the revolution, but everywhere we looked we saw the following: stray animals scrounging for food, cars lined up as far as the eye could see at gas stations because they heard there might be a chance that gas would be delivered sometime that week, children running around without shoes, garbage lining every single street and alleyway and leftover construction materials strewn everywhere even on top of buildings because there was no room left for it on the streets.  But as our tour buses drove down through the city we always got enthusiast waves from the locals.  Part of me felt embarrassed to be there, like we were exploiting them.  But part of me felt like if it weren't for tourists and the business/money they bring in, they might be in even worse shape.  Those feelings weighed heavy on me as we drove through the city.

First stop on the agenda was the Cairo Museum where we saw some amazing artifacts.  From a replica of the Rosetta Stone (the original is in the London Museum, which we've been fortunate enough to see) and all the trappings from King Tutankhamen's tomb.  Talk about some serious bling!  Again, so much information to take in but the most interesting was this: When someone was newly crowned work was immediately begun on their tomb.  Not only the tomb itself, but all the things that were put inside of it that the King would need in the afterlife, ie. chariots, beds, mummified servants/pets, clothing (don't forget the chocolate!!)  Now the reason why King Tut's tomb was so small and didn't have as much "stuff" in it was because he didn't live long after he was crowned.  He only ruled for about 6 or 7 years, so they didn't have time to make anything as elaborate as some of the other Pharaoh's.  When we visited the Valley of the Kings a couple of days later we saw that for ourselves.  King Tut's tomb was tiny and it's walls seemingly unadorned compared to the others.  I'm sure in the afterlife he was thinking "Man...some Pharaoh's get all the luck!"

When we left the museum we headed to the Giza, where the most famous pyramids are.  Due to urban sprawl, the city of Cairo is practically knocking on the doorstep of the pyramids.  It was crazy to see construction cranes less than a mile from the pyramids.  What will it look like fifty years from now?  A hundred years from now?  After some photo ops we traveled just down the hill to see the Sphinx.  I thought that it would be in a completely different place, but it ended up all being so close together.

When we came back to the ship later that day, we were greeted again by the band.  We were all so tired but after having a quick dinner and putting the kids to bed, Steve and I discovered that one of the restaurants was hosting a Buffet Magnifique at 11pm where "an amazing array of fish and meat dishes, and a great selection of breads, fruits and chocolates decorated in grand and artistic styles would be presented."  How could we pass that up?!

With the kids fast asleep, we went to the restaurant and were amazed at the food on display.  For about 30 minutes before the buffet opened you could take pictures of everything and watch a guy who was in charge of making all the fruit displays.  Basically taking a pineapple, tomato and kiwi and turning it into a work of art.  My friend Lynn would have love it.  We went into the restaurant agreeing to only look and not eat.  But as soon as they opened the buffet just before midnight, we had plates in our hands faster than you can take an antacid.  Taco Bell may have coined the phrase Fourth Meal, but we were about to put it into action.

A fellow late night eating couple took a seat next to us at our table.  The lady had a scoop of 'guacamole' on her plate and I knew right away that it wasn't what she thought it was.  It was wasabi.  She just about passed out when she took a bite.  I'm sorry, I know I should have told her, but the evil spirit in me took over and I just wanted to see her reaction.  That of course, prompted  a great conversation and we sat with them for a while chatting about politics, kids, etc.

Armed guards everywhere.  Most were in towers like this one.

Heading into downtown Cairo.

Saw a lot of stores selling fresh fruit and veg.  It was so dusty and sandy that everything was covered with a coat of dirt.  Even shops selling things like furniture would have it placed outside.  It would be covered in plastic but you could barely see through it to see what was underneath.

Cairo chaos.

Cairo Museum in the foreground.  The building in the back was the headquarters of Hosni Mubarak's government.  The building was set on fire during the revolution a couple of years ago and it still stands eerily over the central square of the city.

Crossing the Nile for the first time.

Cranes show the expanding city with the pyramids of Giza in the background.  Garbage and graffiti show the state of the city.

The three main pyramids of Giza are Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure (the three smaller ones next to this are for his wives, The Queens).  You can see the Great Sphinx leading down from the Pyramid of Khafre.

Pyramids of Giza.

Break time for this little fella.

You can see the pyramid in the background which is one of the pyramids that we were standing in front of in the bottom picture.

All three pyramids, with the three smaller "wives" to the far right.

Everywhere you looked there was rubble.  It would seem like it was from buildings being torn down, but we saw building upon building being built.  Cairo seems to be in the middle of a huge building boom, but all the buildings were empty.  Quite odd.

Goats, donkeys, stray cats and dogs feeding on trash near the freeway.

Our beautiful tour guide for Cairo, Ashgen.

Just some of the platters at the buffet.

This one was all meat...roast beef, prosciutto, parma ham.

Desserts!

More desserts!

February 19
Safaga to Luxor

We sailed overnight to Safaga, Egypt.  It's another port that's miles away from anything so we decided to make this day all about the kids.  We did a half day excursion to a local water park.  The kids had fun.  I was a popsicle.  The wind was so strong and made me so cold that even in the direct sunlight I sat under my towel...sipping a hot chocolate.

That evening we attended another show called Africa.  The kids were amazed at the tribal dances and the costumes that made the dancers look like lions, zebras and giraffes.  The comedian/magician was on again that night, but too late for the kids so once they were sound asleep we slipped away for his show.  Again, hilarious stuff that lasted well past midnight.  With a wake-up call at 5:30am for our last all day excursion, it made for a short night and many tired people of the coach ride to Luxor.

Unfortunately Mark went to bed this night with a sore throat.  I crossed my fingers that he would be better by morning.  It was going to make for a long day if he wasn't feeling well.

Trying to stay warm at the water park with a hot chocolate.

I just wanna dance!!

February 20
Luxor, Valley of the Kings

Well Mark wasn't any better when he woke up.  He was pitiful.  Glassy eyes, sore throat and fever.  We gave him medicine throughout the day that gave him sporadic bouts of energy, but he ended up sleeping on the coach ride to and from the city.  It was 3.5 hours each way, so he got plenty of rest. We carried him through most of the exhibits, too.  I was tempted to stay on the ship with him, but we decided to take him.  When would we (selfishly meaning I) get to experience any of this again??

We saw the following: Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut and the Karnak Temple.  My brain hurts just remembering that day.  Upon leaving the ship for our tour bus, we were all given snack boxes.  Since the day was going to be a long one, the ship provided us with snacks to eat on the bus.  The boxes were in plastic bags.  Why is this of importance?  Remember my opening comment about one of us throwing up on a tour bus?  Well, today was the day and those bags came in handy. 

When you think of Egypt and its Pharaoh's you think of the pyramids, right?  Well, did you know that when people started breaking into the pyramids and robbing them that the Egyptians began building unmarked tombs into the mountains to hide their deceased Kings?  I didn't.  I had heard about the Valley of the Kings, but didn't know exactly what it was.  I thought it was just a slew of pyramids, but instead it's a mountain range with tombs buried into the rock.  It was continually built between the 16th and 11th centuries BC.  The most recent tomb was discovered in 2005 and to date they've found 63.  This is where King Tut's tomb is as well as King Ramses III, IX and a slew of others.  Unfortunately no cameras were allowed, even as we walked through the mountains so I've nicked a few from the web.

The tour guide suggested that we not buy the extra ticket to see King Tut's tomb because it wasn't as nice or as big as the others.  We ignored his advice and bought them anyway.  I didn't come all this way to not see that!  I'm SO glad we did.  The tomb was definitely smaller and the walls and ceiling simply adorned with carvings and paintings.  But as you came around the corner...there he was.  His mummy was lying under a linen cloth with only his head and feet sticking out.  I was in awe, and just when I didn't think it could get any more amazing I turned around to see his sarcophagus.  Even though the light was dim, the gold sparkled like the sun.  I couldn't contain it anymore and cried.  Like a baby.  I couldn't believe I was standing there seeing this in person.  All of the years learning about it in school and seeing images of it on TV when we watched some history show...there it was.

Our next stop after The Valley of the Kings, was to the Temple of Hatshepsut.  It's carved into the surrounding mountain, but unlike the Valley of the Kings, it is not hidden from view.  What makes this temple important is that it honors one of the few Queens of Egypt.  Queen Hatshepsut is regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs (man or woman) and reigned longer than any other woman in the Egyptian dynasty...about 22 years.

After a stop for lunch in the city of Luxor, we headed to our final stop of the day The Karnak Temple.  Construction of the Temple began around 2000BC and continued until about 300BC.  What makes it unique is that as each Pharaoh came to power, they would add onto the temple.  So, in the end more than 30 Pharaohs put their mark on the temple.  It just kept getting bigger and bigger.  It was truly majestic.

By the time we started the trek back to port is was already around 5pm.  It was a long and winding road.  Mark slept and Steve and I dozed off and on.  This was the only excursion that we brought the kids' electronics with them to play with on the bus.  I thought it would be torture trying to keep them occupied for all the hours on the buses, but they did really well.  Jack, though was making up for lost time and was playing his DS fast and furious.  Until, that is, he remarked that he felt sick to his stomach.  I told Steve to grab one of the plastic snack bags and I immediately headed up to the tour guide to ask for the key to the bathroom.  By the time I came back it was done.  Jack had managed to get sick...and miss the bag almost entirely.  Steve took him to the bathroom where he discovered there were only two squares of toilet paper left.  I didn't have anything on me to clean up the area.  But I did have some hand sanitizer which I proceeded to squirt over "it" hoping to mask the aroma.  It didn't work.  Luckily we were at the back of the bus and had empty seats near us and we only had about another hour until we reached the ship.  Is this day done yet?? 

Lining up for gas outside of Luxor.

Brick factory on the side of the freeway on the way to Luxor.

This shop was selling empty oil drums and all sorts of hoses.

Sugar cane harvesting on the way to Luxor.

Driving up to the Valley of the Kings from the tour bus.

Valley of the Kings snagged from the web.

Temple of Hatshepsut.

One of the Osirian statues outside the Temple.

Roadside butcher.

Jack in the Karnak Temple.

Decorations under the stone beams.

It's hookah time!

The Colossi of Memnon.  These originally guarded the temple of Amenhotep III, but the temple is long gone having been taken apart for building materials.  What a shame.

February 21
Back to Sharm el Sheikh

The ship sailed through the night and we arrived at Sharm el Sheikh in the morning.  We had to be out of our cabins by 9, but our bus to the airport didn't leave until 4:30.  So we lounged around on deck one last time and hit the buffet one last time (well actually twice since we were there for breakfast AND lunch).  The airport was a madhouse.  Lot's of Brits heading home.  Our flight landed a bit early and we arrived home just in time to welcome a new day.  Mark cried as he fell asleep saying that he missed the ship and the shows.  He asked when our next cruise would be.  I told him as soon as he robs a bank.

I hope you all enjoyed coming along with us in our jaunt through Egypt.  I realize after proofreading this post that I didn't really delve into too many historical facts about the things we saw.  I figure that's what wikipedia is for...so knock yourselves out!

See you soon!