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| Our path to this point from Civitavecchia, Italy and heading south to Aqaba, Jordan. This update is on our TV at all times. It also gives us sunrise/sunset daily and date and time. |
Around 3 am this morning, December 6th, we began our journey through the Suez Canal. After we complete the journey, which will take up to 16 hours, I’ll have more photos and information to share. For now, we know that it is a man-made waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea.
It enables a more direct route for shipping between Europe and Asia without having to go around Africa. Basically, a shortcut. Apparently, it has been the center of conflict since it opened in 1869 due to the waterway being vital for international trade. Maybe that’s why we have the “guests” on board.
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| Our welcome gift is warm cookies and a soda. This time we had a bottle of wine from our travel agent. A very nice gesture! |
While navigating the waterway and taking photos as we came to interesting points we also wandered around the ship and took photos.
We love this ship. Of all the small ships we have been on, I think this will be our favorite so far. Our room, to be an inside cabin, is huge! We are concerned about our room for the next two cruises since we will be on this ship for 30 days but will be required to change rooms due to our late booking. Hopefully it’ll be as roomy.
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| More closet space than we need. More than we have had in some of the apartments for sure! |
One of our rooms, we know the room number so we walked to that room to see where it was located. They happened to be cleaning the room so we peeked inside and we are thrilled it’s the same size and layout of our current room. We are so excited. You cant imagine trying to store 3 large pieces of luggage and unpack with no storage.
This room has more storage and cabinets than some of the places we have lived over the last 6 months. We wont have to change rooms until December 17th at the start of our next cruise so its good we don’t have to move so soon. This room wasn’t available on the next two cruises.
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| We even have a small refrigerator to keep our drinks cool |
The young lady that sang last night was a tribute to Celine Dion. She did a superb job in recreating Celine’s sound and look. We really enjoyed her show. After the show we had a delicious dinner.
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| Escargot or as Chuck says “Snails”. |
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| NY Strip steak with lemon butter. YUM! |
I had escargot with steak and Chuck had fried shrimp and broiled fish and we both topped it off with rice pudding and cappuccino! Amazing as always!
There are plenty of things to do around the ship to keep us busy.
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| Broiled Red Snapper |
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| Fried Shrimp appetizer |
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| Mango rice pudding! |
Chuck has his routine of the Sudoku challenge and reading and his games. We will do other activities if it peaks our interest but we are pretty laid back and enjoy our time together away from all the noise.
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| Each floor and hallway near the center of the ship has a beautiful painting or artwork or decoration of some sort. |
Everyone is on holiday/vacation and having a great time. Enjoying their time and then many returning to work. For us, it’s another day in our amazing life right now.
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| The tables are decorated with this beautiful Nautical star |
We love it, we just don’t feel the need to scream and yell and have the music blaring in our ears constantly. Our room is so close to the Centrum where all the action is, we were a little worried about the late-night shows.
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| Most of the ships we have been on have chairs on each floor around the Centrum (middle of the ship). This ship has many sofas as well which we really like. |
One night we were walking to our room and the doors to the hallways, about 4 inches thick were shut. You get to the other side and it’s silent! Pure bliss! Wow. We couldn’t believe it!
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| The pools and hot tubs will start filling up now that the weather is warming up. |
It’s a great feature and a sign posted said it was to stay closed during the evening hours. Great idea Royal Caribbean!
There is also a small movie theatre on this ship, so we are catching up on our movies.
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| Not only does this ship have inside dining but it also has a covered outside dining with these very comfy chairs. |
That is something we miss about being in the USA. Our TV is Netflix and the new movies just aren’t there. Tomorrow, I’m going to spend a full day on an excursion to see Petra, the Lost City in Jordan.
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| This pool area is called the Solarium. It is for adults only and is normally very warm. However on this ship, it has been like an iceberg. We hope once we are in Dubai, the temperature inside will be better. |
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| The Centrum looking down from the 9th floor to the 5th floor. All the dancing and music usually happen here. |
It is supposed to be amazing. It’s a 6 hour, round trip walk after we drive for 2 hours so Chuck reluctantly returned his ticket so I’ll be the only one on this adventure.
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| Chuck’s favorite. The Royal Caribbean band. They backup every singer and some other events as well. Very talented. |
It’ll be difficult not having my sidekick to talk with but he wouldn’t enjoy it. Chuck’s good at pointing out good photo opportunities that I often miss. I’ll be sure to update with photos.
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| Tracey Shield – Celine Dion music. Had her mannerisms and voice. Beautiful. |
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| With one of her songs and the the band backing her up, this graphical simulation was on the screen behind her, allowing her music to come to life. |
Have a good day or night, in our case. Right now we have pushed our time two hours ahead so we are 8 hours ahead of Eastern Time Zone.
May God bless you always!Chuck & Lea Ann
WorldTravelReynolds 