WorldTravelReynolds

Our location where the arrow is pointing downwards. This is the Red Sea.

With us heading towards Dubai, we are cruising through the Red Sea and will soon be cruising the Gulf of Aden. Piracy has known to happen in this area and our captain has taken it very seriously although he assures us that no known cruise ships have been attacked. While in Jordan, we had additional security board the ship.

They are posted on different levels of the ship. Two floors are closed to the outside. That is the lowest point in which someone could board if they ever had the opportunity to. They should be open again once we reach Muscat, Oman. I believe this is where our visitors will leave the ship.  

Map of the Stars

We feel very comfortable in our safety and know that if anything were to happen, our captain will be right on top of it! Several lights have been turned off at night so that we aren’t as noticeable. We had a safety drill in which the captain called “Safe Haven” over the load speaker. We all moved inside the interior portions of the ship and any areas that were covered with glass such as dining rooms or anything along the the 5th and 6th floors. If you have a balcony cabin or suite with  glass doors, you were to close your drapes. Only people left outside were the captain and his security team walking around making sure everyone was safely inside. We didn’t see any men carrying guns but we did see some extra men that really looked like they worked for Royal Caribbean but without a badge. Chuck asked one of them when they started this “protection” and the group stated around 2009.  

Those 3 dots in the top left corner. 😎

This is right after the Maersk Alabama ship takeover. You may remember this from the Tom Hanks movie, named “Captain Philips”. We are happy that Royal is taking this matter seriously and we have much less apprehension than we did 3-6 months before the cruise started. Many people requested their money back and went on a different type of holiday. We are happy we stuck it out. 

Tonight we were able to attend an event that showed us how to look at the stars and locate the predominate ones. Our Cruise Director had a laser pointer and pointed to the main Orion’s belt. He showed us that from this point if you have your map or learn it from memory as he has, you can find all the others. It was very interesting and beautiful. We were at the front of the ship and the captain turned most of the lights off and it was a little cloudy but not enough that we couldn’t see the beauty toward the heavens. I cant wait to try this when we are at home. We had the opportunity to see the milky way and other star gazing while on the island of Jersey because there’s very little pollution in the skies. Its very dark and would have been perfect had we known what we were looking for. Now we have the information!

May God bless you always!

Chuck & Lea Ann