Sapphire Princess Sea Day, Nov 21

Today’s sunrise as seen off the coast of Yemen.

My to-do list for today was a short one:

1. Watch Mamma Mia at Movies Under the Stars.

2. Listen to the live band at the pool.

3. Find out the cut off for the Most Traveled Guest Luncheon.

4. Check the map of Deck 10 to see what could have made the last cabin so noisy.

1. The first time I ever watched Mamma Mia was on a cruise ship. Up until that point I had never had any interest in it, and I’m not sure I even knew when it arrived in the movie theaters. But now when it’s on a Princess ship I watch it. I’ve seen it in Alaska, in a thick fog, with the ship’s foghorn blowing every few minutes. I’ve watched in the sticky, steamy heat of a Panama Canal cruise. I’ve seen it in the Gulf of Mexico on a Caribbean cruise, in the Pacific Ocean on a Mexican Riviera cruise, and in the Atlantic Ocean on a transatlantic cruise. I don’t necessarily like the movie that much, but it’s the reaction of others watching it that makes it so entertaining. What typically happens is a couple walks through the area. The wife looks at the screen, wonders what the movie is, and joyfully exclaims, “It’s Mamma Mia!” while the husband looks not at all interested. Usually the wife winds up staying for the movie and the husband wanders off. Said wife then spends her time singing her way through the movie. Watching Mamma Mia and watching the others watching Mamma Mia is just a downright joyful experience. (At least for me, as E is one who wants no part of it.)

2. I’ve been at the pool every day this week, working on my tan (and my swimming) and hoping for a live band to finally show up. To me, there’s nothing like a live band playing by the pool to make you feel like you are really on a vacation. And when they get around to playing the Cupid Shuffle it makes you want to jump up and dance. Except I don’t dance – and never have – but if I did I would be dancing. Guess I’m dancing inside because I always look forward to the live music.

3. E generously offered to head to the Captain’s Circle Desk to find out the cutoff for the Most Traveled Guest Luncheon. 595 days. So the 40 passengers onboard with the most days at sea with Princess have 595 days or more. We were short just a few days. Oh, well.

4. The Sapphire Princess has portals near the elevators with the map of the decks. I went down to Deck 10 where our old cabin was to see if I could figure out if there was anything around the cabin that could have been causing the terrible noise. I did find there was an entire section of no cabins. 

It leads me to believe there was some type of machinery in there causing the terrible racket. And by the speed at which they moved us to a new cabin, I would guess they’ve had complaints before. So if you will be sailing on the Sapphire Princess, study the map and don’t choose Caribe 534. 

Looks like a normal cabin, but nope.

I would surmise the other cabins in the area may also suffer from the noise, but I don’t know. We are plenty happy with our new cabin. Even though it is an obstructed view, it is mostly quiet, near the elevators, and close to the buffet. 

It’s a connecting cabin but we haven’t heard a peep through the door. Glad to see the lock is only accessible by a steward’s key.

The lamps in both cabins have a USB plug. Love it!

Also love that we still have mailboxes outside the door.

That was pretty much the day, with the biggest chunk of my time being spent at the pool. While the weather has been warm, the pool hasn’t been very busy at all. You can show up any time of the day and have no problem finding plenty of seats to choose from. There are no chair hogs at all. If this was a Caribbean cruise with weather like this the place would be jam-packed. I’m really enjoying having the space to spread out. Another place where we’re finding plenty of space? In the elevators. I think only once so far have I gotten into an elevator that was almost full. And the passengers on this ship are nice and friendly. It has been a welcome change from our other sailings this year. 

I think I could get used to this kind of cruising. Kind of reminds of what cruising used to be like when we first started.

One last thing – we are now sailing through the High Risk Area. We’ve been told we’ll see military units patrolling the waters these next three days.  Then starting tonight the Promenade Deck will be closed after 10 PM and lights will be off out there. We have additional crew members on watch so it needs to be dark so they can maximize their night vision. Upper decks will continue to be open. 

Off to another sea day tomorrow.

A Brief Stop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Today’s sunrise comes to you courtesy of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

We weren’t supposed to be stopping in Jeddah, but we had yet another passenger requiring a medical evacuation and Jeddah is where the early morning transfer occurred. We arrived just as the sun was coming up.

Having never been to Saudi Arabia before, and knowing I'd never get to go, I was quite happy to have a little look from onboard the ship. 

The signage at the dock was the first clue we were in a different country. With a different language and different culture.

But the differences didn't stop there. Both the female passenger being wheeled off the ship (thankfully not on a stretcher) and the female medical personnel were wearing head coverings, as would be expected in this conservative country. Men onshore were either military or port personnel in camouflage or dressed in traditional white garments.

The last time we witnessed passengers being taken off a ship because of an emergency we were in Ketchikan. That cruise was the one where we had passengers involved in a float plane accident. Then is when we saw families being taken off and ship officials meeting with hospital officials. All very cordial, friendly, and from afar, respectful.

Not so today.

While the lady was transferred to the ambulance relatively quickly and her husband climbed aboard with her, the ambulance sat on the dock. And sat. And sat. For a full hour the passengers in need never left the dock. From my vantage point it was clear the officials were not happy about the ship being in port. The female medical personnel were sent back to the ship (this is Saudi Arabia and men rule), and the men did try to rule each other. There was plenty of explanations and hand waving and finger pointing and head wringing and shouting and...and...and... 

More and more Saudi Arabian officials showed up. Then some left. Then others showed up. This went on for a couple hours. At one point I counted 22 people on the dock. Two of our ship's officers, two male medical personnel, and 18 Saudi Arabians. The men from our ship deserve an award for their patience and perseverance today. Even after the ambulance left, the brouhaha continued. Finally the Captain announced we were finishing up some bureaucratic paperwork and would be leaving in 20 minutes. 

The 20 minutes came and left with us still sitting at the dock. Another 20 minutes came and left. And another, and another, and another. Four and a half hours later the ship was finally allowed to leave the country.

After witnessing what we saw today, E and I both came away with a bad taste in our mouths. I've never said this about anywhere I've ever traveled before, but I'm glad I don't live here and I don't care to visit here.

The Jeddah lighthouse is the tallest in the world. The only thing of beauty we witnessed today.

Tomorrow we're up for a full sea day, with hopefully all passengers staying healthy.

Pirate Drill Day

Ever see a sunrise off the coast of Saudi Arabia? Yep, you have.

Today was the day I’d heard about. From passenger accounts I’d read about on the Internet, I thought it was happening because of the Suez Canal. But as I know from first-hand experience, it isn’t the Suez Canal transit requiring ships to hold anti-piracy drills. It’s the dangerous waters sailed after the Suez Canal (for those heading southbound) or before the Suez Canal (for those heading northbound.) The waters off the Horn of Africa between the countries of Somalia and Yemen. And the waters off the coast of Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the Strait of Hormuz.

We weren’t given a lot of information ahead of time about what to expect. We received a notice in our cabin a couple days ago letting us know about the upcoming drill. That the drill was mandatory, and part of the drill would require us returning to our cabins. Then yesterday the Captain told us we’d have a drill coming today, and to look in the Patter for more information. Well, the Patter didn’t tell us much but the time of the drill.

While I don’t feel comfortable sharing all the details of the drill right now, once we are out and away from the waters of concern, I’ll add the details right here. (Click here to read about that day.) I will tell you it was a lengthy multi-step process for both crew and passengers. I will also say, with having a disabled husband, I’ve never been so glad to have a cabin on deck 8 near the stairway.

Something else to be oh-so-happy about? I didn’t throw our load of laundry in the wash before the drill. Have you ever had one of those laundry days when you have absolutely no clean clothes left so you wear your swimsuit since you’re going to the pool anyway? We were there today. Like I’ve said before, we travel light. We share one suitcase and one backpack between the two of us, no matter how long of a trip we have. The suitcase on this 27 day cruise weighed in at the airport check in counter at 37.5 pounds. Yes, the two of us share in the under 38 pound luggage. With so few clothes we can’t wait for the 72 hour free laundry turnaround so we have to do our own. This morning we were down to nothing clean. Nothing. We almost put the wash in before the drill (meaning swimsuit time) but changed our minds. Based on what I had read on the Internet about pirate drills, it should have been okay either way. I was under the impression pirate drills only required passengers to stay in their cabin or right outside their door. As you’ll find out next week after I post the details, you’ll find out why I’m glad I wasn’t wearing my swimsuit during the pirate drill time.

We did get laundry done after the drill and I spent time at the pool for more swimming and more sun. We don’t do Christmas presents but I’ve decided I’m giving myself a present this year. A tan created on a cruise in the Middle East. Who gets a Christmas present like that?

Time changes tonight with us moving an hour forward. This is our second hour forward so far of this cruise, with six (6!) more time changes to go – all moving clocks forward - before we get to Singapore. Yikes. I don’t know how long we can keep up our 6 AM breakfast time with so many hours lost.

Tomorrow we have another sea day. I’ve got some cabin pictures to show you so hopefully the Internet holds out. See you then.

Aqaba, Jordan

Ever see a sunrise over Jordan?

You have my permission to say you have.

I heard a beautiful call to prayer at sunrise this morning. I think it came from here.

Did you know Jordan is bordered by some scary territory? You have Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, and Israel and the occupied West Bank to the west.

We can see Israel from the ship.

I was excited to get out and explore Aqaba today. E let me know first thing this morning he was feeling better and ready to go. Based on the amount of coughing and snoring he did last night I had my doubts, but whatever. We were up early as usual (as evidenced by the sunrise photos) and talked about how to dress for the day. He headed off to the spa to take his shower and I spent some time on the Promenade deck watching all the passengers heading to their buses.

There were A LOT of buses today.

We met up back at the cabin at 7:30, the time the shuttles were scheduled to run into the city. I had cell service in the cabin so I looked up our options today. Aqaba has a red city tour bus with scheduled start times. We had some time before the first route began so E took a little lie down and I tried to figure out how much money in which currency to exchange into Jordan Dinars. We had some Euros left (1 EUR = .82 JOD) as well as plenty of US dollars (1 USD = .71 JOD). When I had that decision made, it was my shower time.

When I came out, E was sound asleep. Snoring. Covers pulled up all the way to his chin. Of course, it was necessary for me to wake him up and ask, What the hell? Actually, that’s what I wanted to say but being the good wife I am I instead asked, Are you feeling okay? The breakfast then shower combo + the night’s coughing left him feeling not so great. Ugh.

So I did not dress proper for the day and instead put on a pair of pull on capris, looked in the mirror, grabbed a pair of scissors I had and made a cut in them above the knee.

See, we had both bought a pair of men’s swim trunks for $1 each on a Walmart after-season clearance rack. E wears his as shorts and I figured I’d use mine as swim shorts to cover up my bum in the pool. At $1 I didn’t waste time trying them on at the time. But as I now realize, men’s swim trunks don’t necessarily fit a woman’s body. While I wore them in the pool the other day, they were quite uncomfortable around the hips. Since the weather has warmed up and should continue to be warm for our next few weeks I needed to figure something out. Hence, the chopping of the pull-on capris.

I used a pair of child’s scissors from when my daughter was in first grade (she’s 31 now) and a sewing kit picked up in a hotel probably 20 years ago.  I folded a hem and did a quick whip stitch and presto! A pair of swim bottoms fit for a woman.

Yep, I’m living the glamorous cruise life.

The rest of my day was spent in the pool while I consumed a couple adult beverages. And E slept through all but a half hour of it.

I love private yacht day.

Tomorrow is our anti-piracy drill. By looking at the High Risk Areas and the areas we are sailing, I understand why.

I've circled our high risk areas in black.

Tomorrow is also the first of six straight sea days. I’m not sure what the Internet will look like for those days, but if I have access you know I’ll be right back here with something to say.