2023 World Cruise

Today's port is a small and  quiet one. No long lines for immigration just a small town with friendly  people. There were several restaurants, , we opted  for a scoop of ice cream. A short walk around the town and sending a postcard,  a bit of delicious ice cream, and that was it for our day.  Obviously a fishing village at heart.  We saw several  small boats come and go. There were even octopus drying in the sun!  The day was beautiful and the scenery was lovely  with quaint houses and Profitis Ilias, the snow capped mountain,  in the distance.  June and I have both been to Greece, each some time ago. She was on a cruise and John and I had an 18 day land tour.  Tomorrow is a sea day and then we will be off the ship overnight for a tour to Venice, Italy. 

As disappointing as Jerusalem was the other day, Ephesus was just what we needed. We had a WONDERFUL day. Our guide had a real heart for his country, his knowledge was comprehensive and pertinent, and he was such a nice man. As soon as we were on the bus we headed for Ephesus. It took about 1 hour to get there from the port. We immediately began our tour of amazing Ephesus. Ephesus has been around since the Byzantine period. Ephesus was a seaport of Aegean Asia Minor. It is now six miles from the water. In the fourth century BC, one of the twelve generals of Alexander the Great, founded the “new” city of Ephesus. Ephesus was known in Antiquity for the cult of Artemis, since they had built a temple in honor of the goddess, which was considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Our guide said it is the heart of Turkey and everyone comes to Turkey to see this amazing place. I don’t know if that is true but it should be! We saw the Isis temple, the Maltese cross, public t...

Here is the itinerary for our tour yesterday: Easy Jerusalem - 8:30a-5:30p This tour is ideal for those who prefer a more leisurely schedule amidst the sights and sounds of Jerusalem. Your scenic drive to Jerusalem is on the Road of Courage, which is scattered with remains of the convoys that tried to reach Jerusalem during the War of Independence. The drive will also take you through Ein Karem the birthplace of John the Baptist. In Jerusalem, pass through the New City with the Israel Museum, the Shrine of the Book and the Knesset, the Israel Parliament. For those who wish, there will be the option to visit the Menorah, before stopping for a panoramic view of the Old City from Mount of Olives. Continue onto the Garden of Gethsemane and view the Church of All Nations with the ancient olive trees in the garden where Jesus prayed and wept and was betrayed by Judas. Enjoy lunch served with wine before visiting the Western or Wailing Wall , the most sacred Jewish shrine, with the ...

The night before we anchored to await the queue to enter the canal. We had a little rain this evening as well. In the morning we began through the Suez Canal about 5:30a. There is much to see along the way that was not here on my last trip through in 2011. It was a lovely day. You can read all about the Suez Canal right HERE .

Here we are in Jordan. Basically everything is closed due to Ramadan until Ifar (breaking the fast at dusk). There was even consideration for a trip to McDonald's but it was also closed! We did walk around and found an open pharmacy. It looks like they are still excavating parts of the city. We did take a 30 minute, non-narrated bus ride.

I have been to this port before, but June has not. She didn't care for any of the excursions listed. We thought about the Hop-On Hop-Off bus but she decided no. We did take the shuttle into town and shop a bit at the Muttrah Souq (souk). I found a postcard and stamp so I was happy about that. We wanted to try some traditional food so we ate at Meta Restaurant at a little outdoor table with shade. We told them we wanted something that would be a local favorite. We got a "mini" grill for two. That included humus, fresh pita bread rounds, and several kinds of meat. ALL of it was delicious. There was more food than we could even consider finishing. We each ordered a soda, no wine was on the menu and we didn't ask. Our bill was US$15. Yes, they accept dollars and credit cards as well. We were satisfied with our day in Muscat, Oman.  Mini Mixed Grill Coke or Pepsi? First plastic straw since leaving home! Mutrah (Muttrah) Souq

Dubai, United Arab Emirates We have nothing planned this day so we can decide to do something or not. We will have had a good overview yesterday.  We actually chose to sleep in, especially since June's knee was not doing well. Since it is  St. Patrick's day, we had an Irish Pub lunch at noon. Certainly not like home, but it was okay. I never had brown cabbage before...really mushy too!  Just as we were to leave port we got a phone call looking for June! They said she showed as "not on the ship" and wanted to see her face to face. They came to our cabin to see that she was actually onboard. She was questioned as to what time she (we) got on the ship last. Of course that was last night around 11:30p. Well, that was settled anyway. She is no longer AWOL!

We started our day in the Princess Theater… waiting. 7:45a was our appointed time. About 8:15a, our number for the excursion was called. We proceeded to the line inching off the ship. However, it went much better than it did in Singapore. We were constantly moving in line so it went pretty fast. We had a face check and handed over our Passport to the culturally dressed local authorities. We are at a new cruise port that is efficient and modern. There are several convenient shops in the terminal itself where I was able to get postcards and stamps. Surprisingly, there is a small airport runway right next to the cruise port! Off we left for our tour – Easy Dubai – and we had a nice time. Our first stop was the Burj Al Arab Hotel . This 321-meter building is famous for its sail-shaped tower and has often been described as the world's only "seven-star" hotel. It is the tallest all-suite hotel built over water, and the second tallest building in Dubai. After taking photographs ...

We have had 4 sea days cruising along through the Indian and Arabian seas. I have managed to get entirely caught up on the album I am making for this trip. Each day we have enjoyed Rummikub in Provence Dining Room with friends Sylvia and Jim. They are a fun couple to play games with. In addition, we have caught up on some laundry and other housekeeping items.  We bid farewell to Regi, our cabin steward. He is heading home to the Philippines to spend time with his family. He has been counting down the days and we are happy for him, but we will also miss his gentle and providing nature.  After Dubai we should be able to eat at an earlier time and still stay with our waiters Arturo and Lorenz. Both are lovely and we have stayed at the 7p hour just to be with them. Arturo says a couple (or more) are departing in Dubai so the table will open up for an earlier meal time. We are happy about that. But in reality, it didn't work out.  One more thing, I will become Elite as of...

We have a private tour with Tuk Tuk Safari in Colombo, Sri Lanka. All the ship Tuk Tuk tours were booked many months ago. It didn't turn out quite how described on Viator but it was a decent day. Princess obtained shuttle busses took us to the "gate" at this working port. However, our shuttle took us to the wrong gate! I ended up turning on my phone to contact the Viator provider to actually get picked up to begin our tour. That was just the first blip in the day but there were 6-8 of us stranded there awaiting pickup for the same private tour. Then there was the issue of the driver's not speaking English and driving around for a bit with stops for the drivers to discuss what was to be done! Eventually the "real" leader showed up and things worked out OK. The highlight was probably the delicious lunch of traditional local food. We did see a few temples or shrines, which we entered but it was never quite clear which ones they were. We did not go to the  Ganga...

June fed an elephant today, we had a long drive seeing communities along the side as we drove. We saw the Big Buddha. That is all I can nicely say about today. If you want to know more, read on after the photos.  Today was a most disappointing day. We are tendered today, even though Phuket apparently has a deep water port. No reason given, no questions asked. We have a private tour. We met the woman, Kathy, in Crooner's as required. However, we are then told by the "girls" handing out tender tickets that the water is choppy... as it often is in the ocean! There seems to be ongoing challenges with tenders. So a large catamaran from the port is supposed to come. We cannot use the tenders. Now after 2.5 hour waiting our tender number is STILL NOT CALLED. Kathy tells us we should all just go when the next number is called, no matter what our number is. We followed her. No questions were asked about numbers or anything else. Now, meanwhile, early on a man brought his wife to g...

Penang, Malaysia is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We d iscovered George Town, Penang's capital city. Renowned for its Historic buildings and landmarks.  Our tour today is Suffolk House and Francis Light Cemetery. Specifically we began at the Cemetery. It was interesting to see the various gravesites with the sad epitaphs written. Such hardships by those so long ago when they lost entire families to "jungle fever" or worse.  Now it is on to the  200-year-old Suffolk House. Colonial landmark and architectural gem. It has been restored. It was not quite what we expected though it did have some period pieces and the atmosphere was very nice. There is a restaurant and they serve lunch, high tea, and dinner. Now that would have been fun if we knew about it ahead of time. It was an interesting visit.  Our next visit was to  Weld Quay Clan Jetties at the waterfront, specifically Chew Jetty. This is a water village raised on stilts and accessible by a long walkway. Inter...

Yesterday we had to fill out a special entry card and secure a copy of it. Easy enough, just a process. Now we are here, quite overcast but we are ready for an exciting day! Little did we know that the tedious process of the visitor's card yesterday was just the beginning... 2+ hours later we are finally through immigration... there must be a better way! Several people had to leave the queue as this demographic is mostly elderly and standing in lines that long was very hard for some. I felt sorry for the crew as they have so very little time in a port anyway. It is rarely a "pleasure tour" for them but taking care of some necessary life business for themselves or someone back home. Anyway, I won't go into the details and massive complaints about all of that. It is what it is and if you want convenience I guess one needs to stay home, which is not me! About The Republic of Singapore: Singapore is a city, nation, and state! This is the second largest sea port in the wor...