Cruising the Suez Canal

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25thAugust 2018

At last, a relaxing day at sea, after a pretty intense, but very interesting 3 days of exploring Israel and Cairo. We had a lazy morning having breakfast at 9am, and at that stage we had already entered the Suez Canal on our next leg of our trip to the port of Safarga in the Red Sea. From Safarga we will take a day tour to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings tomorrow.


Our trip so far, today heading for Safaga, the nearest port to Luxor
Suez Canal Route

The Suez Canal was completed in 1869 after 10 years of construction. The whole canal is at sea level (no locks) and is single lane most of the way. There are only 2 points where north and southbound ships can pass, Ballah Bypass and Great Bitter Lake. The landscape is stark.

Early stages from the entrance in the Mediterranean Sea


Passing under the Friendship Bridge
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The car ferry crossing the canal has to move quick to get between vessels


A rare opportunity for vessels to pass either side of a sandbank

A real highlight is reaching the City of Ismailia, known as the city of “Beauty and Enchantment”. The settlement was built by an Egyptian Viceroy , Ismail the Magnificent, to serve the canal’s construction and maintenance.

Ismailia


It is a very busy waterway, with ships moving slowly through, tailgating each other as closely as the can do safely.

A line of boats behind us as we enter Great Bitter Lake

Lots of local fishermen are out in rowboats with cast nets fishing along most of the length of the canal, unfazed by the huge ships moving alongside them.






Activities for the day are focused around relaxing, sightseeing of our progress through the canal, a lecture on Luxor, a light lunch at Mamsen’s (the Nordic open sandwich bar), and afternoon tea at the Wintergarden.

Exiting the canal into the Red Sea


Tonight for dinner we are booked into the Chefs Table Restaurant, one of the optional restaurants that serves 5 course degustation menus. Tonight’s theme is Chinese food. 

We had a great meal with matching wines for each course and were finished in time to go to the 9.30pm show in the theatre, which was a tribute to musicals through the ages. It was the best show I have been to on any cruise ship, both from a technical point of view (virtual sets of very high quality projected onto the stage), and the quality of the performers. We haven’t had much of a chance to go to the shows on board  because of the very long days on shore excursions, but certainly look forward to seeing more as we get more at sea days.


Overall it has been a great day on this very remarkable ship.

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