Suez Canal transit

My partner and I are on the Silver Cloud Dubai-Pt Said voyage (29MAR).

Can anyone shed some light on what we should expect for the transit of the Suez Canal? Is it a particulary interesting transit? Do we remain on board and watch the machinations of getting the ship from point-A to point-B?

We have no 'canal transitting' experience but hope to do Panama in 2006.

Thanks for your info!

I will be on Silver Cloud from Singapore to Dubai in March, so you will get on as I disembark. This will be my first cruise with Silversea, so I have been watching this board for the last two months, without posting here so far.

But since I have been through the Suez on a Princess cruise a few years ago I can tell you that I found it very interesting. Unlike Panama there are no locks at all. So really, there are no “machinations”. The canal is just a ditch through the sand. The ships have to move very slowly in a long line with a distance between them. Each ship has a certain slot booked long in advance. It is a one-way passage; there is no way to meet other ships. I guess the next day they will move in the opposite direction.

Of course, you don’t have to watch it all day. We started at 6 am, but were told that it was not that important to be up early. As someone said: “The first grain of sand looks exactly as the last one”. It still was a very exciting day, in my opinion.