Ramblings from the Sailing the Suez Oct 26 to Nov 16th.

[1982CruzStart]

Picture from our very long, hot day in Petra.  Fantastic regardless.  Internet not cooperating so will try and post more if the connection allows. 

[1982CruzStart]

We are doing a very quiet night. Went for dinner in CR cuz just couldn't face a buffet upstairs.  They were doing an Asian buffet which I bet was great. 

Margaret is doing the show tonight.  She has a lovely voice but country and western but dosen't actually work for us. 

These is the Treasury so hopefully shows up well. 

[1982CruzStart]

Just love how beautiful the rocks are in Petra. 

[1982CruzStart]

Okay I am going backwards.  Now for something from Luxor and Valley of the Kings and Queens. 

Sorry just too tired to figure which tomb but really does it matter. All the tombs are spectacular.  

 

[1982CruzStart]

Just a little bit more before I fall over from exhaustion well maybe exhaustion with wine. 

 

This is a ceiling in Seti 1 tomb. Or at least I think it was that tomb. Regardless I can't  tell you how unreal it is to see such beautiful pictures that are a couple thousand years old. Wow. 

 

Next is a wonderful wall. 

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by 1982CruzStart

[1982CruzStart]

More from Luxor. 

[1982CruzStart]

Sorry can't help myself.  I have too many pictures to share but hopefully this gives you a good idea of the unreal experience we had. 

We visited Ramses 5, Tut and Seti 1 then over to Nefartari's tomb. You have some of the pictures, maybe some commentary tomorrow.  

[1982CruzStart]

A few more pictures from Petra. 

 

The theatre. 

 

More buildings on the site. 

 

[1982CruzStart]

Some of the pics from the Luxor museum.  

 

[1982CruzStart]

Now for a short break in viewing historically spectacular scenes and objects to check the next best thing - FOOD.

 

Lunch today in CR. Delicious salmon for me and tasty pork sliders for DH. 

 

 

[flossie009]

As Kathy reported, yesterday we were docked in the port of Aqaba, Jordan - just next to the border with Israel.

Some guests went to Petra; we went to Wadi Rum; others took in both attractions (leaving the ship around 05:30am and returning just before we set sail just after 7pm)

 

Wadi Rum was made famous by the writings of T E Lawrence, who was based there during the Arab revolt of 1917-1918.

Much of the film “Lawrence of Arabia” was shot on location and more recently the rugged landscape has been used for films such as “The Martian” and Disney’s live action remake of “Aladdin” 

 

 

We set off for our 1 hour journey to Wadi Rum in one of the most comfortable coaches we have encountered on vacation. It is a pity that the Egyptian tour operator did not have similar vehicles for our long drive to Luxor.

 

Wide seats (only 3 across) and lots of legroom 

 

After a comfort break at the Wadi Rum visitors’ centre we boarded our main transport for the tour - old Toyota pick-ups with cushioned bench seats in the back (four guests per truck)

We started near the Seven Pillars rock formation named after TE Lawrence’s memoirs “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”

 

 

Our Bedouin drivers then took us for a race across the desert (but not too fast) taking in the stunning, rugged landscape. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1982CruzStart]

You get all pictures or longer commentary but generally not both at the same time.  That is because i use my phone for the pictures but my tablet for the commentary because i can type quicker and generally better on the attached keyboard. 

 

We got back from dinner last night to the dreaded disembarkation questionnaire. Can we really be on our last week? I guess so. 

 

We woke this morning to a very muggy warm day so a lot of people are hanging around indoors.  We had a anti-piracy drill today though i must admit that i really did not figure out it was to be a real drill until it was too late. I spent the drill in the shower as neither DH or I got the impression that an actual drill was going to take place. He attended after there was a knock at the door. I blissfully didn't know what was happening until i opened the bathroom calling DH's name without any response. 

 

Inspite of my senior brain i will try and do a brief (okay maybe not so brief) recap of our past few days.  

 

Fortunately a not too early morning began our triip to Luxor.  I am afraid Destination Services did a not great job of organizing the 5 buses that were doing the overnight adventures.  They used the Constellaation theatre for the regular tours but used Voyager lounge to handle 5 buses all leaving at the same time.  Now I went to the theatre because someone (moi) didn't read the info on the tickets and just automatically went there. The place was virtually empty.  The very pleasant staff person told me i was in the wrong place so we headed to the Lounge.  the place was packed and there didn't seem to be any rhyme nor reason to what we were to do.  In their infinite wisdom they made the decision to check people in at the bar area. Now this isn't a huge lounge, people were milling around without really knowing what was going on.  i bobbed and weaved my way to the area to check in to find out they had called our color already even though we were there maybe 15 minutes early.  What i didn't know was them calling the color only meant they were trying to get people checked in. Once that was done, i literally had to beg people to let me out, i faced a solid wall of people with few willing to make a move. I finally made it out and the adventure began -  show our passports, pick up our luggage, go through Egyptian security and finally to the bus. 

 

We had a very knowledgeable tour guide.  Found out later she is married to a general in the Tourism police, more about that later.  Our security guard with gun not so subtly hidden under his jacket climbed into the front seat right behind the driver. As DH pointed out it was like a scene from Men in Black when you saw all of them standing together. 

 

It was a 3.5 hour drive so we settled in for an interesting lecture and maybe a bit of a snooze. Riding buses puts me to sleep what can i say, i wish a plane could do that for me. 

 

First stop was lunch at the Hilton, our home away from home (ship) away from home. Lunch was good and then we were off to Karnak temple. Even though this was our second trip there with both being with Regent, we were still awe struck by the sheer size and volume of columns.  Pictures just don't  do them justice.  Next stop Luxor temple. Again very impressive. 

 

Time to check in, then a shopping trip for those that want to.  Now my little voice said don't go but i thought based on the guide's description maybe i could pick up some Egyptian cotton sheets. Well the little voice was correct and it was a wasted hour that i could have spent relaxing.  

 

Off to Luxor Museum. They do a have great collection of items that they have uncovered in recent excavations. Some of the statues looked so good they could have been produced the day before. 

 

Dinner was a buffet back at the Hilton, food was good with reasonable variety.  Off to the room to try and get some sleep. Not so fast, a little issue back home that required a late night phone call because of the time difference.  So my hope of a good night sleep before more tramping through heat and sand was gone. 

 

Regardless nothing was going to stop me from enjoying the much anticapted trip to the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.  We did a short boat ride across to the other side where we were met by the bus and off to the Valleys. 

 

As you can see from just a few pictures posted the tombs are so overwhelming.  The pictures and colors are just so vibrant in some areas of the tombs it is mind boggling.  Of course there is damage in parts of every tomb but it is still pretty remarkable after thousands of years. 

 

Up on soap box - what are people thinking when they run their hands over the raised carved areas on the walls, how are these historic artifacts suppose to survive if people think they can touch them? Or alternatively climb all over areas in petra that are obviously not for the public.  Exit soap box. 

 

The part of Tut's tomb that you can visit is extremely small, so small only about 10 people can visit at a time but i think the pictures are the best and most beautiful. Seti 1 tomb is spectacular but you do have to really work to see it. It is deep and requires many steps but oh so worth it.  We also visited Ramses IV (Sorry i might have put something else before). Really doesn't matter what Ramses's it was it was impressive none the less.  The order was actually Ramses, Tut then Seti 1 so going from great to the most over the top. 

 

As we were leaving the Valley of the Kings we were ushered back the way we entered instead of the regular exit. Our security guard went off in another direction.  We were escorted through the building by what looked like the head guy at the Valley of the Kings. My first thought was something was wrong and we were being herded away from a potential problem.  It was then that i found out that the guide's husband was a general and this guy was simply pandering to the wife of a superior.  

 

Nefertari's (sorry, spelt it wrong before) tomb was equally impressive.  Again the number of people that could visit at any one time was controlled.  i have run out of descriptive words. Where is an English major when you need one. 

 

We had a couple more photo stops then off to another cruise on the Nile this time with lunch.  OMG they served a meal that would rival a dinner service. We had 4 courses (tuna salad, squash soup, grilled meats and dessert).  The main course, if you had the grilled meat meal, with 4 different grilled meats - chicken, beef, veal kabob and lamb sausage.  The food was tasty and the staff was very good. 

 

Finally a quick time to check out and back on the bus for the next 3.5 hours and maybe a much needed snooze.  It was a hot tiring 2 days but worth every penny of the cost.  

 

 

[flossie009]

Wadi Rum (continued)

There were a number of photo-stops and two stops for tea and “retail therapy”.

 

A bleak landscape

 

Tea or coffee for anyone?

 

Brewing up

 

Maybe a camel ride?

 

The locals taught us how to make a soap substitute from one of the desert plants. Janina (Voyager Exec Concierge) was the willing tester for our group. Will she or I ever make use of this new knowledge??

 

 

Being a shorter tour (5 hours) than some in Jordan we were back in time to enjoy a quiet ship in the afternoon and Trivia. As the rest of our usual team were on the longer tours we made up a team of “remnants” - not too shabby though with a score of 15/15 sharing first prize with two other teams. (Who was that I heard saying that the questions were easier?? 😮)

Margaret (CD) had to run Trivia, and all other shipboard entertainment activities yesterday, on her own as Marla (Social Hostess) and the rest of the entertainment team had gone off to Petra.

 

Edited November 8, 2019 by flossie009

[Ladys Mom]

Your pictures and narrative are fantastic.  We will be on the 2021 World Cruise and will take the same overland excursion.  Based on your pictures and description I can't wait.  It is sure the be one of the highlights of our once in a lifetime trip.  Thanks again.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Love your photos and commentary! 
Thanks for taking me along and reviving wonderful memories!
sheila

[flossie009]

On 11/4/2019 at 9:51 AM, flossie009 said:

Visiting entertainers (usually two shows each)

Martin Beaumont - comic

Lisa Lawton - singer

Chris Ritchie - singer

Stephen Clark - Flautist

Two new entertainers are now on board:

 

Panos Karan: Classical Pianist

 

Danny Buckler: Comedy Magician

 

 

[1982CruzStart]

The SSS party was last night and I must admit that we passed on it as it was really just a big cocktail party for the entire ship. As this cruise is 21 days everyone is automatically silver. 

 

Congratulations to Susan (Flossie009) and her DH on receiving their titanium pins. It is no wonder she offers such great advice and balanced insight into the Regent experience. 

 

We are gold and I don't think we will even make the next level let alone titanium. 

[travelwell]

We are also on the 2021 WC going in the opposite direction. We go to Petra and then a WC special event in Wadi Rum and the next day the Luxor Overland. We are unsure if we have enough time the first day to do both Petra and Wadi Rum. As it is our first time Petra will win. Private tour may help manage the time. We will probable be exhausted, hopefully nap on the bus to Luxor.i appreciate you taking the time to post the stunning photos of your experience.

Edited November 9, 2019 by travelwell
Partial post

[flossie009]

Regent 2-day overland to Luxor

Just to reiterate & expand on Kathy’s post #112 above.

We enjoyed this trip and thought it offered reasonable value. The only bits that could have been improved were:

• On board check-in before leaving the ship was a mess. Since we had all been allocated coloured luggage tags the day before that matched our buses there really was no need for any form of check-in. Someone from Destinations could have just stood by the gangway and ticked our names off the list as we exited the ship. Why make something simple so complicated & stressful? 🤨
• The optional “shopping trip” was simply to a pair of tourist shops selling over-priced cartouches and papyrus scrolls
• The buses could have been a little more comfortable for the 3.5 hour ride to/from Luxor. They were modern but legroom was akin to the worst economy seats on a budget airline.
• The guide should have been issued with the new Regent Excursion App. This would have made hearing her while visiting the sights much easier.

So apart from those negatives, everything else was excellent and we saw many of the wonderful temples and tombs on both sides of the Nile.
 

The hotel (Hilton) was good; check-in & check-out was simple & well organised; high speed Wi-Fi was included. We were able to keep our rooms until we had finished touring on the second day which allowed for a quick freshen up before the drive back to the ship. Included meals in the hotel were OK to good and no queuing.

View from our hotel room (with the two boats arriving to ferry us to the other side of the Nile on our second day

 

 

Regent’s price included all entrance fees; these are not insubstantial and should be allowed for if you are organising a visit to Luxor independently.

Entrance tickets to the tombs on our second day

 

I know that @south park used an independent tour guide for the overnight to Luxor and hopefully will share the details and her experience.

 

 

 

I have some further photos of our 2-day trip to share but unfortunately the ship’s Wi-Fi is appalling (a regular feature of this cruise on Voyager 😕)

 

 

 

[1982CruzStart]

A few more pics from our trip to Karnak and Luxor temples. 

First a statue from Luxor. 

 

Then a couple of them from Luxor temple. 

[1982CruzStart]

Our trip to Petra started with an early morning for our bus and i think maybe 11 others.  Could have been more but that was the the highest i counted. 

 

It is a couple hour drive there and believe it or not we had to have a comfort stop about an hour after leaving the ship. Really i think it was more of a shopping stop than a comfort stop.  We had another stop when we were only 45 minutes away on our return, 

 

The parking lots at Petra were packed with bus after bus. Just another day during high tourist time in Jordan.  Jordan has a significant unemployment problem at just under 30%. It is not a rich country with no oil and only 1 port.  When you look at the surrounding countryside it is pretty obvious they don't have much of an agricultural base - lots of sand and mountains.  Tourism is very important to them and that can often be impacted by their not so stable neighbours. 

 

It turned out to be a hotter than expected day.  The walk from the gate to the Treasury is about 2 kms, the first 800 metres of it you can ride a horse that is included in the ticket price though you are expected to tip the guy that walks beside the horse. The next 1200 is a walk through a sometimes narrow channel through the rocks where at times taking your life in your hands if you are not paying attention to carriages that careen down the same path you have masses of people walking. You can purchase a round trip ride on a carriage for the entire 2 kms and then arrange for the driver to come back and get you at a specific time for the return. You pay up front for the round trip. 

 

Not long after we boarded the bus the guide brought up the Regent app and it received a negative response so he was not going to use it. We decided that as we have been before we would go with him as long as necessary to get through the gates and then go off on our own. 

 

Even though this was our second time it is still spectacular when you first see the Treasury (post #102) and then make your way through the rest of the site. We hoped to see some of what we missed before and we did go further than before but even with the 2 trips we still haven't seen all there is to see. You really need a few days to get to the farthest reaches and up the many stairs that you can climb to get up close to some of the buildings.  

 

So glad we got the chance to see it again.  We were blown away by how much the town where Petra is, has grown. The number of large fancy hotels have grown exponentially as well the number of vendors on the site.  

 

Tiring but worth the money and the time. It was a Regent choice excursion and a pricy one at that. I did hear a couple of people say that they thought it should be an included excursion as that is why everyone wants to stop in Jordan. I can understand why it isn't included as the entrance fees are pricey and it includes a buffet lunch with 2 glasses of wine or beer along with water, coffee and tea at a 5 star hotel.  I guess Regent can only include so many long excursions on one cruise so some have to have a price tag attached.  There were long ones to Luxor included.

[1982CruzStart]

We bit the bullet today and booked another cruise for 2021. We are booked on Explorer from Vancouver to Tokyo.  This hit a number of positives for us. Finally a medium length (19 days) somewhat exotic cruise from a port close to home that gets my DH to Alaska for the first time and us to a couple of new ports in Japan.

 

The highly valued F2's were gone so we opted for an F1 more midship. Difference in price was very small. We got a small air credit as YVR is our gateway city so no included flight needed but kept the business class flight back from Tokyo. Not a chance we could get BC flights back for the air credit offered. The cruise also includes a post cruise stay in Tokyo and though we had a 2 day private tour the last time we were in Tokyo we are sure that there is enough to see to enjoy this included bonus.  Regent has a promo on right now where they double the standard onboard discount so that was extra gravy to booking now. I so love the cheap deposits. 

 

Yahooooooo 2 cruises to look forward to. Baltic in 2020 and the above for 2021. 

[Belfast Taxman]

Baltic in 2020

 

Kathy - you may want to look at what has happened to the brochure price!

[liptastic]

Once again thanks to you both the informative posts and excellent photos.

Cruzstart well done on booking your cruise, a lovely feeling to have a cruise to look forward to, and Flossie congratulations to you and your husband becoming Titanium level, 🥂.  Jean.

[flossie009]

Below is a photo of our guide for Luxor, and behind her our Egyptian security guard; both stayed with us for the two days from leaving the Voyager until we returned:

 

The security man kept a watchful eye wherever we went

 

............... even during our boat rides across the Nile

 

He always looked very stern in his black suit and shades ............... but he was quite a cheery chap

 

The only time we saw him in action was when he confronted two 6 year old boys who were trying to sell us their wares outside the Luxor museum.
Fortunately armed force was not required on that occasion 😉