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

[bizinsider]

Just to add to what others have said: This was a fantastic trip. We flew home via Cairo for a few spectacular days there with a wonderful guide.  My wife, @maryogreen here, will have a more detailed review of the ship and the entire trip on CC and in her blog, The Modern Postcard, once she comes up for air and gathers her thoughts. As usual, she will go through each destination. Her intention is also to post a more formal review of the ship on CC.

 

Briefly: The ship, despite its age, was in immaculate condition, our cabin was great and the crew was beyond great - couldn't have been friendlier and generally on task. Officers were everywhere, including captain Felice, who was always visible and accessible. Restaurant management was always paying attention to detail, notably in La Veranda, where Simone, Dominic and everybody, Jerome and Stephane. We made great connections with Dar Le and John among the wait staff. 

 

We also found this to be a very social cruise - met more people than we do on most cruises. Some of the closest now friends were met by sharing tables in the main dining room. (Kindred spirits on a few sensitive issues. 😉) In each case it was an extreme stroke of luck. 

 

Beyond the Internet, which devolved from passable to abysmal (discussed in another post started by @flossie009) our only complaint (with an asterisk) was the amount of creakiness in our cabin, 938. We thought we would avoid that because of its mid-ship location. I detailed that on the cabin reviews in the stickies to this board created and maintained by 

@UUNetBill

 

The asterisk, as I mention in my review for Bill: If you have rattles and creaks let your stewardess know. We did multiple times, starting with the early-in-the cruise vibration during the night in the area where the ceiling tiles meet the moulding. I'm a light sleeper and the ship was going full speed and there was no avoiding it. I put some towels where the vibration was worse and that helped. The carpenters then added some wood shims that helped resolve the situation. But this was like trying to put your finger in a dike to stop the water. Once one vibration was fixed, another started (this time over the makeup mirror.) That, too, was fixed. Then the veranda door started really rattling. And that was a pounding, that even was happening at low speeds. I checked with our neighbors and they had the same problem. In each case, we tried to fix it by squeezing a towel into the door opening - assuming the problem was a worn door seal. But after mentioning it to our stewardess, the carpenter arrived. After hearing the noise and then giving it some thought – and probably after having dealt with this in the past – he put a wood shim in the upper right area of framing for the door. It wasn't the seal, after all; instead, it appeared to be entire door assembly/frame.

 

And by the way, our Stewardess Elvy and her assistant, Giovanni, couldn't have been better. 

 

Having sailed on Crystal a bunch, Seabourn (two cruises) and Regent (this was our second cruise - the prior was seven years earlier) I think it's fair to say that there are tradeoffs on all of these lines/ships. But in general, it comes down to the crew and if they are engaged everything else sort of takes care of itself.

 

Best,

Herb

[snorkle lover]

On 10/30/2019 at 8:46 AM, flossie009 said:

We highly recommend the included excursion that we chose today in Rhodes - “Rhodes Culinary Delights”. 5 hours, Activity level 3, lunch included.

 

We started with a walking tour of the medieval town including a visit to the Grand Masters Palace.
The Palace was reconstructed by the Italians just pre-WW2 and was a favourite for Mussolini to visit.

The building is interesting architecturally and contains beautiful artefacts brought in to the building from elsewhere.

Exterior of the Grand Masters Palace

 

Inside the Palace

 

Stonework vaulted ceilings

 

So glad I came across your post. I had already picked this as my first choice excursion for our September 

Greek island cruise on the Splendor. Sure hope it will be available when I go to select in about a week.

Is any other excursion on Rhodes that might be a good second choice Flossie?

Thank you