Wild, glorious and finished

We're rallying for a final post to John & Linda's Adventure Around the World.



To say this World Cruise was unique kind of understates the obvious. First, though, the "glorious":


We were fascinated with Polynesia and New Zealand during the early trip, less so but still interested in Australia. Bali allowed a brief visit with Christine on her home turf, plus proved intriguing as a destination we had not previously visited.



Calls in Shanghai and Dubai (they both end in "ai"--??) offered a clear contrast around how two cultures--both quite different from our own--are making hyper attempts at modernization if not economic leadership. A further context was provided in Hong Kong where one senses the peak has passed, and Saigon where a peak may never occur.




Then there were the old standbys such as Sydney and Singapore where one has to be comatose not to enjoy, plus surprise jewels like Muscat, or the much ballyhooed sites which still exceed expectations, like Petra or the Giza pyramids. The little add-on cruise to Croatia, Turkey and the Greek Isles also filled in what otherwise would have been a missed opportunity to see these anticipated areas.




And people you meet along the way are still a special part of the experience. From the core group we knew from last year's Silversea voyage, to the group from the Jacksonville to the fun characters you always encounter and befriend, this trip proved no exception as an opportunity to expand our social circle.




"Wild" has to refer to the ship's malfunction and all the tentacles that dangled from it (pun intended.) From the time we knew something was wrong way back leaving Singapore, the fact was topic one throughout the ship. Even you veteran cruisers have likely not had the Captain stop the ship in mid Indian Ocean, and personally dive below to undo the fishing line thought to be the culprit. Events like this did not lessen discussion of the topic.




Then to have Regent's president personally fly to join the ship as the full extent and subsequent options were developed is also unusual, to say the least. We must comment that Regent distinguished themselves quite positively with how they handled the passenger dimension, certainly after it was determined in Dubai that the problem could only be resolved in dry dock. While disappointed that one of the primary features of a World Cruise circumnavigation could not be fulfilled (departing and returning to the same port), we could not have been more impressed with how they fulfilled a very high standard of customer expectation.




The "finished" refers to the two whipped puppies who landed at Miami last Friday following a typical, low service, 12 hour flight from Rome. The overly long walk from the gate to immigration was followed by a 1 1/2 hour wait in line at Avis just to rent a car. Fortunately, all baggage with us and shipped home did arrive relatively unscathed.





We also want to acknowledge the special status of "old friends" who have followed our saga and very much look forward to seeing each of you as soon as possible.


John & Linda

Homeward Bound

Dear friends, family and a few unspecified others:

On Friday we turned the corner in Kusadasi, Turkey, and are now heading west for the final time. We spent yesterday in Pireaus (Athens) and are at sea today on the way to our final port, Messina, Sicily, and then disembark Wednesday in Rome. We will stay there until Sunday, when we fly to Miami, and likely home on Monday.

This will be the last post, mostly because our camera crashed, but we also would be redundant with last year in reporting on Athens or Sicily. Unfortunately, the last pictures taken in Ephesus, Turkey, are trapped on the memory chip as we forgot to bring the adapter card for direct insertion into to the computer. (We've been using a USB connection, which will not work with a dead camera.) It must be a kind or irony that we would bookend the trip with picture problems, as you may remember the difficulty in posting any pictures at all to the blog in the beginning.

Our intent was to spark some smiles, provide information and the opportunity to reflect, or even provoke thought from time to time; we certainly enjoyed the process and hope you did as well.

The final pictures come from the quintessential Greek Island, Santorini. It lies in the southern stretches of the volcanic remains that form the broad expanse of islands lying between mainland Turkey and Greece, mostly belonging to Greece and hence the term, "Greek Islands."

As you may glean from the picture, the ship actually anchors in what was the crater between the eastern wall and the central lava cap.

The principal tourist city of Thira sits atop the remaining volcano wall.

There are three ways up there: shanks mule, a real mule (donkey), or a cable car. We went CUWD--cable up, walk down (you share the path with the donkeys.) After getting Linda to hold a monkey and ride a camel, a vertical of several hundred yards aboard a donkey was beyond the pale.

They did look friendly enough, though.

The main section of Thira, an iconic Greek Island town, whitewashed buildings, narrow streets and picture post card perfect on a sunny day, which we were fortunate enough to have.

Most published literature about Santorini features the blue church dome contrasting with the otherwise white and beige surroundings, and/or the clock tower beyond.

We wish we could do justice to Ephesus without relying on pictures, but too much would be lost. It was a second century BC town of about 250k population, at the time lying on the Aegean sea. (The sea is now about 10 miles distance due to silt filling in where water once was.) It is claimed to be the most well-preserved ruins in the world, but we feel Pompeii and a couple of others are at least competitive. Ephesus enjoys a particular fame since it was where the apostle Paul gave three sermons trying to convert the pagans, which earned him the local dungeon for his efforts. It is also strongly believed but not proven that the Virgin Mary's final resting place is on a nearby hillside. Perhaps we will do a brief post script post assuming we can rescue the pictures.

Meanwhile, we look forward to getting reacquainted with all of you after our four month sojourn!

John & Linda

Dorothy, we're not on Regent anymore...

Here is our cozy new home--a modest 2000 passenger, 1000 crew vessel, Holland America's newest ship, the ms Noordam.

Completed in 2006 she has all the latest gadgets and features. Our room on the concierge floor is actually quite nice, better than Regent. But this is a different way of life, if you get my drift.

We have just departed Katakolon, gateway to Olympia, site of the original Olympic games which ran from roughly 800BC to 400BC. Along with Sparta and olive groves, these are features of the Peloponnese area in southern Greece. Maybe it's cumulative fatigue, but we could not rally for the tour to Ancient Olympus, so we just visited the dockside village.

It's a collection of shops and restaurants catering mainly to the tourist crowd.

We did enjoy a wonderful Greek salad, fried cheese, moussaka and local wine lunch that highlighted our time ashore.

The clear winner of the three ports so far is Dubrovnik, Croatia. Almost in tact from the early '90s war, and essentially unchanged from its 14th century beginning, we were quite impressed in spite of a cold, all day rain during our visit. If you have not been, put it on your must see list.





The old city is completely surrounded by the original rampart.

Inside the buildings and streets are immaculately preserved, with delightful shops and restaurants galore not detracting from the historic ambiance.

And what a great place for a future Pet Paradise Resort on the Dalmatian Coast!

Next we came to Corfu, which was OK but did not overwhelm us. The old city had charm, but the rest was pretty much a typical, bustling European city notwithstanding Homeric references.

Santorini tomorrow and hope for better weather. So far a pesky low pressure system spinning in the north central Mediterranean has kept it pretty cool and cloudy, with occasional rain.

At Sea Again

WOW!

An amazing, whirlwind tour of Petra, Cairo and Istanbul in six days, four hotels and three flights.

But we're now safely aboard Holland America, ms Noordam, rounding the boot of Italy. We'll get back to you on that experience as it proceeds; meanwhile, just the very top highlights of last week.

Petra (Jordan) lies on the ancient trading routes along the Middle East "Crescent," in the general area of Moses' 40 years wandering in the desert. It has to be one of the top two or three single site locations to visit in the world. It was rediscovered a century and one-half ago, but was known to exist long before that. That must be a tribute to it's remoteness and naturally sealed entrance. A few photos will help but not do it justice.

On the 1 1/2 mile trek into the actual city remains of Petra.

The iconic "Treasury" at the entrance to the old city.

Ancient stadium seated 3000.

Originally burial tombs carved from the sandstone, these were used as houses by the Bedouins who subsequently occupied Petra until about 20 years ago when it was declared a World Heritage Site.

After a short overnight stay in Amman, Jordan, it was a quick flight to Cairo across the upper Red Sea. Cairo has 18M people and is a study in contrasts, to say the least. Once the host to the most advanced society on Earth, it would be hard to claim anything close to that today. There are wide disparities between the haves and have nots. The ancient monuments literally abut the current city at most locations. Elaborate mosques jut skyward from depressed surroundings, and so it goes. Again, a quick pictorial.

Shots from the hotel balcony--trash on the rooftops, but serenity across the Nile.

Step pyramid, believed to be the oldest in Egypt, built nearly 4000 years ago. Note the wall structure which originally surrounded all these guys.

Great Pyramid of Cheops from lawn of Mena Hotel.

What's she saying??

It's not really THAT big!

You know this one. Pretty beat up when viewed at close range. When you're there, you realize he's actually looking at a KFC and Burger King!

Inside Muhammad Ali mosque, Cairo.

Local market in old Cairo.

And finally there was the contrast between Cairo and Istanbul, a clean, 21st century city that easily incorporates its past and present. One only has to experience the respective airports to know the difference. We spent a scant 24 hours there, but a couple of highlights are worth noting.

Local "spice" bazaar, AKA pashmina heaven.

Old wall once surrounded the city.

And where we departed yesterday.

As the World Turns

We have successfully transited the Gulf of Aden and entered the southern Red Sea, now sailing with Saudi Arabia to starboard and Ethiopia to port.

There was a CNN report that a British oil tanker behind us and outside the protected corridor was boarded and/or hijacked the night before last. We know no more than you, but suffice it to say, the observed presence of Operation Enduring Freedom coalition naval task force, plus on board tactics here, left us feeling quite safe throughout.

Now to the present. We have accepted a further option offered by Regent, which is to debark next Monday in Agaba, Jordan, in lieu of just sailing through the Suez and across the Mediterranean to end the voyage in Rome. The still further revised program starts with the planned visit to Petra, but then to Amman for an overnight. The next morning we fly to Cairo, spend three nights in Cairo with an extensive program of visiting pyramids and other monuments, a trip to Memphis, old Cairo and the Antiquities Museum, among other elements. Then we will be flown to Istanbul for a day and one-half visit there. This is almost completely on Regent's nickel.

In addition, on our own, we have booked a 10 day RT Rome "Roman Empire" cruise on Holland America, ms Noordam. This goes to Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kusadasi, Turkey; Athens and three Greek Isles with a call in Sicily on the way back. This of course requires us to fly back from Istanbul to Rome prior to the trip, plus we plan a short stay in Rome on the back end. We should fly to Miami from Rome on May 2, and drive back home the next day or so.

The net is we see all the places the truncated trip missed, particularly ones of interest to us like the pyramids. It will only require sufficient liquid self-medication along the way to make the air travel tolerable.

Meanwhile, on board the crew is breaking their backs to make everyone feel as good as possible.

Here we have our personal favorite for sexiest waiter clowning around at lunch. French, suave and cool--eat your hearts out, ladies!

We are attending the Seder Passover dinner tonight, largely at the urging of our fellow Jacksonville passenger, Rabbi Dov Kentoff.

Meanwhile, from our table to yours, we bid you adieu as logistics may restrict further posts for awhile.

Dubai, the Other Guy and the Qaboos

Let us dispense with the "Other Guy" first. This refers to Fujairah, the second smallest of the seven emirates forming the United Arab Emirates (UAE). One of the crew said it best, "this is what is was like before oil."

The striking aspect of Fujairah was passing about 100 large oil tankers anchored to its north as we approached. They were waiting to be filled at the busiest oil terminal in the world, more notable because it does not require entry into the Persian Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz. (You may need to consult a map on this one.) Thus this "choke point" we have all heard about has logically been lessened by this pipeline direct to the Gulf of Oman in the Indian Ocean.

Dubai, of course, is Dubai. Much has been said and written about this unlikely place for an economic powerhouse, so here's our view.

First and foremost, it is definitely suffering an economic slowdown. We saw exactly ONE crane move in two days of touring around the place. These are silent cranes surrounding the grandstand at the new Formula 1 track.

Between Dubai and Shanghai, maybe 75% of the these large construction cranes in the world are deployed. Dubai has more total; Shanghai has more currently active.

Other than road or utility infrastructure, most construction is dead in the water. One of the speakers on board reported a 40% drop in property values in the last 4 months. Since it's an offense punishable by substantial fine in Dubai to criticize the emir or government, I asked how he knew this. He replied, "CIA web site."

Dubai is running out of oil as well, pumping only 250k barrels per day, about 10% of what neighboring Aba Dhabi does, who also has many times the reserves. Expatriates are losing jobs, which requires them to leave the country, and so on, thus the go/go, rah/rah of the recent past is decidedly subdued.

Now look at what HAS been accomplished. Miracle may be trite or overstated, but a lower Manhattan equivalent on a man made harbor along Sheikh Zayed Road is a significant example.

More than 50 shopping malls--and not the puny kind--the tallest building in the world, a new light rail which WILL open on 9/9/9, more 5 star hotels than you can count, extensive sports facilities (golf, soccer, horse racing, polo) and probably the best airline in the world are a few other results. Four and six lane highways run in all directions. Massive desalination plants provide fresh water to the approximately 1.6M people there. The list of completions, projects underway (e.g., Palm Island at Jumeirah) and those planned are still endless.

Famous "ski Dubai" indoor ski facility at Mall of the Emirates.

Our Jacksonville friends, Carl and Mary Everleigh, at the Dubai Polo Club.

Jumeirah Beach Hotel--NOT the fanciest in town. That honor probably belongs to the Burj al Arab, from where this picture was taken.

We concluded the last chapters of the Dubai experience are very much to be written.

On to our personal favorite, the Sultanate of Oman, city of Muscat. We wrote about their sole ruler, the good Sultan Qaboos (pronounced like the end car on a train) last year, and our positive impression continues. For the second straight year, Oman makes the list of "most pleasant surprises" for the trip.

Of course the Sultan takes good care of himself. This is the main royal palace of six in the country.

Muscat lies in a small strip carved between the mountains and the sea, sometimes only a few hundred yards wide. It meanders some 20 miles along the coast, with the harbor at one end and the Shangri-La resort at the other. All the roads, landscape and structures are immaculate.

This shows the coastline nature of the city, and the traditional Frankincense burner, near the harbor at the eastern end of Muscat.

On the balcony at the Shangri-La resort at the western end, where we had lunch. As seems to be traditional in this part of the world, we had a local dish--the "Omani enema." You do not want more information.

Had a briefing yesterday on how they will get us safely through the pirate zone coming up later today and tomorrow in the Gulf of Aden. Assuming success, will post details of the third major revision to our remaining itinerary, which gets more bizarre and interesting by the minute.

When it Rains, it Pours!

We should have known, arriving in Dubai a surprise 8 hours early, only to experience a thunderstorm reminiscent of a Florida soaker in July, that the Gods were turning against us. Set aside the fact Dubai has less than 5 inches a year, or that we already had been given one revised itinerary, or that all the ship's management were suddenly "in meetings," vibes were just not positive. When the Captain made a rare in-room announcement at 8:00A yesterday, we almost knew before he spoke, the WORLD CRUISE WAS OVER.


Well, not completely over, as we were given the option of staying on until Rome, and then flown home, or debarking by 5:00P and be flown from Dubai to the US on a first available flight basis. We chose the former fairly quickly, deeming it quite a bit better of a bad lot. (The other option given was be flown to Singapore and join the companion ship Mariner's "Ring of Fire" cruise.) I would note Regent has made very satisfactory compensation available to all.


It seems as late as dinner time on Tuesday, there was optimism the pod problem could be fixed. But shortly thereafter one of the technicians reported the main propeller shaft was broken and had been overheated. Dry dock for two to four weeks is required--likely in northern Italy where the ship was built--to properly remedy. Regent then was forced to cancel the return to the US altogether, and will resume the Voyager schedule in Europe for the spring/summer season.


Of course security through the Gulf of Aden (between those pillars of modern society, Yemen and Somalia) was an immediate concern. The President of Regent made a short in house video covering this and other topics. When he said there was a special, assigned corridor through the straits, and that a military helicopter could be overhead in 8 minutes anywhere in the region, we understandably breathed a lot easier. This is in addition to the strange looking guys with bulges in their jackets who boarded unexpectedly....



We are arriving the small UAE emirate of Fujairah later this morning (Thursday), and then to Muscat, Oman, tomorrow. Thus our second revised itinerary for the now final segment is underway. We will post a proper summary of our Middle East experiences when we clear these ports.