Athens to Muscat - The Middle East with a Muse

[Silver Spectre]

Arrived in Muscat, waiting to find out what the local authorities wish to do with us before we are allowed to leave the ship. Yesterday’s passport collection arrangements were changed at mid-day, so something must be afoot.

[Silver Spectre]

The process of getting off the ship was a little convoluted but we still made it by 9am and on time. A nice bus ride to the airport, taking 45 minutes, and then the fastest ever business class checkin, through security and into the lounge.

Edited October 23, 2018 by Silver Spectre

[Silver Spectre]

15 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Can't believe I'm just finding this thread now, but glad to read you've enjoyed your cruise Mr. Silver.  And, I'm with you on the frustrations on the new CC website.  Hopefully, great medical and technology minds like JPAlbany will get it all figured out for us and share their tricks.  All I know is that I'm not spending near the time I used to on the website.

I think the frustration of not having CC coupled with no communication has turned people off, plus the bugs, removal of some features, and learning the new quirks. Hopefully most will return over time.

[beaujolais]

Now off The Muse and in a dayroom before our 11.35pm flight home via Doha ( our mistake).

After a great cruise without any problems we have ended up in an hotel which is over run by children and we have escaped to our room. No complaints though as we have not had to pay for the room or the food provided, just have a few hours to kill

This was our first cruise on The Muse and we are both very impressed with all that was offered and I think it may have become our favourite of all SS ships

 

 

 

 

[jpalbny]

Glad you both had an enjoyable cruise. Thanks for reporting. Hope you have more planned soon!

[TLCOhio]

4 hours ago, beaujolais said:

Now off The Muse.  After a great cruise without any problems we have ended up in an hotel which is over run by children.  This was our first cruise on The Muse and we are both very impressed with all that was offered and I think it may have become our favourite of all SS ships.

 

Great to learn these details from your sailing on the Silver Muse.  Enjoying learning these details for this ship as we prepare for our sailing in July 2019 going from Vancouver to Alaska.  Keep up the great sharing!!  Any and all tips, insights, etc., are very helpful.   Nice to see that Silver Spectre is back being able to post the visuals.   Appreciate these great follow-ups.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

AFRICA?!!?: Fun, interesting visuals, plus travel details from this early 2016 live/blog. At 42,964 views. Featuring Cape Town, South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta. 

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

Edited October 23, 2018 by TLCOhio

[Stumblefoot]

12 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Hopefully most will return over time.

I hear you Mr. Silver!
 

I just keep thinking to myself, could you imagine if Facebook or Snap or Spotify, et. al. took their site down for days like Cruise Critic did?  The world might tilt on its axis.  Therefore, I wonder if Cruise Critic has done irreparable harm to their business as users no longer engage with the site like they used to.  I know for me I no longer even try via my mobile phone and that device used to be how I engaged probably 80% - 90% of my time.

[Stumblefoot]

9 hours ago, beaujolais said:

This was our first cruise on The Muse and we are both very impressed with all that was offered and I think it may have become our favourite of all SS ships.

I know what you mean.  We fell hard for the Muse last fall when so many people were complaining about her and think she has only gotten better as we experienced this summer when we returned.  We like her so much that we worry a little bit about whether we're going to enjoy the Shadow this winter as much.

[Silver Spectre]

Back home after an excellent flight with Omani Air, a nice 787-9 Dreamliner with some good food and wine.

[Tothesunset]

Glad to hear you are home safely. Thanks for the reports from the Muse. 

[jpalbny]

Those 787s are a real treat. Welcome home and hope to see another trip report from you soon!

[TLCOhio]

On 10/23/2018 at 6:53 PM, jpalbny said:

Those 787s are a real treat. Welcome home and hope to see another trip report from you soon!

 

YES!!  Those 787's are nice and very slick.  When going to South Africa two years ago, we flew Qatar from Doha to Cape Town and back from Johannesburg on this plane.  Have an upcoming American Airlines flight in early December from London Heathrow to Chicago on one of their new 787 jets as we return from our Nov. 16-Dec. 6 Oceania Athens to Dubai cruise.  For this upcoming 787 flight, we will not, however be in the Qatar business class that we previously experienced.  But, our AA flight we be in coach.  Will, fortunately, have extended leg room seating.  That helps a little.  

 

Also, welcome home for Silver Spectre.  Look forward to any and all added postings, Muse details, trip/ship visuals, etc.  Keep it coming.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Amazon River-Caribbean 2015 adventure live/blog starting in Barbados. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.).  Now at 60,913 views:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

[Master Echo]

Oh dear, I am another one who has only just picked up this thread.  If Silver Spectre is still reading this thread, many thanks for your erudite reporting, as ever, and nice to get up to date information on the Muse - i.e, extra revenue generation for La Dame!!  As you know, we too liked luncheon in Kaiseki, and hope that without your help, when we are on the Muse again, we too can do the same! 

 

Your cruise brought back memories of the same itinerary we did on the Wind in 2012.  It seems incredible that people can book cruises without knowing their itinerary!.  About 24 passengers on our cruise jumped ship in Safaga, when they found out that the ship would be transiting "Pirate Alley"!!.  In the event, they flew home via Cairo, and got caught up in the troubles at Cairo airport!, 

 

Some Captains had a policy to keep all balcony lights on to indicate the size of the vessel and that the ship was awake.  Others went for blackout.  Captain Arma chose the latter, however there was nothing to stop one sitting on your balcony in the dark, something, I did on several nights.

 

As has been said, cruise ships haven't been a target for some years, and all ships going through the passage now have a naval  escort, so no one should be worried about this stretch of water.

 

On disembarking at Muscat on a subsequent cruise,  the immigration officers were clueless.  It took two hours to clear 220 passengers, and we had to move by road between dock office for permits, and dock gates for passport collection.  Poor Gianni Dotti was deputed quayside to try and sort out the mess.  In the event all passports had not been kept in any order, and this added at least another half an hour to leaving the port.  As one of our friends was flying out that day, the duration of our booked excursion had to be curtailed to enable him to make his flight

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo   

 

 

[Silver Spectre]

2 hours ago, Master Echo said:

Oh dear, I am another one who has only just picked up this thread.  If Silver Spectre is still reading this thread, many thanks for your erudite reporting, as ever, and nice to get up to date information on the Muse - i.e, extra revenue generation for La Dame!!  As you know, we too liked luncheon in Kaiseki, and hope that without your help, when we are on the Muse again, we too can do the same! 

 

Your cruise brought back memories of the same itinerary we did on the Wind in 2012.  It seems incredible that people can book cruises without knowing their itinerary!.  About 24 passengers on our cruise jumped ship in Safaga, when they found out that the ship would be transiting "Pirate Alley"!!.  In the event, they flew home via Cairo, and got caught up in the troubles at Cairo airport!, 

 

Some Captains had a policy to keep all balcony lights on to indicate the size of the vessel and that the ship was awake.  Others went for blackout.  Captain Arma chose the latter, however there was nothing to stop one sitting on your balcony in the dark, something, I did on several nights.

 

As has been said, cruise ships haven't been a target for some years, and all ships going through the passage now have a naval  escort, so no one should be worried about this stretch of water.

 

On disembarking at Muscat on a subsequent cruise,  the immigration officers were clueless.  It took two hours to clear 220 passengers, and we had to move by road between dock office for permits, and dock gates for passport collection.  Poor Gianni Dotti was deputed quayside to try and sort out the mess.  In the event all passports had not been kept in any order, and this added at least another half an hour to leaving the port.  As one of our friends was flying out that day, the duration of our booked excursion had to be curtailed to enable him to make his flight

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo   

 

 

Hi ME, good to hear from you. We ended up being blacked only for the night of the 19th, with all outside deck access prohibited. We had extra watches both before and after and an Indian Frigate in sight for 48 hours. I did not realise until we were in Safaga that SS had sold Athens to Safaga as an option, and 30 guests, including most of the Italian Buraco championship players got off.

 

When the Captain announced the warning for pirate attack, one guest was so panicked that she nearly left the ship, luckily sense prevailed.

 

Our exit in Muscat turned out to be a little slow, but no worse than any other Middle East country, so maybe they have learnt.

 

One extra gripe, CC, I am getting so bloody fed up with being logged out if I do not use the system for more than an hour or so!

[Unibok]

3 hours ago, Master Echo said:

 

Your cruise brought back memories of the same itinerary we did on the Wind in 2012.  It seems incredible that people can book cruises without knowing their itinerary!.  About 24 passengers on our cruise jumped ship in Safaga, when they found out that the ship would be transiting "Pirate Alley"!!.  In the event, they flew home via Cairo, and got caught up in the troubles at Cairo airport!, 

 

 

Oh my goodness, that's quite a story!!!

[Stumblefoot]

4 hours ago, TLCOhio said:

For this upcoming 787 flight, we will not, however be in the Qatar business class that we previously experienced.  But, our AA flight we be in coach.  Will, fortunately, have extended leg room seating.  That helps a little.  

Oh Terry, do whatever you can to get yourself out of coach on that aircraft.  As a very, very frequent flyer of AA, I can tell you AA coach (regardless of extra legroom in the main cabin extra section) on the 787 is brutally bad.  Why?  Because AA has crammed 9 seats across the cabin versus the preferred Boeing design on 8.  Not only will you be fighting for the arm rest all flight, your fanny is going to ache beyond belief due to seat width and poor padding.  I can barely stand flying the aircraft ORD-DFW, so could not imagine flying it across the pond.

[Silver Spectre]

First day on the ship and someone has forgotten the change of Captain and CD. After pointing it out it was fixed that night, however the interactive TV system was not changed for 10 days.

 

[Silver Spectre]

Sailing into Limassol on the afternoon of Wednesday October10th

Edited October 25, 2018 by Silver Spectre

[Silver Spectre]

Of course SS had scheduled us for one of two afternoons when all the shops are closed. A busy pool deck, anticipating a nice sunny day of not shopping.

 

[Silver Spectre]

Those not on tour took the shuttle to the old port, close by marina and Limassol Castle, which hadn’t changed since our last visit, probably 25 years ago.

 

[Silver Spectre]

And of course plenty of cats and some local beer. And some fast WiFi.

 

[Silver Spectre]

We were docked in front of a couple of UN flagged small warships, with the nearest one being Japanese.

 

[Silver Spectre]

After a relaxing day at sea we then proceed for a nice, leisurely sail through the Suez Canal

 

[Tothesunset]

Great stuff. Keep 'em coming.

[Silver Spectre]

2 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Great stuff. Keep 'em coming.

Thanks for the support TTS.