Suez Canal question

[WeeCountyMan]

I haven't been on the forums for a while, must get back more often.

 

We are looking at the Red Sea Experience 2, a repositioning cruise coming through the Suez Canal from 24th April heading for the Med.

 

One aspect of the online TUI itinerary blurb has me confused - the ship berths at an unspecified location in the canal at 23:00 on day 2 of the cruise (end of the first day transiting the canal) and departs at 16:00 the following day. No mention of port location, nor why a 17 hour stay is scheduled when no trips are available.

 

So far I have been unable to get a clear picture of the situation. There may be operational reasons for that amount of time in port, however a bit more clarity would have been helpful.

 

What is the location, and are passengers allowed ashore even if there are no trips etc. ?

 

Do any experinced Suez Canal cruisers have an insight ?

 

Thanks - WCM

[rickpo]

Hi, we are on the same cruise.

Not done the Suez Canal before but reading about it I think that there are passing points as it is only wide enough for ships to travel in one direction in places.

Anyway we’ll find out in a couple of months.

 

[WeeCountyMan]

Thanks Rickpo.

 

Mind you, seventeen hours seems rather long for giving way to vessels going in the opposite direction !!!

 

 

[rickpo]

Yeah it does seem a long time.

Hadn’t noticed the stop until you mentioned it but did think that two days was a long time to get through the canal.

Maybe someone else knows the answer.

[nancyneptune]

12 hours ago, WeeCountyMan said:

I haven't been on the forums for a while, must get back more often.

 

We are looking at the Red Sea Experience 2, a repositioning cruise coming through the Suez Canal from 24th April heading for the Med.

 

One aspect of the online TUI itinerary blurb has me confused - the ship berths at an unspecified location in the canal at 23:00 on day 2 of the cruise (end of the first day transiting the canal) and departs at 16:00 the following day. No mention of port location, nor why a 17 hour stay is scheduled when no trips are available.

 

So far I have been unable to get a clear picture of the situation. There may be operational reasons for that amount of time in port, however a bit more clarity would have been helpful.

 

What is the location, and are passengers allowed ashore even if there are no trips etc. ?

 

Do any experinced Suez Canal cruisers have an insight ?

 

Hi WeeCountyMan,

 

I have been on the re-positioning cruise which transited the Suez Canal.  Several ships transit in a convoy and sail very slowly through the canal to avoid corroding the banks of the canal.  We were meant to be number one in the convoy but ended up being number 12 due to having to wait for two passengers arriving late back to the ship.  One very angry captain.  The transit takes about 17 hours but the ship doesn't stop so you will not be able to leave the ship at any point. You will see a few small towns and villages on the left side of the banks but there isn't much to see on the right side.  If I remember right , a lake, Lake Bitters, and a big bridge over the canal.  It's very relaxing though and reminded me of my relaxing cruise down the Nile.  Without the amazing sights of course.  Enjoy.

12 hours ago, WeeCountyMan said:

 

Thanks - WCM

 

[davecttr]

As I understand it ship transits through the Suez Canal are  organised in convoys with one departing in each direction in the early morning. The convoys pass each other in the central duelled section. With the ships restricted to about 8 knots it takes 11 hours or more to make the passage, plus with approx. 40 ships in the convoy you might have to wait some time for your turn to enter the canal

 

Day 1  - leave Aqaba at 18.00 or later if late flights - 290 nautical miles to Suez convoy holding area

Day 2 - arrive Suez convoy holding area at 23.00 or earlier, join queue, average speed 10 knots, get there early

Day 3 - northbound convoy departs from 4am (according to Wiki), speed less than 8 knots, hope you are at the front of the queue

Day 3 - after 10 hour plus canal transit arrive at Port Said canal exit at about 16.00, exit canal

Day 4/5 -  at sea on way to Messina

 

so there are no port stops in the canal or at either end. You anchor in the Suez convoy holding area.

[nancyneptune]

When I transited the canal several years ago on the Thomson Celebration after leaving the canal we docked in Alexandria then Benghazi in Libya before disembarking in Naples. 

 

Looking at the brochure it looks like when you depart Aqaba at 6pm  on day one you will not be able to get off the ship until you dock in Messina, Sicily on day six as you have two sea days after the canal transit.

[WeeCountyMan]

Thanks Nancy & Dave,

 

That does clarify, now understood.

 

The "port" layover is in fact an operational necessity for traffic movement.

 

Not well explained on TUI website - as usual Cruise Critic is the font of all knowledge.

 

I've just realised that the cruise is on the Discovery, the ship that has been on a go slow recently. Not that that is a significant consideration for us, even if it arises, there are no POCs that we haven't already visited.

 

WCM

Edited January 19, 2020 by WeeCountyMan
grammar

[WeeCountyMan]

After all this - we have now calculated 5 consecutive sea days from Aquaba to first POC - that would drive 'er indoors stir crazy.

 

So that's a no go.

 

Thanks for the info though, very useful for future plans.

[bishop84]

Many years ago the ship I was on stopped at Suez for a port call. It was not a very nice experience then and I doubt if it has changed since then. Even the Egyptians told us that we should not go ashore there, especially at night! 

 

Also IIRC a lot of Egypt is on the 'unnecessary travel to be avoided list' of the UK government.

[nancyneptune]

2 hours ago, WeeCountyMan said:

After all this - we have now calculated 5 consecutive sea days from Aquaba to first POC - that would drive 'er indoors stir crazy.

 

So that's a no go.

 

Thanks for the info though, very useful for future plans.

 

 

When I did this cruise it was a longer cruise with more ports to visit and less sea days.  I have noticed that Marella have reduced the number of days on some of the re-positioning cruises.  For example previous 21 day re-positioning cruises now split in to two separate cruises of 7 days and 14 days and 16 day re-positioning that we had done previously has now become two separate cruises and a lot more expensive.

 

Glad you found out how many sea days this cruise had before you booked.  Marella should make this clearer as many people will not realise that they will be on board for 5 consecutive days.

 

 

[WeeCountyMan]

On 1/20/2020 at 6:14 PM, nancyneptune said:

Glad you found out how many sea days this cruise had before you booked.  Marella should make this clearer as many people will not realise that they will be on board for 5 consecutive days.

 

Agreed - Marella could have arranged Crete for a POC after the canal and dropped either Sicily or Malta before final destination Palma.

 

That would obviously have split up the consecutive 5 days onboard.

[nancyneptune]

22 minutes ago, WeeCountyMan said:

 

Agreed - Marella could have arranged Crete for a POC after the canal and dropped either Sicily or Malta before final destination Palma.

 

That would obviously have split up the consecutive 5 days onboard.

 

I was thinking along those lines too.  Re-positioning cruises used to have more ports.  Now they want to get from A to B as quickly and cheaply ( for the company )  as possible.  Not always the best experience for the passengers though.

[Vitalsign]

Repositioning cruises are cheaper than normal back to back and we have done many It's 5 days across the Atlantic so no different to the 5 days discussed here We get on in Dubai and cruise back to Palma and to be honest we like the sea days Very relaxing and even better now A1So not much money is spent after paying for the cruise That said we've just paid £324 for excursions for our first week to Muscat but only 1 after that and not to Petra as we've been twice before. We just do our own trips in the Med

Our only worry is we may not be able to call in some of the ports in the first week due to the Iran/MiddleEast problems as hubby hasn't been there before but at least we'll get our money back

[WeeCountyMan]

We wouldn't consider transatlantic for the same reason we passed on this Suez Canal cruise.