Pirates, Camels and Pharaohs - Whisper - Mahe to Aqaba

[Silver Spectre]

18 hours ago, TLCOhio said:

 

Keep us posted as you sail through "Pirate Alley" as to what, if any, added security is present on your ship.  Or, if ay requirements are suggested for passengers in their suites, etc.  In late 2018 when sailing south through that area with Oceania, they had extra "special personnel" with "equipment" on our ship and took additional precautions.  Good luck navigating through that interesting, challenging part of the world.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

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We have a security watch at night and have been asked to keep our curtains closed at night and not use the veranda light. I’m not aware of anything else at present. The ship was fully lit up last night.

[Silver Spectre]

13 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Safe travels, Silver and Whisper! Definitely disappointed to hear that you are missing the Egypt stops; hope you can make the most of the stops that you do have left.

The Saudi stops are interesting, especially as Saudi only opened up to tourism just before the pandemic. Aqaba is really frustrating. Three days there now and on day 1 and day 3 the tour to Petra is a World Cruise Experience at $499 per person. On day 2, which is when we must be off by 10am, there is a normal tour to Petra!

[audobon_tx]

Been through the Gulf of Aden and the lower Red Sea a couple of times on another ship.  Blackouts, drapes drawn, but also steel plates erected on the bridge wings.  We had a group of  five or six former British commandos, now free lancing, join us each time with their "hardware".  The guys get on and off transiting ships as they pass through and are hired guns for all manner of ships.  They preferred cruise ships since the food and ambiance were big steps up from cargo and tanker ships.

 

Our Captain said cruise ships can outrun pirate boats and have higher freeboard.  Pirates thus prefer the slower freight vessels with their non-human cargo.

[TLCOhio]

42 minutes ago, audobon_tx said:

Been through the Gulf of Aden and the lower Red Sea a couple of times on another ship.  Blackouts, drapes drawn, but also steel plates erected on the bridge wings.  We had a group of  five or six former British commandos, now free lancing, join us each time with their "hardware".  The guys get on and off transiting ships as they pass through and are hired guns for all manner of ships.  They preferred cruise ships since the food and ambiance were big steps up from cargo and tanker ships.  Our Captain said cruise ships can outrun pirate boats and have higher freeboard.  Pirates thus prefer the slower freight vessels with their non-human cargo.

 

Super appreciate all of these great details and the follow-up from audobon_tx. Very interesting and informative, especially about how these British commandos operate, the steel plates, etc.!!  Had not consider why and how the pirates might prefer the slower freight vessels versus the faster cruise ships.      

 

Continued excellent postings by Silver Spectre.  Understand your frustrations.  

 

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio 

 

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[Silver Spectre]

Overnight we have changed direction from NNE to almost due W as we sail into Gulf of Aden, heading for the pinch point off Djibouti.

 

A magnificent show by one of the Voices last night - My Ukraine.

 

This morning we had a second thought provoking lecture from Dr E on Putin and Ukraine.

[Silver Spectre]

Today we have company

 

[Silver Spectre]

Even worse than Chogs, we have unhygienic feet! And thank you CC for turning my photo, not!

 

Edited March 21, 2022 by Silver Spectre

[machotspur]

Mr Spectre - thank you for the 'Gulf Of Aden' postings (and indeed the very interesting insight from audobon_tx).

 

We are particularly interested as we are booked to cruise Athens -Dubai in November. Our primary interests in booking the itinerary are Suez, Jeddah & the Gulf of Aden.  Like you we have previously enjoyed the Egypt & Jordan stuff, so don't wish to repeat this. 

Our TA is enquiring as to how many 'Saudi Sea Days' our itinerary will include. We are in Jeddah a full day and a morning, so - before your postings -  were only anticipating 1 'dry day'. Is the route your cruise is taking as a result of more than one Port of Call in Saudi - hence the 3 dry days ?

 

I know you are not now going to Safaga but having this weekend closely examined the details of our itinerary we have been shocked at the absence of any decent excursions in the two days there, if one doesn't wish to partake of the 13.5 hour trips to Luxor etc. May I please enquire what you were planning to do in Safaga had your cruise stopped there as planned ?

 

In the meantime safe passage through pirate territory ! 

 

[audobon_tx]

12 minutes ago, machotspur said:

Mr Spectre - thank you for the 'Gulf Of Aden' postings (and indeed the very interesting insight from audobon_tx).

 

We are particularly interested as we are booked to cruise Athens -Dubai in November. Our primary interests in booking the itinerary are Suez, Jeddah & the Gulf of Aden.  Like you we have previously enjoyed the Egypt & Jordan stuff, so don't wish to repeat this. 

Our TA is enquiring as to how many 'Saudi Sea Days' our itinerary will include. We are in Jeddah a full day and a morning, so - before your postings -  were only anticipating 1 'dry day'. Is the route your cruise is taking as a result of more than one Port of Call in Saudi - hence the 3 dry days ?

 

I know you are not now going to Safaga but having this weekend closely examined the details of our itinerary we have been shocked at the absence of any decent excursions in the two days there, if one doesn't wish to partake of the 13.5 hour trips to Luxor etc. May I please enquire what you were planning to do in Safaga had your cruise stopped there as planned ?

 

In the meantime safe passage through pirate territory ! 

 

 

Luxor is THE attraction for Safaga.  If I did anything in the Safaga area it would be snorkeling.  Safaga town is not memorable.

 

Luxor is a long haul but you do get to see desert and mountains both ways (or take a nap). Valley of the Kings and the Karnak and Luxor temples are unique in the world and not to be missed.  Plus you get to ferry across the Nile.

 

If you have been before I understand dreading the hours in a bus, but the more you go, the more you see.

[machotspur]

4 minutes ago, audobon_tx said:

 

Luxor is THE attraction for Safaga.  If I did anything in the Safaga area it would be snorkeling.  Safaga town is not memorable.

 

Luxor is a long haul but you do get to see desert and mountains both ways (or take a nap). Valley of the Kings and the Karnak and Luxor temples are unique in the world and not to be missed.  Plus you get to ferry across the Nile.

 

If you have been before I understand dreading the hours in a bus, but the more you go, the more you see.

 

Thanks very much for the additional insight. Our previous in depth visit to the various areas along the Nile - on an outstanding  Oberoi river ship - was very special indeed. We feel no compulsion to revisit.

 

Our side excursion to Abu Simnel was one of the most amazing - but surreal - activities we have enjoyed anywhere in the world. For reasons unknown there was just the two of us in the whole site for much of the visit - incredible !!!

 

At the moment we are still unsure if we are going to stick with this cruise - we await further insight before deciding.       

[Silver Spectre]

3 hours ago, machotspur said:

Mr Spectre - thank you for the 'Gulf Of Aden' postings (and indeed the very interesting insight from audobon_tx).

 

We are particularly interested as we are booked to cruise Athens -Dubai in November. Our primary interests in booking the itinerary are Suez, Jeddah & the Gulf of Aden.  Like you we have previously enjoyed the Egypt & Jordan stuff, so don't wish to repeat this. 

Our TA is enquiring as to how many 'Saudi Sea Days' our itinerary will include. We are in Jeddah a full day and a morning, so - before your postings -  were only anticipating 1 'dry day'. Is the route your cruise is taking as a result of more than one Port of Call in Saudi - hence the 3 dry days ?

 

I know you are not now going to Safaga but having this weekend closely examined the details of our itinerary we have been shocked at the absence of any decent excursions in the two days there, if one doesn't wish to partake of the 13.5 hour trips to Luxor etc. May I please enquire what you were planning to do in Safaga had your cruise stopped there as planned ?

 

In the meantime safe passage through pirate territory ! 

 

Egypt has been removed completely. We may have done Luxor again or gone to a local luxury hotel. We were pretty shocked to hear that the Houthi rebels from Yemen had launched a missile attack on the LNG plant in Yanbu port yesterday, which is where we are supposed to spend a day on 26th March.  SS is once again behind the curve in not dropping this stop asap!

[RachelG]

I can think of several ways to get around the no alcohol while in Saudi waters.  You just have to plan ahead and be stealthy.

[Silver Spectre]

@machotspurI neglected to bring my travel guide with me and have no access to what was supposed to be in Safarga. It’s on my laptop at home if you can wait for a week or so. The reason we have three dry days is I believe it would be to difficult for the ship to leave Saudi waters and re-enter for the day between Jeddah and Yanbu.

 

As a non WCer my wife and I needed independent Saudi visas, although originally SS said they would sort them out and charge our shipboard account this turned out not to be true. Yesterday, with the assistance of the Finance officer, I spent over an hour going through the application process which involved making 4 credit card payments for each of us, to apply for a 4 day in transit visa.

 

Why on earth SS could not do this for us and the other dozen or so who need them and just charge us onboard I cannot fathom. It’s done automatically for all the WCers.

[machotspur]

3 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

@machotspurI neglected to bring my travel guide with me and have no access to what was supposed to be in Safarga. It’s on my laptop at home if you can wait for a week or so. The reason we have three dry days is I believe it would be to difficult for the ship to leave Saudi waters and re-enter for the day between Jeddah and Yanbu.

 

As a non WCer my wife and I needed independent Saudi visas, although originally SS said they would sort them out and charge our shipboard account this turned out not to be true. Yesterday, with the assistance of the Finance officer, I spent over an hour going through the application process which involved making 4 credit card payments for each of us, to apply for a 4 day in transit visa.

 

Why on earth SS could not do this for us and the other dozen or so who need them and just charge us onboard I cannot fathom. It’s done automatically for all the WCers.

 

Thanks very much for this info Mr Spectre. 

 

I'm hoping that the response that I currently await from Silversea will be that as our itinerary includes only one Saudi stop - Jeddah - we won't have to hang around in Saudi waters as long as you have.

 

Thanks also for the heads up on the Saudi Visa. As you say this is surely crazy that SS don't believe it to be correct guest care to apply for the visas for all, even if they subsequently ask the guests for payment.

 

BTW - the Safaga 'non Nile' exursions are a 3 hour 'semi submarine' thing, 3 hours at a resort (nothing included), half day snorkelling and a half day 4x4 drive. Nothing remarkable there - and they are repeated for the second day !

 

         

[Silver Spectre]

22 hours ago, machotspur said:

 

Thanks very much for this info Mr Spectre. 

 

I'm hoping that the response that I currently await from Silversea will be that as our itinerary includes only one Saudi stop - Jeddah - we won't have to hang around in Saudi waters as long as you have.

 

Thanks also for the heads up on the Saudi Visa. As you say this is surely crazy that SS don't believe it to be correct guest care to apply for the visas for all, even if they subsequently ask the guests for payment.

 

BTW - the Safaga 'non Nile' exursions are a 3 hour 'semi submarine' thing, 3 hours at a resort (nothing included), half day snorkelling and a half day 4x4 drive. Nothing remarkable there - and they are repeated for the second day !

 

         

I got the tour desk to retrieve the Safaga info and those are the same 4 tours that would have been offered here.

[machotspur]

3 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

I got the tour desk to retrieve the Safaga info and those are the same 4 tours that would have been offered here.

Thank you sir.

Our Athens - Dubai itinerary in November already includes 7 sea days (+1 Suez). Add to this two 'nothing days' in Safaga, plus one in Aqaba (like you we've already 'done' the key locations there), and the itinerary is now looking far from appealing to us.

We will probably now switch to a cruise on Silver Dawn from Lisbon to Dakar, including several Cape Verde islands.    

 

[Silver Spectre]

Such a shame to watch bar staff pouring open bottles of wine and spirits down the drain as we close up tonight 😥

[Stumblefoot]

2 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Such a shame to watch bar staff pouring open bottles of wine and spirits down the drain as we close up tonight 😥

Wait. What? Nobody brought their own vessels to said pouring in order to safely hold in their suite? 

[les37b]

On 3/22/2022 at 12:52 AM, RachelG said:

I can think of several ways to get around the no alcohol while in Saudi waters.  You just have to plan ahead and be stealthy.

 

Indeed, that would have been my thought too! Don't get caught though! 

 

10 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Such a shame to watch bar staff pouring open bottles of wine and spirits down the drain as we close up tonight 😥

 

Madness. The rules are bad enough, but why can't they just be locked away? Plus it's not like unopened bottles can't be easily opened. That must have wasted an absolute fortune and no doubt some drinks won't be available once you pass.

 

 

[Silver Spectre]

3 hours ago, les37b said:

 

Indeed, that would have been my thought too! Don't get caught though! 

 

 

Madness. The rules are bad enough, but why can't they just be locked away? Plus it's not like unopened bottles can't be easily opened. That must have wasted an absolute fortune and no doubt some drinks won't be available once you pass.

 

 

We have already run out of Pommery.

[Silver Spectre]

Docked in a very extensive port

 

[mchell810]

23 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Such a shame to watch bar staff pouring open bottles of wine and spirits down the drain as we close up tonight 😥

I know you said alcohol can’t be served while in Saudi waters; does this officially apply to staterooms as well?  So, for example, if you had a bottle of vodka in your room are butlers expected to remove it? 
 

[CruiserFromMaine]

I saw on Facebook that butlers were instructed to remove all alcohol from suites too. Everyone gets a three day detox. Whether they want it or not!

[dawntrdr]

Two days from now when the Captain announces that the ship has passed into international waters, that's going to be some party!

[Host Jazzbeau]

Couldn't they jam a napkin in the neck of each bottle and label them "Molotov Cocktails for the Pirates" ?  😆