Pacific Princess in the Suez Canal

[PescadoAmarillo]

From the ship's webcam. Wish I was there!

[jgnova]

Yeah, I have a friend on board and was watching some of the Suez transit today. However, for some strange reason :rolleyes: , it's dark there now. Hey, it's only what, 8 or 9 hours ahead of us on the east coast of the US. So it's probably about 9 or 10 pm local time? Can't imagine why it might be dark. :rolleyes:

 

Didn't see any locks, however. Maybe I just missed those moments. Did you notice any?

 

S

[Pia1913]

Yeah, I have a friend on board and was watching some of the Suez transit today. However, for some strange reason :rolleyes: , it's dark there now. Hey, it's only what, 8 or 9 hours ahead of us on the east coast of the US. So it's probably about 9 or 10 pm local time? Can't imagine why it might be dark. :rolleyes:

 

Didn't see any locks, however. Maybe I just missed those moments. Did you notice any?

 

S

 

Am I missing something? Why wouldn't it be dark at 9 or 10 at night?

[saratoga]

There are no locks on the Suez Canal. All done at sea level.

[Druke I]

We went through the Suez 11-96 on Oceania's Nautica, an R-class sister-ship to Pacific Princess.

 

Always wanted to go through the Suez - but the sand dunes can be a bit boring. Certainly not as interesting as the Panama Canal or the Kiel Canal.

[Pia1913]

We're going to be in Egypt next month, though I don't think we're near the Suez. Now I need to look at my itinerary.

 

Pia

[jgnova]

Pia: Hmmm. I thought the smilies would indicate that I was joking about not understanding why it would be dark at night. Sorry I confused you.

 

Saratoga: I didn't know there were no locks on the Suez. Better do some reading on that since I probably should have known. Thanks for the info.

 

S

[Pia1913]

Pia: Hmmm. I thought the smilies would indicate that I was joking about not understanding why it would be dark at night. Sorry I confused you.

 

Saratoga: I didn't know there were no locks on the Suez. Better do some reading on that since I probably should have known. Thanks for the info.

 

S

 

They were rolling eyes, not smilies. Guess my sense of humor is lacking today or tired. Some days I confuse easily. LOL Also, just looked at my itin. No Suez. All along the Nile from Aswan to Luxor.

 

Pia

[PescadoAmarillo]

As mentioned, there are no locks in the Suez Canal. Ferdinand de Lessups, the Frenchman who designed and built the Suez Canal was the first to make a serious attempt at building the Panama Canal. Like the Suez, he intended for it to be a level canal without locks, which wouldn't work in Panama for a number of reasons (some of the most basic being that the tides are higher in the Pacific than the Atlantic, and also that the rainy weather leads to mudslides). That's how the US eventually took over the building of the Panama Canal.

 

OK, my love of history is showing here. I'll shut up now. But I do need to cruise the Suez Canal at some point in my life. I find this stuff fascinating.

[whenistrivia]

Hi, PescadoAmarillo, Gary here from the 01-09 Emerald thread.

 

We're on the Pacific Princess doing a B2B on the 9-5-08 and 9-17-08 legs this year. I don't think we're going to get into the canal, but neither Rita nor I have ever been to Egypt.. we are anticipating that trip big-time !

 

Thanks for posting that photo.

 

Gary