Red Sea to Gulf of Aqaba

We are now passing Medina, Mecca and Jiddah on the starboard (right) side of the ship.

Sun is our alarm clock

The ship is running fast and the wind is ferocious in the RedSea. It is 84 outside with a clear sky.

Interdenominational service

There is a couple who each time. The husband reaches out and holds his wife’s hand holds it throughout all the Bible readings and the sermon. He always dresses in a fresh shirt and business slacks. She is more casual in her dress.

The sermon today revolved around Eve and the apple. It occurs to me that the gender of the snake is never mentioned yet snakes are phallic symbols and thus male.so now who is the culprit?

Monotheism

This presentation was a brief comparison of the three major religions and their histories. I thought the speaker was less than objective when discussing Islam. I learned things I hadn’t considered.

Trivia

Again we are no danger to anyone.

Pirates Lunch

So appropriate a theme for this part of the world at this point in history. The chef featured a station with Arabic food: shwarma, hummis, baba ganoush, pita, etc. Very good. He is a great personality and is seen allover the ship. There is always so much food and I can’t imagine anyone not finding their favorite.

The staff all dressed up like pirates and I think they were having more fun than the passengers. One had a (faux) Ax that he was wielding liberally. A handful of passengers came in pirate garb too. And some of the men are still wearing Arab head gear; its getting a little tiring by now. Give it a rest.

And along those lines we have some really eccentric folks on board whose dress certainly gets notice. The fellow who looks like Truman Capote, wears odd colored sports jackets, a matching lei around his neck and either a fedora or a baseball cap. The guy who wears a scroungy, broken down cowboy type hat with pins all over it, and lays by the pool a lot. But here’s the part that gets the notice. He comes into trivia with only a shirt to about mid hip and speedos on. And it ain’t a pretty picture! Interesting that most of these characters are men.

We have some ladies on board who are very charming and always dressed beautifully whether casually or for formal events.

Formal night

We got our formal gear on and went to Trivia that way. Good thing we did as our trivia partners forgot about it so when the questions were done, they ran to get gussied up while we found out the bad news about ourscore. Then we went to…

Captain’s circle party

We always enjoy this as we can find out who has travelled the most days, something about the staff and crew, See all the officers and such in dressed up uniforms, and they draw for a bottle of champagne for 3 winners whose names are drawn from those who attend.

There are now almost ½ of the passengers who are Elite and thus get free laundry but it hasn’t slowed the laundry down. We are the beneficiaries of this wonderful perk and are oh so grateful. Unlike years ago when we had to wait until the end of the whole cruise to graduate to elite status, folks now are given that status at the end of the leg in which they reach the criteria. Good for them. So the longer the cruise goes, the more people who qualify.

Amour

This was the title of the major show this evening. The singers are great. But those dancers are absolutely amazing. So talented and athletic. We have two new guys: Yuri and Sergy. The guys are all tall; the gals so tiny when you see them up close yet they don’t seem so when they are performing. Since they call the trivia, we get to know them a little more and their personalities come out. We are especially amused about the girls who are Brits and wsho has mastered the American pronunciation so they do it “the proper way’ and then say the words as we would. So hilarious and it puts a mirror up to us.

Scratchy throat

It seems every time we get a new batch of passengers, I get a fresh sore throat. Sigh. This too shall pass but I’m running low on the lozenges from the clinic.

One more day at sea

Tomorrow is packed with events and we turn back our clocks tomorrow night for an extra hour. The next day is Aqaba where probably half the ship is going on this excursion. I think only a skeleton staff will remain. Talk about ship if the desert. I am dreading the heat but so looking forward to seeing Petra again. I suspect this will be my last time.