Our Upcoming Cruise

Next month my lovely wife and I will begin this year's Spring travels.  We will fly to London,  spend a few days there and then fly to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. There we will spend three day and start a thirty-three cruise aboard Holland American Lines' m/s Amsterdam that will eventually end in Ft. Lauderdale. We are especially anxious for this cruise as there are ports in three countries that we have never visited before. These are Oman, Jordan and Egypt - three countries that have had different levels of demonstration in the recent days.

Different thoughts and questions come to mind. Will the cruise actually come to pass? Will we be able to actually visit any of these countries? Based on the level of upheaval in Egypt, who is actually going to be in charge of the Suez Canal that is key to the cruise maintaining its itinerary? As our portion of the cruise (actually it is a world cruise but we are taking only the last leg if it) starts in the Persian Gulf, through the Straits of Hormuz, through the Gulf of Oman, to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, into the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean Sea.  The key here is the Suez Canal. If a ship cannot use the Suez Canal it has to go around the Cape of Good Hope, another six thousand miles.

Let's see what happens!