Transit, Suez Canal, Egypt

            Saturday, 8 Apr 2017 – The ship captain announced yesterday that our ship would be entering the Suez Canal at about 4:30 AM, in case anyone wanted to try to see it.  In our case, we were confused by instructions that we should set our clocks forward by one hour – but later realized that we had been given that message 24 hours in advance.  Sally awoke at 5:00 AM and, peering out our cabin window, she could see that we were in the canal.  Every 20 minutes or so after that, she looked again; the scenery would change from some buildings being present, to a security tower and wall, then more sand and bare countryside.  Sometimes there appeared to be an additional lane of water, separated by a peninsula or island. 

After Jesse woke up, we watched some of the “Navigation” channel on TV.  Suddenly, it seemed that we were nearly through the canal because there was a broad expanse of water; Sally counted six ships of various sizes within our view.  Thinking we must have missed seeing most of the canal scenery, we dressed and went to breakfast at the buffet on Deck 12.  After looking around us from both sides of the ship, we returned to our cabin, where Sally napped. 

However, at 11:00, we were obviously still in the canal and finally realized that some lakes along the way provide passage, with the canal connecting them.  Unlike the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal has no locks; our ship just kept moving slowly, not stopping.  A pilot ship was traveling on each side of our ship.  After finally reading our “Freestyle Daily,” we learned more about our day’s adventure:

            “The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez.  It was constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 & 1869.... The canal is 24 meters (79 ft.) deep at its maximum depth.  The width of the canal is 205 meters (673 ft.) and is 120.11 miles (193.30 km) long.  It has 3 lanes with four passing places….”  At about 4:00 PM, our ship left the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean Sea, heading toward Israel.

Suez Canal

            After today’s experience we decided that, for this one day, it would have been better if we had a cabin with a balcony, not just a window.  (There was a little more to see on the sides than on our Panama Canal cruise.)  Our Norwegian Cruise Line contact who first assisted us in reserving our cabin told Jesse that we would most likely receive an upgrade to a balcony – but we didn’t.  And for 98 percent of the time, we haven’t missed having a balcony.  Oh, well!

            And Saturday night we did turn our clocks forward one hour – which meant one hour less sleep before our 12.5-hour trip to Masada and the Dead Sea.