A little change in routine today as I had breakfast al fresco on my balcony then spent an hour on the treadmill at the gym. Luckily the sea was fairly calm so it wasn’t a struggle to stay on the conveyor belt. I can imagine being flung off in a heap in rough conditions.

At 10am I forwent my Bridge lessons. Although it is considered one of the Social Graces, the tight quarters and lack of a partner convinced me my interests lay elsewhere. Instead, I tried the Stretching class on the pool deck. It was very well attended, so much so that I had to go up a deck to find room to swing about.

A busy morning as my Egypt lecture was at 11am. And another Alison had a birthday! Quite a surprise to our lecturer as the music started and staff appeared with balloons, a cake, and singing Happy Birthday.

The lecture was not as fact-filled as yesterday; it was more of a travelogue of what we might expect on our first two days in port. Like many passengers I have an unplanned day to fill and don’t know what excursion to choose. Our 3rd day in Egypt we dock at Safaga and I was supposed to go on a ship’s tour but a few days ago I got a cancellation notice as the tour was considered “too long”. Now they’re offering the same trip broken into two separate tours, so you can do only half of what was offered before. I’m querying everyone I meet on their plans….

Last night I received an invitation to an afternoon reception for the ships’ “American guests” so at 1pm I presented myself at the Pasha Disco expecting a little party; instead, it was just a means to get all the Americans together in one room and talk amongst ourselves. Without liquid libation to loosen lips it was a rather subdued affair and I left after 20 mins.

But…York was there (one of my FB friends) and he had gotten details from Kimmy for an excursion for my empty day so the two of us spent 30 minutes trying to find the right one so the three of us can go together: “Desert Quad Safari, Camels, and Bedouin Town”, all for $32. Fingers crossed!

3pm was Lecture Part 2, about the ship’s “empty day” excursions that I’m not doing. I went for the pictures…. I think York nodded off. The lecturer Alison also had a bit more info on our entering the Suez Canal tonight. It should be right at our scheduled dinner time so we’re all going to do the buffet instead as we’re all excited to witness the event.

Well, our entering the Suez tonight is a nonevent. At 6:15pm the PA announced that we would hold our position at Port Said until 4am tomorrow then start our canal trip. I rushed down to the dining room as I figured the buffet would be a madhouse and there was everyone else, just finishing their appetizers. We all had the same idea. Now we’re wondering if the 10 hour delay will affect our arrival at the next port as we have a 6:30am private excursion planned; on the bright side we’ll go through the first half of the canal in daylight!