On Board the Voyager Sanctuaries in the Sand/Aegean Holiday; March 30-April 23rd

Pre cruise (March 27-March 29th):

We can't wait to board the Voyager this Friday for this magical & iconic middle east/Greece itinerary. Port highlights: Egypt (Luxor, Sharm El Sheikh, Cairo (Pyramids), Jordan (Aqaba), Transit Suez Canal, , Israel (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem) Greece ( Athens, Santorini, Kavala, Rhodes, Mykonos,) and Turkey (Ephesus, Istanbul),

We begin our journey w/our two day pre cruise tonight, flying to Dubai from Atlanta. Pictured below, we're toasting to our good fortune, "bon voyage" in British Airways (BA) first class lounge in the Atlanta airport. Our next stop London/Heathrow we will have a brief layover (3 hrs) then we continue flying BA to Dubai where we arrive very late Wednesday nite. On Thursday, March 29th, we plan on visiting the Spice souk for fresh saffron. After, the Spice souk we head to Burj Khalifa (tallest bldg in the World) for a sunset observation deck tour. At the Khalifa, we look forward to meeting two other CC couples sailing with us (Witt's End (John & Katie) and WalJul (Walter and Julie). We're hopeful count Florida can have their IC hotel concierge work his/her magic to get the count Khalifa tour tix to join us. Pls see links for general information on the Spice Souk and Khalifa below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Spice_Souk

http://www.burjkhalifa.ae

/

Looking forward to seeing photographs of the sites that this group will be visiting (which are almost the same as the ports we were at last December)

Have a lovely, you two handsome, happy people!

Awesome. Can't wait to hear all about your adventures!

Looking forward to your daily reports, Wes & Ida!

Happy Cruising!

Karen & Wayne

I look forward to your posts Wes!

Host Dan

Sent from my SGH-T759 using Tapatalk

Hope you and Ida have a wonderful cruise, Wes!

Tami

Smooth seas and following winds to both of you. Too bad we have to leave Mariner on Monday but, will follow your exploits with great interest. Sincerely hope the mideast has calmed down for you to enjoy.

You and Ida look great! Have a wonderful cruise. Will be following your posts. Lynn says HI!

Welcome to HOT Dubai Wes and Ida,

We look forward to meeting you in a few hours.

The Voyager arrives here tomorrow morning!

We booked his a year and a half ago and are ready to hop on board - finally!

I would love to take this weather with us for the next month though.

Welcome to Dubai. It's hot over here. Visited Burj Khalifa this afternoon. Took us half an hour to get up to the 124st floor. Very hazy today. Up there it looked like a desert storm. Too bad, the view was very poor...

See y'all on Friday aboard.

Poss, thank you for your too kind words.

Rachel, Karen/Wayne, Host Dan, Tami, Dave, Doug/Lynn, fellow Sanctuary cruisers (Katie and Han) thanks for your well wishes and welcome to very hot Dubai (over 90 at 11pm tonight) We arrived two hours ago, took us an hour to get through passport control/customs--never have we seen a busier airport at 11pm-12 pm than Dubai.

Ida and I are very much enjoying the Grand Hyatt esp with Ida's Hyatt Diamond status. We leave for the Spice Souk at 3pm today and then the Khalifa. Look fwd to seeing Witt's end, Waljul and hopefully count Florida.

best, Wes

Sounds like you are all eager and ready to go.

We just passed through the Straits of Hormuz and will be docking (for you) around Noon.

Ship is in fine shape, including the anti-piracy sonic device planted just outside the Horizon Lounge on the stern.

Enjoy your voyage ... we did.

Interesting first reports. Dubai was hazy both days we were there. It is supposedly caused by the dust in the air. When you get on the ship you might notice the QE II. She is being turned into a hotel and will remain in Dubai.

I wonder if the anti-piracy sonic device is a permanent fixture on the ship. Everyone was taking pictures of it when we were on board. We definitely felt safe when sailing through areas of concern. The only event that was affected by sailing through the Gulf of Aden was the Country Fair. It was held indoors.

Yes, TC2, the Queen is docked here. Now I know why. thanks!

Wes & Ida.

What a great picture to start off the thread of what looks to be a wonderful trip. Have a similar one taken at the end for us to see what the ravages of a spell on Regent do to your shapes! Although with your fitness regime yuo will probably look even better.

Keep hold of the plastic in Dubai, there is a lot to buy.

Very best wishes for a wonderful cruise which Barbara & I are looking forward to as much as you.

And the same to all the other CC members on board.

Kane, Tom; thanks so much for your voyage well wishes.

Tom, what is plastic--we are solely cash cruisers :) kidding--we have over 40+

credit cards (pay off instantly we have no debt)--enabled us (in last 2 yrs) to earn over 2.5million miles/points for flights/hotels of our choice any where in the world at any time.

Off to the Spice Souk after 3 hour cat nap--only 102 Degrees outside.

I am so looking forward to following you around on this cruise! Your descriptions are so well written and intriguing, I always feel inspired to try cruising where you have gone as I am not so familiar with the many areas of the world you go to.

Thanks for including the darling picture of yourselves. Now I can see why people have so much fun with you two!:)

Hi Wes,

The best to you and Ida on your cruise! Pls keep us in the loop (I know you will!).

 

I wonder if the anti-piracy sonic device is a permanent fixture on the ship.

We will probably need it on our Celtic Charms sailing in a couple of months!:D

Yes' date=' TC2, the Queen is docked here. Now I know why. thanks![/quote']

 

Did you notice how many unfinished buildings there are in Dubai? Apparently, when they started having financial problems, building stopped on many projects, among them is Trump Tower. It is certainly an interesting place to visit. Hope you are enjoying yourselves:)

Bissel, thanks very much for your generous words, we look forward to having you along (vicariously) as we visit these iconic middle east/Greek ports.

Maria, Thank you my friend.

Pls enjoy the pix below from the spice souk and Burj Khalifa

WE get ready to leave the Grand Dubai (lobby pix) prior to departing for Spice Souk:

At the Spice Souk after Ida bought 10 grams of fresh Saffron and 5 grams of Vanilla bean

Witt's end (John, Katie and I), We all, John, Katie, Ida and I also met Waljul (Walter and Julie from Port St. Lucie FL, on the top)

profile pix of Burj Khalifa

Ida and I "on the top" observation deck (floor 124) of Burj Khalifa

sunset at the Khalifa

Great pics, Wes!!! Wish we were there!

Karen & Wayne

Love the pics. I would like the spice souk I am sure!

Wes, thanks for the photos. The last time I was in Dubai was 2006 so many of the very high buildings had not been started yet. Did you take one of the water taxis across the Dubai Creek to visit the spice souk? They are quite different. Elsie