Pam, I know to save buit have had so little sleep. You would be amazed the things that seem like such an effort. If only I was not an insomniac. Todd slept till 10 yesterday. Of course I had less than 5 hrs. Last night we dined in the cabin and I went to bed at 8:30 but got up at 3;35.

Suzie, no ipod docking setio nut the cd thing on the wall is a cd changer and the dvd player plays divx, mp3 and photo cds.

Todd is really tired of me mentioning this waste of space in this suite. He is lucky I don't have a tape measure.

Last night we decided to dine in the cabin and watch a movie. Two of the 4 were not working (of course they were when we were too busy) and one movie we had seen on the plane, and the other was wierd. So we got a dvd, but we could not watch that on the bed without our laptop. So with the stubby couch and the desk type chairs two must sit on the couch and use the other chairs as a footstool. That is my high horse for the day but people in verandahs and vistas are on 50 percent off and those of us in suites are at 20 (we also got 5 percent Venetian and 2 percent past sailing but could have got that on a verandah).

Anyway, so on the plus side, you get the box of Godivas in this suite. It is 6 inches long and 3 inches high.

They will not decorate for Christmas till the first day of the holiday voyage. They don't want to offend anyone. I have my own thoughts on that. I would like decor.

Today they will do the Hannukah celebration (being in Fujairah, and that is not worrisome??) And have the rabbi doing the lighting and full celebration.

For those with Blackberries or
Other worldwide internet gadgets...in this region, they will work some places and not others. It switches to GSM in some places. That is why I used a lot of minutes.

Sue, when the camel pics were taken, we had not moved yet. When Todd felt it the most was when they got the camel down to let us off. He was not prepared. That safari is great.

For anyone going to Khasab (means fertile) the dhow fjord is an absolute must. Drop everything and do this thing.

SS had two big dhows and a small one. The place is walkable from the ship but they pick u up and take u the 200 metres.

Seats are on the ground like an Arabian living room (they tell us). You board this big thing and just lay there and watch the mountains and rock formations from all directions. You see little fishing villages that sometimes have 10 people. The government gives them electricity and gets it into these mountains by helicopter. Until a few years ago they ate only fish and dates with no outside contact to the world. Now the kids are taken somewhere from there to school and they go away for 4 days and then come home for 3.

Our tour started at 1:50 and ended at 5:30. They offered dates and had bananas and apples on board and also soft drinks (no diet) and water and Arabian tea (sweet) in the tiniest cups and coffe in tiny cups. Think kids' tea set.

The guides talk and tell interesting stories and take u 18 km in each direction. You stop for swimming and snorkeling ( which many don't do). We saw small fish but lots of shells and beautiful coral. The ladder was quite steep. Going up was odd. The water is partially in the Indian Ocean and partially in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf.

We also climbed up in Telegraph Island for photos.

Much of the way back was whistling and clapping for dolphins to clip up or chase the boat. I took movies and we took stills with 2 cameras. Hopefully we have something!!

We skipped breakfast (- had grapes from our in room fruit). Todd worked some puzzles while I chatted in the hot tub on deck with a Russian lady that lives in Vancouver. She had earned her passage by escorting a Chinese family where the head of the family does nmot see well. From here, they will fly to Hong Kong for 5 days. The hot tub was perfect. They brought us fruit and lemon waters.

For lunch, we had buffet again. I had salad and mussels and gazpacho. Todd had grilled fish, veggies and fruit.

There was a nice sail away party last night. Before that, we were trated to an Iranian welcome dance they put on for us before boarding. All the portside people saw it from their balconies.

For dinner, I had fois gras terrine, cauliflower voulette and veal marsala. Todd had king scallop ravioli, fruits, soup and tenderloin. This was delivered course by course. They wanted us to call 815 to pick up the tray and it did not work and room service was busy. We spent the night with the icky dishes. We lived. The night's canapies were shrimp cocktail, so we had those, too.

Our tour in Fujairah (foojarahh) is at 9 AM, so we can finally go to trivia this afternoon.

Last night we missed the flutust I met and a late night jazz performance by Shani Reay. The shows are late as they are geared to the European clientele.

Last night we got our Venetian Society invitation for tonight. I cannot believe it is Decenber 4.

One other thing...Shani Reay makes announcements every two hours. That is annoying. Maybe that is because they want to assure us in this part of the world.