Hi Marc, not sure on the dates, but I'm guessing it will be late November from Dubai and ending in Capetown in late December. Also, not sure if there will be any segments or just one long cruise. Although you can book this cruise or cruises now, there apparently won't be a detailed itinerary available for a couple weeks (but we can always hope it will be sooner).
As for sea mail -- we had three very long but fabulous days in Israel! Perfect weather, perfect guides and nicely managed tours. I really don't like buffet lunches, but it was worth the pain all three days just to see and do everything we did -- I think we saw the whole country. As a result, though, after we left, I slept through the tour in Cyprus and ended up just taking the shuttle into Limassol. In Rhodes we went up to Lindos and got stuck in a tremendous thunder storm -- got back to the ship a couple hours late and ended up having lunch at tea. Unfortunately it rained in Ephesus and today in Athens, so we just stayed on the ship. Our trivia team hasn't been doing very well -- we miss winning by one or two every day. I really miss all my trivia buddies from Taj Mahal. We only have a few days left of this wonderful trip but I think I'm ready to go home now and get ready for our next trip in August.