THANK you; love all the mail and pix!

For those interested, this morning I posted my thoughts on comparing Silversea with Regent under the Silversea topic.

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Eugene

I loaded 27 photos to the link below. Unfortunately, they seem to have loaded strangely, perhaps because of the Internet connection. I hope you can view them and click on them to enlarge.

Eugene\'s pictures

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Eugene

Mrs. Marc - make him sit down before he reads this.

Trivia win? TRIPLE tokens!!

We assemble at 5:00, Marc. We'll leave the light on for you.

We just arrived in Salalah, Oman on our second "no port too short" stop. Most are heading off on the Frankincense tour. I'm hoping to watch Young Frankenstein instead. Maybe the museum or Hafa souk will tempt .. but it's sweaty out there.

Edited to add: one more victory for the LCT team. Tokens are piling up fast!

Cheers, Cleo

Love the pictures Ken! Sure brings back memories. We loved Salalah, hope you all have a great day! Thanks for the great seamail.

Ken, your photos are WOW and double WOW! I'm jealous. Keep having fun guys.

Ken, thanks so much for the photos! It is wonderful to see everyone......In the words of my tiny niece....I wanna go............

Ken, great pictures. Looks like everyone is having a great time.

Susan

Great pictures, Ken & Eugene - I love your blog format, Eugene!

Thanks so much for the pics, Ken and Eugene - everyone looks so happy. Wish we could ALL be there!!!

Ken, those pics brought make memories. I'd love to see the dinner and such if anyone has nighttime pics.

Eugene, great pics. Those are as close up to Egypt as my eyes have been!

It looks like everyone is having a great time and having some opportunities of a lifetime.

Anne,

You absolutely ruined Marc's day.... triple tokens.... you were right, poor man about fell off his chair. :D

Keep the sea mail coming... sounds like a wonderful trip so far.

Eugene - your photos brought back great memories. But how did you get that camera in the mosque?

Ken - it's time for more photos!

Betty, there was no problem in taking photos in the Mosque. Maybe the rules have changed. Glad you were able to see them. I know they posted in a strange place.

Meanwhile, I'm updating my blog with our experiences up to yesterday in Salalah, Oman, which was very interesting.

The Camel races were great fun today, and I'm sure pictures will be posted soon.

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Eugene

With many Europeans on board, do the public areas seem any more smokey than on Regent? Or, is smoke from someone's balcony affect anyone? This is the main reason we have not considered Silversea. Also wonder if the ship seems a bit "too small".

Keep up the wonderful seamail!

Travelcat - this is simply anecdotal information, but I'd say 'yes' to more smokers. The pool deck has lots of ash trays, and I was walking by folks snuffing their cigarettes before they boarded the elevators. That said, I haven't been bothered by smoke at all, either in the cabin or public areas. The balconies are separated by full metal dividers, so no problem for us on that front. Is the ship too small? I miss the fourth restaurant on mariner/voyager. That said, I found myself really liking Explorer II in Antarctica. My best take is there's a different rhythm on Silversea than Regent. I'm still adapting to it. Some parts of the service are items that make lots of sense vs. Regent; others seem out of phase. I'll let you know what I think after the full trip is complete. Has anyone else aboard had a different experience re: Travelcat's questions?

Today was our second sea day. We set the alarm to put the laundry out prior to 9 am; then slept til close to 10. We had the ‘what do you think of xxx’ questionnaire waiting when we returned. We got an immediate response from the hotel director. That’s a plus with Silversea – they are on top of guest needs and comments

We had the camel races today. There was no shortage of costume dressing. Egyptian, Nubian, O – Man –ia, Saudi, UAE, you name it, we wore it. Seven camel jockeys lined up on a track for King’s Cup contestants. No No Suzette riding ‘Big and Rich’; Maria Sheila Del Bra riding ‘Catch me if you ken’ Tassie from Australia; Camel Liz Marilyn riding ‘Silver Seabiscuit Steve’s Desert Destroyer’; Leggy Peggy riding ‘Jerry Jamel’; Gobaad Gail riding ‘Turkamon Eugene’; Senorita Evita Michelita riding ‘Sheik Yerbouti Don’; and Luxor Linda riding ‘RonJon Sand Surfer’. Luxor Linda had illegally scratched in China, so the authorities pulled her riding rights.

It was a spirited race, with the crowd alternately roaring and moaning according to their camel’s progress (or lack thereof). In the end, our favorite No No Suzette pulled it out in a photo finish over Leggy Peggy. Luxor Linda won ‘Miss Congeniality”, scoring a decayed camel tooth from the back canyons of Petra. No No Suzette got the paper poppy blanket, the ‘winner’ cup, the Godiva Chocolates and a $1 bill tucked into her bosom by an unnamed admirer.

We moved on to trivia, where we fluffed our answers. In the words of Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi, ‘No tokens for us!; As Scarlett from ‘Gone With The Wind’ counsels, ‘Tomorrow is Another Day’. We enjoyed Giselle’s songs from Barbara Streisand et al, then moved on to a turkey and Minnesota wild rice dinner in The Restaurant with Michele and Don. Now it’s bedtime. Tomorrow? Good question, but we are gunning for more triple tokens at trivia. Marc, we NEED you.

We are rounding the narrows shortly between Yemen and Somolia, a/k/a Pirate Alley. Assuming all goes well, we may think about a Pirates of the Carribean party .. and then again, maybe not. May the force be with us.

Cheers, Cleo

Great to hear from you Anne - love the reports. Hi to everyone - you all are missed. Joanna

Great posts and pics! Sounds like you are all having a great time and we all wish we were there with you. Keep up the great reports!

Anne, I love your reports! Camel races sounds like so much fun. Congrats to No No Suzette!!!
Please keep the SeaMail flowing!!!!!!

More photos, PLEASE!!!!!!

Continuing to enjoy the reports. Thanks for posting.

Anne, I always have the biggest smile across my face when I read your seamail! Love hearing from you. Sounds like everyone is having a great time!

Good to hear from all of you, too. Wish you could all be here with us. It's another great B&K cruise group in a part of the world best visited by ship. It doesn't get a whole lot better than this.

Mitch, do you believe we ALL fluffed the answer to the Hurricane that starts with an M which caused serious damange in the Honduras in 1998? Marilyn, Michelle, Mark .. and here the right answer was MITCH. Aaarg!

The sun is just coming up and the seas remain as smooth as silk. Our captain says it looks like the sea conditions will continue at least up through the Suez Canal, and likely the whole way to Athens. That would be grand.

Cheers, Anne

Hi everyone, I've just updated our blog with a report on the Camel Races. I'm sure there will be others with more pictures.

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Eugene

Happy you had a wonderful time with the Camel races. Can't wait to see pictures!

Travelcat, I'm in the Voyager computer room now and just asked a British lady who regularly goes on Silversea about the smoking. She said that it has never been a problem or issue for them (she and her husband have never smoked). I know quite a few RSSC full WCers from previous years that canceled Regent WC and went on Silversea instead because their smoking policy is much "friendlier" than Regents.

Jackie (Travelcat) - We have not noticed any smoking issues whatever. Even in The Bar, which has a smoking side, we don't notice any smell of smoke if we aren't on that side. There is one rather whacky lady from a large country in S. America where everyone speaks Portuguese who lights up in the corridor before she even enters The Bar. Aside from her, we've seen no one abuse the non-smoking areas.

We love the ship and don't find it "too small". Now that we have the traffic pattern down and don't keep running into dead ends on certain decks, we enjoy the set-up of the ship. There is a problem with A/C in one of the upper lounges - the bartender told us that engineering is trying to figure it out. Our cabin, fortunately, is a very pleasant 68 or 69 F.

This morning we passed through an area within the famous Somali pirate zone; but (rats!!!!) we didn't see a sign of any pirates. I had my camera all set, too. When I was doing my morning walk in the outside steam room (also called the jogging track), I kept a good lookout for any small fast boats approaching the Whisper, all in vain.

No other news that hasn't been reported by others, except for my scoop that Suzanne appears to be practicing for her next cruise on Carnival by sitting up on the pool deck and taking photos of hairy backs. Next she'll be requesting that the elegant tea time be replaced by three-legged races and wet t-shirt contests. (No, Karen, I am not slandering Suzanne by making up the hairy back photos - it's all too sadly true - perhaps the result of too much sun and chardonnay, no??)

Oops, time for trivia. Maybe we'll recover our dignity from yesterday's dreadful loss.

Cheers from the land of camels and abayas, Fred

Eugene - your blog is wonderful. But when it comes to Camel race photos - MORE, MORE, MORE! Please.

Thanks for the posts and especially the pictures. Eugene, I love your blog. -- Can’t wait to hear about everyone’s adventures in Jeddah.

Merril

Photos from Salalah, Oman & B&K Camel Races:












frankincense Tree

Anne Gives Suzie a Hug


Don, Our Bookie


Marilyn


Shiela


Peggy


Gail


Michele


Suzanne wins the race without spilling a drop of Champagne

Linda wins Miss Congeniality




Eugene gets a Kiss from Suzanne

What a great laugh to start off the weekend with. Looks like lots of fun.

Susan

THanks for posting these...ooo...so much fun!!

Hilarious! WHERE in the world did Suzie get her " outfit??"

Leave it to Suzie to bring her bikini - what a body!!! Love all the outfits, men and women, outstanding - thanks Ken - Joanna

How wonderful. Each one better than the other. Joanna, Suzie probably "knew" how hot the weather was going to be & packed the "correct" clothing. Impossible to pick a favorite costume. Ken definitely caught the feel of Marilyn & Michele strutting their "stuff!"
And Suzanne - what can I say. Last year you were "captured" by Ken's camera sipping your mint julep during the Derby race & didn't win. Well done this time!!!!!!!
Well done, all.

"petlover" and "freddie" thanks so much for addressing my smoking issues! We are loving all of the posts from "Camel". :pass:

Jackie (Travelcat)

Don gets my vote for "Bookie of the year"!!!

Great pictures Ken! You can tell what a wonderful time everyone is having! Glad the clothes worked out well.
Keep having a blast!

What a terrific itinerary this has been & what a great group of folks we’re enjoying. I’m so glad Ken has been able to get some photos downloaded into the Internet. This is my 4th try just to get a message posted. We’ve loved dressing up – Marcie, thanks for sending us Tom’s ensemble for Don to wear. He is having so much fun wearing it – especially yesterday as the Bookie. He’s becoming a fan of Arabic men's clothing. (I certainly can't say that when wearing the women's Abaya's & head gear! Mercy!) An Arabian Night will be the next opportunity to let it rip & dress up.
Speaking of women’s attire, we had lessons today on “how to properly wear the Abaya’s scarf while in Saudi Arabia”. We were warned, also, to keep all blonde hair out of sight. We’ll see how successful we are; hopefully, none of us will be confronted by the Religious Police over a single strand showing. We, also, had a lengthy discussion pre-lunch today over “what to wear underneath the Abaya without passing out from the heat”. It’s SO HOT, I can’t imagine wearing long pants….oh to be able to wear a swimsuit underneath. …We will have to be very inventive for this adventure...& brave.
;) :p