Dawn Princess World Cruise 2010 - Wednesday June 16, 2010

Day 27 Along the coast of Yemen
A large white banner hangs from the side of the ship saying to the pirates, “Security warning, keep 50 metres away from this ship.” There are high pressure hoses in position all around the decks. However, there has been no sight of pirates, thanks be to God. Today was extremely rough and the splash from the waves at times came as high as our level six window. We went to a tour presentation telling us about the excursions available in Egypt. Then we attended another presentation by Allam Akram who is an Egyptologist. He spoke about the History, Culture, Geography and Population of Egypt. I did not realize that the local Egyptians call their country Misr and not Egypt. Allam said that Egyptians who do not travel would not know what you were talking about if you referred to their country as Egypt. Evidently, Egypt was the name given by the Greeks and accepted by the western world but Misr was the name given by the Arabs. Tonight was another formal night and despite the movement of the ship they still completed the champagne waterfall where they pile over 600 champagne glasses up and fill them with champagne until it overflows like a waterfall. After dinner, Valerie, Tom, Bill and I listened to a pianist play a white grand piano while we chatted, then Bill and I went to the top deck to watch Laurence Olivier in the 1948 production of Hamlet. (Barbara) The ship is now being run by Italian officers who were introduced to the passengers tonight. An unscheduled overnight stop will happen in Port Said to give the technical people a chance to check out the ship re the problem we had yesterday. (Bill) "Give all men your ears but very few your voice" (A not so well known quote from Hamlet)