Hi all Just wishing all our followers a Happy and prosperous New Year for 2015 Two trips organised - the Adriatic in April and New York/Canada in July Hopefully retirement beckons Best wishes to all Alastair & Lin... read more

Our final days at sea since leaving Israel have see us call at Naples, Palma de Mallorca and Lisbon. We have been to Naples & Lisbon so did not do any organised tours and as we are coming to the end o the World Cruise decided to take things easy. We met up in Lisbon with the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria and we are now sailing in convoy to Southampton I will post some pictures when we get home of the last three ports of call. It has been an unforgettable voyage Hope you all enjoyed the blog!! We arrive back in England tomorrw - the 9th, it only seems like yesterday we sailed.... read more

27thApril Suez Canal Transiting the Suez Canal was the link to the Round the World trip – having been through the Panama Canal (seems like an age ago) this was another man made link that took us from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, the northern terminus is Port Said and the southern terminus is Port Tawfiq at the city of Suez. The canal is 120 miles long, 79 ft deep and 673 ft wide, it consists of the northern access channel 14 miles, the canal itself of 101 miles and the southern access channel of 6 miles. The canal is single lane with passing places in the "Ballah By-Pass" and the Great Bitter Lake. It contains no locks; seawater flows freely through the canal. In ... read more

18/19thApril Dubai, UAE We had planned to do a city tour in the afternoon but it was the World Voyage Gala Dinner that evening (early). The dinner was at the Madinet Jumeirah in Dubai (next to the Burj Al Arab) and was for all world travellers about 500 of us. Dubai, another fastest growing city (so the blurb says), a real city of contrasts. Its evolution from a collection of Bedouin settlements around Dubai creek to a city of skyscrapers, Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world. Dubai is the second largest of the Emirates, but unlike the others is not over dependent on oil revenue. After the pearl industry collapsed, gold became a dominant influence (legal & illegal) with some countries. It has a huge re-export trade, a flourishing trade particularly with ... read more

16thApril At Sea, Straits of Hormusz Now that I’m up to date We are ab1out to arrive in Abu Dhabi a day early Yesterday the 15th April we had to do an emergency drop off of two passengers at Muscat, Oman. We had been steaming at full speed to arrive early evening for the transfer. Whilst we did not stop it now puts us ahead of schedule for Abu Dhabi Also we have lost our Egypt ports of call because of unrest and are now spending two days in Haifa, Israel... read more