Port Said - Egypt - Suez Canal.

On my morning walk around the 'parish' I bumped into Mrs Yvonne Brine who is enjoying her cruise with us. Yvonne was on her mobile phone to her daughter Ann at the time. Yvonne waved me over and handed me the phone so I had a chat with her daughter Ann whom I had met years ago on Canberra. I also spoke to Ann's 7 year son Alex who was getting ready for school at the time. Ann said Alex could not quite take in the fact that he was taking to the 'man on the web' as he refers to me. Yvonne was on board Canberra from 1990 to 1993 when I was new to that ship and working as Deputy Purser, relieving in the roles of Accommodation, Food and Beverage and Administration. Yvonne has very fond memories of her time on Canberra. I did tell Ann that I would be mentioning her in the blog today - and hello to my youngest fan Alex!!
The above photo was taken at the aft end of Deck 9 by the Aquarius Pool.

James at Port Said with my favourite ship in the fleet.

Good Day All,

A beautiful day here in Port Said. Our Agents and Officials boarded the vessel at 0600 hours today so it was an early start for all. All tours were dispatched smoothly and our Coach Convoys are on their way to the Pyramids and other locations. The local stall holders are eagerly setting out their wares to catch as much trade as possible during our stay in port. Port Said is such an interesting place as you can see in the photos below.

Arcadia will be sailing at 0030 hours to transit the Suez Canal.

This photo was taken from the Bridge - as you can see we are pointing in the right direction and ready to sail into the Canal.

Caroline Norman our Passenger Services Manager on the quayside to oversee the disembarkation of our passengers this morning - something our customers love - Officers in charge in white uniforms - no matter where you go in the world is is reassuring to know that we are there to take care of you.

Obviously timings are only a guide as we are completely at the mercy of the canal authorities ( as we are when we go through the Panama canal). There is an air of excitement about as we all know that once we are through the canal we really are in 'foreign' waters and really getting on our way on this Grand Voyage. For us Mariners the Mediterranean is local!

As requested here are some photographs of Arcadia from the Aft. She is looking SPECTACULAR! I envy those folks in those aft balconies - what a way to travel.

Meet Arcadia's Staff Captain Kevin Oprey. A delight to sail with Kevin.

Below is an aft and Starboard Side View.



The Sun Loungers at Neptune Pool have attracted much interest from our blog readers. I am happy to confirm there are three positions in which to choose and if all else fails you can lie flat! The original beds were fondly referred to as back breakers!! They must be in a landfill in Germany now - rest in peace.....

I had good fun at my Gold Tier Portunus Lunch yesterday dining with 7 passengers who were new to me. It is always good to meet loyal customers who love our Ships. Currently I am sitting in my office here with Trevor Connolly our Executive Chef and Carl Luxford our Food and Beverage Manager discussing ideas for the Grand Voyage Lunch on the 18th and 20th January. We are racking our brains to come up with something special that our passengers will not have already experienced in the voyage to day. The GVL is exclusively for those passengers who are going all the way from Southampton to Southampton, it is always a memorable occasion and hosted by the Ship's Officers.

Back to more ship's Hotel business with the Ministers for Housing and Welfare - pictured here is Caroline Norman our Passenger Services Manager and Stephen Radford our Accommodation Manager. We make a good team.

I have taken a lot of photos today so hope you enjoy them. My team loved their TFT ( thought for today) yesterday so I am letting you have it today! Enjoy......and the Purser mentioned on the comments today by Geoff from Perth must be Mr Chris Bullen who is Executive Purser on board mv AURORA.

Best wishes meantime,

James.

'Great Journeys are accomplished by taking one step at a time,even so an excellent life is realised by living one decisive day at a time'