Recommendation: High on our list was the optional camel ride at the Pyramids. But be cautioned -- this is for the physically capable only. Camels are a lot taller than you think! Also, there is not a platform for boarding. The camel will be on its belly when you get on its hump. Now imagine what will happen as it straightens its front legs first (hold on!), then its back. Do not tip your camel leader until you are safely off, or else they will get you twice. Yes, it's terrifying and stinky, but it is so worth it! Make sure to smile for the ship photographers who manage to get a wonderful shot of you on your camel in front of Khufu's Pyramid - one of our favorite souvenirs. (Yes, the photographers came all the way to Cairo to take our picture!)

Beware: you will be overwhelmed by the number and aggressiveness of vendors who approach you from the second you are off your camel until you are back in the bus. Ignore them, avert your eyes, and keep your money close, or else you risk not being able to truly take in the wondrous Pyramids. We were so aggressively pursued that we had to stop and tell ourselves to look at the Pyramids. The vendors can be very friendly. In fact, I was offered 100 camels for my "very beautiful daughter." I took my daughter's picture with the handsome young man as he put a traditional headdress on her. A fun experience, but be prepared and cautious.

By the way, our boat continued sailing while we were touring and picked us up at Port Said (just past the Suez Canal). Cool.

After fifteen hours, we were anxious to get on board the ship, but unlike the staggered arrivals on the other optional tours, in Egypt buses must arrive together. Therefore, all 800 passengers were trying to board through one entrance at the same time, with aggressive vendors lined up all along the way. This is not Royal Olympic's fault -- this is the way the immigration process takes place in Port Said. If you haven't had enough cheap souvenirs and aggressive vendors by then, you never will!

We picked up a pizza at the pizza bar for a very late dinner because in just a few hours, we would wake up in Israel, ready for another long and memorable day.

Ashdod, Israel
We chose the tour "Jerusalem and Bethlehem with Lunch." This is the day to dress nicely. Ladies should wear long skirts or dresses with shoulders covered, and men should wear long pants and a nice shirt. We visited some of the holiest sights in the world for Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We saw the Church of Nativity, the birthplace of Christ, the Church of Gethsemene, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Christ was crucified, and the Wailing Wall and the Dome of the Rock. We were fortunate enough to have a wonderful guide, sensitive and knowledgeable, for this Holy Land tour. The souvenir of choice is a Jerusalem Cross, which we had blessed by a priest in the Church of Nativity.

The day is overwhelming, but in a good way. No matter what your beliefs, you will spend the day knowing that many wondrous things have occurred in this city. Although we are glad we have pictures of our visits, it felt somewhat disrespectful at the time to take them (even though we were told repeatedly that it was okay). In retrospect, we wish we would have just bought postcards and left ourselves to freely experience the holiest places on Earth without the distraction of searching out those "Kodak moments."

We finally got to sleep in on the next day, as our ship did not arrive in Rhodes until afternoon. So we explored the nightlife, meeting up with our tablemates for an after-dinner show in the Alexander Lounge. There was so much to do on this "small" ship and so little time because of the busy itinerary. Checking out the boat photographer's pictures was a nightly not-to-be-missed routine. We were so happy with our camel pictures!

Rhodes, Greece
Although two optional tours were offered, we opted to explore on our own. This is very do-able. However, Rhodes is a walled city. Be aware of where the entrances and exits are. Enough said. People who went on the optional tours enjoyed them. We found and explored the "Old City." It was full of interesting sites and great shopping. Without a guide, we were unsure just what it was we were seeing, but enjoyed it nevertheless. Truthfully, we needed the day off of the buses, and found that the break left us better able to listen to the information that was shared on the next two tours in Turkey.

That night on the ship for us was "Greek Night." Buy something Greek to wear! The dining room staff was even more excited than usual to share with us some of their traditional Greek dishes. We are not real adventurous eaters and could not appreciate the octopus (complete with suckers) and other Greek delights, but then we are just two gals from Ohio. The dinner was triumphantly brought to a close when the lights were dimmed and every waiter paraded in with a brightly-flaming Baked Alaska. We appreciated the presentation and effort.

Istanbul, Turkey
Recommendation: Make sure you are out on deck during the approach to the port of Istanbul. The scenery is magnificent. You will be in the only city in the world that spans two continents! Once again, for the optional tours, dress appropriately for a mosque -- this time, The Blue Mosque. Also, you might want to rent and watch the OO7 movie, "From Russia with Love." Warning: If you are not in the market for a very expensive Turkish rug, you might want to try to go directly to the Grand Bazaar (not the flea market we pictured, but a beautiful enclosed area of over 4000 shops!), rather than sit in on a sales pitch that is billed as a demonstration of the making of traditional Turkish carpets. Although we did get a free drink, we would have rather spent that additional time in the Bazaar. Enjoy the Blue Mosque, the Church of Agia Sophia, the Cisterns, the Hippodrome, and Grand Bazaar. Barter, barter, barter!

Warning! If you use the bathroom here, ladies, be prepared for the possibility of it being just a "hole." If you get the opportunity, have some apple tea, a Turkish specialty. Sometimes while you shop, if you are seriously shopping, you will be offered a drink. We were pleasantly surprised with the beauty and cleanliness of Istanbul, and the friendliness of its people.

Kusadasi, Turkey
For our tour today, we chose "Kusadasi - Ancient Ephessos." Our guide had a Ph.D in archeology and participates for one month each year in the digs at Ephessos. We marveled at the Great Theater (where St. Paul preached), the Library of Celsus, and the Forum. This tour is relatively short, about 3 1/2 hours, and it is very easy to remain captivated as the guide tells the history of the ancient city.

Recommendation: Be sure to have your picture taken sitting on one of the ancient toilets! Your boat photographer will be busy taking many pictures today. Make sure you get in as many as possible -- one is a panorama in front of the Great Theater.

Our bus returned us close to our boat, but in the middle of Kusadasi's shopping district. We greatly enjoyed shopping at a small jewelry shop, conversing with a Romanian sales clerk while sipping hot apple tea. We also went to the Kismet Internet Café, on the third floor with a truly magnificent view of the Aegean Sea, to e-mail home. Hint: The internet cafés are an excellent way to stay in touch with the family back home. For the equivalent of $5, we had 20 minutes on the internet and 2 cokes! Sure beats the cost of calling from the ship! Prepaid phone cards are also a good value.

Recommendation: After getting back on the boat, we recommend that you take a Dramamine. For about four hours of sailing from Kusadasi to Mykonos, we had very rough seas and high winds. We have heard ours wasn't the only sailing to experience that. Our balcony was on the 6th deck and we took on about an inch of water -- and it wasn't raining!

Mykonos
This is the only day that we stopped in two ports. Still, it was not a rushed day, because we sailed and relaxed for 4-5 hours in-between. Once again, we had to disembark by tenders, and this time, a bus ride was needed to get to the tourist area. This was the second time that we declined the optional tour. The tour offered was mainly a dinner. We had proven to ourselves this trip that we are not that adventurous when it comes to eating strange food! We were with our new friends from South Africa, and we shopped, did some sightseeing, and enjoyed a glass of wine at an outdoor café with the surf splashing us against the seawall. It was a beautiful but sad night; we were hardly ready for this trip to be over. We knew we would sail at midnight toward Athens, and then a 12-hour flight to Atlanta, GA, followed by a short flight to Cincinnati and home.

Recommendation: In Mykonos, make sure you get off the boat as soon as possible. We heard some passengers complaining that by the time they got to Mykonos, it was so late that they didn't even get off the bus. We had what seemed plenty of time, but we did make a point to get off the ship soon after stopping.

Food Aboard

I hardly feel qualified to critique the food on the ship. But I must say we weren't the only ones to complain a little bit about the lack of choices in the Selene dining room at dinner. I remember one night that seafood was the only appetizer, and I can remember only one chicken dish being offered that week. The food was beautifully presented, and graciously served, but I think the cooks needed a little more time to work out seasoning and cooking such a large quantity of food. The pizza bar served pizzas quickly, but lacked a sauce that could be tasted; the crust was underdone the two times that we ate it. The buffet in the Garden Lounge always offered enough variety, and we enjoyed being able to choose whether to eat indoors or out. Breakfast was fine and we enjoyed the fresh fruit. This is my only cruise, but I was surprised that soft drinks were not included.

Disembarkation

We had a short meeting on Thursday to discuss Saturday's disembarkation. They had thought of everything. Our cruise director had been terrific the whole trip. Passengers were leaving for different post-cruise packages and many different flights and hotels. From all we saw, things went smoothly. One thing that I would do differently if I ever have the opportunity is to stay on the ship until the last moment and get a taxi to the airport if I have an afternoon flight. We left the ship at 8:15 A.M. and our flight was not until 1:20 P.M. We could have stayed on the ship until 9:30 and taken a cab. It was such a long day anyway that I would have enjoyed those last minutes aboard.

Some Final Thoughts

The Olympic Voyager is the fastest ship of its class cruising today, achieving 27 knots and capable of more. Whether or not that is the cause of the vibration, I don't know. It was very noticeable our first day and night onboard. After that, we found it soothing and missed it the first night we slept off the boat. Our ship was able to achieve its speed partly because of a sleek monohull design. (Don't ask me what that is.) We found the ship to be beautiful, not only for the choice of woods and fabrics, but also for the unique artwork.

The passengers were a mix from 25 countries, Americans accounting for the most, with Japanese possibly being second. Our crew was international, and spoke an impressive number of languages. The entertainment was short of what a megaship could do, but was just fine for our ship and the small amount of time that the ambitious itinerary allowed. Reading the literature that I received before sailing, I was led to believe that the ship was more formal than it was. I was glad that there was a time and place to wear shorts, and a time and place to dress up. Not having access to a Laundromat was not a problem for the two of us, but if I had been traveling with the whole family, I would have missed that.

Our room was equipped with one 110-volt outlet, and we were able to use our curling iron without an adapter. A hairdryer was in the bathroom. Our ship lacked a full wraparound promenade deck. Personally, I got enough exercise touring, and was happy to lounge on our balcony. Even though this was no megaship, there were many things offered that I never had time to try out. I don't regret at all being on a relatively small ship and would choose this type ship again. I hear that another just like this (Olympic Explorer) will be ready to sail in May of 2001 with an Athens to Venice itinerary. Sounds so good!!

The greatest advantage of this trip was definitely the 3-continent itinerary. The cruise director and tour director and staff did everything to prepare us for these wonderful tours. I still marvel at how well they could take 800 people and get them on buses with guides speaking the right languages and do it so quickly.

Our sky suite was a luxury that may be a once-in-a-lifetime treat for me, but I'll always remember it with such joy. What a way to live -- even if only for 7 days and nights!