19th November to 23rd December 2023
Who'd have thought it, our third cruise! We'd always said that cruising is not for us and our first time on a cruise ship was just a 'journey', we used it to get back home from Central America in 2017, so we weren't calling it 'a cruise' so it seemed OK. Our second time on a cruise ship was earlier this year when we took Jackie's mum on an eight day cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. At the time we felt it was for her and if we enjoyed it too, so much the better, so we still didn't feel we had chosen a cruise just for us.
This time there is no pretence, we have booked a proper cruise, although the original idea was for it to be a 'journey', for this reason: We have planned for the very near future (our trip after this one) a trip to India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines and on as time allows and Jackie found this cruise which calls at four ports in India, before travelling to the Maldives and Seychelles. What better way of getting to India than by sea, so the idea was born that we could do the cruise as far as India then leave the ship and head off on our own. Unfortunately we didn't continue on the proposed land tour of India, Sri Lanka and on as we hadn't completed on the sale of one of our houses in Alvechurch, so needed to be back to see that through. We therefore did the cruise in its own right, using it as a fact finding trip for when we do head off on our own in early 2024.
The cruise was actually a one way trip to the Seychelles, taking 33 days (it was actually a 96 day trip that carried on round Africa, but 33 days was more than enough for us), with an included flight back to the UK just before Christmas (23rd December) so, technically, it was a journey to the Seychelles (can we still claim it wasn't a cruise?). It was just a pity we had to get a flight back to the UK and then fly out again in early January, but we really needed to be home soon after the house sale finally went through as much needed to be arranged.
We booked this trip with Fred Olsen, the same company we had such a good experience with on the Norwegian Fjord cruise earlier this year and, in fact it is the same ship the Bolette, a small (1300 capacity) ship that suited us better than the huge ships sailing now. It stopped at some really appealing places such as Egypt, the Suez Canal, Saudi Arabia, Oman, India, the Maldives and Seychelles so, although we appreciate we didn't see real life of much further than the port cities, we used it to learn as much as we could about these countries for future visits on our own
Here's more information:
Overview:
Here's a map of our route. To see it properly you'll need to click on the little square in the top right corner which will take it to full screen. It opens a new tab and you'll be able to browse round, zoom in and click on each marker to show more details
Itinerary:
This is as published by Fred Olsen, which they say is subject to change as conditions dictate:
Sun 19 Nov 23 Late pm Southampton, England
Mon 20 Nov 23 Cruising
Tue 21 Nov 23 Cruising
Wed 22 Nov 23 Cruising
Thu 23 Nov 23 Early am Late pm Tangier, Morocco
Fri 24 Nov 23 Cruising
Sat 25 Nov 23 Cruising
Sun 26 Nov 23 Early am Late pm Valletta, Malta
Mon 27 Nov 23 Cruising
Tue 28 Nov 23 Cruising
Wed 29 Nov 23 Early am Late pm Alexandria, Egypt
Thu 30 Nov 23 Early am Late night Port Said, Egypt
Thu 30 Nov 23 Late night Suez Canal Transit SB
Fri 01 Dec 23 Late pm Suez Canal Transit SB
Sat 02 Dec 23 Early am Late night Sharm El Sheik, Egypt
Sun 03 Dec 23 Early am Late night Safaga, Egypt
Mon 04 Dec 23 Cruising
Tue 05 Dec 23 Early am Late pm Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Wed 06 Dec 23 Cruising
Thu 07 Dec 23 Early pm Cruising
Fri 08 Dec 23 Late night Cruising
Sat 09 Dec 23 Early am Late pm Salalah, Oman
Sun 10 Dec 23 Cruising
Mon 11 Dec 23 Cruising
Tue 12 Dec 23 Early am Late pm Mumbai, India
Wed 13 Dec 23 Early am Late pm Mormugão, Goa, India
Thu 14 Dec 23 Early am Late pm Managlore, India
Fri 15 Dec 23 Early am Late pm Kochi (Cochin), Kerala, India
Sat 16 Dec 23 Early am Late pm Uligamu, Maldives
Sun 17 Dec 23 Cruising
Mon 18 Dec 23 Early am Late pm Hithadhoo, Addu Atoll *
Tue 19 Dec 23 Cruising
Wed 20 Dec 23 Cruising
Thu 21 Dec 23 Early pm Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles
Transfer: Transfer Bolette to Airport
Friday 22 Dec 23 Flight: QR679 Seychelles Intl/Manchester Friday 22 Dec 23 Check in: 16:20 Depart: 19:20 Arrive:06:05 Sat
As usual, we wrote blog posts when we could and you read them by clicking on the links below:
Our journey:
19th to 23rd November: https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2023/11/cultural-landmarks-of-egypt-and-india_23.html
24th to 26th November: https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2023/11/cultural-landmarks-of-egypt-and-india_26.html
27th to 30th November: https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2023/11/cultural-landmarks-of-egypt-and-india_30.html
1st to 6th December: https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2023/12/cultural-landmarks-of-egypt-and-india.html
7th to 10th December: https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2023/12/cultural-landmarks-of-egypt-and-india_14.html
11th to 15th December: https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2023/12/cultural-landmarks-of-egypt-and-india_15.html
16th to 22nd December: https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2023/12/cultural-landmarks-of-egypt-and-india_22.html
23rd December: https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-return-home.html
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