Today, we transited the Suez Canal from north to south, from Port Said to the town of Suez. The ship entered the canal about 5:30 in the morning while we were still asleep, although the captain had announced yesterday that we had an 8:00 a.m. time slot scheduled for entry. We expected to be anchored outside waiting for our time by 3:00 a.m., and I guess they wanted us to go in early with at least one other ship, a cargo ship I could see behind us. Ships go through the canal in convoys because there are sections that can only accommodate one-way traffic and going together in the same direction more efficiently takes care of the traffic so more ships can go through each day. I had the alarm set for us to get up in time to see the entrance to the canal, but we missed it with the change in plans.

We exited the canal around 3:30 p.m. I just missed seeing the exit, too, since I was in the launderette finishing up my first visit there. When I returned to our suite, the city of Suez was just visible in the distance behind. Although there had been an announcement, I did not hear it in the launderette. This cruise line prides itself on not disturbing passengers with lots of general announcements. They are very rare and only audible in the public areas or on the ship captain's TV channel. I feel like we have missed out on some things that I might have liked knowing about since the announcements are done so subtly. But then we also don’t have to listen to a lot of things that don’t apply to us. The only announcement that we have heard from the speaker inside our suite was on embarkation day when they advised everyone about the mandatory safety drill. Since then, the speaker has been quiet.

We tried the beginners’ bridge class this morning, but probably won’t go back for other sessions of it. The teacher may be a great bridge player, but her teaching skills are marginal. We want to relearn how to play since it’s been years since we played regularly, but will have to do that at another time and place.

Before dinner, we went to a party for all the new-to-Seabourn cruisers hosted by the officers and other crew. I expected the attendance to be small since most everyone we have met has been on multiple Seabourn cruises. However, the turnout was large—probably 60-70 people. We met a couple from Melbourne that were fun to talk to and ended up going to dinner with them, too.

We went to the after-dinner show for the first time. The Seabourn singers and dancers performed their show "Like a Rock". It was a collection of light rock from the 60s and 70s. All five singers were fine and each had at least one solo performance. The two dancers were a bit quirky for my taste, but were energetic and upbeat. They were accompanied by a small group of one each guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums. All-in-all, a nice show lasting about 45 minutes.