Day Ninety Six - April 11 Thank you to our friends, David and Gail from London, who referred us to our tour guide. When we arrived at our hotel on Sunday evening with Keith, Ilona, Ron and Diana the decision was made to start early. We have a two day tour Monday and Tuesday with a private guide named Josh. He met us at our hotel, The Dan Panorama Hotel at 09:00 on the first day and will be spending the night with us at the hotel Monday night. While leaving...

Day Ninety Seven - April 12 Today was our walk through one the holiest places on Earth, The Old City of Jerusalem. Our luggage was packed as we needed to drive to Haifa to meet the ship later that day. An early breakfast for all of us as we wished to be in the city by 08:00 to avoid the expected crowds. This was the first day of Passover and a Kosher breakfast was prepared. No wheat products were available as yeast was not used. The Old City of Jerusalem is d...

Day Ninety Five April 10 - Palm Sunday Welcome to Israel!! I was up at 05:00 to see the ship sail into the port of Ashdod. It is one of three international seaports for Israel with the others being Haifa (the largest) and Eilat. The Nowegian Jade is also in port with its capacity of 2,402 passengers and 1,037 crew. From our stateroom balcony later that morning, I counted 25 ships waiting outside the harbour to either unload their goods or to load goods o...