So what’s red about the Red Sea?

Quote of the day: “I used my American Express card in Mumbai to get money out of an ATM, and by the time I checked my balance that night, it had been skimmed and there was $6000 worth of travel on it.” Overheard conversation during coffee.

It’s smooth sailing, but the sea isn’t anything red to be seen, despite the name… Relaxing day today for us. Lots of passengers have got themselves wound up because they won’t be getting to the Valley of the Kings. For many, the excursions in Egypt were a major factor for choosing this cruise.

Gossip is rife – there’s talk of the entire cruise having to be abandoned if they can’t fix the engine problems. Apparently it’s something to do with the software that keeps the two engines synchronized. Without that working properly, the ship vibrates too much when both engines are operating, so that’s why we’re running on just the one engine. Experts are meeting us at Port Said, so hopefully it will be sorted out there. In the meantime, even the old freighters are passing us…

My big achievement for the day: I got the washing done!