Finally on the Nile

Written Monday 25 Feb 2013
Pati and Beebee are onboard the MS Domina Prestige for their trip on the Nile this week. The ship starts up the Nile (south) at 9:30 tonight. Tomorrow they meet with their group with their tour guide/Egyptologist to get the lowdown. Then the first excursion is sometime in the afternoon.
The group has 26 people plus a business guy plus the guide. Pati and Beebee are the only Americans in the group (probably the only Americans on the ship - maybe in Egypt). The other 24 in the group are British. Pati used a British tour company that he found on the internet, with very good reviews.

There are 72 cabins on this ship, so there are more than 140 passengers. There are other tour groups, each speaking their own country's language: so far German and Japanese have been overheard. Each tour group is seated together. The British group fills 3 tables at meals.

This afternoon Beebee had a leg/foot massage for 100 Egyptian pounds (around $16 US). Pati checked out the "hot tub" but didn't get in because it was icy cold. The swimming pool is cold too.

Pati and Beebee bought the all-inclusive drinks package so that they can get drinks "free" between 11:30 am and 11:30 pm each day. That includes bottled water, soft drinks, tea, coffee, juices, and alcoholic drinks. They have to pay for drinks outside that time, except at meals. Wine is only available at meals. It is VERY important to collect enough bottled water while it is "free," for use in the cabin and on tours. Passengers use bottled water to drink and to brush their teeth and tap water for bathing.

Beebee has sent a bundle of clothes to the laundry (happy happy joy joy) for about $20 US.

Internet access is available in the lobby for 20 Egyptian pounds (less than $3) for 1 hour, but the whole hour is used at once. That means writing all drafts offline and then posting in one marathon session.



Happy side note: Pati first made the round trip plane reservations between Cairo and Luxor using Expedia. However, Beebee became concerned about the short time they would have to switch planes when they got back to Cairo next week, since the first flight is domestic and the next flight is international, using 2 different terminals and having to handle their luggage themselves (not connecting flights). So Pati cancelled the Expedia flights (the agent couldn't figure out how to change just the return flight; her final suggestion was for Pati to change the flight in person after arriving in Luxor) and made the flight reservations directly with EgyptAir. When they got on the Cairo-to-Luxor flight, looking for seats in row 21, they found themselves seated in the second row. First/Business class! Beverages before takeoff! Meal service first! First bus to the terminal upon landing! And the best part - business class cost less through EgyptAir than coach cost through Expedia!

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The Plate Warrior (a pre-quel to Thunderbowl)

Beebee and Pati decided to have a quick light meal in the Lido Deck self service dining area. They found a time and place where food was the most precious thing on Earth (actually, on water) despite the surplus. Sparks flew from silverware moving at blinding speeds and every man (and woman) was a law to him- (or her-) self concerning the direction of the line around each serving station. (Diners on land in civilized countries seem to understand that a line begins at the end with the plates. Diners on this Lido deck understand that they need a plate, but then attack the food from any end or angle, bestowing annoyed looks and snide remarks on those who follow normal conventions.)

The sound system blasted Tina Turner singing "We don't need another hero (but that BLT looks interesting)" while marauders in motorized chairs zoomed from station to station at intimidating speeds. Others stepped suddenly into the paths of unwary passers-by or defiantly walked backwards carrying head-sized mounds of food as trophies. It was gruesome (or at least goosome) - especially when the pitiful remains of plate after plate filled the edges of each dining table. A land of eat or be -- well, that's about it -- just eat. It was like the TV show "The Walking Dead" with a twist: this time it was "The Walking Fed." All those bloated bodies staggering around with Hollandaise dripping from their slack (actually well-toned) jaws.

Many of the diners in the Lido seemed to be in a uniform which consisted of a white Carnival Cruise Line bathrobe and flip-flops. Pati and Beebee saw one of the men in uniform (think Jabba the Hut) and his wife ("Please, call me Chewey!") at a table nearby. A larger robe would have been a fashion plus. Pati thought the uniforms signified a religious order of some kind because of the expressions of bliss (early diabetic coma?) the adherents wore on their faces -- possibly the Order of the Double Cheeseburger. In any case, they chanted something about Friars (or was that friers?).

Just when Pati and Beebee thought it was the end, they found an escape route that none of the plate warriors could use to follow them -- they took the stairs.

Time update: local time = EST + 4
Distance traveled at 7:49 am ship time: 3104 nm
Sea depth: 17,400 ft

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Exercise on the Carnival Destiny

Pati and Beebee try to walk 10,000 steps a day. That's about 5 miles. Exercise on the Destiny requires some creativity.

Of course, there is the gym on deck 10. It has about 16 treadmills (2 not working), a smaller number of elliptical machines, and a small number of spin cycles. There is also a very small number of specialized machines. There are also free weights and a very small area for using them. As might be expected, demand far exceeds capacity. Pati and Beebee were able to find open treadmills for a few days until the rest of the cruisers found the gym; now, every working machine of every type is occupied whenever they check.

For outdoor exercise, there is a jogging track on deck 11 with a circumference of 1/10 mile. Pati and Beebee head up there when the gym is full. The track is oval shaped, with the long legs parallel to the side of the ship. In walking the track counterclockwise (which most cruisers - except Australians - do), the starboard (right) side leg is into the wind and the port (left) side leg has a tailwind. The ship is traveling at around 18 kts almost directly into a wind blowing at 20 to 30 kts. This results in a small tailwind on one side and a headwind of up to 50 knots on the other. That's exercise!

(There is also a compact putt-putt golf course on deck 11 surrounding the smokestack (Carnival's distinctive "tail"). Beebee wonders how far a golf ball might travel if caught in the wind!)

Of course, another obvious form of exercise is just walking around the ship and up and down the stairs. Pati and Beebee's cabin is on deck 7 near the back. Their formal dining room is on deck 3 aft (back) for breakfast and lunch and on deck 4 aft for dinner. The buffet is on the Lido deck (deck 9) aft. There are approximately 20 steps involved in climbing or descending the stairwell between adjacent decks. So, just counting stairwell steps, formal dining requires 120 to 160 steps per meal, and casual dining requires only 80 steps per meal. The entertainment venues are at the front of the ship (forward) on decks 3, 4, and 5, so these require walking almost the entire length of the ship in addition to the stairs. Yes, there are elevators, but those don't require much exercise (except for exercising patience in waiting for them).

Many cruisers seem to be into power lifting. After all, there are 8 utensils with each place setting in the formal dining room. There are only 2 utensils for Ledo deck dining, but cruisers there compensate by increasing the number of reps.

Time update: local time = EST + 4
Distance traveled at 8:13 am: 2700 nm
Sea depth: 10,330

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The World's Lowest Calorie Dish

Last night at dinner, Pati and Beebee selected from among several options the one appetizer labeled as heart-healthy. It was described as tiger shrimp with some additional seafood ingredient.

When the plates arrived, they each contained a small green gelatinous puck topped with one toothpick-sized sprig of green onion stalk, all this surrounded by 6 circular orange smears on the plate.

Pati and Beebee stared at their plates, trying to decide whether some additional ingredient might be arriving on a separate plate. Pati automatically reached for his glasses, hoping the additional magnification might increase the portion size, but gave that up when he realized the futility of it: 2.25 times nothing is still nothing.

The waiter appeared as Pati and Beebee began to scrape the firmly-attached smears from their plates. Beebee asked him "Is this it?" He said it was, and they all had a good laugh.

The puck, though small, was wasabi-flavored and tasty. (How thin were the smears? So thin that the tiger shrimp had lost its stripes.)

As they finished the ersatz appetizer, the waiter re-appeared with shrimp cocktails for them both, which they were happy to get.

There is a lesson here: when the menu says "low calorie," ask yourself (as the wait staff did during their dance performance during the meal) "How low can you go?"

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