A Day At Sea 5/25/1996 A Day To Layback

Cruising From Sicily To Egypt
By Bob Van Leer

(AT SEA, May 25, 1996) - Today was a day to lay back and relax. Our cruise ship, the Eugenio Costa, is plodding along at a steady 21 knots per hour on the 821 nautical mile trip from Catania, Sicily, to Alexandria, Egypt. Plotted on a map, our course is a straight line between the two cities. I expected the Mediterranean to be busier, but we haven't seen another ship since we left Catania. 

  This morning we were invited to tour the bridge with Capt. Elio Rizzi. Son-in-law Dave Shuey and I accepted the invitation and went to take a look. This is an older ship, about 30 years old, but has been kept up to date. The bridge features a digital radar, something I hadn't seen before. Instead of having to use light-tight eyepieces to view radar as has been the standard since radar's invention in World War II, the viewing screen is a large monitor viewable in ordinary daylight. On the radar, we did see another ship. The ship is rated to carry 1100 passengers, but a crew member said there are just under 1000 on board. U. S. citizens are a minority on board. Of the 1000 passenger, 135 are English-speaking, and many of these are from England. There are 150 German-speaking, 10 Spanish-speaking, 20 French-speaking, and the balance of about 685 are Italian-speaking.

  The average age of passengers is younger than on the couple of cruise ships we have been on before. There are a number of children on board, so our three-year-old grandson, Jordan, is able to meet with others his age. Cruise ships, including this one, specialize in food, and it is all included in the price of the ticket. There is no additional charge if you eat all day. It is difficult to avoid overeating. A typical evening meal is six or seven courses. Some form of breakfast is served from 6:30 to 11:00 a.m. in four different serving areas. Lunches are served in three restaurants from noon to 2:30 p.m. This is followed by tea, sandwiches and cake from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Dinner, the main meal of the day, is served in two sittings at 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. After dinner, ice cream is served from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and there is a buffet at midnight. If all this isn't enough, there is 24 hour room service. 

  The ship has a gambling casino aboard, but we haven't seen it very busy yet. It is shut down while in port. For those who want to be entertained, there is something going on most of the day from fun and games with the cruise staff, to a class in Arabic. Tomorrow we are to dock in Alexandria, Egypt, at 8:00 a.m. and leave the ship shortly thereafter for a long day trip to Cairo. The ship will move to Port Said at the entrance to the Suez Canal and we will rejoin it there.