A Change of Itinerary

Just after we left Muscat there was an outbreak of Norovirus on board. This is exceptionally rare on the Queen Mary 2.

Apparently a group of about 20 British people staying in a hotel overnight in Dubai prior to embarking on the ship carried the infection on board.

Unfortunately somehow I succumbed to it.

The ship very quickly became infected and almost as quickly the ship’s crew responded to the outbreak and sanitation processes became a normal way of life. Anybody that was infected was basically quarantined for 48 hours.

On our arrival in Salalah, further along the coast in Oman we were refused permission to go ashore. In fact there were protracted negotiations from the ship’s medical team to be allowed to send a cardiac patient ashore for further treatment. So early after lunch we left and headed towards Aqaba in Jordan. The stock in Jordan was highly anticipated by many on board and at least 700 guests were anxiously looking forward to a trip to Petra.

The Jordanian government however put a stop to all this. They refused the ship entry even into Jordanian waters. There were deputations even from the foreign office all to no avail and so Plan B went into operation.

On a purely selfish front Plan B worked in my favour. I was not able to actually get off the ship at the to cancelled ports.

Plan B was to accelerate our journey through to the Suez Canal, dock a day earlier in Cyprus and add an extra shore day in Israel. Both destinations where I can get off the ship and explore.

So on to the Suez Canal.