March 2017
Royal Caribbean regularly repositions at least one ship between western Europe in the summer and Australia in the (northern) winter. The entire journey is broken into three cruises which are sold separately, one between Australia and Singapore, one between Singapore and Dubai, and one between Dubai and western Europe, passing through the Suez Canal. The latter leg can, at times, be very inexpensive and we have taken it twice, once to Rome and once to Barcelona.
The Suez canal is a sea-level canal. There are no locks. It is also one way, with the northbound ships having the right of way. There are several lakes along the canal where southbound ships can pull over to allow the northbound caravan to pass.
The west bank of the canal is within irrigation range of the Nile and there are several small towns along the bank. The east bank, the Sinai peninsula, is entirely arid.
Each ship transiting the canal must hire a tugboat to accompany her through the passage.
Our two surviving canal pictures show one of the canal ferries and a generic view of the landscape.
Small Wide World 