As a treat for our 65th birthdays, we signed up for this voyage of a lifetime.
We figured that if there was no military coup in Egypt or we didn't run into pirates off the Somalian Coast we would be fine!The Egyptians had recently widened the 193km-long canal to allow two convoys moving in opposite directions to pass each other at one point.
Previously one convoy would have to move into the Great Lakes area to wait for the other to pass.
We left Port Said at 3am and entered the Suez Canal with an entourage of three tug boats and two pilots. A fine haze prevented us from seeing the other ships in our convoy but what an interesting trip ensued.
On the port side was the Sinai Desert. Desolate. Mountains of sand and more sand. Every 500m we saw military barracks and individual sentries posted on top of a lonely dune.
Their solitary footprints in the sand told their own story.
White bakkies packed with soldiers waving flags were racing up and down the road that ran parallel with the canal.
Occasionally we would see a palace made out of sandstone or perhaps a memorial of some sort.
By contrast, the countryside to starboard was lush and green with palm trees and palatial estates.
A high wall separated the canal from the road, which was very busy with trucks and cars.
There were military barracks every 500m and soldiers and sentries with guns everywhere.
Every so often they would whistle and wave. A helicopter flew over us, crisscrossing from side to side. We were very impressed when military fighter jets flew overhead too.
The ships passing through the canal definitely enjoy a high level of security. We presumed that, because they paid so much to travel the route, this was what they actually paid for (we were told that it cost our ship some $700,000 to use this route).The bridges that spanned the canal were majestic in their construction and unique in their design.
Eventually with aching eyes and stiff necks we returned to our cabin to find there was no TV. It was a bit annoying as we had been enjoying CNN news and the Italian TV channel. We seemed to be cut off from the world.
That evening the chef outdid himself - or should I say the chefs, as there are about 70 of them on board - as they treated us to an amazing array of Middle Eastern dishes.
It was only the following day when we had come out of the canal and into the Red Sea and sailed on into Israeli waters that news reached us from the outside world - and we were horrified!
A Russian plane had been blown up over the Sinai Desert the previous day and it was thought to be an act of terrorism.
No wonder there was so much visible military action all around us through the Suez - what a target we would have made.
Despite the distant threat we were very impressed with the whole experience and continued to enjoy a wonderful cruise back home. 
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