Americans’ Dilemma: Safe on Ship or Ashore

April 17: “We will play the news of the bombing in five minutes.” This portentous message boomed over World Discoverer’s intercom as she serenely sailed over a calm Red Sea toward Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.

“What bombing?” We were participants on the last of a series of Society Expeditions’ Halley’s comet cruises, Project Arabia. The original itinerary had been published ages ago, before the Achille Lauro hijacking and before the burning of the tourist hotels in Cairo.

We had been scheduled to board our ship at Aden where we would have been the first tourists in decades. But internal strife struck Aden and made headlines throughout the world. So we boarded at Al Hudaydah, North Yemen, after a four-day land tour.

Project Arabia was ill-fated from the beginning. Only 62 of us possibly foolhardy travelers had signed up in spite of unsettling news; World Discoverer normally carries 140.

Broadcast of Bombing

The BBC broadcast announced the U.S. bombing of Libya. Here we were on a small cruise ship in the middle of the Red Sea surrounded by Arab nations. Kadafi had announced open season on Americans. We seemed a superb target for terror. The alien that had previously so fascinated us suddenly became deadly.

Cruise director Jac Elofsson told us that the situation would be closely monitored by Society Expeditions in Seattle. “Don’t worry,” he said, “the Saudis are our friends. For now, we will continue as planned.”

Days later, Jac told me that after the broadcast he and the captain had discussed the possibility of turning and running from the Red Sea to safety in the Seychelles islands.

Next morning at 7 a.m. we docked at Jiddah. The next evening after spending a day and night at Taif, we reembarked. We were the first tourist group to spend a night in Saudi Arabia.

Society Expeditions is good at arranging such things. While there, we had bought the two English-language papers whose headlines denounced our bombing, and we had seen an appalling evening TV program showing horribly mutilated children. But no one seemed to hold it against American tourists. All the Saudis we met were utterly charming.

Two days later we stopped for what was to have been a full day of beachcombing and snorkeling at Sharm el Sheikh on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, but clearing into Egypt killed half that day. The Egyptians, though, were friendly; the delay was caused by the system, not the people.

We sailed to Aqaba, and when entering the harbor could see four countries at once: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Egypt. Most of us did not seriously discuss fears but one young woman missed her 5-year-old son and husband and left us at Aqaba, saying: “When I get home I’m going to be on a high for the rest of my life, just being alive.”

Long Bus Trip

We had a five-hour bus trip from Aqaba to Petra and back and then returned by boat to Sharm el Sheikh, and the next day spent seven hours on a bus to visit St. Catherine’s Monastery.

The mountainous Sinai Desert is wild and lonely. Many commented and more thought that two bus loads of tourists in this forbidding land provided splendid targets if anyone wished to kidnap, maim or kill us. “They would never run these buses if there was any danger,” summed up feelings.

After St. Catherine’s we sailed for Suez.

April 22, 10 a.m.: An announcement at the conclusion of the first lecture: “Would passengers please remain in the lecture hall, and would those still in their rooms come up if able to walk.” (The sea had been rough the previous night.) Cruise director Elofsson read us a telex from T. C. Swartz, president of Society Expeditions, urging that we passengers not leave the ship at Port Said as scheduled, but stay aboard and go to Venice.

“However, please be advised that should you disembark in Port Said, you do so at your own risk and we assume no responsibility whatsoever for your safety.”

Torrents of Questions

Questions, torrents of questions. Emily, our graduate student Egyptian expert, said she was getting off in Egypt anyway and would still be happy to lead the extension. The extension was a four-day Society-sponsored excursion deep into Egypt that was scheduled to start at the end of our trip.

4:20 p.m.: Further clarification. The hotels, meals and excursions--everything promised for Cairo--would all be there if anyone wished to go. But the extension was definitely canceled. Passengers still wishing to disembark in Egypt must sign a release to Society.

We anchored in Suez shortly before sunset to wait until morning when we would transit the canal in convoy. Lateen-rigged sailboats clustered tight about World Discoverer, and an array of leather hassocks, beaten brass platters and urns were offered to us by robed merchants who climbed their boats’ masts to display their wares.

Not many of us were in the mood to buy. That night at dinner, I sat with a couple who had originally signed up for the extension. An excited Emily came by. She had three for the extension and would be willing to run it for six. Interested?

From the entire roster of 62, only three had definitely said they would ignore the State Department’s and Society’s recommendation and leave. Lots of telexes to lots of travel agents had been sent, changing plans.

9:45 p.m.:--Last announcement of the evening: “Keep your cabins locked. We have sailors posted on watch, but you won’t see them (thieves)--they will climb over the side and take your valuables.” Or maybe plant bombs, I thought. Sweet dreams.

April 23, 8:30 a.m.: We pulled up anchor and started through the canal at the head of a convoy of 26. Then news roared through the ship that the extension was on again. Emily’s proselytizing had paid off. By popular demand, our cruise director had reinstated it.

A Free World

He clarified: “It is a free world, people are willing to go on the extension and Emily is willing to run it.”

Go or do not go, schizophrenia. We could leave or not, but the administration had to know by lunch.

The lecture and entertainment program continued as we moved placidly through the Suez. Announcements came over the public address system: Fees for World Discoverer’s transit were $24,000, about 18,000 ships transitted each year, Egypt received a lot of revenue from the canal.

But many of the passengers’ minds were on revoking previous cancellations, renotifying friends and wondering about plane reservations. The desert scenery, the occasional shelled-out building, the four MIGs that buzzed us, the canal itself, all definitely took second billing that morning.

By noon the extension into Egypt had swelled to its original 10, and an additional 17 would travel to Cairo to complete the trip as scheduled.

We reached Port Said at dusk and Egyptian officials boarded. Dinner was moved up half an hour and those disembarking were seated in a special section for fast service. But at 8:40, all were still aboard and the intercom asked all to come to the lecture room.

Jac and Emily had been on the telephone to Society’s president in Seattle. Jac said that Society was extremely concerned. The company says: “Please don’t (disembark).” Jac read a second telex:

“To all passengers and staff on board the M/S World Discoverer. It is our opinion that travel to Cairo and Cairo Airport is extremely dangerous for American and European persons and organizations. . . . We cannot force you to stay on board the (ship), however we strongly urge you to do so. If you insist on disembarking in Port Said and entering Cairo area, we cannot take responsibility for your safety in any way whatsoever. Any escort who will accompany you does so as a private individual and not as an agent or escort of Society Expeditions or its officers.”

Feeling an Urgency

We learned that TWA would honor the Cairo APEX tickets from Milan. Many still seemed more concerned about their money than their welfare.

But there was an urgency. If the ship didn’t sail in 35 minutes, it would have to spend the night, making it late arriving in Venice. Minds must be made up; 12 changed them again and stayed. I watched the 15 who left go down the gangplank to the waiting boat.

“May I have your phone number?” I asked one. I wanted to know how it came out. World Discoverer sailed for Venice that night.

April 24: Calm day, tranquillity reigns.

April 25: We travel in sight of the south coast of Crete, slightly out of our way, but slightly farther from Libya.

April 26: A Voice of America broadcast states that a U.S. diplomatic official was shot in North Yemen where we started our cruise, and that Liberia was charging that the Libyans were mistreating their workers. Our World Discoverer is a Liberian ship.

That afternoon, during teatime, an announcement comes that now is the time to pay the $200 for passage to Venice. “For passage or for food, what is the difference?” my companion said, spooning the gourmet chocolate tea cake into her mouth. “What is needed to survive here is patience, a high tolerance for confusion, and money.”

Passenger mutterings, but we were less than two days from Venice and in the Adriatic. The sun was warm and bright and the sea calm. The chances of being terrorized seemed remote indeed. “Best trip I have ever had,” was the comment most frequently heard.

Epilogue: We arrived in Venice on the 28th, were bused to Milan and flew to New York on the 29th. Everything went smoothly.

I telephoned my friend who had left the ship in Egypt. She was ecstatic. “We wished you had all been with us,” she said. Wonderful hotel, food and tours. More than everything promised and the Egyptians had been so nice.