Silversea announces east and west-bound Aqaba cruises for 2021 and 2022
Luxury cruise line Silversea will sail twice from Aqaba, Jordan, the gateway to iconic Petra, on a cruise bound for India in 2021, and Greece in 2022. Silversea’s 2021 and 2022 cruises from Aqaba in Jordan are the only two departures scheduled from the city at the time of writing and offer grand voyages to the east or the Mediterranean.
Silversea’s 2021 cruise from Aqaba will depart December 4th aboard Silver Shadow, its smaller, 388-passenger luxury boutique cruise ship. The two-week voyage is a port-lean itinerary with just four port calls after departing Aqaba, providing plenty of days at sea for cruise passengers that love a true ocean-going grand voyage.
Silver Shadow will sail from Aqaba on the evening of December 4th, 2021, arriving in Safaga, Egypt the following day. Safaga is a small port town, home to turquoise waters and offshore reefs that make it a popular diving spot. Silver Shadow will stay overnight here so that passengers have time to travel overland to the ancient ruins of Thebes, within modern-day Luxor, a city described as the world’s greatest open-air museum.
It’s littered with the temples of Karnak and Luxor in the east and the tombs and temples of the west bank and is the primary reason for Safaga’s growing popularity as a cruise port of call.
Silver Shadow will depart Safaga on December 6th, spending a week at sea before arriving in the ancient port town and commercial hub of Muscat, the capital of Oman. This city has been a major trading center since antiquity, its name means ‘safe harbour’, and its location, nestled amid mountains, makes the dawn approach beautifully scenic.
Silver Shadow will spend a full day at sea cruising round the Musandam Peninsula via the infamous Strait of Hormuz, before arriving in the sleepy fishing village of Khasab, where cruise passengers board traditional dhows to go on dolphin sighting day trips amid the fjords. It’s then a two-day passage across the Gulf of Oman to Mumbai, the commercial heart of the Indian west coast, where Silver Shadow will arrive on December 17th, ending the cruise the following day after an overnight in port.
Silver Whsiper, meanwhile, will sail from Aqaba, Jordan the following year, on March 30th, 2022, on a 14-night voyage bound for Piraeus (Athens). On the first night of the cruise she’ll stay overnight in Aqaba so that passengers can explore the ruins of Petra. She’ll then transit the Suez Canal, arriving in Ashdod, Israel on April 3rd. The ship will also call in Haifa, Israel and Antolya, Turkey, before cruising to Rhodes in Greece. She’ll then cross back to Turkey, calling in Kusadasi and Istanbul, before ending the cruise in Piraeus (Athens).
