16 Night Cruise sailing from Sharm el Sheikh to Dubai aboard Voyager.

Twenty million years ago a vast crack in the earth appeared, since then Africa and Asia have been gradually drifting apart. The start of your Red Sea voyage opens up an archive of ancient mysteries and forgotten trade routes, Pharaoh and biblical sites. On the 'Horn of Africa' Djibouti holds echoes of French colonialism and trade caravans. Across the Great Rift Valley Oman's landscape is a diverse mosaic unique to the region, its capital an enchanting fusion of old and new. Fujairah promises desert forts and exotic souks before the glamorous, ultramodern skyline announces oil-rich Dubai.

Highlights of this cruise:

Sharm el Sheikh
Sharm el-Sheikh is a city situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in Janub Sina', Egypt, on the coastal strip between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai. It is a popular destination for European tourists owing to its dramatic landscape, year-round dry and temperate climate and long stretches of natural beaches.

Sharm has all the amenities one could expect of a tourist center, including casinos, discos and nightclubs, golf courses and health facilities. For those who like to shop, the Sharm El-Sheikh mall provides shops with both foreign and local products, including jewelry, leather goods, clothing, pottery and books.

Diving is the main activity in Sharm. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for various watersports, particularly recreational scuba diving and snorkelling. The reefs of Tiran and Ras Mohammed are known as two of the best diving spots in the world.

Safaga
Port Safaga is a town in Egypt, on the coast of the Red Sea, located 60 kilometres south of Hurghada.This small port is also a tourist area and a marine port connected by a regular cruise shuttle service line with Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The resort is known for its unpolluted atmosphere, black sand-dunes and mineral springs which have acquired specific therepuetic characteristics. It has a small but thriving tourism industry, specialising in diving, and was the venue for the 1993 World Windsurfing Championships.

Safaga is also a good starting point for a day trip into the Eastern Desert to check out the granite quarries of Mons Claudianus, or to the awesome sights of Luxor, one of the most impressive sights of Egypt, only 220km away.

Muscat
Muscat is the capital of Oman. The Governorate consists of six wilayats: Muscat, Muttrah, Bowshar, A'Seeb, Al Amerat and Quriyat. The city lies on the Arabian Sea along the Gulf of Oman and is in the proximity of the strategic Straits of Hormuz.

Muscat is distinguished by the presence of citadels, forts, towers, walls, gates and historical houses. The city has numerous mosques including the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Ruwi Mosque and Zawawi Mosque. There are also a number of museums of interest in Muscat, including the Museum of Omani Heritage and the National Museum of Oman.

Dubai
Dubai is one of the most modern cities in the world; this city was a fishing and pearling village less than 50 years ago. The architecture of its modern buildings and sky scrapers is the finest in the Middle East. Sightseeing within the city center is split mainly between Deira, on the right bank of the Dubai creek and historic Bur Dubai on the other bank. Deira, is home to the best shopping and is the business and commercial centre of the city. Bur Dubai has less of a bustling atmosphere and is home to a number of tourist attractions, including the Dubai Museum, Grand Mosque and Sheikh Saeed Al-Maktoum's House.