Cruise lines now see the Middle East as an attractive place to move their Europe fleets in the winter season, Fran Golden writes for Bloomberg. Travelers also see the itineraries provided by cruise lines around the Middle East as an easy way to check off several bucket list attractions they may not previously have visited. “The Egyptian pyramids, the rose-hued ancient city of Petra in Jordan, the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem—the Middle East has many tourism calling cards, and cruising is an easy way to see several of them in one fell swoop … Combining these places on a land trip requires expert-level planning. Dicey relationships between neighboring governments mean you may get turned away from a border for having old stamps from a rival country in your passport … By ship, it’s foolproof: Visas are arranged by the cruise line and issued as you pull into port.”

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