Thursday 29^th January 2015 – Dubai

 

We were an hour late arriving - but as we’d left a good four hours after we were supposed to, it wasn’t too bad.

 

We thought we had booked a trip today – but discovered it was for tomorrow instead! (As Friday is the Sabbath, the roads should be clearer and so this may not be a bad thing!) We spent most of the day in and out of the terminal building and the highlight of the holiday so far was – we actually managed to skype all of the kids today (although some for not very long). We’re still not able to upload photos – no idea why, we managed earlier in the blog…

 

Ian was delighted to discover that Berni Flint was doing the show tonight (aah, who can forget all those wins on Opportunity Knocks!) Unfortunately we were too busy boogying the night away at the Sail Away party on deck 8 that we missed it!!

 

A few passengers (and some crew) have left today and lots of others are leaving tomorrow. The end of the first cruise – only another five to go…..

 

 

Friday 30^th January 2015 – Dubai.

 

The temperature is due to be 31 degrees today (that’s nearly up to freezing point, Graeme!) Good job it’s the middle of winter…temperatures of over 50 degrees are regular in summer.

 

We had to set the alarm again today as our trip went away at 8-40am. It was chaos as lots of passengers were disembarking at the same time and it took ages for us to actually leave the port. The trip took us to three different parts of Dubai where we had an hour’s free time to do as much or as little as we liked.

 

We went through the city centre and out to the beaches. Although full of sky scrapers, Dubai is really attractive. Each building is completely different and there is some amazing architecture. The beach area was brilliant and Nesta paddled in the Persian Gulf! The fact that it is winter was illustrated by a woman sitting on the beach in jumper, scarf and hoodie. We took a photo and if we can ever sort it out we’ll put it on the blog!

 

The second stop was in old Dubai (the architecture dates back to the 1950’s so is really ancient!) near to the seven-star Burj Al Arab Hotel. We found an ATM which doesn’t dispense money – oh no! This one dispenses gold! Needless to say we only photographed it rather than using it…

 

The national bird of Dubai is the falcon but bearing in mind how much construction is going on, our guide said the locals tell people it is the crane!!

 

There was a photo stop outside an impressive looking mosque and then on past the three tallest hotels in the world to The Dubai Mall which is the largest shopping mall in the world with over 1400 stores and 12 car parks situated underneath the Burj Khalifa which is the tallest building in the world… don’t think “understated” is in the Emirati language!

 

As you know retail therapy isn’t our thing, so we walked through the Mall past the massive aquarium to a lagoon in the middle where there is a musical fountain display twice a day and were just in time for the 1-30pm show.

 

We then went back to the ship, to be met by lots of pale new passengers escaping the cold and snow of the UK.

 

After another emergency drill, we joined the “newbies” for the sail away at 6pm. Strangely enough we were over an hour late leaving…the Captain said it was because two passengers were late – never the good Captain’s fault!

 

At the evening meal we were disappointed to find that the staff had been “rotated” and only Robert, our waiter, and Dinesh, the sommelier, remained. Still, we’ll soon mould the new section head and maître d into our ways!

 

We had a very pleasant surprise when we saw who the guest celebrities were for this cruise…Not only is there going to be Sir Jackie Stewart and Sir Max Hastings but also the one and only Dr Helen Doe!! (Helen was one of our fellow choir members in the original “Voyager Voices” conducted by Tom Newall) We have written her a note and asked the purser’s desk to deliver it. Who knows? A drink or three and a catch up may result.

 

 

Saturday 31^st January 2015 – Abu Dhabi.

 

We arrived safely and as yesterday, we were off the ship early - on another “free time in three different places” tour. The guide, though, had different ideas and was determined we would have the full city tour.

 

The first stop was at a “heritage village” (although it was only built five years ago!) It was quite interesting and there was a cool breeze blowing. It was rather bizarre to walk into a mud and straw hut representing Emiratis old way of life and find there were modern air-conditioning units! (Can’t have these poor tourists melting).

 

After a photo stop at the Presidents palace it was on to the Grand Mosque. Our guide said she’d show us round but the tourist “fashion” police had different ideas. We had all been told to cover up but eight women on board (including Nesta) were refused entry! Apparently when Nesta held our camera bag a few inches of wrist were visible… Even though she had on a top with long buttoned sleeves, this was deemed “transparent” Obviously Nesta is just too tempting for Emirati men to be allowed to be in their presence. Needless to say she wasn’t impressed so as a sign of our displeasure we refused to take any photos! Ha!

 

After this fiasco, we drove out to Yas Island where the grand prix takes place. We weren’t allowed in, unfortunately, but did take some pictures of the stand that lights up during the race. A massive Ferrari “theme park” is currently being built next to the track and will be opened in 2017.

 

Whilst Dubai is developing tourism, Abu Dhabi is going to be the cultural centre of the UAE. We went to a presentation of what is in the pipeline (no pun intended!) over the next few years. An Emirati Louvre and Guggenheim Museum are already being built and concert halls, theatres etc. are planned.

 

We got back to the ship in time for a late lunch and found we had a reply from Helen. We are going to meet up for drinks in the Chart Room before our evening meal tonight and then have lunch with her and her husband Mike tomorrow after her first lecture.

 

We also received an invite from the Deputy Captain to have dinner with him tomorrow evening – so after much thought, we decided to accept!