endtried

Where Dirhams taken in Muscat or did you have to have their currency?.

Not sure about Dirhams but they definitely took Euro.

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Fantastic review, reminds us of our same cruise last March on Splendour.

 

We even had the same local guide as you on the 'Mystical Muscat' tour. We really enjoyed the young chaps company, he was very informative and good fun.

 

 

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Thanks!

Yeah, the guy was indeed funny- it did get a bit embarrassing though when some ladies wanted to hook him up with their granddaughters. Everyone except them of course felt bad for the tour guide.

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When I travelled to Egypt a few years ago they told us to be very careful with the food and not to eat salads, only drink bottled water where they opened the bottle in front of you things like that. Did you encounter any such concerns/ warnings on your trip?

Not at all. But then again we were mainly in the bigger cities so I'm sure if you venture out into the countryside, it will be different.

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Day 7 - Saturday, Jan 14

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Originally, I had a city tour planned that we wanted to take by taxi but when we saw the Shore Excursion brochure in our cabin when we boarded, we decided to book the "A Day in the Desert" - Tour, which turned out to be a fantastic decision.

Just outside the cruise terminal, we boarded 4x4 Toyotas- each SUV held six people and there were three cars in total. We ended up in the back row and even though it was made clear by the guide that we could rotate our seats during the day, we never moved- seems that the last row is not popular but we actually sat quite comfortably and enjoyed the ride. We shared the car with two couple in their 30s/40s and it was a good group.

Our tour guide/ driver introduced himself as Schumi, the German Formula 1 driver and we knew we were in good hands. He was originally from Palestine but grew up as a refugee in Lebanon. Being in a little group like this has the advantage that a lot of questions could be asked and of course easily answered.

Schumi told us about his life in the UAE and that he is only able to see his family once a year for one months since expats need to earn a specific amount of money in order to get visas for the immediate family. One of us asked how he copes with this and he summarized what probably most expats in the UAE feel "what choice do I have?".

We started the tour by visiting the camel race track outside Abu Dhabi, where we saw some camels plus their jockeys on training runs. Jockeys are not allowed during actual races due to injury risks so they use little robots, that are maybe the size of a computer screen. The coaches of the camels then drive in their car next to the race track and activate the whip through a remote control. Very interesting to say the least...

After watching the camels for a bit, we started the 40minute drive into the desert, where a quick photo stop was made at a camel farm. We were able to take some picture of a mother with her little baby, while the cars we're prepared for the dune bashing. In order to drive "effectively" on the sand, the tire pressure has to be lowered and then we were on our way.

Schumi definitely lived up to his name and raced up and down the dunes. It was like riding the rollercoaster but it felt softer. Then again- I hate rollercoaster but quiet enjoyed this ride. The fact that we we sitting in the back definitely had the advantage that we didn't see what was coming until it was too late to be scared.

After about 10-15minutes, we had to stop on top of one of the dunes because a guy in one of the other cars felt really sick. We all took pictures of the beautiful landscape and the guy seemed to be okay as well.

Eventually we had to cut the ride short though since the guy actually got worse so we slowly drove to the camp where a picnic lunch was served. Nothing to write home about but considering it was in the middle of the desert, we couldn't really complain (salad with sandwiches and cold soft drinks plus fruit and muffins for desert).

Around 12.15/12.30pm, we made our way back to the highway to go back to Abu Dhabi where we reached the port around 1.30pm.

Overall, it was a great experience and even though the price is a bit steep ($129/person), it is something that I can only recommend and I'm glad we decided to do this excursion.

Back inside the cruise terminal, we spend a few minutes browsing the different shops but couldn't really find anything that interested us except for a fridge magnet and some postcards. So it was back to the ship and we spend some hours enjoying the sun while reading on Deck 5 since the upper decks were packed.

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Day 6 - Friday, Jan 13

At Sea

The sun was shining and it seemed that every single passenger was occupying a lounger buy the pool. We slept in and by the time we had breakfast, it was impossible to find two chairs together on the upper decks so we retreated down to deck number 5 where we found not only chairs but also some peace and quiet to read.

We only got up to get lunch but eventually it got a bit too windy so we went back into our cabin to watch some TV and take a nap.

A lazy day made for a good time during the otherwise almost hectic week.

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We then made our way to Nizwa Fort, which was a short five minute stroll from our meeting point in town.

Again, free time and after walking around a bit, we decided to have a cold drink and just enjoyed the atmosphere.

After visiting Nizwa, we went to a local hotel to have a buffet lunch with some Arabic food but mainly Western dishes. I wish they would have included more traditional food but overall, it was okay.

After about 45 minutes, we continue our drive to Jabreen Castle, where we were almost the only visitors. The castle was just about 450 years ago and while it served mainly as a residence, it was also a fort.

It was a beautiful building and considering it was built in the 17th century, it was a very good example of Omani craftsmanship.

Eventually, it was time to go back to Muscat and it was nice to escape the warmth of he midday sun for a bit. Overall, it was a long tour but definitely worth it.

We had a quick dinner at the Windjammer since they showed "Sully" on the big screen by the pool at 6.30pm and after getting a sweater, we enjoyed watching the movie under the stars. Just some popcorn was missing...

Afterwards, it was time to call it a night.

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Day 5 - Thursday, Jan 12

Muscat, Oman

For today, we decided on the "Fascinating Forts" tour, which was about eight hours long since it included a two-hour drive to the Nizwa, the former capital of Oman.

This made for a long day but it was great tour and while we didn't get too much information from yesterday's guide, today was much different.

If you grades are good in high school, Omani students have the opportunity to get a scholarship from the government to attend a university in the U.K., Europe or the US. Clearly our guide had gone to school abroad since his English was very good and you could even hear a slight British accent.

He gave us a lot of information about the Omani everyday life and it was interesting to listen to his stories.

According to him, Oman sees itself as he Switzerland of the Middle East since they try to remain neutral and keep good relationships with e.g. both Iran and the US. Not taking sides seems to have worked for this country.

The highway to Nizwa seemed to be pretty new and well-maintained and about two hours after we left the port, we pulled into a parking lot outside the historic part of the town.

First, we visited a small store where dates and coffee were served together with the possibility of buying dates.

Afterwards, we made our way into to the town where we had some free time.

We just walked around while trying to find a post office since we wanted to mail some postcards. Luckily, we found one and while going back to the meeting point, we stopped to buy some nuts and spices in one of the little stores.

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Just one quick question I have...

 

 

 

I'm getting my suitcase out this week and need to start sorting out my clothes for the formal nights. Do they have one or two and what night?

 

 

 

I'm guessing it will be on the Sea day but I have been wrong in the past :)

 

 

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Carol

Formal nights were on day 2 and day 5.

Have a great cruise!

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More pictures of Muscat:

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At the souk, we were given some free time, I think it was about 45 minutes, which we spent browsing through the different stores and exploring some (back-)alleys. The call to prayer started at one point and people started rushing to the nearby mosque.

The haggling wasn't too bad, definitely not as bad as in Dubai, and the shopkeepers in the side alleys away from the main drag were just minding their own business. Very nice!

The last stop of the tour was a visit to a restored house that was now housing a museum, the Bait Al Zubair, which gave a good history and overview of Omani life(-style). It was very interesting- pictures were not allowed inside the museum- it's definitely worth a visit.

We briefly stopped at the Al Alam Palace, which serves now as a ceremonial palace and guesthouse for foreign dignitaries. After that, it was back to the port after an interesting five hours.

We bid farewell to our great guide and enjoyed the rest of the day somewhere in the sun reading and catching up on emails.

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Day 4 - Wednesday, Jan 11

Muscat, Oman

When we entered the port, there two ships side by side that were about half the size of the Vision of the Seas- turns out they are the ships of the Sultan of Oman- well, he can't be doing too bad...

Besides this, there was nothing else to see in the port since it was more of an industrial port where you had to take a shuttle to the port gates.

We had an excursion scheduled- "Mystical Muscat" with a visit to one of the largest mosques in the world, the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the main souk in Muscat plus a short visit to a museum, the Bait Al Zubair museum.

The tour already started out great- the guide we had was a funny, young guy whose English was at first a bit hard to understand but once we got used to the way he pronounced certain letters and words, we had a good time.

This was more a fun tour than being extremely informative but it was a good group and the guide said when we parted ways midday that we had been the best group he had ever had. I believe it.

The tour started out with a drive to the mosque and even though it was mentioned to wear long sleeve shirts plus pants for women (plus to bring a scarf to be able to cover your head), several people on the tour were wearing "inappropriate" clothing and had to rent some stuff at the entrance of the mosque. This caused a delay, which was a bit frustrating for the people that had been reading the instructions on the tour ticket plus had been listening to the announcements at the meeting point before we left the ship.

It was my first visit to a mosque and our guide did a fantastic job explaining everything and showing us around.

The highlight was definitely the main prayer hall, which can hold thousands of worshippers and is one of the bigger ones in the world. Definitely a must see.

Our guide knew one of the Imans, who was leading the prayer at times and he explained a lot about Islamic lie and even demonstrated how muslims wash themselves before they pray. Very interesting to see.

We stopped in a shaded place to get coffee and dates while we could ask questions.

After that, it was off to the souk in Murray, which is a town next to Muscat even though the actual borders between the cities seemed blurry.

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Your review is very interesting and keen to see the remainder of your trip ! Two weeks today we will be en-route to London for our evening flight out ! Just out of interest what is deemed acceptable clothing for both male and female visitors ashore ?

It was suggested to wear "moderate" clothing- we always wore long pants and t-shirts covering the shoulders while on shore simply out of respect but others did not follow this and wore shorts and tank tops (both ladies and gents).

The only place that was very restricted was the mosque we visited in Muscat- ladies were only able to show their hands and face, everything else had to be covered up and there were people checking at the entrance so if you didn't cover up, you weren't allowed in.

Fabulous start and some great photography!

 

Going on Vision in a few weeks - would love to know if they offered any specialty restaurant discounts and what the entertainment was like?

TIA.

The only deal on speciality restaurants I saw was a 20% discount on our day at sea. There might have been other discounts but I didn't pay attention to them.

Entertainment: according to others that we talked to on shore excursions, it lacked a bit. We never went to any shows because we either saw the movies by the pool deck or went to sleep early :)

Loving your Review, we are sailing on 20th March so thank you for all the information

 

🚢

Enjoy your cruise!!!

Thanks so much for this review going same cruise next week

Have fun! I am sure you will have a great time!

Looking forward to the rest of your review. I'm curious to see what you thought of the ports and what they look like.

 

Also, I'll be on the Vision this May and look forward to pictures of the ship :D

The ports were really only industrial ports- you always had to take a shuttle to the port gate and hope to take a cab from there. In Khasab, there are no cabs so I guess people either pre-booked private tours or used private cars (?). Very different from e.g. Caribbean or European ports so things had to be organized in advance rather than just show up and see what happens.

Enjoy your cruise in May. I really didn't take too many pictures of the ship since I always feel that has been done plenty already.

Thanks for posting a review! I'm taking this cruise in two months and it will great reading of your experience.

I am sure you will have a great time!

We ventured further and further into the fjords seeing some little villages from time to time. Our guide explained that our ship would need to keep its distance because the native Omani lived a very traditional life and probably didn't even have contact with "other" nationalities/ groups of people.

They have no electricity and a ship is coming to their villages two or three times a week to supply them with water. This is all paid for by the government in order to keep the traditional lifestyle alive.

Children from these villages will go to boarding school during the the week and return for the weekend, which is from Friday to Saturday in the Islamic world.

The adults normally have a regular daytime job but will go fishing after their return home each day.

While we kept our distance to these fishing communities, we slowly made our way to Telegraph Hill, where one of the cables were laid by the British that connected India to the UK. That's where the anchor was dropped and whoever wanted was able to swim in very clear waters. Most of the people on the tour took advantage of it but we just stayed on board enjoying the sun.

All good things come to end though and after a while we made our way back to the cruise ship, where we had a quick lunch and then found some loungers to hang out for a while. Maybe for a second we felt guilty that everybody was freezing and getting ready for a winter storm but maybe only for a second...

While we were getting ready for departure, the smugglers were also getting ready by finalizing the loading of their little boats. It was amazing sight when one after the other finally sped off into the approaching sunset trying to leave the harbor before the cruise ship would block them off. It must have been 50-60 boats. All this happened under the watchful eyes of the Omani coast guard but that also might have been a precaution that they don't come too close to our ship.

With a nice dinner the first full day of the cruise came to and end and we went to bed early to get a good nights rest while the ship slowly made its way to Muscat.

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Day 3 - Tuesday, Jan 10

Khasab, Oman

One of the few things I could find about Khasab while researching this trip was the constant mentioning of it being a hub of smuggling activity between Oman and Iran due to the proximity of Iran to this enclave of Oman. And there was plenty of activity.

Khasab is enclosed by the UAE. Apparently until recently,the only ways to reach Khasab were by boat or airplane but now there is a road through the mountains to the UAE.

In lieu of alternatives, we decided to do a "Dhow Cruise to Omani Fjords". Khasab is also dubbed the Norway of the Middle East due to its fjords. This tour would take us into the fjords, where a brief stop for swimming was made.

Even though it was not advertised, there was also a high possibility of seeing dolphins.

The dhows were anchored a short walk away from the ship and while the sun was shining from a clear sky, it wasn't hot but rather really comfortable.

The guide was originally from Tunisia and had plenty of stories to tell. It seems that Khasab is not only geographically separated by the rest of the country but also to a certain extend legally because of course the smuggling activity was brought up.

In the morning, just after sunset, little speedboats come over from Iran bringing goats to Oman to be sold in the UAE. In the evening around 4.30pm, these boats take goods back to Iran, mainly electronics and cigarettes but it seems they just transport whatever is wanted across the Strait of Hormuz. We would later witness this whole mad rush since they need to reach Iran before 6pm because that's when the Iranian coast guard starts their patrols.

One of the boats crossing will always serve as "bait" since the coast guard will only follow one boat - so one has to take it for the team so to speak.

The Iranians are officially not allowed to enter Oman but it seems that this rule is not really being followed - seems more like "what mom (the rest of the country) doesn't see, doesn't happen. The whole things does happen in the open though but obviously benefits both sides so why stop it?

Anyways, back to the tour- we sat one the upper deck, which proofed to be a perfect decision because we could move freely from one side to the other depending on what was to see where.

We sailed into the fjord and one of the helpers on the ship starting clapping and whistling and sure enough- a couple of dolphins started swimming next to the boat, jumping out of the water from time to time.

https://vimeo.com/200484411

The best part was when another boat joined in because this way the dolphins were a little farther away from our boat, which made it so much easier to take picture. It really was a perfect start to a week of adventures.

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Shortly after noon, we walked back to the metro station and got back to the hotel around 12.45pm where we quickly gathered our belongings to take a cab to the port.

Rove Hotel City Center

The cruise terminal wasn't busy and we were able to check in in no time.

The check in experience wasn't the best since I was concerned about my early departure and wanted to inquire with the agent if cabs were available due to me trying to leave early after the overnight stay in Dubai.

The agent responded that the ship would not overnight in Dubai but in Abu Dhabi. My mother told me later that my face turned white as linen when the agent said that because not overnighting in Dubai would have meant that I was going to miss my flight back to the US.

After a few seconds of shock, I realized that she didn't know what she was talking about because I'm sure Royal Caribbean would have emailed such a big itinerary change in advance.

She also almost forgot to give us a paper with the instructions of when to pick up and drop off our passports that were collected at the time of check-in. Zero communication from her in regards to that- a little disappointing but when I looked at the paper, it was obvious that we would not overnight in Abu Dhabi so everything was good.

In regards to the passports- they were collected with a sticker at the time of check in but we didn't get any receipt. Maybe she just forgot?

We then would need to collect them from a station set up on our stateroom deck the night before we reached Abu Dhabi. The passport was needed to go ashore because you had to have a meeting with an immigration officer in the cruise terminal, who didn't even look at us but just collected the passports again.

After that, we had to collect the passport during our final night in Dubai before disembarking the next day. They made many announcements during these collection days so people wouldn't forget to pick ups their passports so it was really fool-proof.

In Muscat, ship security would hand out a shore pass each time when leaving the ship. This shore pass plus your sea pass card would serve as an ID document and the shore pass would have to be surrendered back to ship security when boarding the ship. I believe there was a note in the cruise compass that a $5 would be incurred if you lost the shore pass.

The rooms were ready at the time we boarded and we dropped our luggage and went back upstairs to the Park Cafe to get a sandwich, which enjoyed on the upper deck sitting in a lounge chair with a view of the Dubai skyline.

Our vacation was off to a great start!

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More Al Bastakiya pictures:

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We crossed Dubai Creek again back to the other side to go to the historic neighborhood of Al Bastakiya. Dating back to the 1890s, this area has been (and still is being) restored since a few years ago. It wasn't busy at all and even though it was already early midday, the sun was pleasant but not too strong to make walking uncomfortable. We stopped here and there to take pictures and get a glimpse into the different courtyards.

Our destination for a midday snack was the Arabian Tea House. It doesn't look like much from true outside and we probably had walked right past if we hadn't known what expected us on the inside- a lovely, shaded courtyard sheltering the visitors from the outside noise. A beautiful oasis to sit and enjoy a cold lemon-mint drink. The fact that 70% of the patrons were locals showed us that the quality of food was also good. Unfortunately we were still full from our breakfasts so we just had cold drinks and an order of samosas- delicious and we agreed to come back during he next week when getting back to Dubai.

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After enjoying a fantastic breakfast, we took an abra for 1AED to cross the creek and walked past the dhow wharfage to get to the different souks.

This wharfage is the starting point for the dhows to sail back to e.g. India with all kind of goods. Tires and electronics (fridges, AC units, etc.) seemed amongst the most popular items.

The crossing can take a few days and considering the state the boats are in this alone is already an adventure. Apparently pirate encounters are not seldom so the risk these sailors are taking out of pure need is admirable.

We slowly made our way to the spice and gold souk but the haggling was too much so we didn't really stop anywhere to buy anything.

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Day 2 - Monday, Jan 9

Dubai, UAE

Just before the first call to prayer from the mosque across the hotel, we woke up and slowly got ready for the day.

There was no breakfast included in the room rate but we wanted to go to a cafe in the old part of Dubai anyways so that didn't bother us.

Check it wasn't until 2pm so we had plenty of time to venture into the city, come back to pick up our bags and take a cab to the port.

We took the metro to Al Ghubeiba station- the metro is very clean, tickets are easy to purchase and service is efficient and on time.

It was still not busy when we exited the metro station to walk along the waterfront to Creekside Cafe. I had found this place online but as "promised" in the reviews, it was a bit difficult to find but after getting lost for a few minutes, we eventually got there a few minutes after 9am.

We settled down and ordered what turned out to be a delicious breakfast. Even though it was still shady, we could feel the warmth of the sun already and just enjoyed watching the dhows and abras going up and down Dubai Creek.

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Day 0-1 - Saturday, Jan 7/ Sunday, Jan 8

Washington, D.C. - Doha, Qatar - Dubai, UAE

After a day of work and a little snow it was time to leave the cold behind for a week.

My flight to Doha wouldn't leave until 8.30pm and it was a 12 hour flight to Qatar. About 90 minutes into the flight, we encountered turbulences that lasted for a few minutes. When it started to get bumpy, dinner service had just started and ultimately had to be stopped for more than one hour with even the flight attendants having to sit down.

A few weeks prior to this, one Qatar Airways flight from DC to Doha had to divert to the Azores in the Atlantic due to severe turbulences that injured a few passengers so it was nice to see that the airline took the right approach to keep passengers waiting for their dinner rather than endangering passengers but also to keep their own employees safe.

Out of the 12 hours in the air, the seat belt sign was on for probably 6-7 hours since it seemed that we encountered one bumpy patch after another but I guess that's normal in winter when crossing the Atlantic.

We had a bit of delay when arriving in Doha and my already short connection of 50minutes was now only 30minutes. Time to run. And even though everybody has to go through another security check when transferring, I was able to make it to the gate for the Dubai as the last passenger to board. The next flight would have been only one hour later but at that point I just wanted to get to the hotel and sleep.

Not even one hour later, we landed in Dubai and after passing through immigration, I took the metro straight to the hotel.

The Rove City Center Hotel had just opened in December 2016 and is located a few minutes walk from Deira City Center metro station. This station is only 3 or 4 stops from the airport depending on which terminal you arrive at.

Another advantage of this location is the accessibility to the "old" Dubai that we wanted to explore the next morning before going on the ship.

Overall, it was a good trip- definitely long, but I was looking forward to a week in the sun and I knew what I was getting myself into so no complaints from my side.

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Another year, another cruise...

Having cruised only in Europe before, I decided early last year to look into more "exotic" destinations to escape the winter.

Royal Caribbean would offer a weeklong cruise in the Arabian Gulf with stops in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Done deal. I booked pretty early for what I thought was a good price but prices dropped drastically after the final payment. I believe at one point a balcony room was around $400.

I would meet up with my mother in Dubai a day before the cruise to explore Dubai and then board the ship and enjoy some warm weather.

There aren't many reviews or even information on these Arabian Gulf cruises even though information about most of the ports are easily accessible on the internet. We booked excursions through Royal Caribbean because we liked the tours being offered and yes, the prices might be a bit high but in an area where neither of us had been before, it was a safer solution to guarantee an on time arrival back to the ship.

This turned out to be the right decision because all excursions were better than we expected and we enjoyed our time in this part of the world greatly.

The itinerary was as follows:

Monday, Jan 9 departing Dubai

Tuesday, Jan 10 Khasab, Oman

Wednesday, Jan 11 Muscat, Oman

Thursday, Jan 12 Muscat, Oman

Friday, Jan 13 at sea

Saturday, Jan 14 Abu Dhabi, UAE

Sunday, Jan 15 Dubai, UAE

Monday, Jan 16 Dubai, UAE

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I'll be on the Vision on Saturday doing it's 'other' itinerary, which includes Kotor in Montenegro - another place which is transformed by cooler temperatures and fewer people. I'm only sorry that RCL is not doing cruises from Venice next November - they finish in October in 2017.

 

 

 

Thanks again.

I hope you have a great time- I'm thinking of doing the Kotor itinerary next fall with the Rhapsody.

It's actually my second time doing a cruise over Halloween in Europe and both times it was fantastic- sunny and warm and definitely less crowded.

Again- have a good time.

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