Bigbum & Shortarse

Hi Suzanne, Thanks for a great review, we are pleased you enjoyed your cruise as much as we did. We hope to go back again and see more of this unique area. Would love to join you in 2015 but there's Hawaii and Alaska beckoning...........

B & S (Ken & Maureen)

To Suron and all you lucky cruisers going to Dubai, thank you for your comments on our review, we hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did and we look forward to reading your reviews when you arrive home.

B & S:)

To Suron and all the interested readers, we have at last managed to get our review published, evidently there was a large backlog to be approved. Most questions have been answered on this thread but if we can give any further info, we will be happy to help.

B & S:)

Suron,

Yes, we thought the whole experience was brilliant and our full and I mean full, review will be in the 'Members reviews' shortly. Friends on board that had the Afternoon tea at the Emirates Palace said it was fabulous and worth every penny.

B & S

Hi suron, on our recent cruise, deck 4 and 5 were used for embarkation on most days and I don't recall either of your suggestions being used for MSC excersions book in. The Lirica lounge is well out of the way so I would think this would be best with no 'through traffic'.

Include the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi and the Fjord Dhow trip in Khasab and of couse see as much as Dubai as possible.

Have a great trip.

B & S:)

We were in Dubai from the 16th January and by British standards the weather was beautifly warm at 22-25c as AmoMondo says. We were on the beach one day and it was crowded. The mornings can be cool with a haze but this burned off by mid morning and descended again at dusk. The breeze can spring up quite quickly which cools things a little. Keep your eye on the weather forecast and choose your days for the water parks and beach. I am sure you will not be disappointed whatever you do in Dubai.

B & S

Dinner times on Lirica are 6.30 and 9.00pm in both the main restaurants, buffet from 7.00 to 10.00pm.

Ships excursions were a little expensive but we used them every day and were very good. We booked from the UK but were not charged until final account.

Gratuities, if you request reduction at reception, these will be removed on your final invoice. Interim invoice still listed them. Waiters, bar staff and cabin maid all appreciated what was given.

Disembarking, if you have arranged your own flights, (as we did) then you can stay on board as long as you like. Our flight was not until 2.45pm so we stayed on board till 11.00am. We had to vacate our cabin by 7.30am. I think the confusion arises because cruisers that booked flights and cruise through MSC were tied into flights departing early in the day. We found no problem getting a taxi to the airport but be warned, the book in/passport control is painfully slow so allow plenty of time. Gates seem to be open early and we were on board almost an hour before take off time.

As already stated cabin air/con was very comfortable, we just set ours to the minimum and it was just right for sleeping.

For anyone contemplating the Dubai cruise, we got an unbelievable deal combining flights and hotel with Emirates, choosing the Rose Rayhaan by Rotana in the central district. We spent all day on the hop/hop buses for about £36 each, 2 day passes are avalible. The hotel was brilliant, we had a corner room on the 47th floor with views out to the sea and down the 10 lane highway that runs through the centre of the city.

Have a great cruise.

B & S

Hi, to answer a couple of questions,(we are just back from the Lirica cruise).

Boat drill was 5.00pm, 5 minutes late, bit of a shambles but they always are on Italian ships.

Theme nights were as follows, Saturday, casual. Sunday, 60-70-80's. Monday, Formal/Gala. Tuesday, White. Wednesday, Green, white and red. Thursday, Formal/Gala. Friday, casual.

We were not notified of theme nights prior to the cruise although we new there would be 2 formal nights. Most cruisers made an effort on formal nights but all the other nights it was mostly casual.

Hope you all have a fantastic cruise, we did and hope we could do it again.

Will try and do a full review shortly.

B & S