DutchBunny

Did you book a fly cruise package? Because we did and arrived in Abu Dhabi at 07:15 and there was a bus (actually a few busses) waiting to take us to the ship. We arrived around 9.30 at the cruise terminal and were having breakfast by 10.00. Even our cabin was already available. Luggage arrived probably around noon.

It is very easy to get local currency. In Abu Dhabi we forgot to go to an ATM in the airport but found one at the cruise terminal.

If you arrive in either Dubai or Abu Dhabi, I would suggest to get some money from an ATM.

In Khasab we could pay the local touroperator in AED but also Euros were accepted.

In Muscat there are many ATM's also close to the port entrance. So I would auggest to get some OMR there. We got Rials for appr. 50 Euro.

If you have any money left, you can always use at the airport you fly back home from. We had some ledt but it is in total not worth more than Euro 30,- so I will keep it for future trips. i even think that you can use it at any large airport in the world to pay but I am not sure about that.

I do not know what the price is of the cruise your are looking at. Our first cruise was with NCL and costed us Euro 500,- p.p. For a 10 day cruise incl. flights Amsterdam-Barcelona v.v. We said to each other that for this price, staying at home would be more expensive. I would say the same about MSC. We have done 2 cruises with them, the last one just 2 weeks ago. It is not perfect but which holiday is perfect. If you take price-quality into account, than I would say it is perfect. I am Dutch, so English is not my first language but we had no problem understanding or speaking to the crew. Everybody we encountered was nice and frinedly. The other passengers on this cruise were a lot of Italians and Russians (did not check before if it was still holiday season in other countries) with children but we actually liked it. Our previous 2 cruises were actually in January and March and on these cruises we did not have a lot of families on it. We did not meet any other passengers who misbehaved but maybe we do not look for them. I am on holiday so I do not want to annoy myself I want to have fun and a good time. So my advise, go and have fun.

Deposit for European passengers is 100 euros per passenger even children.

Sorry but not for all Europeans, for the Netherlands it is 20% of the total price.

It is somewhere in the middle. Mine says classic.

Hope this works.

Daily program day 1: http://docdro.id/6ydsYgG

Daily program day 2: http://docdro.id/eI1plt8

Daily program day 3: http://docdro.id/l283Ojc

Daily program day 4: http://docdro.id/NfkME1a

Daily program day 5: http://docdro.id/M3h0TBR

Daily program day 6: http://docdro.id/k2R1Mrh

Daily program day 7: http://docdro.id/OultnCS

Daily program day 8: http://docdro.id/DmohAZe

Excursion program: http://docdro.id/6EoWjOr

Spa offers: http://docdro.id/1icIfn3

Hi DutchBunny,

 

After downloading all the jpegs of the Daily Programs, I realized that it's only thumbnails and I cannot access full resolution images. The PDFs are ok, though. I may be doing something wrong, but I believe that it is the CruiseCritic system that does not easily allow high-resolution images.

 

Can you merge them all in a single PDF (maybe even as a zip file) and upload that file in another post? Sorry for asking this, but information about the MSC Dubai cruises is really scarce.

I will try tomorrow to get it done. I have everything in pdf as well but the files are too large. Will have to find out how to do this.

More explosions in Istanbul with fatalities.

 

Will MSC join other lines and stop going ? I have a cruise in May with stops in Istanbul and Izmir so they could be pulled. I wouldn't mind if Rhodes was added in lieu of one of them.

I am very sorry for the people who were involved but I do not think you can or should stop going to places.

Did people stop visiting NY after 9/11?

Did people stop visiting Paris after last year?

I agree that some place should be kept out of any travel plan but you cannot stop visiting places where things are happening. At least that is my thought.

I booked flights separate. Any idea how much it is in a taxi from airport to cruise terminal? And do u have to agree a price ? Or is it better to book a transfer? Also when leaving are there taxis outside ship to return ? Will it be same price? One last think on excursions I would like to see Atlantis/ Auqarium also would love to go in the 7 star hotel Burj al Arab. Msc do a day trip it's 155 pounds each! Bit expensive does include some food/ high tea or lunch. Any ideas? Thanks so much

Taxis are metered in Dubai so you do not have to agree on the price. Make sure that you have a metered taxi. Have a look at this site to check the prices: http://dubai-taxi.com/dubai-taxi-corp/taxi-fares

When we were in Dubai there were taxis at the port all the time.

Concerning dinner or lunch at the Burj al Arab I would suggest looking at their own website to check out the prices. It is not cheap! But this can also be arranged by yourself. Just book a table and get a taxi.

And some more spa offers:

On board excursion program:

Daily program day 8:

Daily program day 7:

Daily program day 6:

Daily program day 5:

Daily program day 4:

Daily program day 3:

Daily program day 2:

Daily program day 1:

Attached some info we received during our cruise.

Cabin ready.pdf

Onboard payments.pdf

Photo offers.pdf

Safety Instructions.pdf

Shuttle Khasab.pdf

Spa offer.pdf

Special offers.pdf

In short:

The ship was very full; we didn’t know that probably both Italy and Russia still had holidays this first week of January. But it also gives a nice vibe to the ship when there are a lot of people.

Embarkation and disembarkation: very smooth and quick

Cabin: nice, not so large but space enough for 2 people. Enough storage space and a very nice cabin steward from Indonesia, named Agus.

Excursions:

We did not take any ship excursions.

In Abu Dhabi and Dubai taxis are very cheap. You can also take the Big Bus but in Abu Dhabi it doesn’t run frequently and in Dubai I heard that it is stuck in traffic very often.

In Khor al Fakkan there is not much to do; we were lazy and didn’t arrange anything. But I think there are some nice excursions either via MSC or locally arranged. There are a lot tour companies waiting at the stop where you get of the shuttle.

In Muscat the Big Bus is an option; we booked the ticket via MSC and they charged us € 57,- p.p. for it.

In Khasab we used a local operator for the half day dolphins tour; they also offer other tours on their website.

Food:

Breakfast, every day we ordered breakfast in our cabin which was nice. The croissants, pain au chocolate and Danish are very nice; the coffee not. The last day it tasted like plain water.

Lunch, we did not go to the MDR for lunch. Had some lunches ashore and the ones on board in the buffet restaurant. We think that the food is ok. Enough variety, tastes good for buffet food and we never had any problem with getting food or getting a seat. Because of the nice weather you can always have seat on deck.

Dinner, first Kaito sushi restaurant. This was very nice, worth the extra money. We got a coupon for a 15% discount so this saves you the service charge.

MDR, we had my choice dining in Le Maxim’s and what many people say, it can be a hit or miss. The pastas and risottos where always nice and hot. The cold starters were also good. The warm starters were sometimes lukewarm. The soups where nice and warm. One night I had an Indian dish with paneer in it. Only there was no cheese in the sauce. When I asked our waiter he said it was in it but melted or something? Well paneer does not melt, it are always cubes. The taste of the dish was good but when you expect something else it is a little disappointing. Fish and meat where sometimes ok and sometimes very nice. Desserts were always good. The last 2 days were actually the best days and we have figured out that this might have to do with the fact that there were less people on the ship. Our maître told us that there were only half of the people embarking in Dubai than disembarking. So for the my choice dining this was only 70 in the week after us compared to 140 in our week. Because we disembarked one day later we still had this experience of less people. I still think the food is ok if you look at the price you pay for the cruise. I am not expecting Michelin star food on a cruise ship and I do not know one restaurant which can serve 1300 people at the same time. Taking this in account I think the food is nice enough and if I would like better food I will have to pay more and go to Oceania.

Service: only smiles and nice people. Even the security guys were nice and one even could speak a few words in Dutch. We also had some interaction with Guest relations and this was also very well taken care of.

This was our 2nd MSC cruise and we would we come back. Yes, if the price and route is right for sure. Do we look at other companies, yes we also do but this will be some higher end ones like Azamara or Oceania.

I will post the Daily programs and the other info we got on the ship later.

Day 8

An early rise at 04:30 because we had to assemble in the Blue Velvet Lounge at 05:15 for our disembarkation. Disembarkation was very quick and after picking up our suitcases in the terminal we only had to walk 10 meters to leave them again with the Etihad counters. This is a great set up. There is a check in area from Etihad and we dropped of our luggage which we got back upon arrival in Amsterdam. So no dragging with luggage at Abu Dhabi Airport. After the bus transfer we could go directly to the passport control. Our return flight was as eventful as the outbound flight and after 7 hours we were back in Amsterdam.

Day 7:

The fun thing is that you have an overnight in Dubai so the next day we again had a taxi and this time to the old part of the city. The soukh area, where there is a gold soukh, a perfume soukh and a spice soukh. These are all very nice to walk through and because you have the sea on one side and the Creek (which divides Dubai) on the other side you always can have water as a reference point for not getting lost. You can cross the Creek with an Abra; this is the local transportation and only costs AED 1,- p.p. for a single ride. It is also possible to have one for 1 hour; this is AED 120,- in total. So independent of the number of people on the boat. We did this and had a leisurely hour on the water; followed by some coffee at a Creek side restaurant. In the afternoon we spend some time at deck 16 and in the night we had our last dinner on the ship. The last 2 nights were both casual nights. Because of the overnight and the late embarkation time on the 2nd day it was actually very quiet in the restaurant these last nights.

After dinner we had to pack and leave our suitcases in the corridor before 23:00 hrs. One nice thing, in the early evening our cabin steward brought us our boarding passes. Check in was done by Etihad because we had the fly cruise package.

Day 6:

Dubai. The city that never sleeps and is the most crazy city I have ever visited. I had booked some tickets for the Burj Khalifa online. This is recommended to do because otherwise it is possible that you will not be able to go up. http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/index.aspx We had a 13:30 time slot so after again having our breakfast on the balcony we went to the Dubai Mall by taxi. The Burj Khalifa is located at the Dubai Mall so we thought to visit this first before going up. Taxis are also cheap in Dubai and metered. The Dubai Mall has 1200+ shops and a great variety of brands. From H&M to Dior, from Chanel Kids to Le Petit Bateau and from Rolex to Guess watches. There is also a large aquarium and an ice skating rink. We spend the morning here and around 13:00 hrs we got to the entrance of the Burj Khalifa. You get your pre ordered tickets via a ticket machine. The elevator ride up to the 124th floor only takes 60 seconds. It is not cheap AED 140,- for just an elevator ride but you have to do this when you are in Dubai. The views are great and it is just the feeling that you are so high up; it gives a thrill. In the afternoon we just stayed at the Dubai Mall because it is so large you will not be bored. In the front of both the mall as well as the Burj Khalifa there are the fountains. During the day there are 2 times they fountains dance. In the evening it is every 30 minutes starting at 18:00 hrs. And this is much nicer because it is dark and the dancing is actually a sound and light show. We watched the first slot and had a taxi back to the ship. No after dinner drinks this time because we were so tired after a busy day in Dubai.

Day 5:

Khasab. Here we booked a half day dolphin tour via http://dhowkhasabtours.com/ The price for this tour was AED 140,- which is approximately € 35,- p.p. Payment is cash only. Via MSC it is € 79,90 p.p. The only difference is the boat you are on. The boats MSC uses are a little bit more luxurious with a shower but for this you pay twice as much. What was good about our tour was that we also had some local people on the boat with whom we could talk and that added to the experience. We were picked up at the port building and after a short bus ride we embarked our dhow. The dhows are traditional boats. You have to take of your shoes and there are carpets on the floor. No real seats but only low couches on which you lie down. During the tour there is coffee, tea & water free available plus some fruit like apples, oranges and bananas. We did see a dolphin family of 6 dolphins and after this we anchored where most dhows anchor. Unfortunately the snorkeling was not too great. You could see the fish much better from the boat but anyway, the swimming was nice. We were back at the Musica around 13:00 hrs. and had lunch in the buffet. After an afternoon on deck 16 it was time for our 2nd gala night. This time less people were dressed up. But the baked Alaska parade was very nice and we had baked Alaska for dessert.