Dubai - Dubai

[tobes]

Doing this cruise with RCCL. Anyone have any suggestions about excursions in Abu Dhabi,Bahrain, Fujairah, Muscat, and of course, Dubai. I want to know what not to miss!:)

[PamUK]

We are doing this cruise on 22nd Mar 10 with Royal Caribbean, when are you going? The trip brochure is already out but we haven't decided what to do yet, we'll probably just do our own thing.

 

Pam

[greatam]

I have been spending quite a bit of time in the Mid East for business.

 

I have been to all these countries. Here is a thread I posted when I first got back from a 3 month Mid East trip.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=991143&highlight=dubai

 

I highlighted everything in Dubai to see in a couple of days. Abu Dhabi is BORING, BORING, BORING. Never did find much to enjoy.

 

Muscat-there is a day tour out to the mountains. Great scenery and you would not expect those mountains in the desert. I know I was very surprised. It is 160KM away, so don't know if you have time for the trip. The third largest mosque in the world is in Muscat. Please observe the dress code-NO shorts, no tank tops, women to cover completely INCLUDING shoulders and hair. I wear a long cotton wrap skirt and a long sleeved cotton pullover PLUS something to cover my hair anytime I am around mosques or very proper Islamic people.

 

Be prepared for "Eastern toilets" (squat type). I know Western women are totally shocked when the only bathroom available is a hole in the floor with places to put your feet. And MAKE SURE you carry wet wipes or tp. Another BIG reason to wear a wrap long skirt-not only are they cool to wear, but the first time you encounter a squat toilet, you will be glad you have on a skirt and NOT a pair of slacks. Yucky, yucky in slacks.

 

Bahrain is filled with Westerners, especially US expats working on government contracts. Everyone flies to Bahrain for weekends because so many Middle East countries have no booze and are fairly strict with places to party and congregate. Again, souks, museums, mosques.

 

Fujairah-the beach along with souk, the heritage village and bullfights on the weekends.

 

And as I posted in the other thread-BE PREPARED for large sand storms. They do hit the Middle East and everything is closed. And don't forget that the "weekend" in some Muslim countries is Thursday-Friday and some it is Friday-Saturday (now more common) which means a LOT of things are closed. It is really frowned on by some countries to be trying to do shopping (the few things that are open) and sightseeing. I sure hope the cruise lines took this into account. Enjoy!!! It is TRULY a different part of the world, with much confusion over customs and dress.

[tobes]

Hi Pam, we are doing RCCL April 5, flying in a couple days early and doing Dubai on our own (my kids have a long list of things they want to do!) but I thought we might be more comfortable doing cruise excursions in the other ports. What do you think? Judy:)

 

 

 

We are doing this cruise on 22nd Mar 10 with Royal Caribbean, when are you going? The trip brochure is already out but we haven't decided what to do yet, we'll probably just do our own thing.

 

Pam

[PamUK]

Hi Judy

 

There was nothing in the brochure that grabbed us as 'must do'. I've got a friend who has just moved out to Dubai so I'm hoping to meet up with her at some point. We also want to do afternoon tea at the Burg Al Arab but I think I need to book ahead for that so I need to plan exactly when to do it. We want to go to the Hard Rock Cafe in Dubai, if it's open as it is shut for refurbishment at the moment. We would also like to see if we can get to the Hard Rock Cafe In Bahrain which is in the capital (Menama?), but I just can't work out where we'll be docked as I couldn't actually find Mina Sulman on a map of Bahrain!

 

Good idea going in a couple of days early, I'm going to speak to DH tomorrow to see about going a day ahead cos at the moment we have an overnight flight out there, get off the plane and straight onto the ship. Somehow I think the majority of our first day will be sleeping if we dont go in a day ahead.

 

Let me know if you find any 'must see's', I've got a roll call going but so far there is only me on it!

 

Pam

[SailingBird]

Our family (Me, Hubby and son)are going on the Brillaince on 14th Feb (half term in the UK) - there is no meet & mingle for this date - We are wondering how well it is selling. There was a supplement in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday really pushing it.

We are looking forward to doing something different, as we have cruised in the caribbean 5 times all with RCCL.

Any tips on the ports would be great.:cool:

 

Helen

[greatam]

Our family (Me, Hubby and son)are going on the Brillaince on 14th Feb (half term in the UK) - there is no meet & mingle for this date - We are wondering how well it is selling. There was a supplement in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday really pushing it.

We are looking forward to doing something different, as we have cruised in the caribbean 5 times all with RCCL.

Any tips on the ports would be great.:cool:

 

Helen

 

Please do a search for my posts about Dubai and other Middle East ports. I have recently spent 3+ months all over the Middle East for business. I have also been back to the Middle East twice for a week since May. The ports will be very much the same, BUT if you have a long port time, you can get out into the deserts/mountains and REALLY see the country. It will take some diligent research to see more than souks, mosques and museums.

[tobes]

I found 250 posts clicking on your user name but they were all about either Southeast Asia, South America, Alaska, New York I did not find anything about the Middle East. Where should I look?:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please do a search for my posts about Dubai and other Middle East ports. I have recently spent 3+ months all over the Middle East for business. I have also been back to the Middle East twice for a week since May. The ports will be very much the same, BUT if you have a long port time, you can get out into the deserts/mountains and REALLY see the country. It will take some diligent research to see more than souks, mosques and museums.

[greatam]

I found 250 posts clicking on your user name but they were all about either Southeast Asia, South America, Alaska, New York I did not find anything about the Middle East. Where should I look?:)

 

Did you read my post in this thread??? It specifically addressed your particular ports. And I put a link to my long post about things to do in Dubai.

 

The Middle East is NOT like other places. Most of the ports will be VERY MUCH the same, except Dubai. There is not a lot to do in the Middle East other than the souks, mosques, museums and taking short boat trips along the shores of the countries. There is little "tourism" in most Middle Eastern countries, except Dubai. Middle Eastern residents go on vacation in Europe or Asia. They rarely stay in the Middle East. Airfare is very cheap out of the Middle East. First Class-Kuwaiti Airlines-$2200 RT from Kuwait City to NYC. Business class to Bangkok-$600 RT.

 

Kuwait City is on one of the cruise itineraries for this year (Crystal). I was going to take the cruise, as I will have been in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan for about 3-4 months when the cruise happens. I was not surprised at the lack of "tours" available in Kuwait City.

 

The Kuwaiti's have a long stretch of beach which is mostly undeveloped. Will they develop it??? I doubt it. They have no need to and would probably loose money. The beach currently has little "islands" of American chain restaurants-Chili's, TGIF's, Olive Garden, etc. etc. along it. The rest of the beach is DISGUSTING-dirty, bottles and cans all over. Very few go to the beach in Kuwait City. As American US government contractors, a bunch of us went to the beach to actually go swimming in July (it was 117 that day). There were few others there and we got a lot of dirty looks, even though we women were completely covered (we went swimming, if you could call it that, in nylon sweats). The water was nasty and there was a lot of "junk" on the bottom. We went back to the hotel to cool off.

 

While the Middle East is very exotic and certainly different, there is little tourism infrastructure and most likely never will be except in Dubai. Enjoy it for what it is-very old and VERY different.

[tobes]

I did now!!! Thanks

 

 

Did you read my post in this thread??? It specifically addressed your particular ports. And I put a link to my long post about things to do in Dubai.

 

The Middle East is NOT like other places. Most of the ports will be VERY MUCH the same, except Dubai. There is not a lot to do in the Middle East other than the souks, mosques, museums and taking short boat trips along the shores of the countries. There is little "tourism" in most Middle Eastern countries, except Dubai. Middle Eastern residents go on vacation in Europe or Asia. They rarely stay in the Middle East. Airfare is very cheap out of the Middle East. First Class-Kuwaiti Airlines-$2200 RT from Kuwait City to NYC. Business class to Bangkok-$600 RT.

 

Kuwait City is on one of the cruise itineraries for this year (Crystal). I was going to take the cruise, as I will have been in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan for about 3-4 months when the cruise happens. I was not surprised at the lack of "tours" available in Kuwait City.

 

The Kuwaiti's have a long stretch of beach which is mostly undeveloped. Will they develop it??? I doubt it. They have no need to and would probably loose money. The beach currently has little "islands" of American chain restaurants-Chili's, TGIF's, Olive Garden, etc. etc. along it. The rest of the beach is DISGUSTING-dirty, bottles and cans all over. Very few go to the beach in Kuwait City. As American US government contractors, a bunch of us went to the beach to actually go swimming in July (it was 117 that day). There were few others there and we got a lot of dirty looks, even though we women were completely covered (we went swimming, if you could call it that, in nylon sweats). The water was nasty and there was a lot of "junk" on the bottom. We went back to the hotel to cool off.

 

While the Middle East is very exotic and certainly different, there is little tourism infrastructure and most likely never will be except in Dubai. Enjoy it for what it is-very old and VERY different.

[Angie1961]

We are doing this cruise on 22nd Mar 10 with Royal Caribbean, when are you going? The trip brochure is already out but we haven't decided what to do yet, we'll probably just do our own thing.

 

Pam

 

Hi Pam

 

We fly out from Manchester on 21st March, really can't wait to see this part of the world :)

 

Angie

[jameila]

Hi Judy

 

There was nothing in the brochure that grabbed us as 'must do'. I've got a friend who has just moved out to Dubai so I'm hoping to meet up with her at some point. We also want to do afternoon tea at the Burg Al Arab but I think I need to book ahead for that so I need to plan exactly when to do it. We want to go to the Hard Rock Cafe in Dubai, if it's open as it is shut for refurbishment at the moment. We would also like to see if we can get to the Hard Rock Cafe In Bahrain which is in the capital (Menama?), but I just can't work out where we'll be docked as I couldn't actually find Mina Sulman on a map of Bahrain!

 

Good idea going in a couple of days early, I'm going to speak to DH tomorrow to see about going a day ahead cos at the moment we have an overnight flight out there, get off the plane and straight onto the ship. Somehow I think the majority of our first day will be sleeping if we dont go in a day ahead.

 

Let me know if you find any 'must see's', I've got a roll call going but so far there is only me on it!

 

Pam

The hard rock cafe in Dubai is nothing special. You are better off spending an afternoon at the Madinat Jumeirah, they have an indoor souk to wander around and lots of little restaurants scattered around the man made waterways. The best view of the Burj Al Arab can be seen from the balcony of the Bahri bar (with a mohito in hand) at the Mina Al Salaam hotel, also within the same complex as the souk.

[jameila]

Doing this cruise with RCCL. Anyone have any suggestions about excursions in Abu Dhabi,Bahrain, Fujairah, Muscat, and of course, Dubai. I want to know what not to miss!:)

 

Muscat is a great place- go for a walk along the corniche and around the Muttrah souk; they sell all sorts of treasures.

[PaulaJK]

If you wish to take afternhoon tea at the Burj you will need to reserve in advance. You can reserve through their web site. You will need the printed confirmation letter with confirmation number in order to drive onto the property. Security is tight.

 

The flight to Dubai is long and the time differences significant....why not allow yourself a day or two to recover and see the region. The ever popular dune bashing trip out to the desert for sunset and dinner in the desert while touristy is also fun.

[tobes]

If you wish to take afternhoon tea at the Burj you will need to reserve in advance. You can reserve through their web site. You will need the printed confirmation letter with confirmation number in order to drive onto the property. Security is tight.

 

The flight to Dubai is long and the time differences significant....why not allow yourself a day or two to recover and see the region. The ever popular dune bashing trip out to the desert for sunset and dinner in the desert while touristy is also fun.

 

My kids want to do the dune bashing. Do you have the name of a particular company that arranges these trips? Judy:)

[greatam]

My kids want to do the dune bashing. Do you have the name of a particular company that arranges these trips? Judy:)

 

How old are your kids??? Most of the REPUTABLE companies will not take kids under 10. There are some that take younger kids, but as one who has been on both the day dune trips and the overnight dune trips, they really are NOT recommended for young kids. Seat belts and car seats are not commonly used in the Middle East. Expats use them, but locals do not.

 

I have used Desert Safari Dubai (overnight trip). The best day trip was organized by the concierge at the Grand Hyatt. I specifically asked for sand rails, dune buggy's and ATV 4 wheelers, NOT riding around in a LandRover. I had a blast when I was able to drive myself (we have 4 wheelers and go to Glamis-sand dunes in SE California-a couple times a year-http://www.glamisdunes.com/index.php).

 

I know I would not have enjoyed the trip being driven around. Enjoy!!!

[tobes]

How old are your kids??? Most of the REPUTABLE companies will not take kids under 10. There are some that take younger kids, but as one who has been on both the day dune trips and the overnight dune trips, they really are NOT recommended for young kids. Seat belts and car seats are not commonly used in the Middle East. Expats use them, but locals do not.

 

I have used Desert Safari Dubai (overnight trip). The best day trip was organized by the concierge at the Grand Hyatt. I specifically asked for sand rails, dune buggy's and ATV 4 wheelers, NOT riding around in a LandRover. I had a blast when I was able to drive myself (we have 4 wheelers and go to Glamis-sand dunes in SE California-a couple times a year-http://www.glamisdunes.com/index.php).

 

I know I would not have enjoyed the trip being driven around. Enjoy!!!

 

I should have specified adult children! They want to drive. We are staying at Atlantis so I'm sure the concierge there can arrange it for us also. I will look at the company you mentioned. Thanks, Judy

[canalfront]

Just returned from Legend of the Seas Dubai to Singapore. We stayed in the Deira area of the city -- it's the old Dubai area, and wonderful to mingle with so many wonderful people who live and work in Dubai. We started off seeing Dubai with a Big Bus hop-on, hop-off city tour. It includes an hour evening boat tour(wonderful), a visit to the museum (very interesting), and a walking tour we did not have time to do. It's a great way to get an overview of the city. We did go to the Burj al Arab -- I called them from our hotel and made a reservation for breakfast at 10am -- it cost around $105 for the two of us -- it was delightful -- served in the lobby area -- and yes, security is tight, and the only way to go inside is to have a reservation for something. We took the metro from the Deira area to the Mall of the Emirates, then a taxi to the hotel. Toured the Madinat shopping area next door afterward. The metro is wonderful. Women on local buses and the metro are in a separate area -- up front -- very nice. And in a line outside a restaurant to buy the local sandwich -- the Shwarma, the women are promoted to the front of the line. We were told the sand safari is a must-do -- we didn't have the time, but many people LOVED it. A great destination. Oh, buy your own alcohol as you exit the customs at the airport -- there's a very reasonable duty free store there, and there are no liquor stores in Dubai except for resident. Hotel bars and restaurants charge a FORTUNE for a drink. Be forewarned! And enjoy Dubai!

[PamUK]

Hi Pam

 

We fly out from Manchester on 21st March, really can't wait to see this part of the world :)

 

Angie

 

 

Hi Angie

 

If your'e going on RCL's Brilliance of the Seas then we're on the same cruise! I've started a roll call but there's only me on it so far, here's the link

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=947062

 

Pam