Cheating On The Mouse Boats Part 2 - This Time It May Be Terminal

[dolphingirl47]

Day 0

Considering that I had been on leave for the best part of two weeks at that point, I was woefully unprepared. The fact that I had been down south all week and only came back in time for my nail appointment the previous day had not helped either. I suddenly realised the previous evening that I did not actually have anything suitable to wear for Oman. I have been to Dubai many times and although this is also a Muslim country, the dress code is pretty relaxed. As long as knees and shoulders are covered, it is all good. I do see plenty of women that do not even adhere to this fairly liberal dress code and nobody seems to bat an eyelid. Still, Oman is a lot more conservative and I suddenly realised that what is considered to be perfectly modest in Dubai may not be in Oman. We also were planning to visit a mosque in Abu Dhabi and for that everything apart from hands, feet and face need to be covered.

All my work tops only have three quarter sleeves and tend to have v necks so they were out. My long sleeved and more modest tops are fleeces and hoodies and way too warm for temperatures of up to 27 degrees. So some shopping was in order. The problem was where to get some lightweight, long sleeved tops from at this time of the year. Long sleeves were not going to be the issue. It was winter after all. It was the lightweight that was the challenge. In the end the solution came from an unexpected direction. Our local supermarket is an ASDA superstore, which is part of the Walmart group. After I had checked out all the websites of the shops I normally buy clothes from and could not find anything suitable, I checked the ASDA website and there were a number of possible options. So I decided to head up there. I got lucky and found some really nice tops that ticked all the boxes and that are also smart enough to wear to work.

When I went up to ASDA, I realised just how horrible the weather was. We had gale force winds and driving rain. I was supposed to go to the hairdresser in the early afternoon to have my hair put up as it was our company winter ball that evening. I realised very quickly that no hairspray in the world would protect my hairdo and by the time I would get home, it would look like I had never been to the hairdresser so I ended up cancelling that appointment. I was bitterly disappointed as I do not get the chance to play at being a princess often enough, but going ahead would have been a waste of money. So instead I got myself some nice hair accessories at ASDA and decided to have a go at putting my hair up when I got to the hotel.

When I got home, I dealt with the not so glamorous aspects of travelling. I packed, which was relatively straightforward as a good chunk of what I was taking went from the shopping bag straight to the suitcase. Then I did our online check in. The idea is that if the loads look good, you should get a boarding pass. I experienced this on a number of occasions when flying standby with other airlines, but never on my own. The loads did look great though and I was not worried. I was amused more than anything.

With all the pesky little things out of the way, we had a snack for lunch and then I spent some time just relaxing. Mid-afternoon, we made our way to the hotel. Fortunately it had stopped raining and the wind was no longer as strong either. We timed this perfectly with the train arriving pretty much as soon as we got to the station. We did have to wait a bit for the hotel shuttle. It is perfectly walkable, but by then it has started to rain again and we decided to just wait. This turned out to be a good plan. Our winter ball was at one of the other airport hotels and I asked the driver which stop would be best for me to get off. He said that they would take me straight to the other hotel.

When we eventually got to the hotel, we checked in and went to our room. It was still early enough that I had some time to relax before having to get changed, do my hair and put my make up on. Once I was ready, I went downstairs and they were as good as their word and dropped me off right by the entrance for the ballroom. The driver also told me that when I was ready to come back, to get reception to call them and they would come to collect me. I really appreciated this.

I had a great evening with great company, great food and a few drinks, but at 23:30, I decided I better think about getting back to my hotel and going to bed. They did call my hotel for me and about 15 minutes later, the shuttle turned up. Once I got back to the hotel, I set the alarm for the next morning, took the make up off and got ready to bed.

 

[franandaj]

Marking my spot. I will be back!

 

[tiggrbaby]

You did look like a princess for your party!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Marking my spot. I will be back!

By the time you are back, I will have the preliminary stuff out of the way and we will be on the ship.

You did look like a princess for your party!

Thanks. This was the gown that I had made for our holiday cruise on the Disney Magic in 2013 and this is still one of my favourites.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm here, I must come back to read, but I'm very excited to read about this trip

 

[dolphingirl47]

I'm here, I must come back to read, but I'm very excited to read about this trip

Welcome. I actually need to scan some photos sooner rather than later. I am good to go on the next instalment, but after this I need the scanned photos.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 1

I had not slept particularly well that night. I think it was a combination of not having an opportunity to wind down after the party, general excitement about the trip and a bit of nerves about flying standby to get to a cruise. I am always worried about oversleeping when I have to get up early anyway so I am sure this contributed as well. Anyway, I slept in fits and starts, but got at least some rest. I did give up when I woke up 30 minutes before my alarm was due to go off. I got up and started to get ready. I decided to check the loads again. I clicked on the link for the standby receipt and to my delight I saw that this had changed to a boarding pass over night. I finished getting ready and then woke up Graham. While he got ready, I reorganised my luggage and then we headed out.

We went downstairs and checked out. We only waited for a minute or two for the shuttle and then we were off to the airport. Check in was nice and smooth and there was no line to speak of. I chatted with the colleague who checked us in for a bit and then went to say “hi” to my colleagues at the ticket desk. Then we went through security. There we hit one of two little snags on our travels. Somehow we ended up in the line for buggies and wheelchairs. As all of them had to go through manual screening, the line did not move at all. Fortunately somebody came to our rescue and let us back into the normal line. After this, it did not take long at all until we were through security. I had a quick look at the duty free shop and then we went to Starbucks for some breakfast. Graham had an Americano and a sausage sandwich and I had a Gingerbread Latte and a cheese toastie.





It did not take long after we finished breakfast until our gate was listed. We walked over in that general direction and it was a bit like running the gauntlet. As much as I like Manchester airport, it has a few design flaws. One of them is that they have a couple of gates that are essentially just desks at a side of a corridor. They are often used by charter flights and low cost carriers and therefore draw a crowd. The fact that they are were the corridor narrows does not help either. They were getting ready to board at one of those gates and it was a bit of a struggle to get through.

Eventually we made it to our gate and found somewhere to sit. We did not have long to wait until boarding started. This was a nice smooth process. I saw a few more airport colleagues that I know at the gate and said "hi". Then we were on the plane and we left pretty much on time. Once we were at cruising altitude, breakfast was served. This consisted of pastries, a fruit salad, juice and tea or coffee. Once breakfast had been cleared, I put on Frozen and that had the desired effect: I fell asleep. This is a bit of a standing joke in our family. Frozen and Les Miserables are two of my favourite films. Yet they both send me to sleep if I watch them while travelling.



Most of the flight I spent alternately reading and napping. For the most part it was a smooth flight, but there was a bit of turbulence around the time lunch was due to be served. I got a little concerned when the captain asked the cabin crew to be seated. It normally takes some very significant turbulence before this happens. In the end fortunately it was a non-event. Yes, it was a little bumpy, but I have experienced a lot worse and it did not last long. The only issue was that because of this, the lunch service was a little rushed. There was no time for tea or coffee. Apart from this, lunch was nice. Graham had some lamb curry with rice and I had roast chicken with mashed potatoes, vegetables and cranberry gravy. For our starter, we got a smoked salmon salad, which I handed over to Graham and he gave me his dessert, which was based on a chocolate brownie. So we were both happy. We both had a glass of white wine, which was quite drinkable.

While I was having lunch, I decided to watch a film. It was called The Face of an Angel and was based on the Amanda Knox trial. Rather than looking at the case itself, it was focusing on the media circus surrounding it and how this could have influenced opinions. The film was well done and the perspective was interesting. I very much enjoyed this.

By the time the film was finished, we had started out descent into Dubai. We arrived pretty much on time. We had a bit of a hike from the gate to the immigration hall, but we are pretty used to this. The immigration hall was nice and empty. There was only one person in front of us. Graham went first. He had his passport stamped and was on his way. When it was my turn, it seemed to take forever. I have no idea what the issue was. I assume the system had gone down as I have been in and out of Dubai a lot and never had any issue. This was snag number two. Eventually whatever the matter was resolved itself. My passport was stamped, the immigration official apologised for the delay and I was on my way. I met up with Graham again, we had our hand luggage x-rayed and then we went to find our luggage belt.

I had instructions to bring back cigarettes for one of my colleagues. There is a duty free shop in the luggage hall. Graham offered that he would get our luggage while I got the shopping done. This worked well. I got the cigarettes and had a look at the wine selection. I was absolutely blown away by this. Their wine selection was bigger than the one at the big supermarket near where we live. I went back to Graham. I hoped that he would come back with me to choose some wine. Royal Caribbean allows you to bring two bottles of wine on the ship and they do not have a corkage fee. However, Graham already had our luggage when I came back and did not feel like lumbering this around. So we passed and headed to the exit. This actually turned out to have been the right decision further down the line.

We went over to the area for the hotel shuttles. We did not quite get the blast of heat that I am used to when I arrive in Dubai, but it was pleasantly warm. This time we were staying at a different hotel. Quite often when we are in Dubai, we stay at the Premier Inn Dubai International Airport. This time round their prices were crazy. So I ended up booking the Holiday Inn Express, which is right next to the Premier Inn and was about half the price. I was joking that I could almost guarantee that the Premier Inn shuttle would come first. More often than not when we are waiting for the Premier Inn shuttle, the one for the Holiday Inn Express comes by while we are waiting. However, we got lucky and the Holiday Inn Express shuttle arrived fairly quickly.

It was nice to see some familiar sights on the short trip to the hotel. When we got there, we had a short wait as there was only one member of staff at the front desk. Once it was our turn, the check in process was quick and efficient. Soon we were on our way to our room, which was pretty big. Graham headed for bed even though it was only about 21:00 and Dubai is 4 hours ahead of the UK. I made use of the free wireless for a while and then I got a fairly early night, too.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Here! Looks like a nice room in Dubai!

 

[Flossbolna]

I am here!! And just in time before you board the ship!! How fun to combine work Christmas party with vacation!

 

[tiggrbaby]

The day went rather well! I had to giggle at Graham's feet hanging over the bed; my DH and sons barely fit as well!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Here!

Welcome.

Looks like a nice room in Dubai!

It was and especially for the price we paid for it.

I am here!!

Welcome.

And just in time before you board the ship!!

This will happen on Sunday.

How fun to combine work Christmas party with vacation!

This worked out rather well. Usually our Christmas Ball is the first weekend in December so I was gutted when it was the following weekend this year and it looked like I would be in the USA then. However, with our change of plan, this worked out perfectly.

The day went rather well!

I was rather pleased with how it all worked out.

I had to giggle at Graham's feet hanging over the bed; my DH and sons barely fit as well!

This is partly him though. He does that at home, too and we have a kingsize bed. He actually puts his head below where the pillows are and then he wonders why the bed is too short.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 2

I had set the alarm for ‪8:30 that morning and when this went off, we got ready and headed downstairs for breakfast. They only serve ‪breakfast until 9:30. It was not particularly busy when we got there and the breakfast was pretty nice. We both started off with some fruit and juice and Graham had some yoghurt. I then checked out the hot food and had some fried egg, baked beans and Arabic bread. They also had beef sausages and turkey bacon, but I did not fancy those. I also had some mini muffins and some coffee. Graham also had some hot food and a croissant. After breakfast we headed back to bed for a bit. We did not have to check out until ‪12:00 and our check in at the port was not until ‪12:30.

We did wake up again at around ‪11:00 and I checked in briefly online and then took some photos of our view. We then put the odds and ends we had used back in our luggage and went down to check out. This was a quick process. I borrowed a stapler to attach our luggage tags to our luggage and then we went outside to get a taxi. There was one pulling up just as we got outside. As we were heading towards the port, I had another reminder just how much Dubai changes. It was only a little over three months since we had been in Dubai and in the meantime a new building has sprung up. It was not quite finished, but it was not far off.





As we entered the port, we saw the Queen Elizabeth II. I knew that she was in Dubai, but had no idea where she was. Graham thought that she looked a bit sorry for herself, but I think she was just dusty. I am sure there is nothing that a good clean and maybe a lick of paint won’t fix. It is such a shame that they still have not decided what is going to happen to this ship. It was not long after this that we got our first glimpse of the ship we would spend the next week on, the Splendour of the Seas. First impressions were definitely favourable. She is a very pretty ship and has some quite classic lines.

Not long after this, we pulled up outside the terminal. The porters whisked our luggage away and we paid the taxi driver. Then we went inside. This is by far the nicest port terminal that I have seen. It is light and airy with some understated Arabic decor. We stopped by a commemorative plaque and some fellow cruisers kindly took a photo of us in from of it and we repaid the favour. Then we went through security.





When we were through security, we were intercepted and directed to a table to fill out the health questionnaire. Once we had done this, we were directed to check in. This was very well organised with separate check in areas for suite guests, various levels of membership of the Crown and Anchor Society and first time non-suite cruisers. The line we were directed to was not too long and I think it took less than 15 minutes from getting into the line until we were all checked in. The actual check in process must have been the most efficient we ever experienced. The person checking us in checked our signed Set Sail pass, the credit card we were using for our on board account and took our passports. We were then given our Sea Pass cards and then we were done. While we were checking in, I noticed the Arabian Adventures logo on some documents on the desk. I asked the person checking us in if she worked for Arabian Adventures, which she confirmed. This made me smile. Arabian Adventures is a tour operator and destination management company that is part of the Emirates group. In the early part of my career, I was part of our hotel and promotions team and worked very closely with Arabian Adventures. It turned out that Arabian Adventures is the port agent for Royal Caribbean in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and also takes care of most of the excursions and the transfer arrangements. Well, they most certainly did a great job with the check in.

Once we were checked in, we had a look around the terminal. They had set up a traditional Arabic meeting place and there was also a display with some photos showing the history of Dubai. There were a couple of coffee shops, a souvenir shop and a duty free shop. We checked the duty free shop for wine, but we drew a blank. We did sign up for a champagne brunch with galley tour for our sea day. They had set up a number of tables for various things like making reservations for the speciality restaurants, purchasing drinks packages and registering kids for the youth activities. They also had set up some refreshments. I quickly posted a status update on Facebook while Graham used the bathroom and then we walked over to the ship. That is one thing that went completely over my head. Fortunately Graham was on the ball. I had wondered why the terminal was so empty. I had not realised that you could get on the ship as soon as you were checked in. This was a nice touch. We walked over to the gangway taking some photos on the way.









There was no line to get on the ship and as soon as we walked up the gangway, we had our Sea Pass cards swiped and were on. It was a nice touch that the security guy who swiped our cards welcomed us by name. We entered the ship on deck 1, which is not quite as glamorous as entering though atrium on the Magic and the Wonder and to Graham’s relief, nobody announced us either. We waited a while for an elevator, but eventually decided it would be quicker to walk. This had the added bonus that we got a first impression of the ship. The Centrum, which is the Splendour’s version of an atrium, is absolutely stunning. We then headed up to deck 7 where our cabin was located. To our utter delight, we noticed that the cabins were already ready so we dropped off our hand luggage and had a quick look. The inside cabins on the Splendour are a bit smaller than on the Magic and the Wonder, but our cabin actually felt more spacious. The layout is better and we had tons of storage space.

After dropping off the hand luggage, we decided to go and get something to eat. This was one aspect of the cruise that really concerned me. I had read up on Cruise Critic before the cruise and found out that the main dining room is not open for embarkation lunch. As the buffet tends to be a complete zoo on embarkation day on the Disney ships even with one of the dining rooms open, this did not fill me with joy. Still, there was no other option. On the way we cut through the adult area, which is called the Solarium. This was literally love at first sight for me. We only stopped long enough for me to take a couple of photos, but decided to check this out after lunch. When we got to the buffet, I was really surprised. It was not particularly busy at all and we got a nice table with a view. We were treated to a lot of A380s taking off while we were eating.







I liked the set up of the buffet. They had different pods offering different kinds of food. I was very pleased with the quality and the selection of the food. Graham felt that there is more variety on the Disney ships, but this may well have something to do that there were no peel and eat shrimp on the Splendour. I started with some focaccia, olives, Manchengo cheese and Chorizo. Graham had some assorted salads. I then had some pepperoni pasta bake, meatballs, fries and a pork steak. Graham had some curry and rice. Dessert had the same issue as it had on the Disney ships and was nothing to write home about. The sugar cookie was nice enough as was the jelly. The coconut cake was somewhat tasteless. The coffee was nothing special either, but I quite liked the ice tea mixed with some lemonade.









After lunch, we decided to check out the ship. We relaxed in the solarium for a while and I decided to take a spa tour. The spa is right next to the solarium. I was not particular impressed with this. It felt kind of dark and dingy. I never ended up going back. We took a lap around deck 9 checking out the rock climbing wall and mini golf and enjoying the view. At one point I stopped by the bar and had a Coke. I had purchased the Soda package in advance.







We then went inside. We went downstairs and had a look round the Centrum. Graham spotted one of the touchscreen guides that were dotted around the place. They are an electronic version of the Compass and also an interactive map. We noticed that there was a shore excursion presentation about to start in the theatre and as we had nothing else to do, we decided to go. The theatre is an amazing space. Rather than traditional theatre seating, it had love seats and plenty of legroom. It also had a stunning chandelier and some beautiful stained glass.







After the presentation we had another look at one of the screens and I noticed that there was a tour for first time cruisers about to start. We decided to attend this. The meeting point was the Viking Crown Lounge, which is on deck 11 and has some fantastic views. We had to wait a while for our guide to arrive. I started to wonder if anybody was coming. A member of the cruise staff eventually came. On the whole, we did not learn much that we had not already discovered ourselves.

After the tour, we headed back to our cabin. Our luggage had already arrived. We started unpacking. Our stateroom host knocked on the door and introduced herself. She seemed to be in a mad rush to dispatch everybody to the safety drill even though we still nearly had 15 minutes. So we put a few odds and ends away and then headed down to deck 4. As we approached our muster station, our cards were swiped. Initially it felt like this was better organised that on DCL. The fact that deck 4 is more spacious on the Splendour helped as well. However, once the actual drill was over, they made some announcements in 7 or 8 different languages that had nothing to do with the drill and it was only once they had been made that we were dismissed. I was decidedly less than impressed with this.

We had planned to go to the spa raffle after the safety drill, but we waited forever for a lift and in the end gave up. We went back to the cabin and finished unpacking and then went back to deck 4 from where we were planning to watch the sail away. Well, we had a bit of a wait. Still, it was nice to watch the lights come on all over Dubai and the view was decent from where we were. At one stage I went inside to check out the shops. I wanted to add a model of the Splendour of the Seas to my collection. They did not have any in the shop, but they had one in display in the window. It looked like a bit of paint was missing so I decided to think about this. I also went up to the photo gallery to make sure that they had a record of my order. Then I re-joined Graham. We continued watching the ship being loaded. This was quite interesting. I am not quite sure why they still had to load the ship as it had arrived in port the previous day. Eventually they got ready to remove the gangway and this was a whole different kind of entertainment. In the end we were finally ready to leave.











I was quite amused at one stage. Graham had his telescope set up in the hope to see the moon. He had briefly gone inside to use the bathroom and a couple walked up to me and the telescope. They started speaking to me in German. I am not sure what made them think that I would understand them, but fortunately for them, I did. We had a nice chat for a while. By the time they moved on, we were moving and we Graham and I enjoyed the views of the Dubai skyline. We were moving very slowly and at some stage we seemed to have stopped moving at all. We did not have very far to go to reach the next port. After a while, Graham and I headed back to the cabin to get changed for dinner.



We then went down to the dining room and were escorted to our table. We were the first people there. We had been seated at a table for 8. I was very happy about this, as I prefer being seated with other people when we are on a cruise. Two more people arrived shortly after us. They were a mother and daughter from South Africa. Our serving team came to introduce themselves. Our server was from Tunisia and our assistant server from India. They both were very nice. I ordered a Coke and we had a look at the menu. While we were doing this, our remaining 4 tablemates arrived. They were three sisters and a friend who were also from South Africa. I think poor Graham felt pretty outnumbered being seated with 7 women. They were all very nice though. Once everybody had arrived, we ordered our food. This led to an interesting conundrum. The 6 ladies on our table were all Muslim. Unfortunately it had not occurred to Royal Caribbean that on a Middle Eastern itinerary, they may have a large number of customers on board that may require halal food. I was surprised that not all meat with halal anyway as I am pretty sure that this was brought on board in Dubai. All meat in Dubai is halal. However, according to our server, it was not. Normally fish, seafood and vegetarian food would be safe options. However, a lot of them either contained alcohol or gelatine so they were not an option either. Dinner was most certainly an education. After dinner, the head server came to see our table to discuss arrangements for the rest of the cruise. It appears that on Royal Caribbean, the head server only gets involved if there are special dietary needs or if there is a problem. I think this is a much better system then on DCL where the head server does the old flyby.

Fortunately Graham and I had no dietary restrictions and had plenty of options to choose from. Graham did his usual trick and let our server choose. I was quite interested in what would transpire. He took this in his stride. Graham ended up with the Smoked Fish Rillettes, which was a seafood spread consisting of smoked salmon, mackerel, trout and sour cream, garnished with tiger shrimp and garlic crostini for his starter. For his main course, he got horseradish-crusted Fillet of Atlantic salmon with celeriac-potato mash, snow peas and a lemon beurre blanc and sweet mustard drizzle. He very much enjoyed both dishes. I went with the watermelon and raspberry soup with pistachio dust and mojito foam, which was very light and refreshing. For my main course I had the Slow-Roasted Beef Strip loin. This was supposed to come with seasonal vegetables, baked potato and natural rosemary jus. I asked for fries instead, which was no problem. Everything was cooked to perfection and absolutely delicious. We both felt that the dinner was nicer than anything we ever had on DCL. Although the dining room was bigger than any of the restaurants on the Magic and Wonder, it was also a lot quieter. So dinner was a lot more enjoyable experience all-round. Graham passed on dessert, but I had the Chocolate Sensation, which consisted of espresso sponge, chocolate truffle mousse, almond icing and chocolate glaze. This was amazing. It turned out that this was one of the desserts that is available every day and I ended up having it a few more times.









Once we had all finished, we said goodnight to our tablemates and serving team and headed to our cabin. I set the alarm for the next morning and we settled down for the night.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Lovely looking ship and food.
Sounds like you definitely enjoyed the differences compared to DCL.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Loved Graham's t-shirt!

The ship looks beautiful. I hope the adult area stayed that way!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Lovely looking ship

The Splendour is a very pretty ship.

and food.

We loved the food on the whole.

Sounds like you definitely enjoyed the differences compared to DCL.

We did and I am silly excited about our upcoming cruise. This will combine some of the aspects I love on Disney like the rotational dining and the characters with a different kind of itinerary and all kinds of new experiences.

Loved Graham's t-shirt!

He has a whole lot of Grumpy shirts. I think my favourite will make an appearance later in the trip report.

The ship looks beautiful.

She is. I am kind of sad that she will leave the fleet next month.

I hope the adult area stayed that way!

Not quite so empty, but it never got crowded.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 3

We got up nice and early that morning. We wanted to see the sunrise and we had heard that the approach to Khasab is pretty scenic. When we got up to the open decks, it was still pitch black so we decided to get some breakfast at the Solarium Cafe. I was positively surprised by this. I kind of figured that breakfast there would be about the same as at Goofy’s Galley/ Daisy’s Delights. However, I was wrong. They still had cereal, pastries, fruit and yoghurt, but they also had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast burritos and various hot breakfast sandwiches. We both had some fruit and Graham had a croissant and some yoghurt. I tried the breakfast burrito, which was pretty nice. Once we had finished our breakfast, it started to get a bit lighter and we headed up to deck 10. We were not the only people who had that idea and there were plenty of people about. We did get treated to a nice sunrise and the scenery was pretty spectacular so it was worth getting up early. Khasab looked tiny and it did not look like they exaggerated at the shore excursion all the previous day when they said that there is not a great deal there.





































Khasab is a funny little place. It is the principal town of the Musandam peninsula. The Musandam peninsula is part of Oman, but only has a land border with Dubai. The area is well known for its fjords and is referred to as the Norway of Arabia. Khasab has only just started to build up tourism as an industry. There is one hotel, two restaurants, a souk, but no taxis. What little there is closes in the afternoon. We had an excursion booked, but people who did not did not find a great deal to do. Anyway, once we were docked, we went back to our cabin to pick up the stuff that we needed for our excursion and then went to the theatre were our meeting point was. This was the best organised ship excursion I ever experienced. We checked in, were given a numbered sticker and were directed to a specific area to the theatre where we were asked to find a seat. We only had a short wait and then our number was called and we were escorted down to the gangway. At the bottom of the gangway, we were handed over to a member of staff from the local tour operator. The ship’s photographers were out and we had enough time to get a quick photo while we were waiting for everybody in our group to come off the ship. Once everybody was there, we walked over to the dhow. This was only a very short walk.



Some members of the crew helped everybody on board. The seating arrangements were traditionally Arabic, which means low cushions on the floor. Once everybody was on board, we were treated to some traditional Arabic hospitality in the shape of Arabic coffee, sweet black tea with cardamom and fresh dates. I was in heaven. I love the Arabic coffee and it is quite difficult to come by in Dubai. The crew also came round with bottled water. Our tour guide introduced himself and the crew. He was originally from Tunisia, but he clearly had a real passion for his adopted home country. We ended up spending a fair amount of time with him as he very quickly picked up on the fact that we were very much interested in our surroundings. With some of the people on board, I honestly wondered why they had chosen this excursion as they did not seem to be interested in either nature or the cultural aspect.

As we set off, it was a little windy. However, our guide told us that as soon as we would enter the fjords, we would be sheltered. He was right. It also did not take very long until we got treated to one thing we were hoping to see on this excursion. We were soon joined by some dolphins. Our guide told us that they were bottle-noses, but they seem to be a little too small for this. I think they were common dolphins. Whatever they were, they were a real treat to watch. At one stage, one of the members of the crew motioned me to the front of the ship and there were two dolphins right there swimming alongside us. They were so close that I could almost have touched them. This was such an amazing experience. We stayed in this area for a while until the dolphins lost interest in us and then we got going again. We passed some villages and our guide told us a little about the lifestyle about the people living there.

 

[dolphingirl47]

We then headed to Telegraph Island. In the 19th century, this was the location of a British repeater station which was used to boost the signal of the Persian Gulf submarine cable. We anchored on this area and were given some time to swim and explore. Graham and I had brought our snorkelling gear and this paid off. There were a number of interesting fishes in those waters. Some of them we had seen before in the Caribbean or in Hawaii, but a lot of them were new to us. Seeing them was well worth braving the wobbly ladder to get off the boat. Fortunately getting back on was easier. We were some of the last people in the water, but we were also the only people who had the foresight to bring snorkelling gear. The water was pleasant enough to swim in, but without being able to see the fish, I don’t think we would have stayed in the water as long as we did. They even had showers on the dhow so we were able to rinse off the salt water when we came out.

























Our tour guide welcomed us back with some hot, sweet black tea, which went down very well. Once everybody was back on the dhow, we started to head back to the port. On the way, we stopped in an area where sharks tend to hang out and we saw some. We also saw some mountain goats and our guide got quite excited. He mentioned that there were severe penalties for harming the goats. I still did not cotton on to how special they are. What we saw was Arabian thar, which are an endangered species and can only be found in the Hajar Mountains that divide the Musandam peninsular from the UAE. It was only two days later that I made that connection. We saw more dolphins on our way back and soon we were back in port. We had to climb over a number of other dhows that were docked to get back on dry land.



















We got back at the same time as a number of other excursions. It was pretty busy at the gangway. They had set up a little gazebo near the gangway with some chairs. We decided to sit down and wait out the rush. They had some drinks set up as well. Graham had some lemon water and I had some mango water. At some stage a member of the crew came round with some cold towels. This was all terribly civilised. At some stage we saw two of our table mates. They had done some shopping in town, but commented that there was not a great deal there. We were glad that we had gone with an excursion.

Once the crowds had died down, we got back on the ship. We took our stuff back to the cabin and got showered and changed. There were a couple of bits of bad news. I had a phone message from the laundry that they could not dry clean the dress that I had sent down as they were worried that it was too delicate. I was quite surprised by this as it had been dry cleaned a number of times locally and also on DCL. Still, I had another couple of gowns that I had sent for pressing and we ended up with only two formal nights rather than the three that I had expected so I was good with this. We also had a letter underneath the door informing us that the excursion we had booked for the following day had been cancelled due to lack of participation. We were asked to come by the shore excursion desk to book another excursion.

 

[dolphingirl47]

When we had sorted ourselves out, we headed up to the buffet. It was a bit busier than the previous day, but we still had no issues to find a table. Graham started with assorted salads again. I went straight to the main course. I had some chicken curry and rice. Graham then had something from the carvery with some vegetables. We both passed on dessert, but had a coffee and some soft serve ice cream on the pool deck. I got a Coke from the bar and then we headed down to the Top Hat Lounge. I had spotted that there would be some trivia based on famous landmarks of the world and I fancied this. We did OK, but were led astray by a couple of red herrings and did not win. Still, it was fun.

After the trivia, we went to Guest Services to see if we could get the excursion issue sorted out. Their computer was down so they could not check availability for excursions for us. We decided to come back later when the shore excursion desk was open and headed up to the Solarium where we chilled out for a while. I left again about half an hour or so later to go to a jewellery making class at the Top Hat Lounge. I was impressed that this was offered as I have organised a number of jewellery making classes on longer cruises for people on our cruise meet thread. They gave out kits that made a necklace, bracelet and earrings. We made the necklace that afternoon and could take the rest of the kit away. I was not overly impressed with the tools they had and we needed to share, which combined with the fact that we only had very limited time was a bit of a pain. I still enjoyed it and made a mental note that for our next cruise, I would bring one of my travel sets of tools.

After the class, I re-joined Graham in the Solarium. He had a bit of a nap. We stayed a little longer and then went up to deck 10 to watch the sail away from Khasab. Once we were out on the open sea again, we headed inside. The shore excursion desk was open and the line was not too long. We asked that the excursion that had been cancelled was available for our second day in Muscat and it was. So we booked it for then and got tickets for the hop on hop off bus for the following day. I was a little disappointed how this was handled. We had similar situations on Disney cruises and they just rebooked us for the alternative date if we had two days in port or to something similar and said to come and see them if the new arrangements were not suitable. This would have been much preferable to just refunding the cost of the excursion and telling us to come and see them if we wanted to book something else. Still, it all got sorted out in the end.

The photographers were already setting up for the formal portraits for the night. We decided to hang around and get some photos taken. We then went to the cabin to get changed. We had a bit of downtime and then went downstairs for the Captain’s reception. On Royal Caribbean, they had sparkling wine rather than cocktails and this was flowing pretty liberally. I had to be quite firm after declining more after I had three glasses. We did the rounds of the photo opportunities. I was surprised how few people had their photos taken. Often we were the only people there. Even for the photo with the Captain, which usually draws huge lines, there were only two couples ahead of us.































This was the first evening when the aerialists performed, but I very quickly realised that this is not my thing. Most people seem to really enjoy it though. After the show, the Captain came back and spoke for a bit. He listed all the nationalities of guests that were on board that week. It came to 163 different nationalities. I was absolutely blown away by this. It was great to be on such a cosmopolitan cruise.

Soon afterwards it was time for dinner. Graham and I ordered from the menu, but the rest of the table had an Indian feast family style. More and more dishes came out and I am not sure how everything fit on the table. Graham let our server choose again and ended up with the lobster bisque, bay scallop gratin with melted garlic-herb butter and olive breadstick and carved fillet of beef tenderloin with morel-crimini mushroom sauce and creamy whipped potatoes. I had the Caesar salad for my starter and then also had the beef tenderloin. I had my heart set on the chocolate soufflé for my dessert, but service was being a bit on the slow side this evening and in the end my bed appealed more than dessert. So we said goodnight to our table mates and headed for bed.

 

[Malia78]

Khasab looks really beautiful in the pictures and I love the goat. When I sailed Alaska, all I wanted was to spot a mountain goat-no success yet.

Love formal nights in your cruise reports because your gowns are always stunning and this blue number is no exception--you look lovely!

 

[franandaj]

Wow! I looks like you had a great start to your trip!

I can see why the RC ships have such an appeal to you, there are all the photo options as well as the other relaxing things you seem to love about cruising. The excursion looked beautiful and I'm glad you had the forethought to bring your snorkeling equpment.

The pictures are one thing I really missed on our cruise. I saw some reviews where they said that they were happy not to be hunted down by photographers trying to nickel and dime them out of pictures. I found this funny as you are never required to take or buy the pictures, but (I can say this over here), with as old as most of those folks on the boat were, they probably aren't in photo taking mode any longer!