April 12
Throughout the night we set various east-south-easterly tracks towards Dubai. During out initial approach the ship rounded the Palm Deira and picked up a pilot and passed through the breakwater into an area of the harbor called Mina Rashid to our dock. We docked at 1:00 p.m. While in port the Pacific Princess will change berths once another cruise ship sails away. We will be at the same terminal but closer to it. It is very hazy, they had an unexpected sand storm in the morning and the sand just stays in the air. Not good for your eyes.
Today we booked a narrated tour, an a introduction to this Middle Eastern city. Our first stop was the Jumeirah Mosque, supposedly one of the most photographed sites in Dubai and a fine example of Middle Eastern architecture. I was not impressed by the mosque, we have seen better, even in Cleveland.
Then it was off to see the Burj Al Arab hotel which is 60 incredible stories high and built in the shape of a towering sail. Again we did not go in, they don’t want tourist traipsing thru the place. But we can go for tea, I offered to take Betty but she declined after learning the price was $120.00-$150.00. The air was so filled with sand, we did not get a good look at the hotel. The cheapest room here is $3,000 USD per night. Trust me the pictures you see of this hotel in advertising are all photo shopped.
Burj Al Arab Hotel in sandstorm!
Next we went to the Mall of the Emirates, home of the Ski Dubai, the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East. Now this was pretty amazing. Here we are in the middle of the desert and all these people are bundled up in ski outfits and winter clothing. It is enormous in size with downhill skiing, snow tubing and bobsledding. It was packed, lots of children having a good time. (If you look at the picture on the right you can see a couple of giant snowballs. The kids climb inside and they push them down a long hill!)
Next we headed to the Dubai Mall to see the World’s largest Aquarium. Although it is large we don’t think it is the largest but it is billed it as such. Dubai’s goal is to have the largest everything in the world. It did contain many types of fish, quite amazing to see in a mall. Next was the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world and the highlight of our tour. If anyone has watched the newest Mission Impossible movie you have see this building. We went to the top which in reality is not the top but 124th floor. It is very high, our view was hampered by the sandstorm and the darkness as we went up at 6:30 p.m. We watched the dancing water show from above. The water show is very similar to the one at Bellagio in Las Vegas. Actually the whole area is like Vegas on steroids. Once back to the bottom we watched the water show at ground level.
We hate tours, as generally there is always a couple idiots that hold everything up. We had to walk back to the tour bus and upon arrival we were short a passenger and to wait for them. We would have voted to leave her but we waited and she finally arrived. Once back to the port we were unable to get aboard the ship as there were going to move it to the other location along the dock. Originally they informed us that they would do this between 5:00 and 6:00. Then they told us that they would not move the ship at all. But here it is 9:30pm and they are moving the ship. They said it would take 45 minutes to move the ship, so we headed to the terminal and waited, we were both tired. Finally at 10:30 p.m. we are able to board the ship.
April 13------------Friday the 13th!!
Being Friday, which is the Muslim's holy day some shops would be closed. The Gold Souk was closed and I would have like to gone there as I would buy a gold ring if I could find what I wanted. The quality of gold here is very good and prices tend to be lower here.
Betty’s sore throat now has turned into a runny nose. She thinks that she is allergic to sand! The sky is still full of sand, very irritating to our eyes, I feel sorry for people wearing contacts. But she still wanted to go ashore. We took a taxi to the Dubai Mall. I got ripped off by the taxi driver as I was charged more than double the fare. The mall has more than 1200 stores. There is 140 restaurants including three Starbucks, 20 Banks and money the money exchanges. The Burj Khalifa, Dubai Aquarium, Dubai Ice rink, The Waterfall, Big Fun World, Underwater Zoo and Sega Republic and KidZania are the main attractions. We walked around the mall and probably covered half of it. We had lunch at Texas Roadhouse because we wanted some plain old American food. No alcohol is served in the restaurants, and it is almost impossible to buy it. They were out of non-alcoholic beer, so I ordered a non-alcoholic margarita which was tasty. After lunch we decided we had enough and Betty was not feeling very good so we took a taxi back to the ship. The fare was half the price we paid in the morning.
Betty standing at Waterfalls and Ice Skater in Ice Rink. The penguins are to help the children learn how to skate.
Dubai was one of the main reasons we took this World Cruise, We enjoyed our time here but the sand storm put a damper on the experience. I would never want to return but very glad I had the opportunity to see it. Desert life is not for us. Due to the sand storm the temperatures were lower than normal which was a good thing. At sail away it was actually very cool on the balcony with the breeze.
We departed Dubai at 6:00 p.m. Once out of the harbor we settled onto a north-easterly heading then in the early morning hours we again passed through the Straits of Hormuz. We have two days at sea and I welcome them.
