We woke up at 08:00 am and were already docked at Mumbai port. The captain had the ship cranked up to 20 knots since departing Dubai, in order to arrive in Mumbai early due to an impending dock workers strike scheduled to begin at 08:00 am. We were told by the crew that we had actually docked at 06:30 am. It was a warm, humid 83 degrees F and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Tapas Terrace. We were drawn to the starboard side of the ship by the sounds of the big brass Indian band playing welcome tunes. We departed [View Full Entry]

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Woke up to another beautiful, sunny day. Enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Tapas and attended the captain’s interview (Jurica Brajcic) including general manager (Thierry Tholon) and chief engineer (Panachiotas Bachas). The captain was quite entertaining and showed off his sense of humor with the Q and A session. We also learned about the sonar guns located on Deck 5 forward, to assist us with safe passage through the Hormuz Straight and as we passed close to the coast of Somalia, where the Seabourn cruiseship encountered a pirate attack last year. If needed, the guns deliver such high [View Full Entry]

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A very lazy day today. I slept in, watched the movie “The Devil Wears Prada” and spent a good part of the day relaxing in the cabin, sitting on the verandah and getting caught up with my journal writing. We had a lovely dinner in the Grand Dining Room with Aeon, our favorite waiter from Romania. I had a delicious cold, giant prawn cocktail, a baby spinach salad with warm bacon dressing and succulent prime rib with horseradish. Dessert was an outrageously good, dark chocolate cup filled with cappuccino mousse. My favorite dessert so far. The show tonight was called Ovation [View Full Entry]

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We woke up to a balmy, overcast 65 degrees F and enjoyed a quiet breakfast on our verandah. We ventured into the cruise terminal at 08:00 AM to meet our guide Lissie—originally from Waterford, Ireland, but who has lived in Dubai for 29 years (a temporary detour on her relocation to Australia). She told us about the quaint town by the sea, she first came to live in, that has exploded into a najor port metropolis expanding at a rate of 10-15% per year in building and population with massive traffic jams to match. She also mentioned how the native Dubai [View Full Entry]

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Woke up to a glorious day with cool breezes and warm sunshine. We could see the coast of Oman and U.A.E. on our port side. We played trivia this morning at 10 AM and placed 2nd yet again. Looks like our time to play with the Big Dogs has finally arrived !! We noticed large buildings on our port side and realized we were close to the port of Dubai. We watched anxiously as the ship was docked and had a perfect view of the welcome show and band, complete with red carpet. Helen and I decided to try and take [View Full Entry]

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I woke up this morning at 5:00 AM to a moon lit sky filled with constellations. I went out on the verandah to enjoy the view and warm ocean breezes with the sound of the ship cutting smoothly through the ocean. We had breakfast delivered to our room at 8:00 AM and enjoyed the view of Oman’s coastline off our port bow. We arrived at the entrance to Muscat Harbor about 08:30 AM, but were put in a holding pattern due to the freighter traffic leaving and entering ahead of us. We drifted in front of Sultan Qaboos beautiful administrative palace [View Full Entry]

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Woke up to the coast of Oman off our port side as we sailed in the Arabian Sea (northern part of Indian Ocean). It was a bit windy with a comfortable air temp of 79 degrees F. I walked a nautical mile on the track and followed up with some exercise time in the fitness center. I arrived at the Mandara Spa for my 50 minute Swedish massage with my Swedish therapist, Alexandra (first time I’ve ever had a Swedish massage done by an actual Swede). It was called a Balinese Bliss massage and began with a foot washing and dry [View Full Entry]

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Slept in late this morning, because we pushed the clocks forward another hour last night. We just made it up to Horizons Lounge in time for continental breakfast and those delicious flaky croissants. We were surprised to see about 50 small wooden row boats with outbound motors, racing up along our starboard side. Some of them were fishing and pulling in nets, while others were just having fun trying to keep pace with our ship. Some passengers were a bit panicked, thinking they were pirates, since we were so close to the area where the Seabourn was attacked last year. Yo [View Full Entry]

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Woke up this morning in the Gulf of Aden just off the coast of Yemen, at the northern part of the Indian Ocean. A bit warmer and breezy today with a little more swell to the ocean than what we’ve had. Today was a lazy day. I enjoyed room service coffee on our verandah and watched Talladega Nights on our in-room TV on the movie channel. I ventured up to the Nautica Lounge at 11:15 for a glass of champagne and a lecture about the art masters such as Rembrandt, Picasso, Dali and Moulet. It was quiote interesting and he showed [View Full Entry]

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Woke up this morning and our moveable ship’s map showed us located off of the coast of Eritrea (previously part of Ethiopia), just north of Asmara. Saudi Arabia was still to the east, but by noon time we would cross the border south into Yemen territory. We see a lot more freighter ships today, since the sea area is getting more narrow. The nickname of the Red Sea here is “tanker alley”. We are heading south to theStrait of Bab-el-Mandab, only 14 ½ miles wide, separating the shores of Dijbouti and Yemen. We were disappointed to learn that we would sail [View Full Entry]

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