Cruising Genoa to the Arabian Gulf - MSC Lirica

It's been 12 months since Roisin and I vanished for 7 weeks. Seems like only yesterday Mr Bailey was comparing our time in Bora Bora to his wet weekend in Skegness!!!

We have been asked recently when our next 'trip' will be. Well I can now reveal that the waiting in almost over. On 12th October Mrs H and I will be heading off for a trip with MSC around the Arabian Gulf. We start by flying to Nice then staying in Monaco for a night before travelling to Genoa where we pick up the ship, the MSC Lirica.

Our ports of call are: Naples, Heraklion (Crete), traverse the Suez Canal, Aqaba (Jordan), Salalah and Muscat (Oman) then Dubai and finally Abu Dhabi.

We expect a whole host of different experiences to share with you. None more than we don't expect many English speaking Nations on this one. If as I suspect, there will be a fair share of Germans on board, the jokes should practically write themselves!!!

It is normal to have Muster traing before the ship sets sail. This is where you all pile down with you life jackets on to an arranged place and stand around looking like prats. You usually end up at a different muster station from where you supoosed to anyway (those of us who bother turning up Elaine!!!)...but noone seems to really care. Moreover, as we are sailing around the Gulf of Aden we need special training....what to do in case of a pirate attack!!! My suggestion is to say: 'oo arrr me hearties' and hop around a bit. you might get away with it.

So there yopu have it. I hope you will experience this journey with us and don't forget, feel free to click on the comments box. Reading your comments make us feel that the world is not such a big place after all.

To get you in the mood, I've pretty much finished the blog to a cruise we went on in 2009 around the Baltic. It was written retrospectively so I didn't circulate it (I don't think). It's sort of a 'bootleg blog'. Here's the link. I've had to write it all from memory so it's sort opf an Alan! Whicker meets forest Gump meets Rainman kind of affair!!! Please peruse at you leisure....

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/chris-roisin/2/tpod.html

If the above address hasn't appeared as a link, just copy and paste this in to your web browser.

...See you in Monaco or for those of you we work with...see you tomorrow!!!

Regards

Chris and Roisin

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Trip Length: 3 weeks
Blog Entries: 13
Photos: 226
Words: 22577

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Blog Entries

Date	Blog Title	Location
October 12th 2011	Monaco - where my other car is a Ferrari!!	Europe » Monaco
October 13th 2011	Just Genoa. In by train, out by boat!	Europe » Italy » Liguria » Genoa
October 15th 2011	Napoli - Just as we left it!!	Europe » Italy » Campania » Naples
October 17th 2011	Heraklion - It's Heaven versus Hell!	Europe » Greece » Crete » Heraklion
October 19th 2011	Port Said (from the starboard side!!)	Africa » Egypt » Mediterranean
October 20th 2011	Nothings too far from Aqaba! (Lol!)	Middle East » Jordan » South » Aqaba
October 23rd 2011	The Gulf of Aden - my other gun's a Kalashnikov!!	Oceans and Seas » Indian » Red Sea
October 25th 2011	Dhofar, so good in Oman - Salalah is shining	Middle East » Oman » Dhofar
October 27th 2011	Dish-dashing around with Muscat-eers	Middle East » Oman » Muscat
October 28th 2011	You say Hello..and I say Dubai...Dubai, Dubai!!	Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai
October 29th 2011	Result just in from Abu Dhabi: Taxis 0, Hodgsons 1	Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Abu Dhabi
November 1st 2011	Goodbye-ee, Dubai-ee!!	Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai
November 2nd 2011	Widnes, out of the frying pan, in to the fridge!!	Europe » United Kingdom » England » Cheshire » Widnes