Arabian Gulf Cruise Blog 3 Abu Dhabi Dubai

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Friday 15 January: at sea. Basically nothing to report except eating and watching the world go by. We departed Port Qaboos Muscat on the Thursday evening and sailed, very slowly through the night north towards the Strait of Homuz before entering the Arabian Gulf and sailing on to Abu Dhabi. The first land we saw before Abu Dhabi was when we passed between some islands just off the tip of the Musandam Peninsula: and even then it was so hazy as to make it difficult to figure out where we were. However, when we turned parallel with the Oman coast the coastline was sufficiently clear for me to recognise the cliffs near Bukha where I had driven to from Khasab three days previously.

Saturday 16th January. We docked at Port Zayed in Abu Dhabi around 7.30am in time a watch a rather sinister looking French Navy "stealth" destroyer follow us in. After the dismal experience with the Hop-on Hop-off bus in Muscat we decided that it would be better to take taxis around the town to visit the places we wanted to see. First up was the Observation Deck 300 on the 74th floor of the Jumeirah Hotel near the waterfront. The views alone were worth the AED150 (£28) cost of admission; especially as it also included AED100 credit to be used to buy beverages and pastries. So we spent nearly an hour looking down on the Abu Dhabi waterfront and the fabulous new Emirates Palace Hotel across the highway from the Jumeirah Hotel: and the equally grandiose Ruler's palace next door. Afterwards we took a taxi to get us safely across the highway and up the 1/4 mile driveway to the Emirates Palace Hotel to have a look around inside. A very over-the-top destination but no doubt very enjoyable if one can afford to stay there. Then we walked to the Hotel entrance to get another taxi for drive-by look at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, and then to a mall where I wanted to buy some shoes: a successful and not too expensive shopping expedition. Then back to the ship for a laid back afternoon, dinner and look forward to a day in Dubai.

Sunday 17th January. We must have docked in Dubai sometime during the night (Dubai being slightly less than 100 miles from Abu Dhabi) and woke up to find ourselves at the jetty where our cruise had begun. I'd arranged to meet another former colleague and friend Samira, as well as my friend Chris, for lunch at a restaurant next to the massive Dubai Mall which itself is next to the Burj Khalifa: the world's tallest building. We arrived at the Mall in time but then discovered that my friends were waiting for us at another branch of the same restaurant chain; fortunately within easy walking distance. We had a very enjoyable lunch and chat, outside in warm sunshine with a clear view across a large pool to the Burj Khalifa. Afterwards, we took a taxi back to Dubai Port and a last night on the ship.



Monday 18th January. We had to get up early as passengers had to be off the ship by 9am; which we managed although we then had to wait for an hour in the Port concourse for our taxi ride to the airport. We were lucky enough to be assigned extra legroom seats on our Emirates Airlines' A380 (right at the front of the plane in the first row of seats), but our luck sort of ran out as the entertainment system for one seat didn't work and the flight attendants didn't respond to any of the summons via the one working system. Eventually the flight purser arrived, intending to do something else, and we mentioned that none of her team had responded to the several summons via the working entertainment system. She tried to rectify the problem with the non-operating system but couldn't and by way of compensation invited us to the lounge and bar in the First Class section upstairs- and very nice it was too. Strange about the poor service on Emirates though: the first time I'd encountered such having flown with them many times. We touched down in Heathrow slightly ahead of schedule at 6pm and were picked up by the car parking service, and were on the road to Jane's daughter's house by 7.20pm where we had a lovely dinner with Caroline and Louis and an early night. All in all a very relaxed way to end the holiday.

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Photos

At the Emirates Palace Hotel
The Jumeirah Hotel, and Observation Deck 300, is the tallest building in the middle background

300 view
From left, the Ruler's new (and almost completed) palace, the Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi Marina and Mall

Private cricket
The Hotel's grounds are so big that even a full sized cricket ground in one corner looks comparatively miniscule

I could get used to this
Entrance to the Emirates Palace Hotel

Fill her up
The Splendour of the Seas doesn't go to filling stations when it needs fuel, the filling station comes to it

Friends reunited
TravellingJenks, Samira Daoud, Chris Dommett

Too tall to fit in
The Burj Khalifa - looking much more elegant close up than from a distance

The Address: burnt out
Just a couple of hundred yards from the Burj Khalifa.
This building caught fire on New Year's Eve just prior to the fireworks display at the Burj and provided a spectacular alternative display. Despite the extensive fire damage, including a lot of melted metal works, no one was injured. Allah be praised