Musings on Cruising

Just come back from another cruise - this time with Royal Caribbean to the Arabian Gulf. This trip I decided to spare Facebook contacts the multiple holiday snaps and instead do a blog when I got back. Cruising - people see it very differently, from a contact of mine saying "Did you enjoy the prison ship?" to meeting people on board who had done dozens with one couple at our table soon to do their 90th! Look around you on the ship (outside of school holidays) and there is no doubt you will see it attracts the older people. Great service and food  attract this sector and some then don`t bother to get off the ship in port! Me - I can cope with the days when we are in  port and I can get off but the sea days kill me. The one we had this time time on a small ship with few things to do that interested me was the longest day I`ve experienced in a long, long while!

I agreed to go on this one that friends Peter and Christine found because of price and it meeting two of the "64 things to do before I`m 64" targets. This was to go to a place I`d never really wanted to go - silly I know but it`s hard thinking of 64 things and seeing more of Dubai than just the aiport!. I`ve done a third of my list now but that`s for another blog!  The bling of Dubai etc had never really attracted me but given that this cruise was little more than the cost  of the flight alone it was an easy decision. Keeping costs low Peter drove us to Heathrow rather than a Manchester flight , having got us a great deal on Meet n` Greet Parking. Great service - they even gave us the car back in one piece when we came back without having used it as a taxi in the week we were away! We managed to arrive 5.5 hours before the flight - in contrast to geting there 5 minues after check in offically closed coming back due to RCI transport delays and Virgin having to go manual on check in!
After a little queueing we were on board the Vision of the Seas - dodging the photographers as we went. One of my pet annoyances is the amount of time spent ducking photo opportunities at dinner, getting on and off ship. We have only ever bought one shot from our first big cruise as they are generally poorly posed and exposed - inevitable given the low wages they pay photographers on board who earn most of their money through their sales. A tip I should give them is practice using flash and learn about exposure!
The Vision of the Seas is one of the older ships in the RCI fleet soon no doubt to be passed on to Thomson Cruises ( part of the same company) who have so many of their other older ships. On board was a poolside cinema, climbing wall for the more active pensioner, library area, deck shuffle boards along with onboard talks and a theatre offering nightly entertainment shows. There were two pools including one for adults only and a spa / gym.

Vision of The Seas

Vision of my cabin

Dining room

The centrum entertainment area

The theatre

One of the bars

Deck pool 1

Aduls only pool

Shuffle board deck

Climbing wall

Entertainment

Art auction of really crap art!

Formal night

Destination ports from Dubai were Khasab, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and back to Dubai for a longer stay. Before we went I did my usual and logged on to a Cruise Critics Roll Call for those cruising ,enabling me to get contacts for local excursions that were recommended by previous travellers and also to join a meet and mingle welcome on board party to help share trips / expenses and to get your best chance ever to win an onbaord ship raffle and some free refreshments / drinks. We only just made the minimum 25 to get such a party the week of the cruise so there were clearly issues with numbers booking in. We signed up for the 2nd sitting of dinner each night at 8.30pm - saving on costs again of the anytime dining and giving ourselves the longest time available in port before having to get back on. On our first night we found someone had been wrongly allocated to our set table so we were bumped upstairs to a lovely window table in My Time dining. The next night we were back at our allocated one  - next to the cutlery / crockery clearing stations leading to our one and only complaint which resulted in a move onto a table for 8 which was much quieter and introduced us to other diners for the rest of the week.

Meals are a serious affair on cruises and in any 24 hours there is never a time when you cannot eat  either in a restaurant / buffet bar or with room service. Between lunch and dinner you can top up with afternoon teas or copious amounts of free ice cream. I am proud to say that I managed to keep to a maximum of 3 meals a day and only had 2/3 ice creams all week! I`ll spare you the shots of various food plates but suffice to say that service and food was as good as always on RCI with great choices and as much as you asked for coming to you! We didn`t make use of the extra charge fine dining restaurants available at a supplement this time either as the "free" food was as good as you could have hoped. We breakfasted when we could in the restaurant enjoying Eggs Benedict and other treats and have to say dining on board was a pleasure.Our company at dinner once on the table for 8 or at breakfast when allocated a different table each day was another eye opener and should be enjoyed by first time cruisers. Fellow diners varied from some nice French people whose main problem was that nothing on board was in their language to others who were generally pro-Brexit, anti - Muslim and seemed mainly to enjoy comparing how many cruises they had been on and sharing views on how standards had gone down over the years. This I always take to mean since they got cheaper - allowing such as me to get on board! One of the odd things for me about cruising is the attempt to create a hierarchy on board. As mere "Gold " members we got precious few bonus elements, although we were glad of the chance to share the free drinks available to Christine and Peter in a limited time slot due to their "Diamond" status which had also got them onboard 20 minutes quicker than us. Of course these are  loyalty schemes based on how many cruising days they had paid for  previously but separate dining facilities / social facilities were available to Diamond members who could go and chat about how many cruises they had paid for before. Peter and Christine were good enough to rough it with mere "Golds" though so we were happy and able to develop an aspiration to be as good as they were in Diamond class one day ;-).

First stop Khasab. best way of describing this place is to quote people onboard afterwards. Fellow diner Carole said " Well it`s just a rock!" whilst the captain noted how few had gone ashore and apologised for the stop saying "there wasn`t much to do there at all". Why go then??? Us - well we had ignored ship excursions available for twice the price that we paid and went on a dhow boat cruise being promised a sail through fjords akin to those of Norway. Fjords of Norway they were not (just rocks really) but we did enjoy the peaceful boat with drinks / fruit supplied in case food reserves were running low and the chance to see dolphins a plenty as well as swimming if we wished. A pleasant day in great weather.
Back on board in the evening for a meal we were then able to take in the entertainment. Compered by an American guy sounding suspiciously like the voice on Rowan and martin`s laugh In and a real throwback to the 80`s when he started with RCI  we found the entertainment not as good as on previous sailings. Not here the West End Show but more All American chorus / dancers with shrill accents backed up my middle of the road magicians/ gymnasts and average musicians playing in the bars. Nothing like the shows on bigger RCI boats or the musicians / singers on a Holland America cruise we had done. Add to that an array of Butlins type poolside entertainment of Mr and Mrs Quizzes, Mr Sexy Man (not allowed to enter for fear of dominating the competition) and the odd impossible music quiz and you`ll see why we paid little heed to entertainment on offer.
Our most successful night was when we attended the Meet `n Mingle party when me and Sue won 2 of the 7/8 raffle prizes. hardly surprising given that only 114 of the 25 registered turned up - probably because it was mid week rather than early on in the cruise.  There I met a phenomena - a Geordie winning a bottle of wine and refusing it because they did not drink! Unheard of.

Chris and Peter on the Dhow cruise

This guy dressed up local style and then did press ups and pull ups on the boat for all to see! Why i don`t know.

Dolphins all around us

We loved the eco friendly loos hanging over the back of the dhows with trap doors below!

Next day was Muscat. Some concern here as we`d booked an excursion to go dune bashing in a 4x4 and see a wadi river bed / village having paid 50% online. They were there early to pick us up and we were surprised to see only 1 4x4 in the whole car park. This was due to RCI cancelling their trips as the "sand was too soft". Our guide warned that the wadi might have been flooded after heavy rains the previous day but set off for the dunes - 3 hours away! passing through largely unremarkable countryside i commented that it did not seem wise to have a Sri Lankan driver who must have limited dune experience. he stopped at a garage to let down tyre pressure, headed off into the dunes and after 600 metres got us stuck in soft sand up to the top of our wheels. What does a Sri Lankan do when he cannot get his 4x4 out of the sand - call in a Bedouin. Not some nomadic traveller with sound sand experience but a Bedouin English teacher who came in his own automatic 4x4 and after some high tec expertise ( clearing sand with his hands) failed to get us out. Off he went for a manual 4x4  and a tow rope and just an hour or so after getting stuck we were out. Of course Sue and Christine didn`t care less as the Bedouin man looked like a young cat Stevens so all was well. We did some more dune bashing without incident and then visited the young man`s family craft business in the desert where our driver bought us gifts out of embarrassment! A curry for lunch, wadi abandoned due to floods and we then headed home. I was a little disappointed as the wadi was a bit of a show wadi wadi!

Stuck in the middle (of the desert) with you!

Peter was scathing in his assessment of progress!

This goat was the last victim of a desert break down!

Cat Stevens to the rescue

Bedouin camp

Next day we took a taxi around Muscat visiting top hotels, the Mosque, the Sultans palace and the Souk. All very enjoyable even if the driver did manage to turn a 3 hour trip into 4 to make sure he got more money out of us.Great free information around the mosque and  then a Muslim scholar educated at the LSE tried to convert us over coffee and dates with some glib comments about Muslim women being more respected than women in the West as they had more female leaders / ministers than we had - totally ignoring the domestic situation of the women we saw around us robed entirely in black with some without eye openings even or covered in gold jewellery that looked like gold moustaches / eyebrows. Would have loved to have got a photo but street photography and other key areas were totally out of bounds. I managed to steal a few but there were always issues re; photography.

Chris will pick up anyone - he looked pleased!

The Mosque

A couple of Muslim wives

The Souk

Had to be done!

Our first formal came and went. I left my tux at home and chose to wear a more comfortable suit and tie but still do not understand the demand to dress for dinner on a ship boat in ways that you never would at home for even better restaurants. There is a lot of snobbery about dressing for dinner I feel and I know that my more up to date suit is a much better option than my old fashioned dj that I hate wearing so bugger it! The captain posed for yet more photo opportunities with guests who seemed to think it was a treat to cosy up to the driver for a photo. I`ll be trying that next time I am on the 52 into town and I bet I get reported for inappropriate behaviour and distracting the bus driver!

This is your driver speaking...

Next day brought Abu Dhabi and a gorgeous mosque with the biggest carpet in the world, the biggest chandelier in the world and the 2nd biggest mosque in the world.

Emirates palace - I was barred for wearing 3/4 length shorts and then moved on from the entrance where I stood talking with the other blokes barred!

Off to the beach!

Beaches were glorious and totally empty except for the lifeguard. Not surprising given the attitude to women in public I guess.

 Next came the dreadful day at sea. Whilst Sue, Christine and Peter lapped up sun, read or napped I paced the decks desperate to find something to occupy me. I thought of doing an onboard photography project but it was just too busy and such as the ship bingo / quizzes held little attraction. I attempted to do another of my list of 64 things and gamble $10 in the casino but it was so empty and lifeless I knew I`d lose more and backed off. Longest day of my life and if the next day had not been so good it would have put me off cruises for ever!

Ther biggest mosque in the world with the biggest carpet and chandelier!

Gorgeous place but not quite as good as the Taj!

Let`s take a selfie with the main site in front of us then!

Great variety of dresses

You`ll look good in this one missus!

 Dubai came next. We used multiple forms of transport to visit the Gold and Spice Souk by taxi, cross the Dubai Creek by water taxi and then take a boat around to the marina passing all the great landmarks by sea. Marvellous. Loved seeing old Dubai and then ending up at the modern marina area with so many iconic skyscrapers that shame the latest boring box designs put up for approval in Leeds.  A metro to the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa followed. Whilst we didn`t go up the tallest tower in the world (it was misty and would have been wasted money) it was great to see and we watched the rather understated Dubai Fountains which were nothing compared to the ones at the Bellagio in Vegas.

The Gold Souk

The barrow boys waiting for jobs

Loved the water taxi - best 25 p spent ever!

Selfies everywhere!

My new boat

Dubai Marina - wow!

On the metro - now what made him smile?

Taxi around the mall?

Dubai Fountains

Bhurj Kalif

Finally it was back to the ship for our final meal, packing for the morning and our lunchtime flight home. So Dubai - would I go again? No. Once is enough to see what is on offer and I would never entertain a break there in future. That said the weather was great throughout, the food and service on the boat was first class and of course the company as ever was great with Christine and Peter. I  still don`t think I am as committed to cruises as Sue is. I think I might have 2 left in me - another Norwegian fjord trip (which was stunning last time )and Vancouver to Alaska but after that I think I`d be done with it. Then again - the bargains that come through my email in box are hard to resist given that at times you can be travelling in foreign climes in a floating hotel costing just £50 - 80 a night depending on the deal. Never say never! For me a cruise can never give you a feel for a country in the way you can see everyday life in travelling through it. Some places need so much more than that 8 hours in port can give you to really soak up the atmosphere of a place. Nice as it can be to wake up in anew place or eat dinner with a great view from the window it is essentially a lazy way of travelling for me that gives just a taste rather than the full blown banquet that travelling allows.