How do you describe this amazing city? It is truly a city of contrasts – the sights and smells of a place that houses 21 million people, 60% of whom live in slums, where cows wander through busy intersections? It was a fascinating couple of days!
Heather
It is hard to believe that today is Thanksgiving Day, given that we are in the Middle East. We revisited Muscat today, so took it easy rather than doing another tour. We scooped up some bargains at the souk, and are now (finally) getting a chance to relax. I have added my three latest port reports below.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.
Heather
Today’s posts are all about Dubai. We arrived at noon on Saturday and left late Sunday night. The first leg of our cruise ended Sunday; we said goodbye to many dear friends that we had met. New people joined the cruise Sunday as well, so now we have new friends to make! We did a 4×4 Evening Safari Saturday night. If you ever get the chance to go to Dubai, this is definitely a “must do”. Sunday, we took a city tour. Read about both by clicking on the links below:
After four sea days, we spent a couple of days in the amazing country of Oman. Tonight we will be in Dubai for a fun evening of camel riding, dune bashing, belly dancing, henna tattoos, great food and other fun events!
We are cruising along the coast of Sudan, headed toward Somalia. Tonight we enter the “HRA” or High-Risk Area which means that we will be cruising with curtains drawn and lights out. During the day the Promenade Deck will be closed since it is considered dangerous to be visible to passing ships. Piracy is a problem in the area so we are definitely taking security measures seriously.
I am completely caught up on my reports! Links for Petra and Luxor are below. We will have a couple of port stops in Oman, and then will be saying goodbye to most of our friends we have met and saying hello to some new ones!
Ah, another sea day! I was finally able to get my pictures uploaded while driving to Petra (free wi-fi on the bus – yes!!!). This continues to be an amazing (though exhausting) cruise. Many of the attractions are several hours from the port, which makes for some very long days of touring.
I am adding some new port reports below; I will add in my information on Petra, Jordan and Luxor, Egypt soon.
The Holy Land, day 2Cruising the Suez Canal; a Chance to Rest
Heather
I have been keeping up with writing my blog updates; too bad I can’t find reliable internet in order to post them! I have learned that my Skyroam works great on land, but not so great on board the ship, even if we are in port. This creates a problem because I need my laptop in order to upload my writing and pictures and the only time I use my laptop is while on board the ship. I have tried the ship’s internet but it is so slow that it won’t work when I try to add pictures. And really, don’t you want to see pictures? Also, I realized that I forgot to post a page on my previous blog post, so there is an update (Embarkation Day).
A quick disclaimer: normally, I fact-check and spell-check before posting information I have gleaned from tours. Since I don’t have readily accessible internet, I am unable to do so. I apologize if I have misspelled or misheard any facts.
Sicily – the Godfather, of course!
Olympia, Birthplace of the Olympic Games
I will try to post my reports on Athens and Cyprus soon. We just finished two very full days in Israel; I will be writing up my experiences and posting them as well.
Heather
travelswithheather 