Day 88 - Sunday March 26 Dubai day 2

Dubai day 2 photos

position at 8:00am: N25 15.43 latitude E55 16.27 longitude
(Dubai in the UAE)
temperature: 70F, 83% humidity, sunny
distance since FLL: 28,493 miles

It was a cool 65 degrees when Clay walked on deck this morning. There were only a few people on deck so it made for a pleasant walk this morning.

We had an early start with breakfast in Compass Rose at 7:30 instead of 8:00 because of the disembarkation going on today. There were no chocolate croissants, but there were 2 black cherry jams on the table, so Debbie had Swedish pancakes again. By 9:30, we were in a taxi on the way to Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House. The ride took about 10 minutes and cost around 12 dirhams. It was the residence for the grandfather of the current ruler of Dubai. It has been restored and now showcases the history and development of Dubai. We spent about an hour or so walking through the exhibits at the house.

After the house museum, we made quick walk-throughs on a heritage village and a diving village that were close by the house museum. The museum cost 2 dirhams per person, but the two villages were free. The reason was they were mainly shops selling stuff, and that is why we quickly got through them. We then walked under the creek using a pedestrian tunnel. This was our 2nd trip under the river this way and we were old hands at it, knowing exactly where to go. Once on the other side of the creek, we walked through a series of jewelry shops that were on the main road outside the gold souk. We did not find anything to buy though. We did stop in a nut and candy shop (we passed several) and Clay bought what is supposed to be local Dubai treats for his office. We then walked up to the fish souk and the vegetable souk. It was impressive. The fish souk was a covered area about half the size of a football field and it was full of people trying to sell and buy fish. By this time, it was about 1pm. The weather was hot (hotter than the previous day) and Debbie was still fighting her congestion and cough, so we caught a taxi back to the ship. We ate a quick lunch in Compass Rose and then Debbie rested for the afternoon. Clay took a mall shuttle bus to the Deira Centre City Mall and did a little more shopping. It seemed the mall bus does not regularly take people back, so Clay ended up taking a cab back and got to the ship around 4:15pm.

At 5pm, we went outside the terminal building to catch our 5:25 bus to the Burj Al Arab Hotel. We were not the first ones there and the bus was full by 5:10. So around 5:15, we headed out. Traffic was heavy but moving. We got to the hotel around 5:55. The guide on the bus said we should be back on the bus at 6:25. This meant we had 30 minutes to enjoy our cocktail party on the 27th floor (top floor) of this sail shaped hotel where the rooms start at $1000 a night. As soon as we got our drinks (a bellini and a beer), Lars, the Hotel Director on board, walked up to Clay and wanted to know if that beer was a Kingfisher. We laughed and said no, it was a Budweiser (Clay had asked when he got it). Lars also wanted to know where was Bob. Well, we had to admit that we had forgotten Bob. Debbie had switched purses, and had not gotten Bob. She realized it as we rode on the bus but it was too late to do anything about it. So, we have no shots of Bob at the Burj Al Arab. Bob is not too happy right now. The captain also came up (and thank goodness he did not make any Kingfisher remarks). He said he had noticed Clay was always on deck 12 overlooking the flying bridge when we came into port. He invited Clay to knock on the bridge door sometime as we come into a port and see a sail-in from the bridge if Clay wanted to. It was a nice invitation and Clay will likely try to take him up on it at some point.

The Burj Al Arab is a swanky hotel. It is very colorful and everything is oversize. It would not be out of place in Las Vegas. There is a multilevel lobby with a couple of dancing fountains on the multiple levels. It was very impressive and they served excellent Bellinis. The Captain went to the hotel in a Silver Cloud Rolls. We meant to be at the bus at the time they told us to be there, but we could not walk away from the Captain and so it was about 6:55pm when we got out to the bus. The hotel had staff on the bus offering dates to the people there waiting for the bus to fill. The man seated behind us told us this was the 6:25 bus. It left just before 7pm and took a different route back. On the way out, we seemed to go out of the way to get there, but we took a major highway and sped right along and got there in 30 minutes or so. We took a street under construction on the way back and we sat in bumper to bumper traffic just stopping and rolling for an hour to return to the ship. We walked straight to Compass Rose once back onboard and had a quick main course. Spaghetti for Debbie and a steak for Clay and then Debbie medicated herself and went straight to bed. She woke up between 10:30pm and 11pm and thought we were already moving. It is possible that if everyone was all aboard that we did leave early. Tomorrow afternoon we should be in Fujairah, which is another of the United Arab Emirates. We will only be there for about 6 hours, so to make the best use of the time, we booked a 4 hour tour.

Dubai day 2 photos