Review - Vision of the Seas - Arabian Gulf Jan 9-16

Another year, another cruise...

Having cruised only in Europe before, I decided early last year to look into more "exotic" destinations to escape the winter.

Royal Caribbean would offer a weeklong cruise in the Arabian Gulf with stops in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Done deal. I booked pretty early for what I thought was a good price but prices dropped drastically after the final payment. I believe at one point a balcony room was around $400.

I would meet up with my mother in Dubai a day before the cruise to explore Dubai and then board the ship and enjoy some warm weather.

There aren't many reviews or even information on these Arabian Gulf cruises even though information about most of the ports are easily accessible on the internet. We booked excursions through Royal Caribbean because we liked the tours being offered and yes, the prices might be a bit high but in an area where neither of us had been before, it was a safer solution to guarantee an on time arrival back to the ship.

This turned out to be the right decision because all excursions were better than we expected and we enjoyed our time in this part of the world greatly.

The itinerary was as follows:

Monday, Jan 9 departing Dubai

Tuesday, Jan 10 Khasab, Oman

Wednesday, Jan 11 Muscat, Oman

Thursday, Jan 12 Muscat, Oman

Friday, Jan 13 at sea

Saturday, Jan 14 Abu Dhabi, UAE

Sunday, Jan 15 Dubai, UAE

Monday, Jan 16 Dubai, UAE

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Looking forward to reading this!

Day 0-1 - Saturday, Jan 7/ Sunday, Jan 8

Washington, D.C. - Doha, Qatar - Dubai, UAE

After a day of work and a little snow it was time to leave the cold behind for a week.

My flight to Doha wouldn't leave until 8.30pm and it was a 12 hour flight to Qatar. About 90 minutes into the flight, we encountered turbulences that lasted for a few minutes. When it started to get bumpy, dinner service had just started and ultimately had to be stopped for more than one hour with even the flight attendants having to sit down.

A few weeks prior to this, one Qatar Airways flight from DC to Doha had to divert to the Azores in the Atlantic due to severe turbulences that injured a few passengers so it was nice to see that the airline took the right approach to keep passengers waiting for their dinner rather than endangering passengers but also to keep their own employees safe.

Out of the 12 hours in the air, the seat belt sign was on for probably 6-7 hours since it seemed that we encountered one bumpy patch after another but I guess that's normal in winter when crossing the Atlantic.

We had a bit of delay when arriving in Doha and my already short connection of 50minutes was now only 30minutes. Time to run. And even though everybody has to go through another security check when transferring, I was able to make it to the gate for the Dubai as the last passenger to board. The next flight would have been only one hour later but at that point I just wanted to get to the hotel and sleep.

Not even one hour later, we landed in Dubai and after passing through immigration, I took the metro straight to the hotel.

The Rove City Center Hotel had just opened in December 2016 and is located a few minutes walk from Deira City Center metro station. This station is only 3 or 4 stops from the airport depending on which terminal you arrive at.

Another advantage of this location is the accessibility to the "old" Dubai that we wanted to explore the next morning before going on the ship.

Overall, it was a good trip- definitely long, but I was looking forward to a week in the sun and I knew what I was getting myself into so no complaints from my side.

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Looking forward to your review.

Looking forward to the rest of your review. I'm curious to see what you thought of the ports and what they look like.

Also, I'll be on the Vision this May and look forward to pictures of the ship :D

Thanks for posting a review! I'm taking this cruise in two months and it will great reading of your experience.

Day 2 - Monday, Jan 9

Dubai, UAE

Just before the first call to prayer from the mosque across the hotel, we woke up and slowly got ready for the day.

There was no breakfast included in the room rate but we wanted to go to a cafe in the old part of Dubai anyways so that didn't bother us.

Check it wasn't until 2pm so we had plenty of time to venture into the city, come back to pick up our bags and take a cab to the port.

We took the metro to Al Ghubeiba station- the metro is very clean, tickets are easy to purchase and service is efficient and on time.

It was still not busy when we exited the metro station to walk along the waterfront to Creekside Cafe. I had found this place online but as "promised" in the reviews, it was a bit difficult to find but after getting lost for a few minutes, we eventually got there a few minutes after 9am.

We settled down and ordered what turned out to be a delicious breakfast. Even though it was still shady, we could feel the warmth of the sun already and just enjoyed watching the dhows and abras going up and down Dubai Creek.

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After enjoying a fantastic breakfast, we took an abra for 1AED to cross the creek and walked past the dhow wharfage to get to the different souks.

This wharfage is the starting point for the dhows to sail back to e.g. India with all kind of goods. Tires and electronics (fridges, AC units, etc.) seemed amongst the most popular items.

The crossing can take a few days and considering the state the boats are in this alone is already an adventure. Apparently pirate encounters are not seldom so the risk these sailors are taking out of pure need is admirable.

We slowly made our way to the spice and gold souk but the haggling was too much so we didn't really stop anywhere to buy anything.

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We crossed Dubai Creek again back to the other side to go to the historic neighborhood of Al Bastakiya. Dating back to the 1890s, this area has been (and still is being) restored since a few years ago. It wasn't busy at all and even though it was already early midday, the sun was pleasant but not too strong to make walking uncomfortable. We stopped here and there to take pictures and get a glimpse into the different courtyards.

Our destination for a midday snack was the Arabian Tea House. It doesn't look like much from true outside and we probably had walked right past if we hadn't known what expected us on the inside- a lovely, shaded courtyard sheltering the visitors from the outside noise. A beautiful oasis to sit and enjoy a cold lemon-mint drink. The fact that 70% of the patrons were locals showed us that the quality of food was also good. Unfortunately we were still full from our breakfasts so we just had cold drinks and an order of samosas- delicious and we agreed to come back during he next week when getting back to Dubai.

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More Al Bastakiya pictures:

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Shortly after noon, we walked back to the metro station and got back to the hotel around 12.45pm where we quickly gathered our belongings to take a cab to the port.

Rove Hotel City Center

The cruise terminal wasn't busy and we were able to check in in no time.

The check in experience wasn't the best since I was concerned about my early departure and wanted to inquire with the agent if cabs were available due to me trying to leave early after the overnight stay in Dubai.

The agent responded that the ship would not overnight in Dubai but in Abu Dhabi. My mother told me later that my face turned white as linen when the agent said that because not overnighting in Dubai would have meant that I was going to miss my flight back to the US.

After a few seconds of shock, I realized that she didn't know what she was talking about because I'm sure Royal Caribbean would have emailed such a big itinerary change in advance.

She also almost forgot to give us a paper with the instructions of when to pick up and drop off our passports that were collected at the time of check-in. Zero communication from her in regards to that- a little disappointing but when I looked at the paper, it was obvious that we would not overnight in Abu Dhabi so everything was good.

In regards to the passports- they were collected with a sticker at the time of check in but we didn't get any receipt. Maybe she just forgot?

We then would need to collect them from a station set up on our stateroom deck the night before we reached Abu Dhabi. The passport was needed to go ashore because you had to have a meeting with an immigration officer in the cruise terminal, who didn't even look at us but just collected the passports again.

After that, we had to collect the passport during our final night in Dubai before disembarking the next day. They made many announcements during these collection days so people wouldn't forget to pick ups their passports so it was really fool-proof.

In Muscat, ship security would hand out a shore pass each time when leaving the ship. This shore pass plus your sea pass card would serve as an ID document and the shore pass would have to be surrendered back to ship security when boarding the ship. I believe there was a note in the cruise compass that a $5 would be incurred if you lost the shore pass.

The rooms were ready at the time we boarded and we dropped our luggage and went back upstairs to the Park Cafe to get a sandwich, which enjoyed on the upper deck sitting in a lounge chair with a view of the Dubai skyline.

Our vacation was off to a great start!

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Thank you so much for posting this review. My sister and I are on the March 20th cruise and there are so few reviews of this ship. We're loving all the pictures and hope you'll include many of the ship and food.

Day 3 - Tuesday, Jan 10

Khasab, Oman

One of the few things I could find about Khasab while researching this trip was the constant mentioning of it being a hub of smuggling activity between Oman and Iran due to the proximity of Iran to this enclave of Oman. And there was plenty of activity.

Khasab is enclosed by the UAE. Apparently until recently,the only ways to reach Khasab were by boat or airplane but now there is a road through the mountains to the UAE.

In lieu of alternatives, we decided to do a "Dhow Cruise to Omani Fjords". Khasab is also dubbed the Norway of the Middle East due to its fjords. This tour would take us into the fjords, where a brief stop for swimming was made.

Even though it was not advertised, there was also a high possibility of seeing dolphins.

The dhows were anchored a short walk away from the ship and while the sun was shining from a clear sky, it wasn't hot but rather really comfortable.

The guide was originally from Tunisia and had plenty of stories to tell. It seems that Khasab is not only geographically separated by the rest of the country but also to a certain extend legally because of course the smuggling activity was brought up.

In the morning, just after sunset, little speedboats come over from Iran bringing goats to Oman to be sold in the UAE. In the evening around 4.30pm, these boats take goods back to Iran, mainly electronics and cigarettes but it seems they just transport whatever is wanted across the Strait of Hormuz. We would later witness this whole mad rush since they need to reach Iran before 6pm because that's when the Iranian coast guard starts their patrols.

One of the boats crossing will always serve as "bait" since the coast guard will only follow one boat - so one has to take it for the team so to speak.

The Iranians are officially not allowed to enter Oman but it seems that this rule is not really being followed - seems more like "what mom (the rest of the country) doesn't see, doesn't happen. The whole things does happen in the open though but obviously benefits both sides so why stop it?

Anyways, back to the tour- we sat one the upper deck, which proofed to be a perfect decision because we could move freely from one side to the other depending on what was to see where.

We sailed into the fjord and one of the helpers on the ship starting clapping and whistling and sure enough- a couple of dolphins started swimming next to the boat, jumping out of the water from time to time.

https://vimeo.com/200484411

The best part was when another boat joined in because this way the dolphins were a little farther away from our boat, which made it so much easier to take picture. It really was a perfect start to a week of adventures.

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We ventured further and further into the fjords seeing some little villages from time to time. Our guide explained that our ship would need to keep its distance because the native Omani lived a very traditional life and probably didn't even have contact with "other" nationalities/ groups of people.

They have no electricity and a ship is coming to their villages two or three times a week to supply them with water. This is all paid for by the government in order to keep the traditional lifestyle alive.

Children from these villages will go to boarding school during the the week and return for the weekend, which is from Friday to Saturday in the Islamic world.

The adults normally have a regular daytime job but will go fishing after their return home each day.

While we kept our distance to these fishing communities, we slowly made our way to Telegraph Hill, where one of the cables were laid by the British that connected India to the UK. That's where the anchor was dropped and whoever wanted was able to swim in very clear waters. Most of the people on the tour took advantage of it but we just stayed on board enjoying the sun.

All good things come to end though and after a while we made our way back to the cruise ship, where we had a quick lunch and then found some loungers to hang out for a while. Maybe for a second we felt guilty that everybody was freezing and getting ready for a winter storm but maybe only for a second...

While we were getting ready for departure, the smugglers were also getting ready by finalizing the loading of their little boats. It was amazing sight when one after the other finally sped off into the approaching sunset trying to leave the harbor before the cruise ship would block them off. It must have been 50-60 boats. All this happened under the watchful eyes of the Omani coast guard but that also might have been a precaution that they don't come too close to our ship.

With a nice dinner the first full day of the cruise came to and end and we went to bed early to get a good nights rest while the ship slowly made its way to Muscat.

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Loving your Review, we are sailing on 20th March so thank you for all the information

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Thank you for posting this. We did this cruise a few years ago and are loving your review & pics. Brings back great memories of one our favorite cruises.

So interesting to see something different!

Thanks so much for this review going same cruise next week

Really interesting to hear about different ports. Looking forward to the rest of your review

Your review is very interesting and keen to see the remainder of your trip ! Two weeks today we will be en-route to London for our evening flight out ! Just out of interest what is deemed acceptable clothing for both male and female visitors ashore ?

Fabulous start and some great photography!

Going on Vision in a few weeks - would love to know if they offered any specialty restaurant discounts and what the entertainment was like?

TIA.

Excellent start to your review!

Great review! Can't wait to begin this cruise.

Looking forward to the rest of your review. I'm curious to see what you thought of the ports and what they look like.

 

Also, I'll be on the Vision this May and look forward to pictures of the ship :D

The ports were really only industrial ports- you always had to take a shuttle to the port gate and hope to take a cab from there. In Khasab, there are no cabs so I guess people either pre-booked private tours or used private cars (?). Very different from e.g. Caribbean or European ports so things had to be organized in advance rather than just show up and see what happens.

Enjoy your cruise in May. I really didn't take too many pictures of the ship since I always feel that has been done plenty already.

Thanks for posting a review! I'm taking this cruise in two months and it will great reading of your experience.

I am sure you will have a great time!

Loving your Review, we are sailing on 20th March so thank you for all the information

 

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Enjoy your cruise!!!

Thanks so much for this review going same cruise next week

Have fun! I am sure you will have a great time!