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| Me in front of the MSC Lirica |
It was a super special cheap deal which we couldn't resist.
We asked our friends from Katikati, Fred and Christine Jordan to come along, and they accepted. So we booked and it was with them we had this adventure which was much better than just the 2 of us.
We had a 17 1/2 hour non stop flight to Dubai. Both of us managed to sleep 7 hours on the way. I had booked Royal Ascot Hotel, a moderate flash 1950's hotel, posh back in the day. It's still nice and a little bit flash. I booked the room for the night before so we could enter it straight away as we arrived at 5.30 am. I had 2 hours sleep in the morning. Later I had a swim on the rooftop pool. We walked around nearby and found an Italian pasta place and had a nice spagetti carbonara with chicken for lunch. At 3. pm we got picked up for our Arabian desert adventure.
In a 4x4 jeep we went up and down at full speed red sand dunes. I got car sick from the up and down on those sand dunes. It was about 60 km out of the city towards Oman in Fujira .. And very far and wide was dessert. It was a huge dessert. Later we went to a Bedouin camp with a show. They also had belly dancers, fire dancers and singers . We both rode a camel and after the dancers had a buffet dinner there. We met a nice German girl who had just come from NZ and was on her way back home.
We had a good sleep at the hotel.
Here is the link to my Dubai photos:
Dubai photos
The next day went to the Burj Kahlifa with the taxi. Up 124 stories. You don't feel the lift move but it goes fast. Amazing views from the top. Also wandered around the Dubai Mall, largest shopping mall apparently. Tonight, the 15th of March, we walked up the gangway of the MSC Lirica after nearly a year of anticipation. Earlier that day, we had heard from our taxi driver the terrible news about the attacks at the Christchurch mosque where 50 people died. Shocking is an understatement. We could hardly believe it.
Got a taxi to the port and customs and waited for Christine and Fred to arrive. Then after they arrived, we took a selfie and embarked on to the ship. YAY. FINALLY WE BOARDED THE SHIP.
We checked in and found our cabin 8165 on the 8th deck. Ours is inside and theirs is with a window view. We then explored with the map with 13th being the top deck above the pool.
Click link below to life onboard the ship:
onboard the ship
Cabins are nice and spacious with lots of cupboards to put away clothes and suitcase fits neatly under the bed. Shower is tight but plenty of hot water and good pressure.
Nice 3 course dinner first night at the 6th deck. Our waiters were from Honduras ( Christian) and Alex from Kiev.
The next day we had an excursion booked by MSC about Dubai so off we went first thing in the morning. " Dubai, old and new". Very informative.Went to a Marina and the Atlantis hotel at Palmira. Then an other hour spent at the Dubai Mall to see the aquarium.
Back to the ship by bus. Then the ship left at 6 pm. Such a surreal moment. Hard to put into words.We saw some dolphins jump out of the water the next day. Didn't see any other ones at all during the rest of the trip.
I can't write day to day activities, just the general trip. From my memory and not relying on Brian's diary.( I will if I have to) But the ship has shows every night. We went to most of them. The next day we were meant to visit Sir Bani Yas island, but the waves were too hight, and after they did a trial test of the little boats( for the tenders) the captain decided it was too dangerous. We had quite some waves, about 4 metre swell, so I had to take my sea sickness tablet. It worked. The next day we went through the " Straight of Hermuz", that narrow passage between Iran and UAE and Oman. We saw some of the scenery from that but Iran was still too far away to see. We got to Oman the next day. I had a different day trip than Brian. Brian had a full day and I had half a day. I enjoyed mine a lot. I went to the grand mosque and also the souk and it was near the sea. Very rocky. In fact the first thing that I noticed arriving in Oman was that is is very rocky high mountains. It looks a very dry place.
Below a link to my Oman photos:
Oman photos
Next we were going to be 5 days at Sea sailing around the Arabian peninsula through the Gulf of Aden, then through an other narrow passage into the Red Sea, passing Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt. We we all given an official letter with a warning of the possible but unlikely event of Piracy. We needed to know the different Codes for alerts. Red Alert, Orange alert and Blue Alert .
We knew the ship had military and security personnel onboard and also had military trained ships nearby.
Later, after the cruise was finished, we learned from one of the special trained security staff , after I asked him if a threat was real, he said "yes, there was a real threat". On one night sailing past Somalia, we were approached in the night by 3 small boats to the side of the ship. The security knew and the bridge crew shone strong lasers at them, warning them to back off. He told us they backed off. Then he told us about an other time when he was working on a cargo ship, they also approached the ship and this little boat was warned by laser but it didn't back off, so the security sent a laser propelled missile at them and pulverised the boat with its crew. I told him that I had seen a periscope pop up, and I described it, that I saw it with my binoculars. I thought it was a seagull at first but when I saw it through the binoculars, I saw a white curved tube with a round ring at the top. After looking at it for awhile I wanted to get Brian and show him but then it was gone. The security guy said that it was very possible I saw that as there are many submarines in that area, Russian ones and American ones.
So that was just as well we found out at the end of our cruise, not during or at the beginning.
Next stop was Israel, Eilat. Story to be continued. But I will publish this now. Carry on later.
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