Dubai is bloody hot

The title says it all....lol
Not quite it's also quite brilliant. We stayed in Bur Dubai, the old part of town right by the creek. The hotel was great lovely clean and friendly.
We did all the touristy stuff, except Sheila missed going up the Birj Khalifa because she was ill.
She missed a brilliant experience.
We all agreed that we'd love to go back sometime...

And there it was, gone !

Well here we are on the last day of the cruise.
It's been a nice one, except for a few hiccups, which, I'm comming to expect with RCCL.
Standards seem to be slipping every trip we take, not with everything or everyone, just little things where they don't go that extra yard.
I don't let it spoil my trips but, there will be a "letter to Adam" after the trip to go with the email I've already sent. I won't be the only one writing judging by the comments I've heard and conversations I've had.
Anyway, still got 4 days in Dubai to look forward to. From what people are saying it's an amazing place.....can't wait.....

The heat, God the damned heat !!

That'll teach me, thought I'd grab some sun while I was waiting for the girls to come up to the solarium yesterday morning....Big mistake !
I ended up dehydrated and getting a bit of sunstroke, so I can't tell you anything about last night as I went to bed at 7pm and have just crawled out of the sweat sodden pit at 5am.
I must admit I feel a bit better, we'll see how the day goes....God knows what I'm going to do in Dubai, as it's even hotter there.......

What pirates ??

Well we've left the Red Sea far behind and are through the Gulf of Aden and still no pirates....it's either the military escort we have or leaving the lights out in the Viking Crown lounge thats doing the trick.
I know which one my money is on...LOL. 
But we are still informed that it will be romantic lighting once again upstairs tonight, romantic ! It's to bloody dark to see anyone to be romantic with, unless maybe if you are bi-sexual then it wouldn't matter who you found in the dark.....!!
Anyway the weather is still fantastic and we're all looking forward to Dubai....

Dancing in the dark sang Bruce!!!

Bruce Springsteen sang about Dancing in the dark, I wish he'd written Drinking in the dark.
Because that was what we had to do last night in the Viking Crown lounge, the captain said it was so the pirates cpuld not see us, but with all the other lights on the ship that could be seen and all the other ships in the area with lights blazing, I think it was a waste of time.
Nobody could see each other, in fact there was a meet the captain and his officers next door in the 19th hole bar for suite guests well we went and that was another waste of time as it seemed even darker in there.
While I'm in moaning mode, I'll mention the complete refit the ship seems to be having during this cruise, decks are being replaced carpets are being fitted the ship resembles a building site at times.
We did receive an email before we sailed telling us that 2 shops on the Royal Promenade would be closed for refurbishment but nothing about all this other work.
I'm afraid Adam (Goldstein RCCL CEO) will be getting quite a few emails from passengers on this cruise, obviously me included....you will be kept informed...lol....

Pirate drill

We did our emergency pirate drill yesterday morning and if any pirates do get on board they will have easy pickings.
The drill consisted of the captain announcing "Operation Safe Haven" over the tannoy and then all passengers who were out of their cabins had to congrigate in the center of the ship, those passengers in inside cabins were to stay in the cabin and those who were in outside cabins had to go into the corridor and we all had to wait for the announcement for the end of the drill, that was the whole emergency drill.
I think the idea was that the pirates would be able to find us all very easily.
Thus not getting pissed off having to search for us..good thinking RCCL..Lol
I did suggest the diamond passengers would be safer in the diamond lounge, as I'm certain the pirates wouldn't have gold cards to get in there...strangly no one agreed!!
On a more serious note we are taking more security equipment and personel on board today.
So obviously they are taking the threat quite seriously... I'll keep you informed....

Safaga

Forget the title, I can't tell you anything about Safaga except it's an industrial port with nothing at all to see...
The cruise lines all dock here just so they can sell their tours to Luxor etc.
Sharm el Sheik would be a much better option especially for the people who don't want to do tours....
That's the daily moan over...lol. except to say I'm never drinking again, hmmm!!  where have I heard that before...LOL
We now have 6 days at sea, which I'm looking forward to, I love sea days, to me the travelling is just as important as the destination...
Having said that this destination is Dubai, and I'm really looking forward to that.
Sue, who lives there tells me I'll be gobsmacked when I see it....can't wait.

De Ja Vu

I got on the shuttle to Aqaba with Jean (Sheila stayed on board as usual) we were planning to have a look around the town.
We'd decided against going to Petra as the price was over the top and it was a long trip.

So a visit to see Aqaba was what we had decided on, anyway as soon as we got off the shuttle I realised I'd been here before.
All these places we visit seem to merge in to one...lol.
Aqaba was a big contrast to Alexandria, it was very clean with lots of shops, cafes and hotels, some of which were beautiful and expensive looking, with guards on the entrance gates etc.

We only stopped in town for about an hour as the heat was amazing it was in the high 90s farenheight.

Last night in the diamond lounge was good, the company must number over twenty people and no one sits in the same place each night so you get to speak to different people each night.
Last night Egbert the German pilot and Mazen my Jordanian friend, sorted out the Middle East problem and the world economy....we've decided that if all the governments of the world meet in the diamond lounge on any RCCL ship and have a few free drinks, all the worlds problems could be sorted out...lol thats the theory anyway.

Suez Canal

The Suez canal transit was brilliant, it is an amazing feat of engineering. I could not believe how wide it is! Far wider than the Panama, and the ships can actually sail through as against being pulled through. I might add in my opinion each canal is brilliant in it's own way and neither is better than the other.
To see where a big part of the Arab, Israeli war took place was facinating. The Egyptians still have a big military presence along a lot of the canal, but surprisingly most of it is on the west side and not the Sinai side which was given back to them in the 70s I think.
Anyway all in all it was an amazing experience and another tick on my imaginary list of things I want to do.

My God it's worse!

Alexandria has taken over from Cairo as the dirtiest place I've seen.
In it's defence though Egypt has had a revolution and the infrastructure has collapsed quite a bit, so rubbish collection etc is virtually non - existent. Also the taxi drivers are just about the pushiest I've seen anywhere in the world, the almost try and drag you into their cabs, anyone on their own, especially women would be quite afraid.
Once you get past them though if you turn down the side streets the people are very friendly. We had lots of them saying hello and waiving. We had lots of children coming upto us asking our names and not one person tried to sell us anything or ask for money, which made a pleasant change, in fact one little girl offered to share her ice cream with me.
So all in all despite being a grubby and dirty town, the Egyptian people we met were lovely.
We are just transiting the Suez canal at this moment and it's quite impressive and totally different to the Panama canal.

Nice people

I love the diamond lounge, and not just for the free drinks, but for the people you meet.
Last night I was chatting to Egbert an ex German Airforce piolet and Arthur a Scottish ex North Sea fisherman.
Really interesting people
Btw we are docked at the Egyptian port of Alexandria, we stopped here overnight and we leave for Suez at 3pm, so I think Jean and I will get off for a look at the town, which I believe is filthy.
If it's any thing like Cairo which is just about the dirtiest place I've seen,  we won't be staying long......

Captain Jack Sparrow & his men

Ok, the title may be a tad misleading, but we are going to have a "pirate" drill just before we enter the Gulf of Aden.
"Operation safe haven" is the code name and if any boats come near us we've all got to huddle in the corridors outside our cabins while the captain will sail the ship in a zig zag fashion, apparently the big boys at RCCL Miami think that is the best way to scare them off.
Some of my American friends have what I think is a better idea, it basically involves some big guns and target practice....I'll leave the rest to your imagination...LOL

On a more serious note we apparently will be sailing in convoy with some military ships for our safe passage past Somalia,  ( this can't be good for Somalian tourism) ....LOL
Anyway I'll let you know how the pirate drill goes.

It's The Beatles!!

The Beatles tribute band, Beatles Celebration are on board, we know the boss Karl and he got the lads to do an impromptue show for everyone in the Diamond lounge.
It was brilliant and the place was rocking.
Going to see them on the theatre tonight, so that should be good.
Btw I think I'll have an alcohol free night tonight....feeling rough again this morning.

First Night

God I feel rough!!  In the bar last night (freebar I must add), Willies and Cathaye from Texas, where there,  we'd first met them 3 years ago on The Jewel of the Seas on a baltic cruise, it was really lovelyto see them again.
Maz and Sue joined the company and we also met a load of new people, mainly Americans with a few Canadians thrown into the mix, a nice night was had by all.
The ship is lovely, very similar to the Independence OTS but also very different in many ways, if that makes any sense....lol
Anyway this is the first sea day so I'm just going to kick back and relax.... Speak later.

All done

Well we're all packed and ready to go. Leaving about 6.30 in the morning. We fly at 9.10am, had a text off Maz & Sue and Ken & Margurite, they are already on their way, both stopping overnight in Barcelona.
Just heading to Liverpool to pick Jean up.

Friends

Another great thing about this cruise is, there are friends from previous cruises also on board.
There's Willies & Cathye, from Texas who we met on the Jewel of the seas a few years ago, also Ken & Margurite from Scotland, who we've cruised with twice before they were on our last cruise in fact and finally there is Maz & Sue who we met on a Christmas cruise the year before last, they live in Wigan not far from us and also have a place in Dubai, so there will be plenty of brain picking going on...LOL.
All in all this should be a great cruise and as usual I'll be keeping this blog going throughout the cruise.

It's getting closer

Received the cruise documentation today, I've ordered the luggage tags. When they arrive the cruise will seem that much closer..... god it's riveting stuff this isn't it .....LOL

Things just get better !!

Our travel agent Louise, has just emailed me asking what day we want to go on the half day tour of Dubai...I didn't even know there was a tour included in the trip, but there is.
This is definately a great deal she's got us......

Well we're getting really posh !!

Update on cruise.....Sheila's sister Jean is joining us on the trip, so we've decided to go all posh and treat ourselves to a Grand Suite on board ship. It's going to be a lot better than trying to squeeze us all in to a standard cabin for three, also we got what I think is quite a good deal.
It's costing just over £1600pp and that includes a Grand Suite, all transfers, hotel and direct flights to Barcelona and from Dubai and the flights from Dubai are on Emirate's so that will be good.

TTFN