Dubai Day 2

We awoke fairly early this morning and we first had breakfast in the Lido Café. As this morning marks the end of another segment of the World Cruise and many passengers were leaving the ship today the Café was open very early. We had a very nice and also extended our good wishes to some passenger’s who we had met who were getting off the ship this morning. After breakfast we went for a very short workout in the Fitness Center, as we knew we wanted to spend the morning in Dubai,

After getting changed we walked off the ship and then took a complimentary bus provided by Crystal from the Cruise Ship Terminal over to one of the Large Downtown Shopping Malls. The drive took about 20 minutes and we had the opportunity to view many of the new buildings that have been erected in Dubai over the past few years. After arriving at the mall we walked around for a little while looking at the various stores and we also walked in to a supermarket. The types of foods and other items carried at the supermarket looked to be very western and, in fact, we would say that the supermarket looked closer to what one would expect see in the USA even relative to Europe. In terms of the locals who we saw during our walk in the mall, many were dressed in western type clothes while others wore traditional clothing.

We then took a taxicab over to the Dubai Old Souk, which is a traditional marketplace. The souks or markets carry a wide range of items and are known for their shopping bargains. It is a place where one is expected to bargain for a competitive price. We estimate that saw close to 100 jewelry stores, which carry a large amount of 18 and 24-carat jewelry along with other jewelry ranging from diamonds, to pearls to other precious stones. And the jewelry was very elaborately designed. We then walked up some side streets where we found the spice souk which was an area containing many small shops and stalls selling a wide variety of spices from cinnamon, to curry, to saffron, to vanilla. We also found another souk that was comprised of many stores and stalls that sold clothing such as dresses and shawls. In addition to the local currency the merchants at most of the souks along with the taxicab drivers took United States currency. Most of them spoke English as well.

After walking around for a couple of hours we returned to the ship for lunch. We had a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. As we left the dining room we ran into a lovely couple who we knew was boarding the ship for the last three segments of this world cruise who we have met on three different Crystal Cruises. We spoke with them for a while and know that we will see them quite a bit during the course of our remaining time on the Crystal Serenity.

We went back to the Fitness Center later in the day to finish up our daily exercise. We were just about the only people in the center so it provided some quiet time for us. After that we took care of a few other items.

We had a very nice dinner in the Main Dining Room. We have now moved to a two=person table and we have been assigned to a window table in a very quite area of the dining room near where we had recently sat at a six person table. We decided to change to a two-person table for a variety of reasons and we are excited about the change. On nights that we want to dine with others, we plan to utilize the specialty restaurants and think this will work out very well for us. The great news is that we were able to secure not only a table in a wonderful location of the main dining room but we also kept the same senior waiter and waiter who we were very pleased with.

A few observations about Dubai from our perspective. Clearly, it is a fast growing city that wants to be known as the resort/vacation destination capital around the world. The growth is quite staggering. The architecture for many of the buildings is very unique and breathtaking. We do wonder if some of the growth is being fueled (again no pun intended) through speculative real estate investment. Time will only tell. The other item is that, as we understand there are two areas of Dubai. There is the big beautiful area that we have gotten to see over the past two days and then there are the poorer areas that we have not seen first hand but have only read about. As we understand, the poorer areas are where most of the construction workers who are involved in the building boom live. These people are primarily from poor countries. So, while we see all of this beauty in some way we find it bothersome. But, clearly Dubai is trying to become the she number one resort/retirement area in the world by boasting wonderful hotels, restaurants and shopping.

Our ship will be in Dubai until tomorrow evening when we will be leaving to begin the next segment of our wonderful world cruise journey.

Keith & Anne Marie