Dubai Day 3

This morning we woke up fairly early and started our day with breakfast in the Lido Café. It was very busy in the café as many passengers, particularly those who had boarded the ship yesterday afternoon, had shore excursions beginning this morning. We spoke with a few passengers to hear about what they had done yesterday. Some went on shore excursions and others did activities similar to what we did yesterday. Still others went to the newer mall, Mall of the Emirates, which also includes a man made skiing slope. In addition, others visited the only hotel in the world with a seven star rating, Burj Al Arab, which is located in Dubai. The only way to walk around on the inside is by having a reservation either for tea, lunch or dinner or of course staying there. The comments were very positive about the interior of the hotel with some remaking that they have never seen anything quite like this in a hotel.

Keith is under the weather (a little more about that in a moment) so Anne Marie worked out in the Fitness Center by herself. She worked out for an hour and then afterwards Keith met her and we walked for about 45 minutes on the Promenade Deck.

While Anne Marie was working out Keith saw the ship doctor. His symptoms were cold related but since we boarded the ship in Miami many passengers have come down with an illness that started off as a cold with some getting bronchitis and still others getting pneumonia. Some passengers have had hacking coughs for a month or two. So, we thought it wise for Keith to see the doctor and the doctor was glad that Keith did as some passengers who were sick did not see him for a long time and then what started off as a basic cold turned far worse. He prescribed antibiotics and some other medications for Keith. Throughout the cruise we have taken many pro-active steps to avoid getting sick but given that we are in such a closed environment the odds say at some point one or both of us would get sick. So, given this we will stay on the ship for the remainder of the day and not venture in Dubai so that Keith can rest on the ship.

We have posted pictures from our first two days in Dubai on the picture web site for you to view.

After having a nice lunch in the main dining room we Keith rested for a couple of hours in our stateroom while Anne Marie took care of a few errands and also read for a while.

We decided to take a walk on the promenade deck for about an hour this afternoon. The weather was quite nice and while we were walking we ran into a very nice couple who is someone we recently dined with in Silk Road. They told us all about their very interesting experience having dinner last night at the only seven star hotel and what they were able to see. It is clearly a very unique and impressive Hotel.

While we were walking we also ran into the Captain who was getting some nice afternoon exercise and we also ran into the Food and Beverage Manager as well.

We had a very nice dinner in the main dining room. We are very pleased with our new two person table which is located in a very quiet section of the dining room by a window. We are very appreciative of the very nice table that we were given by the Restaurant Matre d’. In fact, when he saw us outside the dining room before lunch this afternoon he stopped by to make sure that everything was fine with the table and of course we told him how pleased we were with its location. The headwaiter had given us the dining room menu for tonight last evening and after looking it over we decided to request a special entrée for tonight.

We have been eating at the early seating throughout the cruise and the early seating has begun at 6:00 PM up until this segment where it will be 6:15 PM throughout the rest of the world cruise. This is because the upcoming segments will be more port intensive with some tours not getting back to the ship until very late in the afternoon. Since we are now at a table for two we have been told that we can show up at anytime between 6:15 PM and 7:00 PM as the late seating is not until 8:30 PM. So, this will work nice for us when we are on tours that come back to the ship late. We have found the early seating works well for us on a cruise like this since we are trying to keep closer to the hours that we use at home where we typically wake up fairly early in the morning. Probably the only challenge has been getting ready on Formal Nights when there are receptions before dinner that begin earlier.

We are very pleased with our table which is located at a quiet section of the dining room by a window. The headwaiter had given us this evenings dinner menu to read through yesterday and we decided to order a special entrée of swordfish. We had a wonderful dinner.

This evening we leave Dubai at 9:00 PM. At 8:00 PM they will have a lifeboat drill for those passengers who just embarked in Dubai.

Keith & Anne Marie