Two days of cruising across the northern extremes of the Arabian Sea brought us through the Gulf of Oman, via the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf to dock at the sizeable Cruise Terminal serving Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
It was immediately obvious that this was very different to our last port, Porbandar. To start with there were three, maybe four massive cruise ships already moored along the same quayside as our little ship. Each of them about three to four times the capacity of Boudicca. ....
The Carnival Horizon (above) can take nearly 4,000 passengers, the Costa Mediterranea beyond it takes a mere 2,700 passengers, another unnidentified ship in front of that and beyond that the huge MSC Splendida with, again, nearly 4,000 passenger capacity:
I didn't get the impression that any of our passengers envied the water slide feature at the top of the Costa Mediterranea ......
Dubai, we were told by our tour guide, is aiming to supplement, if not replace, its massive income from oil revenues with tourism. Based on this evidence it is succeeding.
Setting off in our tour bus for the tallest building in the world the conspicuous wealth here is very obvious .....
This little yacht was moored out in the docks area rather than the more exclusive marinas closer to the centre of Dubai. Also out here is the QE2 (Queen Elizabeth II - ex-Cunard luxury passenger liner) now converted to the world's most luxurious floating hotel we were told .....
It looked surprisingly small even compared to Boudicca, let alone the MSC Splendida a few hundred yards away.
Further along the coast we had an excursion off the direct route to see the first of the planned Palm Islands, Palm Jumeirah. The scale of this artificial island is breathtaking, it took our bus about 20 - 30 minutes to drive all the way up the 'trunk' and back, and this is quite small compared to the rest of the planned islands in the group. From the top of the trunk we even drove under the sea and up onto the outer ring to see the (rather gaudy?) Atlantis Hotel:
Also noticeable from the bus windows were many new looking mosques, all very beautifully crafted, no expense spared here either .....
A bit further along the coast we were allowed to stretch our legs and get a bit of sea air on a pleasant beach just along from the Burj Al Arab Hotel, famous for its distinctive shape, ultra luxurious rooms and service (our tour guide stayed there once with an American couple and described the 'Pillow Menu' with 13 different styles of pillow available). Although the star rating guide for hotels only goes up to five, this hotel is supposed to be seven stars!
Many people on the beach were taking photos of it, as did I ......
However, most of the other people on the beach seemed to think its striking design needed something else in front ........
Luckily, taking selfies is not on the list of things you can't do on this beach ....
Further along the coast still we crossed over a waterway which had various trip boats taking people for a scenic cruise, probably costing quite a bit of money, this being Dubai.
Out of curiosity I zoomed in on the leftmost of the two boats .....
Nobody seems to be enjoying the views and the general experience, and the majority visible on deck appear to be doing something or other on their phones - curious! Is it just me or is there something wrong with some of the younger generations? Mobile phones are very useful but .....
Dubai is undeniably impressive, with huge numbers of very large, very modern and no doubt very expensive tower blocks, all set in a luxurious green environment kept constantly watered with desalinated seawater ....
But the daddy of them all of course is the Burj Khalifa ....
It claims to set quite a number of world records in the tallest building/structure categories but rather than list them all I've linked to the relevant page above the picture (this picture is very high-def and can be double clicked on to view in great detail).
The 77 second journey time in the lift up to levels 124/125 was significantly quicker than the queuing time, but considering the size of the other cruise ships in port and undoubtedly many other tourists, it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
The atmosphere was not as clear as would have been nice, but the views were still rather good, even though this wasn't the highest observation floor (148) and the highest occupied floor is no. 160, presumably a rather exclusive apartment.
Of course many people seemed to prefer looking at themselves rather than the views ....
I did try a selfie but it only emphasised my balding top so I'm too embarrassed to include it here. :-)
Down at ground level there's a really nice model of the Burj with animated lights showing, I presume, the various lifts. If I've done it correctly, clicking on the picture should show a few seconds of video.
Of the many places to spend money in the huge shopping mall around the base of the tower, one of the more unusual was this re-creation of a Bedouin Sheikh's tent in which (I presumed) one could pay to be photographed. I didn't quite figure out the role of the girl in the baby-doll nightdress though?
Having done the tower trip on my own (Barbara's less keen on heights) I was surprised to find her going the opposite way to me as I headed back to the bus - apparently she and several other ladies had got another bus in and couldn't find the return version so I was able to blag them a lift on our bus.
Darkness fell on the harbour before Boudicca left so we had a nice view of the QE2 before sailing .....
Next stop Khasab in Oman.
It was immediately obvious that this was very different to our last port, Porbandar. To start with there were three, maybe four massive cruise ships already moored along the same quayside as our little ship. Each of them about three to four times the capacity of Boudicca. ....
The Carnival Horizon (above) can take nearly 4,000 passengers, the Costa Mediterranea beyond it takes a mere 2,700 passengers, another unnidentified ship in front of that and beyond that the huge MSC Splendida with, again, nearly 4,000 passenger capacity:
I didn't get the impression that any of our passengers envied the water slide feature at the top of the Costa Mediterranea ......
Dubai, we were told by our tour guide, is aiming to supplement, if not replace, its massive income from oil revenues with tourism. Based on this evidence it is succeeding.
Setting off in our tour bus for the tallest building in the world the conspicuous wealth here is very obvious .....
This little yacht was moored out in the docks area rather than the more exclusive marinas closer to the centre of Dubai. Also out here is the QE2 (Queen Elizabeth II - ex-Cunard luxury passenger liner) now converted to the world's most luxurious floating hotel we were told .....
It looked surprisingly small even compared to Boudicca, let alone the MSC Splendida a few hundred yards away.
Further along the coast we had an excursion off the direct route to see the first of the planned Palm Islands, Palm Jumeirah. The scale of this artificial island is breathtaking, it took our bus about 20 - 30 minutes to drive all the way up the 'trunk' and back, and this is quite small compared to the rest of the planned islands in the group. From the top of the trunk we even drove under the sea and up onto the outer ring to see the (rather gaudy?) Atlantis Hotel:
Also noticeable from the bus windows were many new looking mosques, all very beautifully crafted, no expense spared here either .....
A bit further along the coast we were allowed to stretch our legs and get a bit of sea air on a pleasant beach just along from the Burj Al Arab Hotel, famous for its distinctive shape, ultra luxurious rooms and service (our tour guide stayed there once with an American couple and described the 'Pillow Menu' with 13 different styles of pillow available). Although the star rating guide for hotels only goes up to five, this hotel is supposed to be seven stars!
Many people on the beach were taking photos of it, as did I ......
However, most of the other people on the beach seemed to think its striking design needed something else in front ........
Luckily, taking selfies is not on the list of things you can't do on this beach ....
Further along the coast still we crossed over a waterway which had various trip boats taking people for a scenic cruise, probably costing quite a bit of money, this being Dubai.
Out of curiosity I zoomed in on the leftmost of the two boats .....
Nobody seems to be enjoying the views and the general experience, and the majority visible on deck appear to be doing something or other on their phones - curious! Is it just me or is there something wrong with some of the younger generations? Mobile phones are very useful but .....
Dubai is undeniably impressive, with huge numbers of very large, very modern and no doubt very expensive tower blocks, all set in a luxurious green environment kept constantly watered with desalinated seawater ....
But the daddy of them all of course is the Burj Khalifa ....
It claims to set quite a number of world records in the tallest building/structure categories but rather than list them all I've linked to the relevant page above the picture (this picture is very high-def and can be double clicked on to view in great detail).
The 77 second journey time in the lift up to levels 124/125 was significantly quicker than the queuing time, but considering the size of the other cruise ships in port and undoubtedly many other tourists, it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
The atmosphere was not as clear as would have been nice, but the views were still rather good, even though this wasn't the highest observation floor (148) and the highest occupied floor is no. 160, presumably a rather exclusive apartment.
Of course many people seemed to prefer looking at themselves rather than the views ....
Down at ground level there's a really nice model of the Burj with animated lights showing, I presume, the various lifts. If I've done it correctly, clicking on the picture should show a few seconds of video.
Of the many places to spend money in the huge shopping mall around the base of the tower, one of the more unusual was this re-creation of a Bedouin Sheikh's tent in which (I presumed) one could pay to be photographed. I didn't quite figure out the role of the girl in the baby-doll nightdress though?
Darkness fell on the harbour before Boudicca left so we had a nice view of the QE2 before sailing .....
Next stop Khasab in Oman.
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