2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip
Day 94/105 - Dubai, UAE Cruise day #1 - Boarding
Today, we checked out of the Residence Inn by Marriott and boarded the Oceania Riviera. We will be in port in Dubai until Thursday at noon when we will sail for Doha, Qatar.
The Uber driver was great, getting us from the Residence Inn to Port Rashid without any hassles. Our ship was one dock over from where he expected it to be, but he handled it fine and we arrived safe and sound.
We boarded around 11 a.m. and were told our rooms would not be accessible until 3 p.m. - great. Four hours of schlepping carry-ons around. The Reception Desk was willing to hang on to them for us, so we did that and started exploring.
This is our first time on Oceania, and every cruise line has its own style.
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| The main foyer was all decked out for the season |
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| We checked out the pool deck with its two hot tubs |
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| We grabbed a drink and relaxed a bit - around 12:30 p.m., they announced that all rooms were ready - awesome! |
Our room is nice. We have a nice veranda with comfortable chairs (Viking - take note). The room itself is fine with good, if not ample storage. The one big miss for us is the bathroom.
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| The toilet is really cramped |
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| There is a tub - why? Seems like a big waste of space |
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| There is a really tiny shower - I'd rather have the shower where the tub is |
Oh well, it's only for ten days.
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| The top deck gave us a nice view of the entire city of Dubai |
We unpacked and relaxed on the deck, watching the endless departures from Dubai airport on our veranda.
Around 5 p.m., we ventured to the martini bar for a cocktail. We struck up conversations with a few folks. Everyone seems friendly on this cruise. Speaking of that - right after boarding, we were in the elevator and a man looked at my shirt (with a Nancy Lopez Country Club logo on it - a Villages thing) and asked if we were Villagers. Yup - we met other Villagers a few minutes into this cruise.
Anyway, we enjoyed conversations in the martini bar and then headed to dinner in the main restaurant. The food and service were good and we had dinner beside a nice couple from the Toronto area and enjoyed talking with them.
After dinner, we took in the city views.
We headed to the room so I could put this post together.
Tomorrow, we have a dune safari ride scheduled in the morning. We will see what we feel like after that and that will determine the afternoon activities.
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