20250514 Regent Seven Seas Voyager Cruise Bangkok to Dubai, Day 23 - Persian Gulf to Dubai

Regent Seven Seas Voyager Bangkok to Dubai Day 23 - Entering the Persian Gulf and arriving in Dubai

We awoke as we were sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, en route to the Persian Gulf and ultimately to Dubai.

Our location was the small star in the Strait, on the line showing our route from Mumbai to Dubai

It is the little things that make or break a cruise. Having been on top-tier lines like Seabourn and Viking Ocean, we had high expectations for what was billed as another top-tier cruise line with Regent. One of the expectations that comes with that is exceptional service. We simply don't find that on Regent. We don't drink coffee. We drink Coke Zero in the morning. We carry large and highly noticeable Yeti and RTIC steel mugs with handles. We are used to walking in for breakfast after the first couple of days on a cruise and have the waitstaff bring us the drinks and glasses of ice. I should mention that this scenario happens on Viking and Seabourn. Without fail. After 18 days on this ship, and sitting in the same spot every morning, we still have to ask for Coke Zero and ice. And, we have to wait. Sometimes, like today, it took over ten minutes after we were seated and eating. Two days ago, we were completely done with breakfast before we got anything to drink. Imagine going to your local restaurant for breakfast and sitting there for 20 minutes before they bring you anything. The service on this ship simply doesn't measure up to what a top-tier cruise line should deliver, and that's a shame because other aspects of this cruise are very good. The itinerary was excellent. The excursions have generally been well run by the tour companies, not so much by Regent in some cases. The list of included excursions is very good, with plenty of good choices. The food has certainly been above average, and the always-available selections for dinner in Compass Rose are outstanding. Our base-level veranda room is spacious and comfortable with plenty of storage.  OK - service rant over - let's continue with today.

We had a few more opportunities to win points this morning before this afternoon's redemption event. We started with a putting challenge. 

We both were so close on every hole, but neither of us could drop the putt

We all had a chance to get a hole-in-one on five different holes. If you got the hole-in-one, you got three or six points, depending on the hole. The bonus was that if someone got a hole-in-one, everyone else scored one or two points, depending on the hole. Enough folks scored, so everyone walked away with at least 12 points.

The Mensa challenge and trivia were held early today to distribute more points. Plus, since we are docking at 4:00, most folks will be off the ship at the normal trivia time. Today's trivia was downright silly and fun. Everyone in the room got every question right. Some examples of the silliness:

• For 21 points, what is the name of the game where the object is to score 21 points?
• Question #8, for eight points, how many legs does an African tree spider have?
• Question #12, In the Bible, how many children did Jacob have? You don't have to name all 12, just answer how many.
• Name any three songs by the artist with the middle name, Aaron, and the last name, Presley

It was all good fun, and there were lots of laughs.

Speaking of the points, what are they good for? Here's a look at the redemption schedule that came out this morning.

They had a nice selection of items to choose from - we had 214 points to redeem

Arlona started packing this morning - I got started this afternoon prepping for tomorrow's late-night departure

Just before 1:00, we headed down to Deck #5 in the Main Street area near the shops. The entertainment team had tables set up with the items available to spend your Regent points on.

The 214 points we had amassed got us three long-sleeve tech shirts, a couple of short-sleeve tech shirts, a polo shirt, two luggage straps, and two sleeves of Callaway golf balls - not bad

We tried to eat a quick lunch, but the inadequate service in La Veranda didn't allow that. For the second time today, it took over 15 minutes to get something to drink. I can't stress enough that Regent's service falls well below what we would consider a top-tier luxury cruise line. 

After lunch, we went to the jewelry store where they were announcing the winner of a $500 gift card. The card was awarded for the most accurate guess at the carat weight of a tanzanite ring. Arlona had the second-closest guess at 17.4 carats. I had the closest guess at 17.8 carats. The actual carat weight was 17.78, so I was only 0.02 carats off.

We didn't find anything in the store that we wanted to purchase. The prices, to us, seemed extremely high, especially when we compared similar items that we had looked at in India. As an alternative, they offered us a blue topaz in exchange for the gift card, so we took that.

My fingernail is included for size reference

I got most of my packing done this afternoon. Tomorrow will be an easy but long day as we have a morning tour and then have until 8:00 in the evening to get our bags out for pickup.

We docked in Dubai right on schedule at 4:00 this afternoon. We had to get off the ship and go through immigration in advance of our tour. We returned to the ship and grabbed a drink in the Observation Bar while waiting for our tour. Our tour, Dubai by Night, met in the theater at 5:45 for a 6:00 departure.

The tour was simple - drive to the Dubai Mall and go up to floor 124 in the Burj Khalifa. Any time leftover was free time until 9:30, when we would meet to return to the bus.

We passed the Museum of the Future on Sheik Zayed Road

The left tower is the Residence Inn by Marriott, where we stayed in December 2023

The Burj Khalifa and Address Sky View

This building was under construction the last time we were here

We arrived at Dubai Mall and walked to the entrance of the Burj Khalifa. The line was long and slow-moving. It is always impressive to ride the elevator from level 0 to level 124 in less than 60 seconds and better than 10m/s. Zoom. The views of the city lights from the top were stunning.

,,,again

We waited in the insanely long line for the ride back down. We got the the meeting point with a little over half an hour to spare. Since we didn't have dinner, we hit up Five Guys for some excellent fries and a couple of pops. We caught a light show on the side of the Burj Khalifa as we munched. 

It sure is pretty at night

At 9:30, we met up with the other guests and walked back to the bus for the ride back to the ship.

The Museum of the Future was lit up in all its glory - the characters are Arabic poetry by the Sheik

We were back on board by 10:30 and were looking to hit the hay. The excursion I booked for tomorrow didn't start until 11:00, when I booked it. Now that we have tickets, they show that we will meet at 7:45 tomorrow morning. Yikes! With our departure for the airport tomorrow night at 11:30 and a 2:50 am flight, tomorrow is going to be one long day.