Cruises.com.au Blog

Well the time has come, we pulled into Dubai at 1 p.m. over lunch in the buffet, which by the way had an excellent selection – it was Greek day (each day there is a different country’s food featured).  Tonight is our last night on board and we leave very early in the morning heading for the airport to join our Emirates flight back to Sydney.

At this stage I thought I would give a mini review of our cruise, a fuller review should be appearing in an upcoming issue of Cruise Passenger Magazine.

THE SHIP:  Without a doubt this is the smoothest, most stable ship I have ever sailed on.  I often had to look out the window to make sure we were at sea.  The ship, although very new, is maintained to the highest degree.  It is spotless throughout.  There are lots of public areas and lounges to relax and listen to music or sip on an espresso or liquid refreshment.  It is a very pretty ship and although a little glitzy, it seems to work very well, especially at night.  The cabins are roomy and very well appointed, the bathrooms offer extremely large shower areas and the layout is very functional.  There is plenty of hanging space and drawers and the balconies appear to be larger than normal.  Our cabin attendant from Indonesia could not do enough to please.

THE FOOD:  The main dining room was extremely elegant over two levels and the service could not be faulted.  We were a little disappointed at the food, although there was quite a few choices, it lacked the wow factor.   This dining room was open for breakfast, although service was slow.  It was also open for lunch, but most preferred the upstairs buffet.   The buffet on Level 9 offered a wide variety of international choices and one could always find interesting dishes.  This was not open for full service during the dinner hours but had some limited choices, everyone ate in the main dining room.  The buffet turned into a pizzeria at 10.30 p.m. with daily choices.  There was no additional charge for this.

ROOM SERVICE:  This is availabel 24 hours a day and is no charge during meal hours.  There is a small service charge for orders out of these hours.

LATE NIGHT SNACKS:  Almost every evening there is some culinary delight on offer.  Last night at 12.30 p.m. there was the Grand Buffet.  The ship was packed with late starters wanting to sample its fares.

ENTERTAINMENT:  The main two level theatre which is beautifully designed offers two shows each evening.  To be honest, although interesting, these were a slight disappointment compared to other cruise lines.  Conversely, the many other areas around the ship that offered late night entertainment and dancing were extremely good and the entertainment very well received.  Italians seem to be very late night owls and the ship is really hopping from 11 p.m. and not with a very young group.  Most of the music is in English and one is soon caught up in the enthusiastic groups.  If you love dancing, this is the ship for you.

GENERAL ON BOARD ENTERTAINMENT:  Throughout the day there are some activities on offer, though not many.  We are virtually in port every day and most passengers are ashore doing their sightseeing.

EXCURSIONS & TOURS:  There are myriads of these, though many choose to catch taxis or the ship’s shuttle bus to a central location at each destination.  Taxis are extremely cheap in each destination, costing about $30 Australia for a two hour ride.

Our computer just blew up and we had to re-type all the above.  We will continue this report when back on dry land in Sydney in a couple of days.  Let me just say that Sandra and I have enjoyed our trip immensely and have been very impressed, especially with Dubai.

John Pond – Editor at Sea