In November 2017 we did a cruising holiday which visited a number of cities on the Arabian Peninsula. The cruise was Dubai to Dubai, 10 Nights in duration. Every holiday is amazing, but this one is in my top five (as it stands today).
In this series of stories, starting with Part 1, I’ll cover off the highlights to give you an overview of the cruise itself. Some of the ports you will see here, we have previously covered in more detailed stories, and we are likely to cover more in stories to come.
Our Ship – Azamara Journey
We cruised with Azamara Cruises. We chose them as they are smaller ships (maximum 692 guests), luxury and describe themselves as ‘country club casual’. This meant no black tie dinners or fancy galla balls, which suited us.
Our cabin was a Continental Suite, so was larger than your standard verandah cabin at 27 square metres. It had plenty of storage, and one of the things we like about cruising is that you unpack once. This really is a treat when typically we would be packing and unpacking multiple times in a holiday where we visit several cities via rail. I will admit to being very excited waking up in this cabin on the first morning aboard.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai was the departure point, as well as where we would finish up in 10 days time. To kick things off, the first night of the cruise was spent docked in Dubai. This gave everyone a chance to explore more of this ultra modern city.
After checking in to the ship, we ventured out to Souk Madinat Jumeirah. This shopping district has been designed to reflect the region’s traditional architecture and surrounds an enormous water feature. From some of the outdoor areas you get a great view of the Burj Al Arab! We could even see it whilst enjoying a cold beer on the deck of one of the many dining venues.
Azamara offers an included shuttle to key locations in each port it stops in, and for Dubai, this shuttle was from the ship to the Dubai Mall. We took advantage of this service and spent part of Day 2 exploring the enormous mall.
Before we sailed for the next port, Azamara took us all for drinks in the garden of the Burj Al Arab, where we had an even closer view of this amazing structure than we’d had at Souk Madinat Jumeirah the day prior.
Khasab, Oman’s Musandam Peninsula
The first stop after sailing from Dubai was the Omani city of Khasab. We’d never visited Oman before, so we were curious to see what it was like. We were greeted with blue skies and sunshine. For the morning we had booked a four-wheel drive safari to the mountain peak Jebel Harim. It was a fun drive climbing higher and higher with the view getting better the higher we climbed. Our driver, Sebastian, talked to us about the area as we headed to the peak.
On the way up, we passed several mountain goats and the occasional donkey. Once at the top of Jebel Harim, we had an incredible, though a little hazy, view of the fjords that form part of the Musandam Peninsula. The mountainous landscape was spectacular! We were 6,000 feet up. There was plenty of time to explore and take photos before the trip back to the ship.
Once back on board, we cleaned off the dust and indulged in a drink and a few snacks in Journey’s Living Room lounge.
That night we had dinner in Aqualina, the specialty Italian Restaurant. As we had booked a Continental Suite as our cabin, one of the perks was that both specialty restaurants onboard were included at no extra charge for us.
Muscat, Capital of the Sultanate of Oman
It was 7:30 am when we docked in Muscat, and we were delighted to be staying in port overnight, as even from our veranda the view was amazing! We could see the jagged, rocky hills completely surrounding the corniche (a promenade stretching for 3 kilometres along the waterfront). Our day started with a relaxed breakfast on our balcony before catching the included shuttle bus to the Mutrah Souk.
Mutrah Souk
We explored the souk and purchased a fish pendant made of silver in one of the jewellery shops in the gold and silver area. What we love about this fish pendant is that it has articulated segments for the body, so that it moves as if it is swimming. We did haggle, and lucky for us he agreed to a price of 10 Rial (approx. $25 AUD in 2017), as when I opened my purse, that was all I had! On leaving the souk, the crowds swelled. It was literally shoulder to shoulder as what appeared to be a number of large tourist groups had arrived.
Mutrah Fort
We walked along the corniche and explored the Mutrah Fort. From the fort, the impressive view of Muscat’s white buildings, against the backdrop of the mountains, left us with no doubt we were somewhere completely different to anywhere we’d ever travelled previously. It was great to feel so immersed in a landscape so new to us.
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Day two in Muscat was spent doing a tour of a number of highlight sights. First stop was the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, and if you go, note that they are super strict on visitors being dressed appropriately, and you are warned by Azamara that this is the case. Unprepared members of our tour group were sent to the local shop to buy scarfs.
The Mosque has beautiful gardens, and the marble walkways and buildings are immaculate. We visited both the ladies’ prayer room and the more spectacular mens’ prayer room, with its 8 tonne Swarovski chandelier (we were told it was the second largest in the world).
We also experienced Muscat’s Museum of Islamic Art and Culture, and the Palace district.
We sailed from Muscat at 6:00 pm that evening. It was something special to watch the lights along the Corniche as we sailed out. It was the Sultan’s birthday so many buildings were lit up in the colours of Oman’s flag in celebration. The evening was warm with the heat of the day slowly subsiding. It was great to be out on deck as the sun faded into a red sunset.
We dined in Prime C, the steak and grill specialty restaurant, that night. The view out the windows was the pitch-black sea as we sailed. Being in the Gulf of Oman meant that the waters were calm which added to the overall enjoyment.
We loved Muscat, it was one of our favourite ports on this cruise. We’d go again to see more of the country in the future if the opportunity arose.
Click here to continue on to part two of our Arabian Peninsula Cruise. Our next port is Bahrain.
