Third Day In Dubai - Day 65

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

NOTE: We’ve included another picture of the tallest building in the world, a picture of the Crystal Serenity pool, some pictures of the QE2 and pictures of the recently inaugurated Costa cruise ship.

We enjoyed another nice evening on the ship where we had our second overnight in Dubai.

Before dinner we sat in the Crystal Cove which is located near the reception desk on the main lobby. We sat with a couple of fellow passengers; one gent taking the full World Cruise and his adult daughter who will be staying on for a few more days. We also saw Larry and Monica right before dinner. While we were there we listened to a variety of music including music by pianists John Mentis and Colin Salter and also music performed by the trio of musicians. All of the musicians were great. At one point the trio performed the favorite song that we always request them to sing in the Main Dining Room. Then they performed the song that the woman we were sitting with requests from them and it is quite a lively song. We were sure to write the name down. All of this is such a nice touch.

We were back in the Main Dining Room for dinner. We each enjoyed a nice salad and an excellent seafood entrée and of course our fruit for our dessert. We each had the grilled, fresh Persian gulf dourade. Keith asked for a second side vegetable in addition to the steamed vegetables. As it turned out the vegetable was not yet in the kitchen as it had just arrived in Dubai. Rather than tell us that it was unavailable which would have been fine as we learned later they sent someone from the kitchen to find the vegetable, and then they ran it up to the kitchen, cleaned it, cooked it and our waiter Therese brought it over to the table. This is just one of countless examples where Crystal always wants to please their guests. We felt very bad that they went to all of this trouble and if we had known, Keith would have ordered something else. The folks on Crystal are simply amazing.

Once again, everything was just perfect from the overall ambience of the dining room to the outstanding service and cuisine. We chatted with our headwaiter Augusto, senior waiter Pedja and Waiter Therese. We learned from Augusto that they will be serving Fresh Maine Lobster this evening so Anne Marie is very happy.

Many of the staff were going out last evening including our stewardess, senior waiter and waiter. Many of them are of the ages of our children so we worry about them and are glad to know that they go out in groups, which we think is very important.

While the overnights in port are great for the guest they are equally great for the crew which makes many of us very happy. The crew works so very hard and it’s nice that they can get some time off from the ship. In some ports that is just not possible because if they only have two hours off and it is a long way to and from the city from the port then it is not practical for many of the crew to get off the ship. In Dubai with the two overnights many times the crew can get off the ship after their shift ends later in the evening and since the ship remains in port they can enjoy a dinner off the ship or just get out and about. For some members of the crew they could also do that on one of the afternoons. So, this has been an outstanding couple of days for everyone.

After dinner we spoke with a few members of the staff and a few of our fellow passenger’s and then called it an early evening.

Keith awoke very early (so what else is new) for another of his workouts in the Fitness Center. He enjoyed a wonderful workout on the Elliptical Machine. He was the first one to the center. He also did some work on a few of the machines.

Afterwards, he stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee and spoke with the new team of Lido Deck Stewards.

Around the time Keith got back to the room, Anne Marie left for her workout in the Fitness Center. She worked out on the Treadmill for an hour.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room. We spoke with our outstanding butler Alexander about some of the upcoming ports of call.

We took the complimentary shuttle over to the New Dubai Mall. We are not big shoppers on the cruise but we figured it would be nice to just walk around and get some exercise while taking in all that was around us. This is our second time to the mall during our time in Dubai. We have to say that we have never seen a mall as nice as this one anywhere in the World including the United States. There are hundreds upon hundred of stores, several department stores, the gold souk which features numerous jewelry stores, an ice skating rink, a grocery store, an organic store, a very large cinema complex, a massive food court, several banks and money exchange stores, and numerous restaurants all throughout the mall. There are designer stores galore, electronic stores, sports stores, and the list goes on and on.

The mall also has a tremendous amount of open space and the finish out is just unbelievable with marble everywhere. The only issue is we saw very few people shopping so we cant imagine any of the store are making money.

In addition to walking the entire mall we also went outside the back area of the mall where there is a water fountain, which at night moves to the music. There are many restaurant and hotels adjacent to this area.

We did not purchase anything at the mall but did have a nice time walking all around the mall.

When we arrived back to the ship we had a nice salad entrée at the Lido Café. We also saw some of the crew who has come back from vacation who we know so well including Sheila and Anthony from Silk Road. On past voyages, Anthony has usually been our waiter at Silk Road and just like Alberto can normally order our meal for us since they both know all of our favorites.

Once again, the weather has been spectacular and when we were downtown it was the clearest of our three days here. We have been fortunate to have had such wonderful weather for essentially the entire World Cruise.

Anne Marie took another hour-long walk on the Promenade Deck while Keith read, wrote and spoke with some of our fellow passengers in the afternoon.

This evening we will dine at the main dining room and also attend the Captain’s Welcome Reception. We will post more about this tomorrow.

TODAY’S THOGHT FOR THE DAY….

“The highest form of ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about.”

Keith and Anne Marie