Welcome To Muscat Oman - Day 54

NOTE: We included a picture of us taken before dinner and one taken at dinner when we dined last evening with the James the Shore Excursion Manager and Jamie the On Board Booking Consultant. We also included various pictures from Muscat, Oman. We also included several pictures for Muscat, Oman including the Grand Mosque; both the outside and then the inside, which the taxi cab driver took for us. We included several other pictures including one from the Souk, others from outside the Palace and other of the fort and other areas we visited.

We had a great time on the ship last evening.

We enjoyed a very nice dinner in the Main Dining Room. We dined with the On Board Booking Consultant and the Shore Excursion Manager. We enjoyed talking with them and we discussed a whole range of items. We had a very nice dinner. We had pre-ordered most of the items including a Caesar Salad, and Veal Oscar with Pasta on the side and of course lots of Steamed Vegetables. It was a lot of fun and we were glad we were able to get the four of us together as the On Board Booking Consultant will be going on vacation very shortly.

After dinner, we attended a cocktail party that was provided by our Travel Consortium. The representative from our travel consortium on this leg of the cruise is our own very Travel Specialist and friend Lynn. About half of the passenger’s on board the ship whose agents are part of this consortium attended and we had a nice time talking with many of them. Some of them are on for the entire World Cruise while some are on for one or more legs of the World Cruise. A good deal of the conversation centered on our upcoming visits to ports of call in places such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran.

After this party, we went to see the evening entertainment. The entertainer’s performance was “The Rat Pack” featuring songs of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Junior. We enjoyed the performance and had a very nice time. The very talented Crystal Orchestra accompanied them. This is the first time these entertainers have been on Crystal and we thought they did a very nice job.

The good news is that we set the clocks back 30 minutes before going to bed and we will be doing the same tomorrow evening.

If our calculations are correct, today is the half way point of the World Cruise.

Today we were in Muscat, Oman from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Muscat is the capital of Oman and it is its largest city. The Persians first controlled this port city as early at the 6th century BC. Muscat gained strategic importance in both the 14th and 15th centuries when it became an outpost for the powerful kings of Hormuz. By the 16th century this city was conquered by the Portuguese and stayed under their rule from 1508 to 1650.

Subsequently, the Iranians gained control of the city. By 1741, Muscat became the capital of independent Muscat and Oman and in 1970 the countries name was changed to Oman.

Muscat is situated on the Gulf of Oman. The At-Alam palace dominates the area surrounding the port. Majestic mountains also flank the port.

The population of Muscat totals around 650,000 inhabitants. The official language spoken is Arabic but English is also widely spoken.

The port is quite beautiful with it mountains and all of the interesting buildings including the Palace.

Oman has come along way since the current Sultan came into power. He actually overthrew his father and this Sultan has done a lot for the people in terms of putting in place infrastructure within the country and also in terms of education for the people.

Keith woke up even earlier than normal to get in a nice workout before we arrived in port. For most of his workout, no one was in the center. He worked out on the Elliptical Machine for about 90 minutes. Towards the end of the workout our friend John arrived along with three other passengers who are on for this leg of the World Cruise. Afterwards, Keith stopped by the Lido Café to get some coffee and he also spoke with Lido Deck Stewards Nat and Clark. He brought back some coffee for Anne Marie who took the morning off in terms of a workout.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room as we arrived to port. We spoke with our butler Alexander for a while. We filled out the inventory form and placed the form and the alcohol in one area of the room and Alexander will take it out and lock it up this morning. We also spoke with him about getting a very early breakfast tomorrow and he will make arrangements to have it delivered to our room by the room steward who works the late night shift.

We first visited Muscat as part of the 2007 World Cruise. As such, we decided to cancel the shore excursion that we had originally booked and instead went into town with our friends Bob and Glo. The ship arrived to port on schedule and we took the first shuttle bus from the pier to the town at around 9:00 AM. The drive into town took about fifteen minutes. As today is a Friday, certain places in and around the town closed at 11:30 AM for prayer.

All guests were asked to dress appropriately. Women were asked to wear loose, long garments ensuring that their shoulders and knees were covered. Men were asked to wear long trousers and tops with sleeves. No photography of military or government buildings was permitted.

We walked around the city for a while and we also visited the Muttrah Souk.

After visiting the Souk, we negotiated to get a taxi to take the four of us to many of the major sites. We went to the Grand Mosque where we viewed it from two other locations from the outside. The taxi driver then went inside and took pictures for us so we have some nice pictures of the inside. He took us to an old area where we saw these outdoor baths with natural springs. We visited the Sultan’s Palace where we could view it from the outside, as well as two Forts and we went by the Bait Al Zubair Museum. All of this was wonderful and while the Taxi Cab’s Drivers English was not the best we were able to communicate fairly well and we all had a great time.

The amount of building that has taken place in this area over the past few years is truly amazing. There are miles upon miles of new highways, and all sorts of new homes and shopping area and a great deal of infrastructure that has been put into place. Every area was immaculate. The landscaping along the highways and other roadways was spectacular.

There is no question that oil is what continues to fuel the economy and this country.

When we arrived back to the ship we enjoyed lunch at the Lido Café and as we normally do enjoyed a nice salad entrée.

In the afternoon Keith read, wrote and spoke with some fellow passengers. Anne Marie took a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck.

Each guest was asked to pick up his or her respective passports at 4:00 PM for tomorrows visit to Iran.

This evening we will dine with Lynn and Allen at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant.

At 7:45 PM there is a special entertainment program for all guests. This program features The Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers, the lead Male and Female Singers, dancing by lead dancers Curtis and Beverly, the Vocal Quartet; Sounds of Serenity, along with Avenue Saloon Pianist Collin Salter, Cruise Director Rick Spath, World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston and Assistant Cruise Director Scott Mitchel. This is a special program that was pulled together just for this evening. It is called One Arabian Night. “Take a flying carpet ride through a Scheherazade dream. Everyone is master of the lamp for one special evening as a sultan’s palace materializes for all guests materializes.

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.

TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY….

Keith and Anne Marie