April 21, 2013 Doha, Qatar 8:00a to 11:00p

Doha , literally means "the big tree" is the capital city of the state of Qatar. (pronounced something between cutter and cattar) It is located on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Doha is Qatar's largest city, with over 60% of the nation's population residing in Doha or its surrounding suburbs, and is also the economic center of the country.

Doha also serves as the seat of government of Qatar, which is ruled by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Today we have 2 private tours set up with Arabian Adventures Qatar.  www.arabianadventureqatar.net

Today, was a comedy of errors, aka the day from hell.

We had a large group here since we needed a minimum of 20 for the evening Dhow cruise. We started out with 31 total. Today we were joined by Marianne, Michael & Elizabeth, Hugh & Nancy, Cameron, Margaret, Dennis & Bonnie, Jim & Kathy, Judy & Roger, Karen & Steve, Julie & Jeff, Ginger & Joe, Jim, Mary and John & Barbara. Plus the now infamous foursome of Jack & Joanne and Bill & Bev.

We met early in the Casino lounge waiting for the ship to be cleared so we could get off the ship. During this time there was a couple (the Gusky’s) that had contacted my tour company asking to be put on my tour. He had also included me on the email. I had never heard of them before. I figured they had joined the Cruise Critic roll call for the 4^th segment after we had set sail. The tour company emailed me to ask if it was OK. We had room so I added them on and let the couple know they had been included.

The Guskys showed up at the meeting place and said we only want to do a half day tour not the full day tour. He was complaining that the tour company was not helping him revise the tour. I said you didn’t book with the tour company, you booked my private tour and we had an all day and evening tour.

He and his wife disappeared and Kathy said I bet they don’t come back. They did come back, but to say they were canceling at the last minute. Then, he asked if I minded if he talked with our guide to see if they could set something up for the 2 of them. I said no problem as long as they didn’t hijack my tour. We are now 31 on the tour.

There was also another foursome that seemed a bit difficult. They signed up and knew the times and the costs of the tour. He said he didn’t have any money with him. (local currency). I said no problem neither do we, but we have an ATM stop later. He said I don’t have an ATM card. I said how did you plan to pay for the tour? He also asked at least 6 times during the course of the day how much the tour was. I had a printed description of the tour with the prices and I showed it to him and read it to him every time. The last time he said what exactly is the cost of this tour, I keep getting a different amount every time I ask. I showed him the piece of paper and said, it hasn’t changed and I can’t keep answering the same question.

Our next hiccup came when the tour operator was not inside the port gates. We called them and they were outside of the gate. We were not allowed to walk to the gate through the port. The tour company that Princess used was in there and wouldn’t allow anyone else in there. They said it was how Princess got our visas for us. It was a blanket type that was only for their tours. Our Princess rep got involved and was talking with them and security. The Princess shuttles were not due to start until 10:00 even though we arrived at 8:00. Finally, they agreed to let us out of the port on one of their shuttles. The shuttle was only for my group, but other Princess people were still getting on. So, we had to go to them and get them off the shuttle. Our tour guide was let inside the port in her personal vehicle. An hour and a half later we were on the shuttle bus and followed the tour guide to where we could transfer to our regular touring vehicles that were set up. We were to have a vehicle for 15 and one for 25 and a car for 2 people with some mobility issues so they could go at their own pace and they could see what they chose to see and do.

We get there to exchange vehicles and meet our guides/drivers for the day and there was more time lost just with a lot of discussions going on and waiting for vehicles to be transferred. Then, the next thing we know somehow the Gusky’s are there with us and were being put on the private car with Hugh & Nancy. (they didn’t know the previous issues with him).

Finally, we are all on our way.

We drove the Corniche, a 7 km long palm fringed boulevard which is a showcase of architectural marvels and bustling skylines. It’s a very picturesque area of Doha and we saw the local architecture of the Emir’s working Palace, the clock tower and the historic Al Koot fort. We passed by the mascot statue of Doha called Orry the Oryx.

Our first stop was at the Katara Cultural Village which is the largest multi-dimensional cultural project where people come together to experience various cultures, with theaters, concert halls, galleries and modern facilities. It was beautiful, but nowhere near completion. One guy there refused to let us take pictures and later the owner came up and let us take pictures with him and said we could go in and take all the photos we wanted.

 this was our greeting as we got off the ship

 pigeon houses (so they don't nest where you don't want them)

 Karen and I

 sculptures in the courtyard

 



Then we went to the Pearl Quarter, a Riviera style man-made island developed into an exclusive community over 400 hectares of reclaimed land and Qatar’s first international urban development venture. It was a beautiful mall, but most stores aren’t open yet. There were some expensive shoe shops and a Rolls Royce dealership in there. Then, outside we saw impressive huge yachts.

 

We stopped for a visit at Souq Waqif. It was just a run through with no shopping time. We saw lots of birds. baby chicks dyed bright colors, parakeets, baby ducks and even a few furry critters. Plus the usual spices, bolts of fabric and clothing.

 

 

 

 We then drove to The Torch where we had lunch at The Flying Carpets restaurant. The building was ultra-modern and in the shape of an Olympic torch. The restaurant was over $50 per person, but had beautiful with carpets draping from the ceiling and lining the walls. Very impressive spread of food as well. There was a wide assortment of appetizer items and hot and cold main courses from lamb curries to Chinese food. The desserts were exceptional. Very good chocolate items as well as an assortment of various types of baklava which were crispy and tasty.

We had some issues here as well. People signed up for the tour and knew what it entailed, but several refused to go to the lunch place and wanted to eat at like a McDonalds. There was one in the mall next door and the guide showed them how to get there and what time to meet us back at the restaurant. (again, more time was wasted)

 chocolate sculpture

 already preparing for hosting the World Cup

yes, that was just dessert.....

By the time we finished lunch at around 2:30 it was too late to go see the camel track or the Wholesale Souk where the camel market was. We were all pretty upset about that since they were the main things we wanted to see. It seemed more important for the guide to show us the “impressive and showy” things they are so proud of, but truth be told we all really just wanted to see the camels and the oryx. ****it appears even the Princess tours didn't see those things either (canceled before the tour started)

Here the “foursome” declared that they didn’t want to continue with the tour and they wanted to be taken back to the ship. The guide said the boat is contracted for a certain amount of people and without notice she couldn’t arrange to have them returned to the ship.

We had time for a short visit to the Museum of Islamic Arts that was designed by the famous architect I.M. Pei of the Louvre in Paris and houses a collection of sturdies and masterpieces spanning 3 continents and 13 centuries. We only had about 20 minutes here, so it was just a teaser, but at least we got to see some of it. Of course many were complaining that we needed more time here.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



We met up with Hugh and Nancy here and they had not had a great day with the Guskys tagging along. They said they were going to return to the ship and were worn out. I think they had to stand and wait outside for the cars to be straightened out and it just wasn’t a great day. I felt so disappointed for them as I knew they really wanted to do the evening Dhow.

With no time to see anything else we went straight to the Dhow and agreed to a shorter version of the tour so we could have some time in the evening to return to the souq and shop and see the falcon souqs as well and make the last shuttle from town to the ship.

When we pulled up to the Dhow we were delighted to see Sherry & Tom who had gone dune bashing earlier in the day and weren’t certain if they could make it or not. There was miscommunication on transportation to the dhow, but I gave them the address and the phone number to call to get directions or set up a pickup. I’m glad it worked out.

The Dhow was nice and the boat people were great. It did take a while to get going despite being told they would leave without us if we weren’t on time. (just more aggravation to the day) The guide was supposed to leave us and another guide was to come on the dhow with us, but since we had a couple of problem people and special time constraints, she felt she should stay with us and handle that personally. Her daughter was visiting and had flight out that night so it was her last night to visit with her. Her daughter met us at the lunch place and rode to the dhow with us. They were making arrangements to split up and we asked her if she would like to join us. So, she got to spend more time with her mother before she flew home to South Africa.

 top deck of the Dhow

 Greg chillin'

 Dennis jumped in the cold water

 Marianne, daughter and guide and me

 

The foursome that wanted to leave in the middle of the tour were still in rare form. I had been up top on the boat and enjoying the early evening and went down to get a cold soda. One of the men in particular got in my face and started yelling at me about what a crappy leader I was and why wasn’t I getting a discount for all the things we didn’t get to do. He had never been on such an awful tour and on and on. I said “why would you join a tour and try to change what was planned?” I said no one else is unhappy but you and the tour company was for a certain amount of time and we needed to pay for their time. He said well it’s MY money and I will demand what I want. The guide felt so bad and was trying to please everyone, so she did knock off about $10pp and the guy said it should be more and I should make it happen. I finally just walked away, I was so upset I was shaking and everyone was trying to make me feel better.

The evening progresses and I was just trying to stay away from this foursome. I was in the inside cabin talking with friends and the loud rude man walks up to me again and starts yelling at me. I said I’m not listening to another word you have to say. He just kept on and I said you better stop talking now because I’m this close to pushing you overboard. I walked away.

Later in the evening the other guy in the foursome (not the rudest one) came up and apologized to me). It didn’t sound heartfelt, but……

The food was ready and we all lined up for the nice buffet. However so close to our late lunch most of us weren’t that hungry, however the food was good. I was seated in the inside cabin talking to Marianne and the rude guy came and sat down next to me without looking. At one point he turned in my direction and said “I didn’t notice you were here”. Obviously, or he wouldn’t have chosen to sit there. LOL

We sailed towards Safliya Island where you could swim or just relax on board. Dennis had his swim trunks and he jumped in the water! Sherry was interested in the shisha pipes “hubbly bubbly” as they call it. In the States we call it a hookah pipe. (Just flavored or herbal tobacco in a water pipe) Not sure if they brought that out or not.

As the night grew dark the dhow went closer to the shoreline so we got great views of the city all lit up at night. The buildings all had colored lights and many had almost light shows with blinking lights that often changed colors. Cruising on the Arabian Gulf was finely very relaxing.

Then it was time to head in and try to spend a few minutes at the Souq.

Here we had another debate. The ones in the bus just wanted to go back to the ship. Only our van wanted to go. So, they were going to work that out, Then, the crabby foursome said they wanted to go and a couple of others. We only had room for those of us already in the van but the guide put them in a regular car and they followed us to the souq. The bus went to city center where the ship’s shuttle would take them back to the ship.

Again there was a lot of discussion between drivers and we lost time. At the souq before we even got out of the car the guides again were talking. Not sure what the dilemma was, but time was slipping away. Finally, they got us out and took us to see the falcons at the falcon souq. There were a lot of them in a couple different ones we went into. We got some nice photos of them, but the handlers weren’t there so there was no show nor did we get to hold them.

Then we walked to the shopping part of the souq. We all wanted to be left alone to shop and not be drug around as a group in the limited time we had to shop. Finally they agreed. I found a couple things that can be made into a Christmas ornament and a magnet. We had local currency left over, but I couldn’t find any clothes I liked in my size. ARGH!

 

Again, we are sitting in the van waiting to go to city center and 2 guides are talking and talking. We shouted we need to go! We made it in time for the last shuttle bus back to the ship. It would help if Princess would run shuttles that use the time we are there. They often quit running them a good 2 hours before all aboard. There was a shop in the port that had a magnet I wanted, but they just closed and he refused to sell anything to those of us that wanted to buy. Ah well, fitting end to a day that was very disappointing.

I think the biggest problem is that Doha is a new port and really isn’t ready for tourism yet. They will need to learn to do what the tourist wants to see versus what they want to show us. They will need to have a more welcoming port and a different procedure for getting people out of the port. The ship had trouble with a few of their tours as well. Unfortunately, the foursome thought everything was MY fault. We did enjoy everything that we saw and most of us just made the best of the tour. Of course we ALL were disappointed in not seeing the camels and the oryx, but most were at least nice about it.

It was late and I was exhausted and rung out from dealing with negative people. Up until now the tours have all gone pretty well. This one did not deliver what was promised and I felt bad about it. I was disappointed, but I don’t like to disappoint others either.

We were back in time to see the late show with a new act, but we were tired and went to bed.

Thank goodness we have 1 sea day to recoup before the next port. However, we had to give back the hour we got and we lose an hour of sleep tonight.