Dubai, UAE - Day 1 - Desert Safari & Dinner - March 19

During the early morning we sailed through the Persian Gulf to Dubai.

It’s our second time to Dubai and we had 2 full days here last time and used the HOHO to see all of the sites. (Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, Dubai Creek, all the malls with the ski slopes, ice rinks, etc., and the numerous souks for gold, spices, clothing, etc.) This time we don’t arrive until 1:00, and we were looking for something different to do this time around. We decided on an Evening Desert Safari. I set up a private tour with www.dubaiprivatetour.com

It was a windy and dusty day. So, photos and views of the skyline definitely weren’t as good as our last visit where it was hot and sunny. We were here about a month later last time.

 the port terminal from the ship

 they took forever getting the gangway set up, more & more guys came to help

 other ships in port

After lunch on the ship we waited to be cleared by immigration to leave the ship. We were joined by Diane & Rich and Lorraine & Chuck, Harriett & Charlie, Horst & Mark and David. What a fun group! We got off to a bit of a slow start since we were told 3:00 as a start time, but it had been changed to 3:30. (I went through my emails after 3 shore days in a row and found that the night before the tour, long after we had gone to bed, they sent an email telling us.) So, we had some extra time in the terminal. Then, our next issue was that we needed 2 vehicles for the 11 of us and 9 of us were to be picked up at the port and the other 2 at their hotel since they would board the ship the next day. The 2 from the hotel didn’t have ship cards yet and couldn’t enter the port, so they had to get out of the car so the second car could get in to pick up the rest of us. Finally, we all got settled in our vehicles and we were off to the dessert!

Ken volunteered to take our photo in the terminal....thanks!

It was an interesting drive out of the city as the landscape changed from all the tall buildings to sand dunes. As we got closer we started to see that there were many camps doing the dune bashing either by vehicle or on ATVs. We had done dune bashing in Muscat, Oman before, but it had rained the night before and the sand was packed, so it wasn’t as fun. This time was a BLAST! Everyone in our car was laughing hysterically with a few “yee haws” and “ride ‘em cowboys” as we swayed, slipped and slided up and down the dunes. The other car took a video of them screaming and laughing. It’s almost like a skilled controlled roller-coaster ride. We got out and walked around on the dunes and got some great photo ops and some fun group photos. The sun was starting to set and that was a nice touch.

 the ride out to the dunes

 we had a rest stop here & we needed to wait for the second car to arrive

 one of the bathrooms

 some were dune bashing here 

 man with his Falcon

 ambulance at the stop (just in case) --- how safe is this dune bashing?

 kiddie track

 this place also had ATVs as well as 4X4s

The drivers let out some of the air in the tires for a smoother ride. Then, we drove to the dunes where we would have our dune bashing experience. 

 Greg, Annette, David, Lorraine, Chuck, Rich, Diane, Harriett, Charley, Horst, Mark - we got out midway to walk around the dunes

 sun starting to set

 the drivers

We then headed to the Desert camp where we had camel rides at sunset. (made for some dark photos…) It was very “atmospheric” with the lighted entry way into the camp where tables were set and there were loads of pillows to stack up and sit on. We tried on the UAE’s National Clothing and some of the ladies got Henna Tattoos (wears off in about 3 weeks). Ladies wear the Abaya which is a long black cloak and gentlemen wear the Kandura or the dishdash is a long white cloak. I waited too long to go get my Henna Tattoo and the shop was closed.

 from the car on the way to the camp

 arrival at the camp

 time to ride the camels

 Harriet & Lorraine

 Diane & Rich

 our turn

 Horst on the back

There was a Shisha Bar, but we didn’t make it over there for the photo op. Shisha is a concoction of tobacco that is smoked in a water pipe. A wide range of flavors such as apple, mint, grape etc are available to choose from and you can smoke in style. 

First, we were invited to have Shawarmas with freshly made and hot pita bread. YUM! Then we were treated to the Tanoura Dance which is a traditional Egyptian folk dance that is performed by gentlemen in colorful frilled outfits to the sounds of rustic musical instruments. It’s a bit like the Whirling Dervishers in Turkey, but at one point the skirt and top light up with LED lights. Quite a sight!

 inside the camp

Then it was time for our traditional Bedouin style barbeque meal by moonlight. There was a lot of food and everything we had was very good!

The menu consisted of:

Salads: Hummus, Tabouleh, Moutabel, Cucumber-Tomato-Lettuce

Main Course: Vegetable Mix Curry, Chicken Aloo Gravy, Basmati Rice, Biryani and Yellow Dal

BBQ: Chicken Drumstick, Chicken Tikka and Lamb Chops (also ground chicken and beef sticks that had been grilled)

Bread: Arabic Bread

Dessert: Fresh Cut Fruits and Arabic Sweets

Drinks: Tea, Coffee, Soft Drinks and Mineral Water

We had a gorgeous belly dancer that did a pretty long show and performed with swords and rings. 

 walkway through the sand to our vehicles

After that, they turned the lights out for some star gazing, but it was a pretty cloudy night and we could only see a few stars. 

It was an amazing night in such a beautiful setting, only made better by the fun company. We had met Lorraine & Chuck in 2013 and they joined this cruise in Dubai on the second day. They invited David who works for Princess as the pianist and singer in the Casino Lounge. He’s very talented and he also does the passenger choir and occasionally is the evening entertainment in the Cabaret Show Lounge. (yes, he’s THAT good). Diane and Rich are leaving the ship in Dubai. They also joined us in Phuket for the snorkel trip. We will miss them. We have been cruising with Harriet and Charlie and see them about the ship, but it was our first tour together and what a fun one! Horst is Mark’s father and they both are delightful as well.

It was time to leave our beautiful camp in the dessert and we arrived back at the ship in time to make the second show in the Cabaret Lounge which was a Dubai Folkloric show. They had the same type of dances that we saw in the camp, but the cast was larger. Very entertaining and capped off our long day nicely.

Then, it was time for bed as we were to be up early for our day tour to Abu Dhabi tomorrow.