The highlights: the embarkation, service, food, room, the ports and good shore excursion options which weren't too expensive, opportunities to dance, Zoomba class, interesting converstations at dinner, meeting people from all over the world. Not so good: the internet was terrible, poor communication between who we booked cruise with and the ship, disappointment at not being able to see the wildlife on Sri Ban Yas island since it was cancelled, and the disembarkation process which was terrible.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was great! It was very quick and easy, with hardly any lines!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The food was excellent!
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
I used the fitness center which was well equipped and not too crowded. I also went to the Zoomba, Latin and Tango classes, which were enjoyable. We also enjoyed dancing each day.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Some of the shows were great and some were ok. We missed one of them. We enjoyed the Mood Icons.
Children's Programs
We did not come with children.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
The waiters and room stewards were great. The guest services tried to help us, but sometimes were not able to. The tech guy in the business center was helpful in dealing with our internet frustrations. We thought we had gotten free internet, but there was no record of it. So we ended up purchasing it for one day, the lowest price option, and the service was terrible. The internet didn't work much in our room and was just a tad bit better in other parts of the ship. This was very frustrating and time consuming.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
It is lovely. The Centrum, where some activities were held seemed a bit small.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Very nice - spacious. I love having a couch/sofa in the room. The bathroom was a bit small. We didn't use the balcony all that much, but still appreciated having it, as it gave us a great view.
Ship tip
If you want to use internet, try to get the perk of free unlimited internet when you book.
The Captain decided that we could not go to this island due to the weather. We were very disappointed, as we had purchased a shore excursion to see the wildlife.
This was good, but the lunch was a bit of a disappointment. It was a Bedouin lunch in a tent. The food was good, but it was just meat and rice (very generous amount of food, but more limited than the Bedouin lunch we had in Israel). Also, other than having the tray of food delivered to our table, we had no interaction with the servers and had to get our own table ware and beverages. There were no actual Bedouins there.
We didn't buy an excursion, but hired a taxi who took us where we wanted to go and waited for us, which, though more expensive, worked out well. We went to the two palaces and the Grand Mosque (which is magnificent, but a disappointment, as we had to walk quite far through a mall and in long lines to get to three balcony view points and that was it). We also went to the Heritage Centre which is very nice and free! Our taxi driver took us to a date market and he told us which shop to buy dates from which saved us time (and they gave us numerous samples - Royal Dates)
We purchased transportation from the ship to the airport which ended up being a very bad experience which I imagine we paid more for than if we had taken a taxi and it was very stressful. First, they had no record of the purchase, so we had to request it on the ship. The gave us the 6:15 time, but then we got a letter which said 5:30 (due to low demand). We would miss breakfast and have to take our luggage down ourselves (which was OK). We arrived at the terminal on time and went where we were directed by three people. No bus. We were told it would be there at 5:45. Then we found out the 5:30 bus had left without us because we had been directed to the wrong location. We were told the next bus would be there at 6 and the 6:15, then 6:30. In reality we sat on the bus for over an hour and it didn't leave until 6:50. We were very stressed about the possibility of missing our flight. Fortunately we didn't miss it.
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