Dubai, United Arab Emirates

March 16-17, 2023

I didn’t know much about Dubai before we traveled there. I knew that it was a very rich country with lots of high end shopping and wealthy people and all of that was true. What I didn’t realize was how beautiful the city is with so much stunning architecture. The buildings are each uniquely designed but, somehow, everything goes together. It is a truly fantastical city rising out of the desert. From the time the city was established fifty year ago, the emirs who rule the Emerate of Dubai have exercised total control over the vision and development of it. When the city was being grown, the Emir at the time realized that the oil reserves were going to run out sooner rather than later, and he had the idea to build a place that everyone would want to come visit. Everything that is built there has to be the biggest of its kind and has to outshine anything in the world and he succeeded.

Here are some pictures of the city that I took over the time we were in Dubai.

We were in port for a day and a half and had scheduled an afternoon Desert Safari Tour that would end at a camp in the desert for dinner and entertainment before returning to the ship at about 10:00 pm. We were picked up in a very nice SUV by our driver/guide, Ahmed along with two other couples. It took quite a while to reach the outskirts of Dubai. However, the highway system was quite efficient and in excellent condition, just like the rest of the city. Our first stop was a place where we could ride 4 wheelers in the desert or rent a dune buggy and go even farther afield. Brian rented a two person dune buggy and off we went, following our guide across the open desert.

We had an excellent time zipping around the desert for about half an hour and rejoined our group covered in a fine layer of dust.

Back in the SUV, Ahmed drove us a little further down the road, stopped the vehicle and let air out of the tires. We were off to do some dune bashing. I have no actual pictures of this activity because I was too busy laughing and holding on for dear life. One of the other women in the vehicle hadn’t realized that this activity was part of the tour. Her husband had picked this tour and, evidently, she had not read the description of it. She wasn’t thrilled but she was a fairly good sport about it.

We reached the top of a dune and parked. If one was so inclined (I wasn’t), you could now attempt some sandboarding which is a whole lot like snowboarding. You stand on a board much like a snowboard and head down the dune. After you reach the bottom, you have to drag the board back up. Here is an example of what mostly happened to people:

The desert was beautiful.

We were back in the vehicle and, after a short stop to put air back in the tires, we headed off to a camp in the desert for a camel ride, dinner and entertainment. The scenery along the highway was certainly different from what we see at home.

There are numerous of these camps in the desert where tourists get a “taste” of Bedouin life. Since our camp was owned by the tour company we were using, the number of people there was limited. There was a bit of off-road driving to be done and, again, our driver did not take it easy!

Before we even went into the camp, we were taken over to the camel rides. The rides were included in the tour and people could take as many rides as they wanted. We very much enjoyed our short ride. We were told to hang on and lean back while the camel was standing up or sitting back down. Even holding on, I nearly flew over our camel’s head when the ride was over. I said I wanted adventures!

Baby camel feeding was next. They were happy critters…so much food from so many people!

The sun was beginning to set, so we headed up a dune to get some pictures. By we, I mean Brian and Ahmed (our guide) and me. It was a steep dune and I needed some assistance. I had been able to swing my leg over the back of a camel (not as easy as one might think), but this was difficult. After persevering, we got to the top and saw this:

Going down was easier, and we headed into the camp proper for the remainder of the evening. We were greeted by the hosts, who poured rose water over our hands to welcome us, offered us a yummy Arabic treat, and led to our table for the evening. We sat outside in front of tents at low tables and sat on ottomans. The tables were placed on rugs and we removed our shoes before sitting down.

When I booked this tour, I chose the deluxe version since it only cost $10.00 more. I wasn’t sure what the deluxe version entailed but now we found out. Dinner was usually a buffet but we got table service. Our waitress was Fatima. We had 3 menus on our table and we could order as much as we wanted for any of them. One menu was Emirati food, one was Arabian, and one was Morrocan. We each selected from across all three menus. Now, we thought that we were each going to get a plate with a taste of each dish we chose on it. Nope. We got all the dishes served family style. There was so much food and it was all delicious! The restaurant that prepares the meals has Michelin award honors. Below is a picture of all the food taken after we had started eating.

The lamb dishes were especially good and the seasonings so complex and delightful.

We had some time to wander around after dinner before the show started. The camp offered henna decorations, you could get your picture taken holding a falcon, or you could smoke a water pipe.

The line to get a henna tattoo was huge. It was obviously a very popular activity.

As the sky began to darken, campfires were lit around the stage and we were ready for three shows.

The first dancer performed an Egyptian spinning dance called the Tanoura. The gentleman never stopped spinning for four or five minutes. He was a blur.

He was followed by a woman doing a traditional Khaleeji folk dance which involves a lot of hair flinging.

The grand finale was the fire dancer who also was a fire eater. We were close enough to see him pour the flammable liquid into his mouth. The entire dance smelled like kerosine.

Dessert was served during the program and it was, also, very tasty. However, we were stuffed and only ate a little.

As we headed backed to the car for our drive home, the lights were dimmed so patrons could enjoy the desert sky for a few moments.

It was late when we got back to the ship, so we headed straight to our cabin the shower off the sand and get ready for bed. We had an early shore excursion the next morning to go up the tallest tower in the world, Burj Khalifa.

We were on our bus bright and early the next morning. Our guide, Marshall (who let us know a few times that he was the highest rated guide in Dubai) was quite good. When we reached the Burj Khalifa, we had to enter through the Dubai Mall which is the largest mall in the world at over 12,000,000 square feet.. It contains an ice rink, an aquarium, around 120 restaurants and cafes, and more stores than you can shake a stick at.

Not much was opened when we arrived, however that meant our wait time to go up to the observation deck on the 124th floor would be relatively short. We eventually made our way to the elevators. There were two operating and the ride up to the 124th floor took 58 seconds. I don’t know what kind of engineering was used, but you really couldn’t feel the elevator moving at all. Our ears did pop a couple of times.

Once we were on the deck, the whole of Dubai opened up before us.

We had some free time in the mall when we were done with the tower. People could explore as they wished as long as they were back at our meeting spot at the designated time. There was just enough time for us to get something to drink and a snack. Brian found a Dunkin’ Donuts and I found gelato.

On our way out of the mall, we stopped for a moment at the outside of the aquarium. You can see into one of the large tanks. So many fish, and I saw some I’d never seen before. The photos I took have a bit of the mall reflected in them.

Back on the bus, we headed to an outside visit at the Jumeirah Mosque. It was Friday, which is the Islamic day of worship, so we were not allowed inside.

The craftsmanship that went into the construction of the mosques is stunning.

We were free to ask our guide anything we wanted about Islam. As he talked, it occurred to me that it must be horrible to know that you were going to have to defend your faith to people who often mistake the actions of a few radicals for the beliefs of the large majority, time and time again.

The remainder of our tour included a short stop at the Mall of the Emirates to take a look at the big indoor ski resort. It was hard to get any pictures because of the reflection from the windows, However, we saw kids sledding and people going up in large ski lifts. I think you would really need to go inside to get an accurate idea of what it is really like.

On our drive back to the ship, we had a photo stop at the only 7 star hotel in the world, the Burj Al Arab. If you want to spend a night there, it will set you back at least $1500.00 per night.

We were back at the ship by 1:15 as we were scheduled to set sale for Oman at 2:00.

I enjoyed our time in Dubai, even though we went to one mall too many, but it certainly isn’t the real world. In Sri Lanka, there was so much poverty and people struggling to stay alive. Here it is all about conspicuous consumption. Yes, there is no crime and the city is incredibly clean, but there is also no expectation of privacy. There is so much state of the art facial recognition technology, that the police just show up where they are needed. It is an absolute monarchy and the emir owns everything. There are trade offs everywhere. Democracy is messy. However, we at least have a voice in what goes on if we choose to use it. That is not the case in Dubai.