Dubai - May 4

Burj al Arab through the haze

fountains and hotel complex

The cruise we are on is part of a world cruise that started in Fort Lauderdale on Dec 27 and is ending in London on June 7 (162 days.) The entire world cruise is made up of 6 segments (I think) – we are on 2 of these. Dubai is the end of one segment and the beginning of another. I don’t know how I would feel about being on the ship for 162 days! I’m feeling a bit captive after only 24 days.

'The World'

skyline

Our day in Dubai remedied my confined feelings a bit as we were free today to do our own thing. Not that we aren’t ever free to do what we like, but many of the ports we visited weren’t very conducive to ‘doing our own thing.’ Plus we have joined the ship’s excursions at each of the ports, so we haven’t had time do much else. All of that is terrific, but it just contributes to feeling a bit confined.

licence plate

Dubai is the end of one leg of the world cruise and the beginning of the next. We will be on until the end of this leg which ends in Rome. Because this was a transition day we were on our own. We choose to go to the top of the Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world. It is also the tallest free-standing structure in the world although I don’t know the difference. There are 2 types of tickets for going up – one for ‘instant access’ (100 USD) and ‘pre-purchase’ (25 USD.) We were lucky to get pre-purchase ones as they are relatively limited and only had to wait about 30 minutes.




can you tell what the ad is for?

 We spent the 30 minutes walking around the mall that is connected to the Burj Khalifa. In fact the Burj Khalifa has a huge mall, hotel, apartments and offices surrounded by gardens and fountains. It is 828 meters tall. It has a Las Vegas feel about it without the drinking and gambling – huge brand-new hotel with fountains, gardens and a huge entrance area. Once we are up the tower there is really not that much to it other than the observation deck part of which is outside. Unfortunately it was a hazy day, so we couldn’t see too far and the photos aren’t great. It was interesting to see the desert in the distance beyond the city. It is very barren and desolate beyond the city.  We could see ‘The World’ islands Dubai has been constructing.  The progress on these islands has slowed over the past few years.  We couldn’t see the 2 ‘Palms’ islands.


On the streets of Dubai, in the mall and in the hotel where we had high tea, people wear both western and Arabic garb. There are many women entirely covered, some less covered and some in western clothing. There are men who also wear western and some who wear what I recognize as Middle East or Arabic garb. There are signs at the mall entrances with guidelines to cover knees and arms, not to display affection and the other usual no smoking etc guidelines.