Day 84 - March 30 - At Sea

We woke up at 8:20 and it was 75 degrees under partly cloudy skies with a forecast high of 85.  We were between Aden and the the strait and speeding up.  We had coffee, dressed and went to breakfast at 9:40.  After breakfast, we went to the aft deck to look for war ships as we entered the Red Sea.  We spotted a couple of helicopters around 10:45 and about 11:15 we could see the mountains of Yemen.  As we passed the strait into the Red Sea, we saw an island off the coast.  We also had Africa on our port side.   We were still in the Yemeni waters the rest of the afternoon.  At 2:15, we went to check the slot tournament and I was still on the board, but Glenda had been bumped off, so she tried unsuccessfully to qualify again.  We will have to wait for the final qualifying round to try again as I may be bumped off the board by then.  We played some slot machines without success and returned to the cabin at 2:40 to read until bingo time.  At bingo, Glenda got close, but we did not win.  While getting ready for the evening, we spotted what we believe to be a military ship along the coast of Yemen.  Before dinner, we went to the Crow's Nest and visited with Don, Tom & Karen and John & Katherine.  After dinner, we went to the show to see Toni Warne, a finalist on The Voice UK and she was great.  We went to the cabin at 10:40 and put up the laundry that we had sent out the day before.

Day 83 - March 29–At Sea

We woke up at 8:05 and it was 75 degrees under partly cloudy skies with a forecast high of 85.  We are sailing 70 off the south coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden at about 17 mph and when we go through the strait near Somalia and Yemen into the Red Sea on Monday, we we be going all out at 25 mph since the shipping lanes are only about 3 miles wide.  We had coffee, dressed and went to breakfast at 9:30.  After breakfast, we went the the aft deck.  I went to the cabin at 11 to update the blog and returned to the aft deck at 11:30.  At 2:20, we went to the cabin and Glenda hemmed my second pair of pants.  We read until bingo time.  At bingo, I won 1/3 of the third game for $16.66 and Glenda got close a couple of times but did not win.  Before dinner, we went to the Crow’s Nest and visited with Don, Tom & Karen and John & Katherine at the bar which was still a bit tacky from the varnish, but was usable.  After dinner, we returned and visited with Don, Tom & Karen, John & Katherine, Peter, Barbie and Heidi & Ashel until 11:10

Day 82 - March 28 - Salalah, Oman

We woke up to Gene's 7:55 announcement of the ship's clearance.  It was 76 degrees under mostly sunny skies with a forecast high of 83.  We had coffee in the cabin and dressed for a sea day since our transfer to town had been cancelled due to lack of participation and the taxi ride 15 miles to town is said to be $50 per person and some have had trouble with the price changing on the way back.  The other tours that we had not done did not interest us, so we decided to relax an extra day.  We went to breakfast at 9:30 and then went to the aft deck where I read and Glenda got some sun.  At 2:45, we returned to the cabin.  Glenda went to press a few items since the self-service laundry had been re-opened and our code red condition was declared over.  When she came back, we read until 4 when we went to the Arabian sail away party with music, free drinks, snacks and a belly dancer.  We returned to the cabin at 5:10 to get ready for dinner.  Before dinner, we went to the Crow's Nest and visited with Don and Sue.  They had varnished the bar, so we had to use a booth.  After dinner, we went to the casino and played slots for an hour.  We did not win any of the raffle prizes they were giving out.  We went to the cabin at 10.

Day 81 - March 27–At Sea

We woke up at 8:20 and it was 79 degrees under partly cloudy skies with a forecast high of 79.  We had coffee in the cabin and dressed for our lunch at 12 in the Pinnacle with our AMEX hosts.  Glenda also had a hair appointment at 10:30.  I worked on the blog and the crossword until 10:10 when we went to the aft deck to allow Bagus to make up the room.  After Glenda went to the spa for her haircut, I read until 10:50 when I returned to the cabin to wait for her.  She returned at 11:30 and we went to lunch.  After lunch, we went to the casino for the first qualifying round of the new slot tournament.  I ended in third place and Glenda in fourth.  Afterwards, we played slot machines until 2:15 when we went to the cabin and read until bingo time.  At bingo, we got close again but did not win.  Before dinner, we went to the Crow’s Nest and visited with Don, Marlyn, Handler and Ashel.  After dinner, we went to the casino and played slots for a little over an hour and went to the cabin at 10:10.

Day 80 - March 26 - Muscat, Oman

We woke up to Gene's 7:30 announcement of the ship's clearance.  It was 82 degrees under partly cloudy skies and a forecast high of 79?  The ship docked around 1 am while we slept, but the immigration officials did not come on board until around 7.  We had coffee in the cabin and went to breakfast at 9 where we ate with Dakota, Debby's son and our new neighbor from Dubai to Rome.  We caught the shuttle bus to the souq (market) at 10 and walked by most of the shops until 12 when we took the the shuttle bus back to the ship.  Glenda bought a few thins at the souq.  We went to the cabin at 2:15 and I downloaded the pictures and updated the blog.  We had a ginger beer and ate some of our Malaysian chocolate and I updated the blog.  We then read and napped some until 4:30 when we went to the sail away.  We stayed until 5:15 and the ship was waiting for a late tour bus, so we went to the cabin to clean up for dinner.  The ship sailed around 5:25.  Before dinner, we went to the Crow's Nest and visited with Don and Tom & Karen.  After dinner, we returned and visited with Barbie, Peter and Tom until 11.

Day 79 - Mar 25 – At Sea

We woke up at 7:20 and it was 68 degrees under partly cloudy skies with a forecast high of 85.  The ship sailed from Dubai at 5:30 am while we slept.  We had coffee in the cabin and went to breakfast at 9:10.  At 10, we had a mandatory safety drill and at 10:20, I returned to the cabin to catch up on the pictures and the blog.  Glenda went down with the flower arrangement people to see their workspace at 10:30 and at 10:50, she went to the aft deck to get some sun.  I finally got done on the computer at 12:50 and went up to join her on the aft deck.  At 2, we had ice cream and then went down to play in a complementary slot tournament at 2:15.   We both made the board but didn’t last long, however, we played regular slots for a half hour and won $175 dollars between us.  We went to the cabin at 2:50 and read until bingo time.  At bingo, I  split the 3rd game for a prize of $25.50 and Glenda won the last game for $85.  It was a very good day.  Before dinner, we went to the Crow’s Nest and visited with Don, John & Katherine and Heidi & Ashel.  After dinner, we returned and visited with John & Katherine, Barbie, Tom and Peter until 10:45 when we went to the casino for 30 minutes.  Our luck had run out and we went to the cabin at 10:20 to find 2 Solar/USB Power Bank/Flashlights.

Day 78 - Mar 24 – Dubai, UAE Day 2

Our wake up call was at 5:15 and it was 70 degrees and dark with a forecast high of 85.  We had breakfast in the cabin and dressed for our 7:15 tour. The Best of Abu Dhabi, a nine hour tour.  We boarded the bus at 7:10 and the guide evaluated the dress of each passenger to see if it would pass the inspection at the Grand Mosque.  Several women, including Glenda, failed and had to return to the ship to change delaying our departure until around 8:30.  We arrived in Abu Dhabi at the Grand Mosque around 10:15.  It was very impressive with the tallest dome ever built, the largest single piece carpet at 500+ square meters and weighing 15,000 pounds along with 23 karat gold on the columns and 24 karat gold on top of the minarets and the domes.  The white marble on the court yard does not get hot in the 120 degree summers and the mosque can accommodate 41,000 people for prayers with 31,000 in the court yard.  After the mosque, we drove around to see some of the city sights including the leaning tower of Abu Dhabi, a skyscraper built leaning on purpose, and the symbols of the culture before going to the Hilton for a very nice buffet lunch.  After lunch, we went to the Heritage Village to see how life was before the discovery of oil.  We left the city and passed by the fastest rollercoaster (264 kilometer per hour), the F1 race track, and Ferrari Amusement Park before stopping at the Saadiyat Visitor Center, near where the Louvre Abu Dhabi is being built as well as the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Zayed National Museum.  We returned to Dubai and the evening traffic and got the port at 5:30 and on-board at 5:40.  Before dinner, we went to the Crow's Nest and visited with Don, Tom & Karen, Gerd & Kristina, Joost and John & Katherine.  After dinner, we went up and listened to Debby under the stars with Don and went to the cabin at 9:30 after a very long, tiring day.