In October 2022 my parents confessed to me that my mother does not want to leave Europe anymore because of health reasons for the time being. On the other hand, my dad still had a strong wish to see the magnificent architecture in the Emirates. To which I responded: “Why aren’t we going together?” So, in January 2024, my dad and I went on a cruise for a week on the Persian Gulf.
Day 1: Groningen – Dusseldorf, Germany
January 20, 2C Sunny – To begin our trip, I had to pick up my dad first. My mom had prepared a nice warm lunch for us, and afterwards my father and I left with my car to drive to the airport in Düsseldorf. It was my first time flying from that airport, and I was pretty amazed by their parking facilities since we could park next to the airport for half the price as Amsterdam would have for their P3, which is a shuttle distance from Schiphol. The Düsseldorf airport was relatively empty, except for the long line to check in for our flight, with not that many flights leaving. After finally checking in, we went through security with ease and had a sandwich and drinks before boarding the massive A380 plane of the Flying Emirates, which needed to be de-iced before we could take off. The seats were quite comfortable, and we could see the de-icing process on our fancy little monitors.
Day 2: Dusseldorf, Germany – Abu Dhabi, UAE
January 21, 25C Sunny – After a good flight, because of the comfortable seats with lots of legroom, we arrived in Dubai. The airport was a sight to behold, with high ceilings, fountain walls and indoor palm trees. We were guided by a chain of people, working for AIDA cruise, on every corner to our bus that would take us to Abu Dhabi. After a long bus ride, passing many famous skyscrapers, we arrived at the cruise terminal, where our enormous cruise ship from AIDA was waiting for us.
After checking in and waiting for the cleaner to finish our room, we had a quick lunch in the buffet restaurant and prepared to leave for sightseeing in Abu Dhabi. First, we took a taxi to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. After getting off, my dad said we maybe had to wear long trousers, which we were told immediately that we had to indeed. So we had to buy white robes that were not that expensive since we were both wearing shorts. We went into a mall and walked to the entrance gate, but we had to register first at the other side of the mall on iPads mounted on stands, which generated a QR code, and we had to take a photo of the screen on our phones. After getting through the gate, we walked through a long tunnel, and when we got outside again, we were at the big iconic mosque. We followed a route with many other people through the gallery. We could also walk in the giant hall with the massive carpet. It was a fantastic, enormous building and definitely a sight to behold.
When we were back on the streets again, we took another taxi that brought us to the presidential palace. We bought tickets and had to put the robes on again after getting a sneer from the security guard, whose face changed to a smile of approval after seeing me in my robes. A bus took us to the palace, and I was impressed by the massive hall, which was without any pillars for support. We could also see some interesting things in the side rooms, like gifts from other countries or a vast dining hall. When we were outside again, and getting yelled at for trying to take a taxi that was not at the official taxi stand, we got into an official taxi that returned us to the ship.
We went to the upper deck for some drinks, which were free for us since we had booked an all-inclusive, and enjoyed the view while the ship departed the port of Abu Dhabi behind. We were quite happy that we could visit all the important tourist places that day, because we would only have a couple of hours when we would return to Abu Dhabi the following week. We went for dinner at the buffet restaurant. We had some tea and other drinks afterwards in the theater area while enjoying the music from a German Frank Sinatra and an art auction before going to bed, exhausted after a very long day.
Day 3: Abu Dhabi – Doha, Qatar
January 22, 25C Sunny – We woke up later than we wanted to in our inner cabin, which did not have a window. When we stepped outside, we saw that we had already arrived in Doha, the capital of Qatar. After breakfast, we took a taxi to The Pearl, an artificial island consisting of a couple of circles with housing enclosing a small harbor. We walked a bit around while avoiding the sun. Afterwards, my dad wanted to see the skyscrapers up close. There were no taxis in that area, so we took an Uber to them, which was a new experience for my dad. I am grateful that technology has improved so much that I could buy an e-sim for my phone that would use the local internet to make that happen. The Uber driver was quite confused about why we wanted to be in that area. We walked a bit in that area under all the massive skyscrapers where there were no tourists at all.
From that point, we took the next Uber to Souq Waqif, an indoor maze of small shops but also an area with restaurants, where we ate some kind of pancake with Nutella and banana. We returned to the ship with our full stomachs and went our own way for a bit. I went to the ‘Brauhaus’ on board to try their own brews since they apparently brew their own beers, or maybe the big beer tanks were there just for show. Afterwards I went to the upper deck for a corona beer. My dad also joined me and we went to the buffet restaurant together. We ended our evening with some drinks in the club on the upper deck for some more drinks and a silent disco which the Germans really liked very much.
Day 4: Persian Gulf
January 23, 25C Sunny – Today was a day on the water because the ship would take a while to reach Muscat in Oman. We woke up late because our phones do not use the “boat time,” which did not change to an hour earlier in Qatar. My dad and I went our separate ways after breakfast, which I spent doing some film music stuff on my phone, but we found each other again in the club on the upper deck. I decided to go to the gym onboard for a great workout, and when I was done, I found my father again on the upper deck, where I also went for a quick swim. In the evening, we went for a schnitzel in the Brauhaus. Afterwards, we went to the club bar again, where a cover band played. My dad didn’t like the music that much, so we checked out the karaoke in the Brauhaus, which was even worse. We decided to go to bed early because we had to get up early as well the following morning.
Day 5: Persian Gulf – Muscat, Oman
January 24, 27C Sunny – The alarm went off at 6:30 because we had booked a group tour that day to see the highlights of Muscat. We got on the bus at 7:45 with many people from the ship, an AIDA guide, a local guide and a local chauffeur. The local guide was occasionally funny with his half-German sentences; at some point, he put incense under his robes to make his jewels smell better. When we arrived at our first stop, Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, we got off; this time, we were prepared to cover our legs. I was already wearing long pants, and the guide also approved with two thumbs up that my father was okay because he put on his robes again to hide his shorts. One person from the group was being picked out because his calves were still visible, so he had to wear robes, and the women had to wear scarves to cover their hair. The mosque was quite impressive, with handmade carpets and two large halls, one for the women and one for the men. We had to leave our shoes behind at some point, so we had to do part of the route on our bare feet or socks. The local guide also showed us how they would wash themselves at the mosque. It was quite an interesting place to visit, and our guide had interesting stories about their religion and customs.
Our next stop was a souq in the Muttrah area of Muscat. This one was louder with merchants than the one in Qatar. My dad and I walked through the small streets again, and it was pretty interesting to see that in addition to the gold and silver and other tourist shops, there were also grocery stores where the locals were doing their groceries in more of the back alleys of the souq. The next location our bus brought us was a small museum that was showing some of the history of Oman. The museum was divided into a couple of rooms dedicated to a topic, like clothing, weapons, or cooking. Upstairs we could see something different, which was some kind of stamp collection. Back on the bus, we were taken to one of the sultan’s palaces, where he did not live according to the local guide, but it was a nice location to take pictures of the surroundings. Back on the ship, we had the whole afternoon left for some relaxation. After lunch, we did some things together but also separately. We ate dinner at the Chinese restaurant on board and watched a cover band play in our favorite bar before sleeping.
Day 6: Dubai, UAE
January 25, 28C Sunny – We woke up this morning while we were still on open water. We could take it slow by having a longer breakfast than usual because we were still on open water. We went to the upper deck afterwards to gaze at the gorgeous skyline of Dubai that started appearing out above the fog. After docking, we prepared ourselves to leave the ship. We were surprised about the long queue all over the deck for more people with the same idea.
When we finally got off the ship, we walked to the Hop On Hop Off bus we had booked online weeks before, which took us to the mall. The route to the mall was the same highway we did a week ago when we went to Abu Dhabi and will take many more times, and we were still amazed by all the tall buildings we passed. We could transfer fluently to the red line of the Hop On Hop Off bus when we arrived at the mall. We got on that bus at the perfect time, because the Arabian Dhow Cruise was about to leave when we arrived at that stop. This cruise was a boat where we could sit on top and enjoy an hour loop on the river. The views were quite interesting, mixing old buildings with new ones. There were also many seagulls around and small taxi boats took people across the river. When we finished the loop we continued our route with the bus and spent a lot of time in traffic jams, but there was still a lot to see, especially when the darkness set in. We had missed our restaurant reservation already that we had made, so it was not too much of a burden to wait for our bus transfer back to the ship and eat in one of the standard buffet restaurants.
Day 7: Dubai, UAE
January 26, 30C Sunny – After a quick breakfast, we left an hour earlier than usual. We started the day by exploring the mall itself. We walked around and saw a large water wall with statues of diving men before we went outside to The Dubai Fountain, which would not be activated for a long while. We had coffee outside before returning to the mall for our main event. We had booked tickets to visit the Burj Khalifa, the highest building in the world. We had to stand in line for about an hour before arriving at the elevators that would take us up. Those elevators are able to take a large group of people to the 125th floor in a record time, but apparently, it is not for everybody since a woman became unwell in one of the elevators before we could enter.
After getting on our elevator, we walked around the two floors that were available to us, and we had some stunning views. There was glass all around, and we could even go outside on one side. My dad was especially quite impressed with all the views and the building itself. After strolling around for a bit before we went down again. After having a quick snack, toasties with egg, in the mall we went to see the famous aquarium for which we also had tickets. It was quite impressive to see all these fish and the divers feeding the fish, especially in the transparent tunnel part.
After visiting the mall for most of the day, we took the blue line of the Hop On Hop Off bus. We passed the famous indoor ski slope on our route but decided to skip it, which we regretted later on. When the bus arrived on the famous Palm Island, after passing the large Ferris wheel, we arrived at another attraction we could visit with our bus ticket: the Lost Chambers Aquarium on Palm Island. It was interesting with all the corridors and all the different fishes, including piranhas, but it was a bit underwhelming for us. After the visit, we had to take the blue bus all the way back to the mall while the ship had docked close to Palm Island, but it was a nice opportunity for my dad to say goodbye to the skyscrapers. Back on board, we spent the evening eating food, enjoying entertainment, and having drinks at our favorite bar, where the crew started to recognize us.
Day 8: Dubai – Abu Dhabi, UAE
January 27, 28C Sunny – Today would be another day on the sea, where we would depart again from Dubai and return to Abu Dhabi, our final destination. After leaving our cabin for breakfast, we noticed a change: the ship was packed with new people, including their large suitcases and pale skins. Even at breakfast, we saw many new arrivals. We spent the morning relaxing at our favorite bar with coffee and other drinks. We watched the ship depart from Dubai as well, leaving the impressive skylines of Dubai behind us. We went for burgers in one of the buffet restaurants in the afternoon before I went to the gym again for a quick workout. I met my dad for a beer again before dinner. It was tough to find a spot because everyone wanted to get some food before visiting Abu Dhabi, when the ship would dock there again at 8 PM. This was not an issue for us, since we had seen everything we wanted to see the week before. We put our suitcases in the hall at 21:30 for pickup and went to bed since our alarm was set at 2:30 in the night for us to leave the ship to go back home.
Day 8: Abu Dhabi – Groningen, The Netherlands
January 27, 24C Sunny (UAE) – 8C Sun with clouds (NL) – Our alarm went off way too early, but we had to get up to be on the bus on time. It was time for us to leave the ship permanently to drive back to Dubai Airport. When we arrived, we were quite surprised that there was a separate check-in for our ship at a different location. There was a bit of hassle, though, because the lady at the desk wanted to know our ‘ticket number’. Since I did not book this flight myself and only had the papers provided by the organization, I had no idea what she was talking about. When she let us pass, and we passed through security as well, we had to do a long walk to our gate. Near our gate, we found a place where we could sit down to have some coffee and sandwiches. We could not sit at the gate because all the seats were behind the boarding desk, which was a bit weird. Our plan was, sadly, a regular plane, but it still had spacious seats. I really like flying with Emirates.
When we finally landed in Dusseldorf we had to wait a long time before our bags appeared on the conveyor belt. After taking the skytrain to my car, we had a bit of a scare, because the barrier did not open when we wanted to leave the parking lot, but luckily the other one did. Afterwards it was just a long drive back to my mother to drop my dad off, and drove back home to my cat. This holiday was not one I am drawn towards, but I will treasure it nonetheless.