Flew to Munich and then to Croatia. Bob arrived just minutes after we landed in Croatia. How does Jill do these fabulous arrangements? He flew from Columbus, Ohio and we flew from Dubai. His luggage was with him but ours made it the next day. Here are some pictures of our apartment. Huge compared to the ship!

We got home just before midnight and slept in. Checked out to go to another hotel near the airport. We have an early flight tomorrow. Our room was small but not as small as on board the ship! Sat around the pool, ate, and went to bed early.

Morning tour of the city. Went to outskirts of city to see Madinat Jumeirah, a mini-city . Five star hotels , ornate souks(shops), and old fashioned air conditioning on the buildings. Basically, towers on buildings that let the hot air escape and cool air come in. Next stop was Burj Al Katlifa, or Burj Al Arab. The world’s largest tallest building. There was really a fantastic view. It seems it is popular to have strange shaped tall buildings. Some lean, some twist, some have spaces in the middle or in various places. One is a giant picture frame just waiting for the picture to arrive. Off to the large(est?) shopping center. It has the world’s largest aquarium. If you were interested, you could sign up for a scuba diving experience I got some chocolate at a See’s Candy shop!!! At one pm, we watched the world’s largest water fountain show outside the center. It beat the one in Las Vegas. (Dubai,you did it again!)Back in the bus to pass palaces on the way to old town. We got in an abra, an old fashioned wooden boat, to cross over a canal to see how people lived before oil was discovered. Buildings made of rock and stucco and a tent set up to show how Bedouin’s lived. Had a camel there. This turned out to be camel day, but more of that later on.

Back to hotel for a rest before the evening excursion. Went by bus for a desert adventure. Stopped by the camel racing grounds to see camels being taken to the track for training. It is just like horse racing. Pedigree and everything except the camel jockey is a mechanical jockey that is handled by a human who has the control and tells the “jockey” what to do. I really want to see a camel race sometime. Got to the parking lot and everyone got into Range Rovers to go to the Dubai Conservation Reserve for an Arabian themed evening. Colinda stayed in the rover when the air was being let out of the tires for the sand dune riding. I waited at the dinner site. She also rode a camel and rolled off when the camel was kneeling to let her off. No injury. Soft sand. So that is what the more about camels I mentioned was all about We ate an Arabian BBQ under tents with rugs under the stars. There were three entertainers. A whirling dervish, a belly dancer, and a fire dancer who twirled and “ate”fire. What a day!

First day in Dubai. Left ship and checked into Amwaj Ritana JBR hotel. We could not get to our room right away so we had lunch on the patio. We got to our room about three. We were on the fifteenth floor overlooking the pool and beach area. Dubai has a well deserved reputation for being the “city of gold.” Everything is the biggest, tallest, and first of its kind. We could see the world’s biggest Ferris wheel from our room. Unfortunately it was not working. We could also see the beach and the Persian Gulf. Lots of activity outside including water skiing, jet skiing, parasailing, and the usual yachts trying to outdo each other. Lots of yachts. About thirty years ago before oil was discovered, Dubai was a little fishing village with Bedouins roaming by grazing their flocks. They had some pearl diving but that stopped when Japanese pearls got popular. Now, if you are a citizen, the Emerite provides you with land, a government job, a house, no taxes, free education and health services. The only way to be a citizen is to be born there with Emerite parents. You can work there but you must leave when you are sixty five. Most of the buildings downtown are apartments and condos for their guest workers. The workers are from all over the world. We were told there are eight workers on average for each citizen. Emerite citizens live outside town in their own area.

If you noticed, I have not been blogging for awhile. I pressed something wrong and have been trying to straighten the whole thing out via email with the site. If you are looking at this, then I have figured out a way to get going again. I expect I have gotten dates wrong too. So this is a test of sorts!

Two hard days packing and saying good by to friends and staff. Many are not continuing. I find that I have way too much worldly goods jammed in this little room. Now I am jamming up the things I am leaving and also those I am taking. The ship is storing everything we have in our room in our suitcases. Remember when you had to sit on your suitcase to get it to close? Here are a few pictures of things I did not buy. At least I did not have to pack them!!!

Abu DABI is the capital of the Emerites. There are seven Emerites. We will be here and next door in Dubai after this. Weather is hot but not humid. We are the last ship of the year here again. Will be too hot soon. We went to the grand mosque. It is the biggest in the Emerites and welcomes all people of all religions and races. The mosque is built of white marble and closely resembles the Taj Mahal in the building materials in the inlaid flower decorations everywhere. We wore proper clothes and were adequately covered. We were told about the largest carpet in the world and the six chandeliers made of Italian Morano glass and thousands of crystals. Both were impressive. Well the whole visit was impressive.

First view of grand mosque

Packing, washing clothes, making decisions about what to take and what to pack up and leave. This takes some time! Note to self….. Really try to remember all this if ever on a cruise. PACKLIGHTLY!!’

This island is owned by the royal family. They made a large game preserve, a large beach area, and a royal get away palace. The four or five times larger palace is being built. All the workers there come to the island daily. Some of us went swimming and snorkeling in the crystal clear waters. Others, like me, went on the safari. We saw gazelles, giraffes, ostriches, peacocks, oryx, and Barbary sheep. Picnic on the beach by the Azamara staff and back to the ship for a late afternoon sailing.

Packing. Whew! Have to pack for 35 days off ship. Also have to pack everything in the cabin for storage. (Cannot leave things in cabin. Insurance problems) Threw away a bunch of stuff. If I ever go on a cruise again, I will more about what is needed. Last trivia day and our group ended up fifth out of eight teams! Had a dinner by the pool for the round the worlds and a party. Did not make it to the party. Tomorrow we will be on an island in the Arab Emirates. Will see the wildlife preserve and having a picnic in the beach.