Muscat Christmas Day

Hi

We are looking at a cruise from Dubai that will be in Muscat on 25th December & were wondering if there will be anything to do off the ship with it being Christmas Day. Will it be classed as just another day in Oman or will everything be closed and nothing much to do other than on the ship.

Appreciate any help

Thanks in advance

Hi

 

We are looking at a cruise from Dubai that will be in Muscat on 25th December & were wondering if there will be anything to do off the ship with it being Christmas Day. Will it be classed as just another day in Oman or will everything be closed and nothing much to do other than on the ship.

 

 

Appreciate any help

 

Thanks in advance

If it is this year, Christmas happens to fall on a Friday so that will be your guide as to what is open or not and at what time. The seaside corniche area of Muscat is quite scenic and close to the port so a stroll will be a pleasant way to spend some time.

Thanks for your reply

Hi, are you cruising on the Costa Fortuna ?

Yes we are from Dubai on the 23rd for 7 nights

It will be a normal day in Muscat, although being a Friday, it is of course their day of worship,

We are also on your cruise

Yep, Christmas day Friday will be a normal weekend with shops open quite late. The locals go out of their way to ignore Xmas, just because they can. Of course all the Non Muslims are expected by law to play along with a whole month of Ramadan.

For this weekend, all hotels will have some sort of special lunch, brunch or special deal on. by special I mean a lot more expensive than usual.

Expect the place to be very quiet until early / mid afternoon.

Good time for a stroll along the water front. weather should be wonderful.

The souqu (market) by the port should be open from around 2 pm. Parts of it are usually open also in the morning, especially the shops that sell touristy nick-nacks.

There should be plenty of taxis around the market area. find a guy you like (and one who's English you can understand) and negotiate a fare for an hour or two of sightseeing. Anything between OMR 20 to 50 is usually the starting price price. 50 is a bit much for 2 hours, but if the car is new and clean and the driver seems nice, its an ok price for 3 or 4 people. Just for convenience sake. The HoHo buses in MCT have really declined in quality. Extremely expensive for what you get and buses are few and far between (no matter what the brochure will tell you). Disappointing and a waste of time.

We are also on this cruise,