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LIVE from the Mariner of the Seas Barcelona to Dubai

RicardoC
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RicardoC

RicardoC

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LIVE from the Mariner of the Seas Barcelona to Dubai

 

Mariner-Exterior_zpsba125376.jpg

 

Wednesday, May 1st – Orlando, FL

 

Welcome everyone!

 

Everything is (almost:o) packed, reservations are checked, and pretty much all is ready for our month long trip! I have been wanting to do a “live” review for a while, but never really got to do it. Since this is a rather different itinerary I decided it would be nice to take you all in my luggage (or should I say in my laptop?) with us. Our pre and post cruise hotels will have free wifi and I made a pretty good international data plan for my phone, so I should be able to be fairly consistent with posts…I’ll do my best. I’m flying out tomorrow night but wanted to give you some general info as well as leave you some time for questions and things like that. So there you go, Enjoy!:)

 

Background

 

I’m Ricardo (Rico), 19 years old, born and raised in Brazil but have been in Florida for the past 5 years or so. We like traveling, A LOT, and started thinking about this summer back in January. My father had been wanting to go to Alaska, so we promised this would be the year…we promised it for third time and didn’t do it. I found this repositioning cruise on the Mariner and the itinerary, on a ship like that, and with an unbelievable price sounded like an obligation to take:rolleyes:.

 

The Cruise

 

As many of you know the Mariner of the Seas is the fifth and last ship built for Royal Caribbean’s revolutionary Voyager Class; it has everything from the traditional pool to an ice skating rink, so a repositioning cruise on her should be a nice experience. We had tried to go to Egypt twice in the past couple years but had to cancel both due to the Arab Spring and political tensions in the country. The idea of giving Egypt a third try was already good, and let’s say Barcelona, Petra, and Dubai helped out with the final impulse:p.We researched, talked about it, and eventually booked it.

BCN-CRU-ALY-SCP-HRG-AQJ-CRU-DXB_zpsd18133cf.jpg

 

Stay tuned for info on our land portion, packing, and more! Later on tonight!

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RicardoC

RicardoC

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Looking forward to following this thread! Sounds like an amazing itinerary.

 

Thank you for following! I'll do my best :)

 

Wahoo Ricardo! Thanks for bringing us along with you "Live"!

 

Oh, the pressure! I read your "live" too...will try my best to bring you all like you brought us on your cruise, Mr. ! :D:cool:

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RicardoC

RicardoC

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Thanks for posting your adventure. I'll be following you along.....Happy Sailing:)

 

Thank you! Enjoy!

 

Jealous of your amazing cruise! Looking forward to seeing your review :) Have always wanted to go to Egypt, hoping in the next few years we can do a similar cruise.

 

Oh I'm glad I'm already inspiring people's trips :p

You will make it sooner than you think...and for now jump in and enjoy :)

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RicardoC

RicardoC

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Itinerary

 

As I previously mentioned, our main “reason” for this trip was to finally visit Egypt. The beautiful thing about cruising is that it “leads” you to different places; in our case, even the post-cruise portion. We weren’t sure if we wanted to do the B2B and continue to Singapore (stopping in India and Malaysia) or disembark in Dubai for some time in the area. Yes, it was tempting to stay onboard for a total of 26 days and go all the way from Barcelona to Singapore, but it would also mean we’d have 16 days at sea. Don’t get me wrong – I love sea days – but the longest cruise we have been on thus far was a 12 night with only 3 sea days…imagine how “new” even this first leg (15 nights, 10 days at sea) will be. I also did some research on prices for the cruise, excursions, etc. and not only it was more expensive but also wouldn’t give us the opportunity to visit the Taj Mahal in India. I know those ports in the south of the country are nice and interesting but we have never been there and it just didn’t sound right to go and not be able to visit it. We ended up staying with the first portion (Barcelona to Dubai), which we could afford our first suite ever (more on it later) and plan an equally interesting post cruise. Our itinerary (by day) is, after all, as follows:

 

May

02 Orlando, FL/Sao Paulo, Brazil – Barcelona, Spain

03 Barcelona, Spain

04 Barcelona, Spain

05 Barcelona, Spain

06 Barcelona, Spain (cruise starts)

07 At Sea

08 At Sea

09 At Sea

10 Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt

11 Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt

12 Suez Canal

13 Aqaba (Petra), Jordan

14 Safaga (Luxor), Egypt

15 At Sea

16 At Sea

17 At Sea

18 At Sea

19 At Sea

20 At Sea

21 Dubai, UAE (cruise ends) – New Delhi, India

22 New Delhi, India

23 New Delhi, India (to Agra)

24 New Delhi, India

25 New Delhi, India – Jaipur, India

26 Jaipur, India

27 Jaipur, India – Male, Maldives

28 Male, Maldives

29 Male, Maldives

30 Male, Maldives – Dubai, UAE

1 Dubai, UAE (to Musandan, Oman)

2 Dubai, UAE – Orlando, FL

 

So, a lot to figure out, a lot to plan, and it is finally here. Well…almost done…I’m still missing the Oman reservations for my “solo” last two days in Dubai; I let my parents have a “honeymoon” in Istanbul for a couple days after everything (because I’m nice like that:p) so I’ll be in the UAE for two days until I fly back…not complaining:rolleyes:.

 

 

Now, if you are not into the very details you might want to skip this next portion. I’m with you, as I’m not a big fan of those, but I feel some people will appreciate it.

 

Packing

 

IMG_5542_zps4ca43347.jpg

My room as in a few hours ago...yes :eek:

 

This was…bad. I don’t know why, but just like this trip has felt like it required more planning, packing also did. We have flown to Europe and “beyond” a fair amount of times but 1. Never in May 2. Never with so many sea days 3. Never with so many different ports of call. Temperatures are supposed to vary between around 12 C (~53 F) and 35 C (~95 F) so needless to say that’s challenging as it is. On top of that, we are going to fairly “strict” cultures as far as dressing goes, even if not “officially” (i.e. we were in the UAE for a week last year and, though I could wear shorts, most guys wore pants all day so I felt more comfortable “going with the flow”). I did my homework and found some lighter pants and shirts…we’ll see how they go. There is also the airline weight problem: if you are not familiar with the destination and/or airline, check their allowance…you may be surprised both with generous and poor allowances. In our case, I can bring more with Lufthansa than my parents with Singapore/Turkish Airlines especially because I can leave one of my pieces in Dubai after the cruise (so I don’t need to pay extra for the routes with Emirates) and get it before I head back home. We always do such logistics (if possible)…they may take some thinking and planning but will save you some money that you will most likely spend on things to fill the also saved extra space;)…oh well…:p

 

Ok, it’s late and I got another long day tomorrow getting the last few things ready. I will get some sleep and check back in the morning. Please feel free to ask any questions, and thank you for following!

 

Good night!

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sandravb79

sandravb79

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I am enjoying to read your LIVE report. And I love your packing-picture!

However, it doesn't look nearly as bad as my pre-packing "scenery", lol

 

See you onboard next week!

 

BTW: Istanbul is my favourite city in the world. Where will they stay at a hotel?

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RicardoC

RicardoC

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Ha ha, I saw this thread here from work and thought, am I missing something? Did I get our cruise dates mixed up? See you in a few days!

 

Heheheh ok this has already been worth just for that; I can imagine your face :eek:

 

I thought it'd be nice starting it a day before we leave to "build anticipation"...and trick you too :p See you!

 

I'm really looking forward to your "Live" review!!

 

Thank you!

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RicardoC

RicardoC

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I am enjoying to read your LIVE report. And I love your packing-picture!

However, it doesn't look nearly as bad as my pre-packing "scenery", lol

 

See you onboard next week!

 

BTW: Istanbul is my favourite city in the world. Where will they stay at a hotel?

 

Hahah I'm guessing the picture can't really illustrate the magnitude of it...the poor dog is "lost" seeing my run around the house getting stuff :p

 

I was impressed with hotels' prices in Istanbul (as compared to other places for this trip); I ended up booking this small "boutique" I had heard of...it's called Wizz Istanbul and looks really nice with apartment-like rooms, nice views, good service, and not as expensive as other places...

 

 

I'm curious. Did I get that right? you are flying from Orlando, FL to Sao Paulo, Brazil to Barcelona, Spain. What airline? Have a great flight and I'll see you on the ship.

 

I figured it wasn't that clear...I was tired last night :o What is happening is I'm flying from Orlando to Barcelona via Frankfurt with Lufthansa and my parents are flying nonstop from Sao Paulo (where we're all from) to Barcelona with Singapore Airlines (their flights to Singapore stop in BCN).

 

Thanks, you too, and my bad :o

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RicardoC

RicardoC

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Thursday, May 2 - Orlando, FL

 

Good morning everyone! It’s today! I was originally supposed to fly out tomorrow but after some three weeks on stand by I got my spot on tonight’s Lufthansa flight between Orlando and Frankfurt, and then tomorrow morning’s flight to Barcelona. The parents are soon leaving to Sao Paulo’s International Airport where, later this afternoon, they’ll board a Singapore Airline’s nonstop to BCN. As of now this is all I got; doing some last minute packing (still…), leaving everything set at home, etc.

 

I will be back later today with some more info and updates for those interested. For now, off too work!

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RicardoC

RicardoC

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And it begins…

 

Hey everyone! After a long day with pretty much 5 minutes of free time (to have lunch) I’m finally “chilling” at the Lufthansa/Delta Lounge at MCO:cool:. The parents are already on their way and I board to Frankfurt in about an hour! It’s “only” a 9ish hour flight (hey, that’s not bad) and since I’m tired I can foresee a nice 7 hour “nap”…heheh:D

 

photo-1_zps0f752c36.jpg

The parents on their way...see them??

 

Talking about airports, passports, and such I will briefly touch on visas. Our cruise (Egypt, Jordan, and UAE) was fairly easy regarding visas as almost everyone can just get them at the port (except for UAE). In our case, my father who is Brazilian had to pre-issue a visa for the arrival in Dubai but mother and I (Portuguese/EU) can do it on arrival. The only visa we all did was the Indian one, and that one applies to every citizen in the world (except India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and two others I don’t remember right now).

 

Well, I guess I’ll talk to you guys across the “pond”…probably only in BCN since I only have one hour layover in FRA to do immigration, security, etc…wish me luck! :eek: Oh yea, before I forget, look what I found today (ok, I looked for them).

 

photo_zps240e0d2c.jpg

Little Rico (with the father in one of them) on his first time in Barcelona (and Europe actually) back in 2002 :D

 

Good night!

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