Qatar is now closed to cruise ships

[MadManOfBethesda]

I am on Jewel OTS and today we are (or rather were) in Doha, Qatar for our scheduled port stop,  but the captain just announced that Qatar made a decision overnight to close the port to all cruise ships, and we had to leave immediately. So now we're headed out for a sea day and then on to Abu Dhabi tomorrow, which is a day earlier than scheduled. After an overnight there, we head back to Dubai where our "cruise" will end with 3 days and two nights docked at their port. That's all fine with me because Dubai has become one of my favorite cities in the world. 

 

Last week's Jewel itinerary had to be altered as well due to Oman not letting the ship dock. That gives you an idea of what is happening in this area of the world with respect to Covid-19.

[jacketwatch]

Wow!  We were on the Feb. 3 cruise which stopped in Qatar. Glad we had a chance. Our scheduled stop in Bahrain was canceled but that was due to security concerns. 

[Roger88]

I wonder what will happen if all the ports on your route will suddenly close while you are at sea..the ship will go back? Anyway Qatar is ok, you can go to UAE and a few other places and countries of the golf. We were in Qatar last New Year. Its a very boring place to be honest. I wouldn't recommend going there anyway. There is like literally one place where all the fun is concentrated. The rest of the country is super boring

[TravelMadBrits]

1 hour ago, jacketwatch said:

Wow!  We were on the Feb. 3 cruise which stopped in Qatar. Glad we had a chance. Our scheduled stop in Bahrain was canceled but that was due to security concerns. 

Thanks for the update... I am due on board Jewel 16th, a week on Monday. I wonder what royal will do as we are having an overnight in Doha.  I’m not really wanting to ‘cruise’ just being in Dubai, but we will see. 

Any other updates much appreciated. 

Safe travels.  

Edited March 4, 2020 by TravelMadBrits
Wrong day.

[philbel]

1 hour ago, Roger88 said:

I wonder what will happen if all the ports on your route will suddenly close while you are at sea..the ship will go back? Anyway Qatar is ok, you can go to UAE and a few other places and countries of the golf. We were in Qatar last New Year. Its a very boring place to be honest. I wouldn't recommend going there anyway. There is like literally one place where all the fun is concentrated. The rest of the country is super boring

I am having a little giggle since I currently live in Qatar. You are not wrong though

[kernow]

We stopped there 2 weeks ago, I thought it was a lovely stop. Seems like there will be very few ports left open in this region, it's a good job the ships are due to leave for the summer soon.

[little britain]

3 hours ago, Roger88 said:

I wonder what will happen if all the ports on your route will suddenly close while you are at sea..the ship will go back? Anyway Qatar is ok, you can go to UAE and a few other places and countries of the golf. We were in Qatar last New Year. Its a very boring place to be honest. I wouldn't recommend going there anyway. There is like literally one place where all the fun is concentrated. The rest of the country is super boring

Absolutely loved our visit to Doha a few weeks ago. 

[TRUEBLUE66]

Thanks for the update. Like kernow at post 6 we were supposed to be on the Quantum sailings in Singapore before they all got cancelled.We have booked on the Jewel for the 16th and were hoping for no more issues but that appears to have been wishful thinking. Looking like either more seas days or longer in port in Abu Dhabi and Dubai as other options in the area are extremely limited.  

[kernow]

Do they no longer use Fujairah as a cruise stop in this region?  We stopped there years ago on a Costa ship and it's part of the UAE so would be no problem.

[mugtech]

4 hours ago, Roger88 said:

 you can go to UAE and a few other places and countries of the golf.

Countries of the golf?  Like Scotland?

[TRUEBLUE66]

5 minutes ago, kernow said:

Do they no longer use Fujairah as a cruise stop in this region?  We stopped there years ago on a Costa ship and it's part of the UAE so would be no problem.

Hi Julie,

               I think I read somewhere they stopped going there because they have to go around the Strait of Hormuz which is where the trouble with Iran and shipping seems to be the problem. I know they have to go that way when they leave the Persian Gulf on the re positional, but I take it they have arranged the security for that. Maybe I'm wrong. 

[little britain]

9 minutes ago, TRUEBLUE66 said:

Hi Julie,

               I think I read somewhere they stopped going there because they have to go around the Strait of Hormuz which is where the trouble with Iran and shipping seems to be the problem. I know they have to go that way when they leave the Persian Gulf on the re positional, but I take it they have arranged the security for that. Maybe I'm wrong. 

Celebrity Constellation is currently in Muscat today. Absolutely no issues with Hormuz. 

[TravelMadBrits]

4 hours ago, TRUEBLUE66 said:

Thanks for the update. Like kernow at post 6 we were supposed to be on the Quantum sailings in Singapore before they all got cancelled.We have booked on the Jewel for the 16th and were hoping for no more issues but that appears to have been wishful thinking. Looking like either more seas days or longer in port in Abu Dhabi and Dubai as other options in the area are extremely limited.  

It seems like things are changing daily... hopefully we will get an update before next week! Part of me so wants to get in the sun & cruise and the other half is wondering ... 

[LXA350]

Why was Jewel not allowed to dock at Muscat the other day?

[Polly1922]

On 3/4/2020 at 9:34 AM, kernow said:

Do they no longer use Fujairah as a cruise stop in this region?  We stopped there years ago on a Costa ship and it's part of the UAE so would be no problem.

I remember Fujairah.

They took us to a small shopping mall but there was not much else there.

[chmusar]

We where on cruise last week and went into the Katara Cultural Village which was interesting , picture of Doha from the cultural village



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