Live From the Jade, Nov 13 to Dec 21, from Athens to Cape Town

[52saphire]

I do NOT know how to find it. 

[Ken the cruiser]

8 minutes ago, 52saphire said:

I do NOT know how to find it. 

If you go to the main CC Forums page, and go down, you’ll see the Roll Call section. It’s pretty easy to figure out from there, or you can just click on this link which will take you to the last page which is 45.

 
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2758270-jade-dec-2-2022-dubai-cape-town/page/45/

[52saphire]

Found it thanks

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 16 - Nov 28 - Sea day (on the way Muscat, Oman)

 

 

  

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Finally saw some sea life today as we were walking around the promenade. They weren’t whales, but a pod of around 30+ dolphins spread out along the length of the ship will do just fine! 😁

  

 

 

 

[kirsten1526]

Thank you for sharing all these details!!!

 

Any news about vaccination status and Madagascar? 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, kirsten1526 said:

Thank you for sharing all these details!!!

 

Any news about vaccination status and Madagascar? 

Nothing yet, and we’re thinking that’s a good thing, especially since none of us, you or us, have received any notification via email from NCL. 🤞

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight, after a beautiful sunset …

  

 
we had another tasty dinner at the Pacifica MDR. But, we learned something new today that most of you seasoned NCL cruisers already know. Most of the restaurants, to include the MDRs, open 15 minutes before their official opening times. That information definitely comes in handy when you want to go to the early 7 pm show in the main theater! 😁

 
Speaking of the early show, it was Yury and NATO’s encore performance and it was great, just like their first one!

 

 
After the show we headed back to the cabin to check email and CC before heading off to the 8:45 pm Majority Rules Game Show.

 

[DooBop]

You guys sure stay busy!  Looks like you have had nice weather pretty much the entire trip. Have the outdoor spaces been well used?  And how would you compare the two main dining rooms?  Alizar or Pacifica?  Thanks again for sharing your experiences with us. 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Muscat, Oman! 😁

  

 

  
Here is the excursion we’re going on today.

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

8 hours ago, DooBop said:

You guys sure stay busy!  Looks like you have had nice weather pretty much the entire trip. Have the outdoor spaces been well used?  And how would you compare the two main dining rooms?  Alizar or Pacifica?  Thanks again for sharing your experiences with us. 

Thanks! It’s been a little warm, but we have definitely avoided any rain and rough seas so far! 😁 We haven’t really hung out at the pool, but it is definitely being fully enjoyed by a lot of folks. We like the Pacifica better, just because it’s larger and we can usually get a table by the window. 😁

[phabric]

I noticed this excursion had a meal included.  What type of food was the meal?

[FlorenceItaly]

7 hours ago, phabric said:

I noticed this excursion had a meal included.  What type of food was the meal?

My SIS is on this cruise and tour.  They are lunching(buffet) at the Ritz Carlton!  The hotel and grounds are gorgeous.  I just received pics.

Edited November 29, 2022 by FlorenceItaly

[cruiseny4life]

2 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

My SIS is on this cruise and tour.  They are lunching(buffet) at the Ritz Carlton!  The hotel and grounds are gorgeous.  I just received pics.

So much for a local hotel. 😞 Sad, but not unexpected. 

 

I'm sure the food is good and can't wait to hear Ken's comments (I know there won't be any photos of the food). 

 

Hopefully you enjoyed your day in Muscat!

[Ken the cruiser]

Just got back from our Best of Muscat excursion, minus the 45 minutes of shopping at the end of the tour. 😁

 

We were the first of 3 tour buses doing the same excursion to leave after going through the terminal security line which delayed us about 15 minutes.

 

  

 
Our first stop was a mosque, which we could only walk around the outside.

 

 

 
Then we headed to a very well preserved fort built in 1792.

 

 

 
Of course, you know me by now, I couldn’t resist taking some wildlife shots every once in awhile. 😁

 

 

 

 

 
Then we were off to check out the 365 day creek continually fed by an underground spring.

 

 
There were even some baby fish having fun swimming around!

 

 
A waterfall!
 

 
A big bird up in the tree watching everyone from a safe spot! 😂

 

 
But the highlight of the wildlife shots was this orange dragonfly! We have all kinds of dragonflies in Alabama. But none of them are orange! 😁

 

 
Then it was time to head to our tasty buffet lunch outside at a Ritz-Carlton Hotel!
 

 

 

 
This was the view from our corner table for 2!
  

 

 

 
For those of you that cruise once in awhile with Celebrity, you might appreciate this picture! 😂

 

 
This was the view from the entrance to the hotel along with shots from various spots outside.

 

 

 

 
Then it was time to drive over to one of the Oman Sultan’s palaces where we could only walk around the outside of it in the front. There were also two forts guarding it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then we stopped at the Bait Al Bagh Museum

 

 

 
Then it was time for our last stop, a 45 minute shopping adventure in the Muttrah Souq, which we passed on and walked back to the ship, which took about 15 minutes altogether.

 

 

 
Of course, had to take some wildlife pictures to pass the time on our walk back. 😁

 

 

 

 

All in all, it was a fun excursion!

 

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

So much for a local hotel. 😞 Sad, but not unexpected. 

 

I'm sure the food is good and can't wait to hear Ken's comments (I know there won't be any photos of the food). 

 

Hopefully you enjoyed your day in Muscat!

The buffet lunch was awesome and so was walking around inside the hotel as well as eating outside at a Ritz-Carlton on the Arabian Sea! 😁  

 

@phabric as far as the food goes, there was a variety of beef, chicken, fish and vegetarian entrees to try as well as a variety of desserts.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

After another beautiful sunset, the Jade headed off for Fujairah, UAE a little after 5:30 pm with a scheduled arrival tomorrow at 7 am.
 

 

When we got back from our excursion, this was on our bed. For those who ever wondered “when is it my turn”, well today was the day for those of us onboard that are over 60! 😂
 

 

Then we were off again, only this time for another tasty meal in La Cucina. Afterwards,  we went to the 7 pm show to watch a tribute to Freddie Mercury, which was phenomenal!! 😁

  

 
The 8:45 pm game show was Scattegories in the Bliss Lounge. However, we decided to pass on it as we were pretty drained from all the excitement on our excursion and walk back to the ship today.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 17 - Nov 29 - Muscat, Oman

 

 

  

  

[Ken the cruiser]

Good morning from Fujairah, UAE, where it looks like the Oceania Nautica will be docking with us nearby!

  

 

 

 
This morning we’re going on a shorter 4 hour tour. Yay!! 😁

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We just got back from our 4.5 hour excursion around the Fujairah area in the UAE. All in all, it was an easy going excursion with a fun and talkative tour guide, which is a good thing after some of the more intense excursions we’ve recently been on this cruise! But I will say there wasn’t a lot of wildlife to see in Fujairah.
 

Our tour bus had a few empty seats in the back which was also nice.

 

 

First, we went to the 300 year old Fujairah Fort and climbed to the highest points to take some pictures of the surrounding area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was off on about a 40 minute drive to the Oasis in Bitna, which at one time had water which the various tribes back in the day would fight over. Hence the purpose for building a fort there.

 

 

Then afterwards we stopped at the Fujairah Museum for about 20 minutes

 

 

 

  

Then it was time to drive to the Friday Market so folks for about 30 minutes could do a little shopping.

 

 

 

 

 
Then it was time to head to our last stop which was the oldest mosque in the UAE believe to be built around 1446 AD.

 

  

 
While we were there for about 25 minutes, we climbed up to the small building behind it to take some pictures.

 

 

As I mentioned finding wildlife on this excursion was a little tough. But, not to disappoint! 😂 
 

First there were a few ants making the trek up the hillside. Then when I got back to the bus, my DW noticed I had another bee resting on my hat. Not sure what the attraction is with my hat, but hey, it was fun taking the picture! 😁

  

 

  

 

 

 
Then it was time to head back to the ship which took about 40 minutes.
 

One thing we found interesting is that they use concrete in certain locations to keep rocks from falling onto the road side. If you look closely those are little drain pipes put in place so that water won’t build up behind it on the rare occasion it rains, which they say is not to often.

  

 
That is a resort on top of the mountain. Imagine the views from up there!

 

 
This was a waterfall right along side the highway, which they had used some architectural creativity to enhance its appeal!

 

  
Then there was this amphitheater which I would guess is relatively new. It’s amazing what you can do in 50 years when you have a little extra money, which thanks to oil, the UAE definitely has. 

 

 
Then there was this mosque and beautiful water fountains we drove by.

 

 

 

 
Like I said, it was a very enjoyable cruise excursion, and not too intense. 😁

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

And we’re off! Next stop Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE!

  

 
I forgot to mention, the region where Fujairah is located in the UAE produces no oil. However, it plays its strategic part by storing the oil extracted from UAE lands, mostly from Abu Dhabi, in storage tanks like the ones in this picture! 
 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

We definitely had a full evening (for us anyway) tonight. First we had our 2nd dinner at Cagney’s which is turning out to be our favorite SR. Then we used the rest of our nonrefundable OBC to buy 3 more bottles of wine for the next leg.

 

Then we headed over to CruiseNext to advantage of the Black Friday sale and booked a cruise in Jan 2023 as well as a much longer B3B in the Med starting in late Oct 2024, which among other cool places goes to Alexandria (Cairo) so we can see the Sphinx as well as the Pyramids along with a bunch of Ancient Greek ruins! 
 

Then, we had just enough time to make it to the 9 pm show to watch a super production show called Elements!! We cannot say enough about how awesome this show was!! 😁

 

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 19 - Dec 1 - Abi Dhabi

 

 

 

  

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Abu Dhabi!
  

 
 

Here’s our excursion for today!

 

 

 

 

[LizikinsLivesToCruise]

Enjoying this review, thanks Ken. Please explain going to "Friday" Market on a Wednesday.