Abu DhabiDecember 23, 2024
We awoke at the port of Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the UAE (United Arab Emirates). We would be there until 10:30 PM.
I had booked a half-day excursion through Norwegian for Traci and me. We needed to be dressed appropriately since the excursion included a mosque visit. As a result, we needed to wear long sleeves that covered the wrists; long pants that covered the ankles; and head covering (females only)
Abu Dhabi was one of the stricter ports that we visited on this trip. Everyone needed to present their passport to immigration in person regardless of whether or not you were doing a tour.
I observed the city as we were being driven to the mosque in a motorcoach. The city has skyscrapers. It looks like a place where business gets done. It looked older than Doha. Our guide was really excited about the clouds in the sky. This part of the world does not get much rain. The dark, gray clouds we saw gave the city hope but alas, it did not rain during our visit.
We arrived at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It was quite a sight to behold with its white marble and domes that were constructed in the style of the Taj Mahal. You enter the mosque area through an underground shopping mall. This is convenient because we were inspected by security to make sure that we were dressed appropriately. If not, you could go to one of the stores in the mall and buy what you need.
After making it through security, we were given 45 minutes to explore the mosque. This consisted of walking along a walkway that took you along the exterior and the interior. There were lots of rope barriers and guards to make sure you did not go where you were not permitted. The guards looked like secret service with their black suits, sunglasses and curly communication wire attached to their ear. These guards enforced the dress code and behavior. I saw a family posing for a picture in front of the mosque. They initially had their arms around each other until one of the guards told them that they were not allowed to touch each other in front of the mosque.
This was the first time that I have ever visited a mosque. It is difficult to describe just how grand and beautiful the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is. There are intricate patterns painted on the walls. There are grand chandeliers and grand carpets. Everything is so clean despite how many visitors were shuffling through there. Outside are pools and fountains. Traci and I took so many photos. While we were there, we heard the call to prayer which sounded incredible as it reverberated throughout the building.
Between the motorcoach ride to the mosque, the walking to/from the parking lot, security checks, and the actual visit, our Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque portion of our Abu Dhabi tour had lasted 4 hours. Despite the logistics, I really enjoyed our mosque visit.
After leaving the mosque and regrouping with our tour group, we were driven to the outdoor Heritage Village. It is a recreation of an old oasis village. We were given no more than 30 minutes to walk around there. There were recreations of old houses, farm equipment, fishing equipment, pottery, weaving, etc... It was crowded that day. It was hard to get excited about anything we saw here after visiting the extravagant mosque.
On our way back to the port after our excursion, our tour guide pointed out interesting sights such as the Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the Qasr Al Watan Palace, the Corniche, etc... Back at the port, Traci and I checked out the various shops in the cruise terminal until we found an Abu Dhabi refrigerator magnet for our collection. The Abu Dhabi cruise terminal is one of the more impressive ones that I've seen. There are many shops, tour excursion desks, and even a few eateries. Best of all, it has really good Wi-Fi.
Traci and I boarded the ship to have lunch. This took longer than expected because it seemed that the only lunch spot that was open on the ship was O'Sheehans (grill/pub grub). There was a wait to be seated. Our wait ended up being much longer. I don't know if the hostess misunderstood us when we gave her our cabin number or if she wrote it down incorrectly. After waiting more than 30 minutes for our number to be called and seeing others being seated before us even though they arrived after us, we inquired at the hostess station about our position on the wait list. It was then that we discovered the error. We were seated immediately after that.
After lunch, we exited the ship again to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi at the cruise terminal. We called relatives via the Wi-Fi. I returned to the ship to take a nap while Traci stayed at the terminal to continue checking emails and social media.
Traci and I had a relatively late dinner that evening on the ship. We dined at Aqua after 9 PM. We were starting to notice that the service at the ship restaurants was slower than on past cruises. Fortunately, Traci and I were in no hurry that evening. We just had to make sure we gave ourselves enough time to dine at a restaurant on the nights we wanted to check out a show. Continue...
Magnet Purchased At This Destination: (click to enlarge)
Entire fridge magnet collection...