This year we decided to do something a little different to normal. We switched our two week all inclusive hotel resort stay to the waters and set sail on a 2 week all inclusive cruise with Tui.
When we checked on board we had to wait a little while for our cases to be delivered to our cabin (note to self always pack a spare outfit in your hand luggage) so we had a wander around the ship, had a drink in the bar and then chilled until we could get ready for dinner. The ship itself was lovely. The 47 degrees restaurant was really nice with waiter service at breakfast lunch and dinner. There was always so much choice and your meals were cooked fresh and to your liking. There was also a tapas bar, Italian restaurant, sushi restaurant, Indian restaurant and a surf and turf steak house as well as the standard ‘rough it’ buffet and lunch time snack shack. I could not fault the evening meals with so much choice offered daily. Nothing was too much trouble and if you wanted to add or switch things this was fine too. The 47 degrees restaurant had steak on offer a few evenings (my favourite) which were cooked to perfection and so tasty! The lamb we had one evening was also to die for! French onion soup and pulled pork salad with Thai dressing were my favourite starters and with so much flavour they were delicious.
The only downside to the Marella Discovery ship was that our bed wasn’t particularly comfortable and the pillows really hard. Also the pool was very small and filled with salt water so I tended not to go in there and to instead cool off in the poolside showers. If you wanted branded coca-cola or sprite you also needed to upgrade to the premium drinks package at £50 per person per week. (which I thought was a bit of a rip off and bad of Tui to do as branded soft drinks should come as standard). The entertainment team were fab with lots going on and the evening shows were of a great standard with full on singing and dancing shows put on with a top quality cast (and that’s coming from a dancer myself). As the ship is not too big you got to know all of the staff which was lovely and everyone was so friendly and chatty!
On the first day of the cruise we stayed in Cochin Kerala where we went to see the island. We decided to do the old town sights with a local taxi driver which was nice but there wasn’t massive amounts to see and he kept trying to take us to his friends shops where they hound you to buy. We did however get to see a local church, the traditional Indian laundry centre and the local beach (which was very small and not the prettiest of beaches) before heading back to the boat for the evening.
Day 2 we arrived in Mangalore, India. We got off the boat and decided to ask the taxi driver to take us to the local beach to get some sun! This beach was much better than the previous day with soft sand and the warm sea you could swim in. As the tide was quite strong and there were good sized waves we watched the locals surfing which was fun! There were no loungers but we were happy laying on our towels until it got too hot so we decided to have a quick look around and then head back.
We then woke up the next morning docked in Goa, India. After being here 3 years ago we knew we’d love it and decided to check out the southern beaches as we were staying in north Goa last time. We went to the popular Colva Beach and had a great time! The beach shacks provide free sun beds and really look after you, bringing food and drinks over as requested and providing free WiFi (bonus when the WiFi on the ship isn’t worth the money as it’s rubbish)! Be warned though if you go to the local beaches you will feel like a celebrity as the Indian people LOVE a selfie with white people! We didn’t mind as the Indian people are really nice and friendly and if it got too much the beach shack owner asked them to leave us alone. We had the most amazing garlic prawns in the beach shack! They were all freshly caught and full of flavour! You can’t beat the food in Goa! After our day at the beach we travelled back to the boat and got ready for the dress to impress evening where you can meet the captain and everyone makes an effort with beautiful dresses and smart suits.
Following Goa, on our 4th day we had our last stop in India - Mumbai. We came out of the port and struck lucky by getting the nicest and friendliest taxi driver. Never except their first price as they always start with double what they’d be happy with. We paid 2500 rupees for the taxi driver to take us around for the day, show us the sights, wait for us and take us to the next place. We started by stopping at the famous train station with some incredible architecture. We got out had a look round, took some photos and got back in the taxi to head to our next stop. We then asked to stop at the spice markets where we picked up some incredible spices to take home and make curry from. They were very reasonable on price and the taxi driver came with us and even got us some free Indian tea to try which was actually surprisingly tasty! After the spice markets we went to see the fashion market. This was no where near as good as the market we went to in Goa but we did pick up some good bargains such as sandals, caps, a football shirt and a wallet. Following on from here we went to the Taj Mahal Hotel which is opposite the gateway to India. The hotel was beautiful and posh and the building itself was amazing! From the hotel we walked over to the gateway to India to see some of Mumbai’s history and take some photos. This was originally built in 1924 to mark the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to India in 1911. The last British troupes to leave India following the independence passed through the gateway on their way out in ceremony on 28th February 1948 signalling the end of British rule. Again we were like celebrities with all of the Indian people wanting to take photos with us more than the Gateway to India itself! We had a few photos and headed back to the taxi to get out of the crowds and the heat! We went to one final market to look for copy watches before heading back to the boat to watch the sun set as we sailed away for 2 days at sea!
Days 7-9 were spent docked in Dubai. As we had been to Dubai before we tried to fit in the things we hadn’t seen the last time as Dubai had grown massively since we came 11 years ago. As we had already done the 4x4 safari with the Bedouin camp we decided to give this a miss (although we loved it last time and would definitely recommend). Upon arriving in Dubai we got a taxi down the the Dubai mall to have a look around. This was smaller than the Emirates mall but is home to the Burj Khalifa so we got some great photographs here! After looking around for a while (and enjoying the free WiFi) we caught a taxi over to the Emirates mall so that we could go to Ski Dubai (a ski centre in the middle of the shopping centre with real snow!!) so that we could go and cuddle the real penguins. This was a great experience and fun to do. You are not allowed to take photos whilst there so have no choice but to buy the professional photos (which were pricey but so worth it) we purchased a couple of key rings for £22 per photo which came with 2 spare photos and a digital download of that photo. After this we caught the metro to the Gold souks over the other side of Dubai so we got to see lots of sights along the way! The Gold souks are where you will find all of your copy watches/bags/belts/wallets etc. You go into the shops and catch the magic carpets into the loft where all of the items are stashed away in secret compartments!
When you walk along the main gold souk street you can find your real gold and diamonds for a fraction of the price you’d pay back home! We found a shop my mum had bought from 11 years ago called Palaces and returned to get her ring resized and another ring which was hand made just for my mum and beautiful!
Once we had finished at the souks we had a wander along the river where we found the Dahl boats (water taxis) which were all lit up and night and pretty but we jumped into a normal taxi to take us back to the ship after walking 7.9 miles.
Day 2 in Dubai we chilled around the pool on the boat in the day time and headed out to the Burj Khalifa for our 5pm time slot. We booked the skip the queue sky lounge excursion on Viator that allowed us to go to the 148th floor of the tallest building in the world where we were welcomed with refreshments and sweets. The views of Dubai were incredible and we got some fantastic photos. Once we had seen enough we descended back to ground level to watch the fountains and the khalifa light show. The light show on the Burj Khalifa was insane! It was so clever how the building projected different light patterns and colours and the lights danced to the music. Once this had finished after a couple of minutes we had a 15 minute wait to watch the fountains. This was very similar to the Bellagio show in Vegas and the fountains danced to the music with lights to illuminate the water. If you’ve never seen a fountain show before I would recommend watching this as it’s pretty cool! After we had seen this we wanted to try and get the metro to see the Burj al Arab at night but seeing it in the distance it didn’t look that pretty and we were running out of time so decided to scrap that to get the monorail onto the palm to see the Atlantis hotel. We underestimated how long the journey would take and by the time we had reached the monorail it had closed so we gave up and headed back to the ship after walking another 7.1 miles!
The third day in Dubai we were feeling pretty knackered so I decided to have a day around the pool on the ship and finish reading my second book. (If anyone likes a fantasy book I’d 100% recommend the elements of pandoverse by P L Martin - I couldn’t put it down!) My mum and dad had to go back to the gold souk to collect her ring from Palaces Jewellers so they went to do this whilst myself and Lee chilled on the boat. Just before we left Dubai there was a massive storm and we watched the thunder and lightning from the boat which was something else!
On day 10 we arrived in Abu Dhabi ready for our day at Ferrari world. We chose a good day to come as when we got there to our disbelief there were no queues!! There were 4 main rollercoasters including the fastest in the world and the biggest loop the loop in the world and the longest we queued for these rides was 5 minutes so we got to go on them all twice as well as looking around and going on the simulators. The rides were so much fun and go quick with the g force taking your breath away! There is a dress code when you go - nothing too short and you’re not allowed your stomach to be showing so I had to have a scarf tied around my waist as we were not informed before going. Upon leaving the park we had a 40 minute coach journey back to the ship before we could start getting ready for the second dress to impress night.
We sailed to Sir Bani Yas to spend day 11. As this is a natural island that forms part of Abu Dhabi there was no dock so we anchored up at sea and got the tender boats to the island. The beach was man made and beautiful with white shelled sand and beautiful clear seas. We grabbed a sun lounger and relaxed on the beach for a while. Marella cruises couldn’t do enough for you putting on an all inclusive BBQ and drink shack on the beach as well as providing music and entertainment throughout the day. The toilets on the beach were so clean and well kept which was unusual for a beach and the island even had an inflatable circuit in the sea to have fun on! At 1.30pm we went on a 4x4 safari of the island to see all of the wildlife the Sheik had brought to the island (such as gazelles, cheetahs, giraffes, peacocks and ostriches) and we learned the history of the island as we went round. The Sheik had this island created for him as it was originally just desert. They excavated the island planted thousands of trees to provide more oxygen and introduced a wildlife breeding programme. The wildlife are released to the wild once bred to provide them with the best life. There are 2 hotels and an airport on this island as well as a home for the sheik to come and stay in and that is it. Apart from the staff who look after the island (who only stay whilst working) no one lives on this island. It was so beautiful to visit and I’m so glad we got to see the island!
On day 12 we arrived in Manama, Bahrain. There was a free shuttle bus available from the port to the souks and back (about a 45 minute journey each way) so we took this. Along the way we got to see the world trade centre which is one of the only buildings to combine wind turbines into the design. We also drove past one of the biggest mosques in the world which was beautiful and picturesque. We didn’t stop to go in as you had to cover your legs, arms and head to go in. They didn’t provide the attire to do so and I hadn’t brought anything that would cover my head. The souks were pretty much as expected - copy watches/bags/purses/sunglasses, pashminas, traditional Arabic outfits, gold etc. You could pick up a few bargains down here!
On our penultimate day we docked in Khasab, Oman ready for our Norway of Arabia Dhal boat cruise. This has to be one of my favourite excursions from the holiday. The Dahl boats were cute with little pillows on the floor to sit on and all refreshments provided. The views were beautiful with lots of mountainous landscapes and we even got to see dolphins and sharks along the way. We stopped off for a bit of swimming in the sea alongside all of the pretty tropical fish and massive jelly fish (that don’t sting at all - our guide picked one up and touched its tentacles to prove it). It was so chilled out on the boat I even sat right on the front of the boat for a lot of the journey which was great for the sun whilst getting a nice breeze and also some amazing views! I would definitely recommend this trip!
Day 14 marked our final day of the cruise when we arrived in Muscat, Oman. We didn’t have time to see much of the country as we were flying home so just stayed on the boat in the day time around the pool but it was so hot (reaching over 40 degrees). We then saw as much as we could on the way to the airport. From what we saw muscat looked like a beautiful country to visit!
