Summary. We (my wife and I plus my father) were on the 8th February Dubai cruise, approaching it with some trepidation on account of poor reviews of the initial cruise for this itinerary. We enjoyed the cruise and thought it reasonable value for money. The food and entertainment were very good. The shore excursions were very mixed, ranging from good to poor. I suspect part of the problem is that there really isn't much to do in some of the ports of call. We liked Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat. There's little in Fujairah but our excursion to the surrounding countryside was good. We did not like Bahrain. We also had some bad experiences with errors made by staff, but overall we had a good time.

Arrival. We flew Emirates from London Heathrow, arranged by Royal Caribbean, overnight, arriving Dubai very early on the Monday morning. We were impressed with Emirates. Since we couldn't board the ship until around midday we were taken to a large hall near Dubai creek, given breakfast and were able to check-in and get our SeaPass cards. It is not an ideal situation but it did seem fairly well organised. We experienced little queuing and were on one of the first coaches to the ship at about 11.30. Others were less lucky and apparently didn't get to the ship until 3pm. After a buffet lunch in the Windjammer cafe we had to wait a little longer before we were able to access our cabins (at 1pm as I recall).

Dubai. From a rough scan of the itinerary I had thought we would have plenty of time in Dubai but that really isn't the case. There's the rest of Monday afternoon plus Tuesday morning until you must be back on the ship by 11.30. At the end of the week you have from 2.30pm on Sunday. Read more