Our neighbours selected this cruise and we joined them as ‘cruise virgins’ not knowing what to expect. I was so excited, anticipating visiting different ports in the United Arab Emirates and India. I finished work and returned home to first disappointment. We were notified at 18:45 that the ship had technical problems and the flight had been rescheduled. This resulted in an immediate loss of cost of hotel with parking. We set off at 3am (15hrs later than scheduled) and everything wa fine in terms of travel and transfers. (Fantastic actually -premium seats are comfortable and the journey flew by).
Our next disappointment was that our itinerary was ruined due to electrical problems and we missed many ports. Tui provided a generous compensation but I am reviewing my experience. We ended up with a city break in Dubai which sounds glamorous but we seemed to spend most of this time on a Hop on Hop Off nuns on a highway in a concrete jungle. Highlights included the fountain and light show at Dubai Mall.
The ship could not be fully repaired after a 5 day stay in Dubai resulting in reduced experience of India and additional days at sea. This created a social divide: those who got sunbeds and gained a great tan despite being packed like sardines and those who remained very pale choosing not to get up at the crack of dawn.