I booked a cruise by phone with Dreamlines staff. It is important to get your full first, middle and last name correct as it appears on your passport! Otherwise there may be problems at the borders.
All documents and information are sent by e-mail, so you should constantly check it, especially spam, which was a very important letter for registration on the liner. Without pre-registration (a month in advance) may not be allowed on the liner. Here they ask not only general personal information, but also contacts of relatives in emergency cases, when the flight, what languages you understand, not forgetting that the language on board is German. You can cope with English too, but without at least a base, I don’t know anymore. All brochures, communication with staff, captain’s announcements, excursions were in German.
The first cruise you get a lot of information – where to eat, where to go, paid/free – you can read in their brochure or on the AIDA website. They also send you a brochure about the Orient cruise with it.
After you book, your MyAIDA account appears on the AIDA website with full details of your stay, which you access by entering your name and booking number. I had it for a long time – they could not spell my middle name correctly.
Who is visiting cities, it is worth thinking in advance what to visit. Who is not constrained in finances, can simply order excursions from the liner. Different and to any taste, taking into account that it is worth to book in advance; otherwise at arrival can be sold out as evening 3-hour excursion to Sheikh Zayed Mosque, which cost 69 euros per person. We visited all places independently.
On the day of departure from 9 to 12 it was necessary to register in the port of Abu Dhabi, though departure at 17 hours. After flying late afternoon to Abu Dhabi we had a peaceful overnight stay in a hotel I had booked close to the port .
Since walking is not allowed in the ports, we had to take a taxi from the hotel. As we approached the cruise terminal at Zayed Port
A porter immediately ran up to us, took our suitcases and told us that our belongings would be in front of our cabin before sailing. So it is very important! All documents and precious things to take with you. And don’t forget to put a name tag on your suitcases (AIDA sends it to your mail and you have to print it out).
The rest is on passengers’ trust (suitcases left in front of the cabin).
In the port they scan your things and you go to the registration desk with your tickets and passports. Here they took away your passports and gave you on-board cards (one for each person), which you must keep as a native passport – without it you can not enter and leave the liner, you can not pay anywhere and open the cabin.
I did not like it at all that the passports were taken away. As the staff explains, passports are taken away to go through the border for you. But in the case of Dubai it didn’t “work”: in the afternoon early at a certain time it was necessary to collect passports, in the morning all passengers crowded for marking at the border, and then again it was necessary to give passports. Well, and, of course, to pick up at the end of the cruise.
At each entrance and exit to the liner you scan your board card.
The reception is not far away. There weren’t many people standing around, but the girl at the reception surprised me: German – I speak German, but she couldn’t really answer any of my questions, either just staring or just “yes/no”.
We still have time to see the ship, but not to see Abu Dhabi. This pre-registration spoils the whole day.
There were buses from the liner outside the harbour, but they turned out to be tour buses, meaning there were no free shuttles back to the city. I wonder how Aida meant it – you can’t walk around the harbour, there are no shuttles. Are we supposed to fly or are we already on the liner? And we had to take a taxi again. Through the glass we had a little look at the capital of the Emirates.
We drove along the seafront. And went to Marina Mall to buy a local SIM card for mobile internet, but due to lack of original passport was refused everywhere. So practically during the whole cruise we had no access to the Internet (on the liner is disastrously expensive, in ports and malls could not connect).
In any order you should look in local supermarkets. The choice of everything is huge. I wanted to take a lot of things away, but my hand luggage did not allow it. Prices in supermarkets are reasonable. Just for food. So we bought chocolate souvenirs in gift boxes with Abu Dhabi landmarks.
Very beautiful. But we didn’t realise we’d have to walk through a tunnel all the way to the mosque. It was 15 o’clock, and at 16 o’clock we had to sit on the liner for training with life jackets. And this despite the fact that departure was only at 17. No, well, I understand that the training is an excuse to get us all on the ship before departure, but I didn’t really care if we had little time left for Abu Dhabi because of registration; of course we missed the training, so the next day I got a note saying “You missed the training. It is your responsibility to follow the rules of the liner. There will be another training session today.” I didn’t miss it, but they still put a note saying “You missed the training again…”. The next one will be in Dubai.” You couldn’t miss it – they kicked us out of our cabins. The whole crowd with yellow waistcoats gathered in designated places and we were shown how to use them – as flight attendants do in aeroplanes; as if this visual representation would help me in emergency cases.
Back shortly before the ship departed, which was on time, our suitcases were already in front of our cabin.
Important to know! The time on the liner does not adjust to each destination. You must set your watch to Abu Dhabi time and live by it throughout the cruise, even if the time changes.
Cruise Schedule
DAY 1 – 17:00 departure from Abu Dhabi
DAY 2 – 8:00 – 18:00 Doha, Qatar
We were greeted with music and carpet at the port of Doha, the capital of Qatar. Free shuttle buses were provided, which took us to the start of the Corniche Promenade, near the Museum of Islamic Art.
If you haven’t booked a tour, you can walk along the seafront. Many people did.
At the waterfront, men are constantly running up to lure you on a ride on the local Dhow boat.
There were few people on the boats, so here you can lose time until the vessel fills up.
The price I don’t remember, but I already understood – you can bargain here.
We were not lured to the ship, but a local taxi driver took us on a one-hour sightseeing tour, which ended unpleasantly, about which I will write in a separate review of the richest state of Qatar.
Already on the seafront you can notice how Doha resembles its Emirati neighbours – a lot of new buildings, very clean, beautiful beach, but only the behaviour of the locals differed – intrusiveness of residents who want to push their services to you, which we did not meet neither in Abu Dhabi nor in Dubai.
After the unpleasant incident with the taxi driver, we just walked along the promenade and went back to the car park for our shuttle buses, which ran almost every 20 minutes.
DAY 3 – 10:00 arrival in Dubai
DAY 4 – Dubai
Dubai, which was the initial city of our holiday, left the best impressions. I was already sure on arrival that I would come back here again.
That is why we were interested in Dubai. As we were most interested in Dubai, back in Germany we prepared ourselves by buying tickets for the Big Bus excursion bus, which cost 60 euros for one day and 70 euros per person for two days. And we didn’t regret it. You will see not only all important sights,
But the problem with transport is also solved.
Neither the Emirates, Qatar, nor Oman disposes to sightseeing tours on public transport. In Dubai I only once saw a tram, and by some miracle once got into the metro, although it is better than no metro at all as in the capital. Public transport is used by commuters.
Dubai itself is an eternal highway, the bus rushed like on a race track.
DAY 5 – 11:00 departure from Dubai
The longest time at sea of the entire cruise.
Every evening in front of your cabin they put a leaflet with everything that happens the next day. I advise you to read it if you want to have a good time. There is brief information about places of stay, schedule of all establishments, all events of the day, where are the discounts, when and where are different seminars and courses (for example, dance courses, cooking, among them with famous in Germany chef Tim Malzer).
These leaflets had a very rich programme for those who are going to spend time on the liner. But I didn’t see anything like that. I felt like I’d missed it all. Yes, a couple of times people gathered for different games, once there was a disco, once a salsa course. But all the entertainment was on different games. Often there was something in the night club, but for a fee and for adults.
Children had fun in the pools. I saw only two, although according to their plan there are six. At this time the adults were relaxing on the sunbeds, which were always packed. Except when the weather was overcast. And of course, the wind is stronger at sea.
The upper deck was closed. And there, in my opinion, there was supposed to be another pool. But all we could see from it were the enclosed water slides that stretched along the lower deck.
The contingent on our cruise was German. Lots of older people. Then families. In Dubai new passengers moved in – there were already teenagers.
On our 4th deck I did not see anyone at all. It seems that Germans choose comfortable cabins with veranda.
People were enough, especially we saw it in time of border crossing in Dubai, when the whole liner had to check in. And there was a huge crowd. During the rest of the time, most of the people were in certain places: in one restaurant, during different games, at the discotheque, on the lezhniki and of course in the pub. In other places everything was quiet. And at night it was lovely – you could walk alone.
