In general we liked the Opera, it is a very soulful small ship. Its age is quite solid, but we did not notice any old things there. It is clean, cosy and modern. During the renovation, the liner was sawn down and a 27-metre long insert was made in the middle of the ship, adding additional cabins, a swimming pool, bars and restaurants.
We bought the cheapest, inside, guaranteed, no-number cabin. A few days after booking, MSC had already assigned a specific cabin number. No miracle happened, no upgrade to balcony or window. But we were given an internal one in the middle of the ship on deck 9. There were cabins upstairs and downstairs, it wasn’t noisy. We slept like marmots. This is even a plus compared to cabins with a window and a balcony. In the morning it is dark, the light does not disturb to sleep.
Briefly, we were satisfied with the cabin. And, as I think, it was just in the new “insert” after the sawing of the ship.
We liked the fact that the cabin was wide, and additionally several mirrors visually enlarged it.
The steward from Indonesia cleaned twice a day. No complaints.
All in all we had a very pleasant impression of all the staff. All tried very hard. Always with a smile, with jokes. On board there is a representative of PAK-group Zhanna, but we did not see her, as we did not go to meetings, we do not need it.
There are two girls from Ukraine Olena and Irina at the reception (5th deck). Some of our co-cruisers were dissatisfied with the attitude on their part. But both girls were extremely nice to us, smiling, Olena helped us reissue our cruise cards, which on the first day had been lost by a waitress called Baby in the bar on the upper deck by the pool. She had brought the Prosecco, but the cards had been sown somewhere. We laughed with Olena about it. She also explained to us in great detail how to connect the pre-paid internet, which saved us time standing in the queue in the photo corner on deck 6, where on the first day there was a full house with incomprehensible connections. Irina was very quick to resolve the issue with the toilet flush not working. She called the engineers when we were there, and they quickly came and fixed the problem.
In general, the contingent of passengers for cruises on the Italian ship is quite strange. In addition, a lot of representatives of Central Asian republics: Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tajiks … It was striking that many people were dressed in tracksuits from the 90s, even at the gala. Women in national dressing gowns and slippers. There are, of course, some pleasant exceptions. For example, we met intelligent Tajiks. Ludka also said: “How the world is changing, we used to make Italian and French friends, now we make Tajik ones.
No, of course, there are Europeans too. We communicated with a group of Hungarians, Italians, a German woman who tried to speak with us. All very positive, friendly.
But the main communication, of course, was with our compatriots. Almost every evening we met and lit up on the open 11 deck, then went to the disco on the 12 deck. The company picked up cheerful, it was not boring.
There are 13 decks on the ship. Each deck was named after Italian operas. Ours, the ninth, was called Norma. The main decks with bars, restaurants, entertainment were 5, 6 and 11.
Currency and payment in UAE
In UAE the exchange rate of dollar to dirham: 1$=3.67 AED. This rate is constant.
In terminal 1 of Dubai airport DXB we exchanged dollars at 3.6AED for 1$, without commission (the exchanger is in the baggage claim area, next to duty free shop). That is for 100$ we got 360AED.
Only for payment you have to choose the yuan currency, otherwise the payment won’t go through. We’ve bought tickets there three times. Everything is clear, they come to the post office instantly. Although it turns out to be double conversion, but not critical. The official rate of dirham to rouble at the time of purchase was 19.01, we were debited at 19.89.
When we returned home we calculated the average rate of debit on Unionpay card for several days that we paid with this card in the UAE – 19.86 p. for 1 AED, while the average official rate was 19.01r.
Currency and payment in Oman
In Oman Unionpay is not accepted. But you can pay for taxis and in the market with dollars/euros.
Official rate of dollar to rial 1$=0.38 OMR.
In the cruise terminal the rate was 0.37, in the hotel – 0.3658. Passports on the ship are taken away, the document for currency exchange instead of passport – ship card, but it is obligatory to have a copy of the passport or its photo in the phone.
Internet
With the day of arrival the day of departure we had 9 days in the UAE and Oman. We connected the package on the second day, as the first day we had wifi at the airport, then we went straight to the ship, where we activated the pre-paid ship internet package. On the day of departure the Megaphone package expired at 11.30, but we didn’t need it, as there was wifi in the hotel and then at the airport.
Wifi, in principle, is connected everywhere for free. Sometimes without registration, sometimes with registration. Even once I connected to a taxi in Dubai.
Megaphone worked well everywhere, only on the ship I couldn’t catch it in my cabin, but on the decks the signal reached me. On the day at sea and far from the shore did not work.
When we arrived in Dubai at passport control, the Arab border guard in white long robes put us both in the passport free SIM cards of the operator Du. The 1gb SIM cards are valid for 1 day. But we never connected them, we didn’t need them.
