Good morning!

First and foremost, a heartfelt THANK YOU to Peter for suggesting the Grand Hyatt for the pre-cruise headquarters. It worked out marvelously well for all of us.

The dunes for dinner ride was a great excursion. We met our drivers at the hotel around 4 pm and off we went to the desert. Along the way, we passed an emir's personal resort. I was thinking about Neverland but never mind ...

As we crested into the conservation area for the ride, we felt like we'd just arrived at Sturgis during Harley Week. There were Jeeps, Toyotas, Chevys, you name it in 4X4 production EVERYWHERE. Once we took off, it added to the fun. Everywhere around you, cars were leaning to the left, leaning to the right. It reminded me of the one (and only) time I took the roller coaster at New York, New York in Las Vegas. Yowser! Seatbelts required FOR GOOD REASON. We had the obligatory stop for changing seats. The back row was built for kiddies. The good news is we all took turns. Riding shotgun, on the other hand, meant the up close and personal sensation of watching the dune drop under the front of the car and hoping the driver knows what he is doing. Our driver, Sony no Baloney, was terrific. He's an expatriate from Punjab in India. While I'm on the topic - Dubai imports people. 1.25 million population, 80% are expatriates.

Back to the dunes .. next stop, CAMELS. Baby camels .. mommy camels .. more camels .. even more camels. Back to the dunes. Next stop, sunset. It became: how many people are standing in front of your view of the sunset? Dubai, of course, has the fine sand grains airborne so 'a clear day' is all relative.

After the sunset, bring on the dinner and the camel rides. Yee haw! Camel ride? No line at the bar? That one only took a minute to figure out. We had two tables and ate on the carpet covered sand. Never smoked a water pipe? Take a left and get on line. Need a henna tattoo? Take a right and get on line. I got the lovely tattoo artist who did the camels, and he's riding on my right ankle. No moving it for 30 minutes and no water on it for 24 hours. Gary went for the scorpion on his arm. Dinner was pretty good - especially the tabouleh and chicken.

When the belly dancer invited the audience participation, we took the cue & headed into the parking lot to find our car. Back home without any trouble. Cooz bar, then time to snooze.

We waved bye-bye to Dubai yesterday around 7 pm. We managed to overload the bartender after sail-away inside of 1/2 of an hour. We think we'll rearrange the chairs in the bar to spell out the word "CAMEL". I hope the bar manager figures out to put extra staff up there.

Ngaire's CAMEL pins are exceptional!

The ship is lovely. Public areas are light and airy. I love the decor. Elevators are problematic - they hold maybe 4 people max. If you are stair challenged, you'll be waiting a while to get anywhere.

Food is variable. We had a perfectly inedible dish of mussels and the best beef filet ever for dinner last night. There were no fresh berries to be had at dinner for dessert .. Ngaire was bereft. Fresh berries just showed up for breakfast, so this appears to be a case of remedial refrigerator management class for us and the dining room staff.

Silversea is more service intensive. No buffet at poolside - it's all table service. Tea is served on the three plate stands at your table - no buffet line. At the sailaway, they had rolling carts of hot appetizers.

We gabbed for a bit in the lounge after dinner. Some of us got into swapping lines from the old 'Rocky and Bullwinkle' cartoons. We now need to track down 'Young Frankenstein' for a Fosters and popcorn fest.

Headed home around midnight and crawled into bed. Beds are softer than Regent, which is good for some but not for me. There was a complete run on pre-ordered pillows, so no foam at the inn. Hmmm .. will have to see what can be done about this situation.

The toilets on this ship are exceedingly loud. We have small children next door. I hope they do not get sucked in (quite literally).

Sunny day in Fujairuh (rhymes with Elveera). A quickie stop and then it's Spanish for Beginners at 3. Of course, if that messes with out POOCH fest, we may have to miss it.

Cheers, Anne