We arrived in Dubai on 22nd March, with a number of passengers departing daily, as Viking booked every available seat on departing Emirates aircraft. Yesterday, Emirates ceased operations, so the remaining 90’ish pax await the private charter flight that Viking is arranging.
After another day of waiting, we finally received news this evening and some people disembarked this great ship, but sadly, not us.
Another group of passengers left the ship last evening, for flights to North America and Europe, so our numbers continue to steadily reduce, but today is the last day that Emirates is operating. As of now, Judi and I are in a group of about 90 Canadians and Americans that have no flights scheduled, prior to Emirates shutting down their operation. Every available seat is booked.
Viking have arranged for a charter flight to get us home and we are scheduled to depart the ship this afternoon.
The 2019/20 Viking World Cruise is ending and disembarkation has started, with all of our Australian passengers departing in the middle of the night for flights home. In addition, a number of Europeans and North Americans also departed, with Viking filling every available seat on Emirate’s flights. Unfortunately, as we didn’t make the disembarkation list, we were unable to catch our flight this morning.
For those of us waiting for flights, we received another challenge, as Emirates announced they were shutting down flights effective midnight on 24th March, so only 2 days remaining. As per a couple of days ago, the local authorities have mandated we must depart Dubai with Emirates, which just happens to be owned by the Dubai Govt.
We spent the entire day, secured alongside the berth in Dubai.
The Viking Sun docked in Dubai at 01:00, where the 2019/20 World Cruise is coming to a premature end. With termination of the World Cruise promulgated yesterday, life continued on board with the farewell performance from the ship’s crew and entertainment team.
Check out the photos for an unexpected Senior Officer on the guitar, as Beven sings during the Farewell Performance. Continue reading
We docked in Dubai at 01:00 March 22nd, as Viking negotiated the docking on humanitarian grounds with the local authorities, to repatriate all remaining 361 pax from the World Cruise.
Before arriving Dubai, we had flights confirmed with British Airways, our preferred airline, from Dubai to Vancouver, via LHR. However, the local authorities dictated that everyone must depart Dubai on their local airline – Emirates. A great airline, but that caused significant additional work for the air department, re-booking many flights, ours included.
Yesterday AM, we received new flights for March 23rd – Dubai to Vancouver, via Dublin & LHR. Departure Dubai was 07:05, so we would need to depart the ship by 03:00. After dinner, we checked our cabin for the departure notice and baggage tags, but none were present. Calling Guest Services, we determined that our flights were confirmed late, so we had not been included on the pax manifest provided to the shore authorities. As 1/2 dozen pax found out this morning, if not on the manifest, they send you back to the ship.
Oh well!! while we have a confirmed flight, we are unable to disembark the ship to head to the airport. You guessed it, we are still aboard and enjoying this great ship and crew. Life is tough, being stuck on this amazing ship.😁😊👍
However, the world is quickly shrinking, with respect to international travel, as Emirates advise their last departure from Dubai is March 24th. On arrival Dubai, we had 361 pax aboard and by Noon today, about 200 have already disembarked and are home or heading home. About another 75 are scheduled to depart today and tomorrow, which leaves 80 – 90 of us without scheduled flights before the shut down on March 25th. Few, if any seats are available on the last flights, so we are in the last group.
Yet again Viking Cruises are going the extra mile with their customer service, as they are arranging a “Charter” flight from Dubai to an, as yet, un-named US airport. They anticipate take-off by 18:00 March 24th. On arrival US, they will schedule onward flights to our destination airports.
Alongside Dubai – 00:00 to 13:00
Our first overnight port on this World Cruise, with I suspect many pax happy to experience the extended shore leave, especially after the few previous days at sea. It was actually rather pleasant getting back to the ship late last evening and finding it still alongside early this morning.
Alongside Dubai – 07:00 (Jun 11th) to 13:00 (Jun 12th)
With our son and daughter-in-law living and working in Dubai, we didn’t participate in any tours, having spent a month here last year. As can be seen from the previous post’s photographs, the haze reduced the quality of any photographs taken outdoors over these 2 days. Therefore, I am including a small selection of photographs taken last year during a couple of days on the HoHo bus. Please enjoy.
Alongside Dubai – 11:30 to 23:59
After an interesting sea passage from Colombo, skirting a tropical cyclone, arrival Dubai brings us to the end of the first segment of the World Cruise. About 300 pax depart the ship this morning and slightly more are joining, so we will depart with a yet again full ship, just a few new faces. While arrival was scheduled for 07:00, we experienced delays due to the cyclone and an engine overheating. Therefore, it was about 10:55 before we heard the pipe announcing the ship was secured and cleared by the local authorities.
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