For the last 25 years or so, I have always worked between Christmas & New Year, however in April this year when I started a new job, I discovered they have a shutdown over that period, and as a result, I needed to use up some of my holiday entitlement. Not wishing to waste my paid days off, we decided to take a cruise and this is what we selected. For the first time ever, it does mean we will be onboard a ship on Christmas Day which is something I am really looking forward to.
The itinerary is all the ports we should have visited last January on Costa Firenze albeit in a slightly different order with the added bonus of a new ship.
In early October we received notification that Doha, Qatar had been dropped from the itinerary, not of Costa’s doing but the local Qatari authorities. The email said that the country was closed to all inbound and outbound cruises in conjunction with the World Cup 2022 which will be played there from November 20 to December 18 and the closure to cruises was being extended beyond the period of the event, until at least until 15th January. So there we have it, that’s twice Doha has been dropped from our itinerary, perhaps we are just not destined to go there? In its place, we will have a Christmas sea day and then overnight in Muscat.
| Date | Location | Arrival | Departure |
| Saturday, December 24, 2022 | Dubai, UAE | 11:59 PM | |
| Sunday, December 25, 2022 | |||
| Monday, December 26, 2022 | 7:00 AM | ||
| Tuesday, December 27, 2022 | Muscat, Oman | 5:00 PM | |
| Wednesday, December 28, 2022 | Abu Dhabi, UAE | 6:30 PM | |
| Thursday, December 29, 2022 | Abu Dhabi, UAE | 8:00 PM | |
| Friday, December 30, 2022 | Dubai, UAE | 5:00 AM | |
| Saturday, December 31, 2022 | Dubai, UAE |
Although we would like to have tried one of the Terrace Balcony’s, they were all sold out so we have opted for a standard balcony on deck 10. Details and locations are below on the graphic.
This trip follows hot on the heels of our Indian adventure and there are only 6 days from when we land at Heathrow until we fly out of there again. In fact, all of the flights, including the Indian ones are all with Emirates so we will be putting in some flying time with them in December.
We are now airside at Heathrow T3, so let December adventure number two begin. 😁
So I grew up in a desert (Southern California) and you keep going to deserts. I guess we all like to go to places that are the opposite of our own climate or the climate of the place we grew up. The idea of spending a vaction visting deserts is so strange to me but at least you are on a cruise in warm weather. We are in the middle of an ice storm. I will follow this one just to stay warm.
I’m so looking forward to coming on your Christmas cruise with you Mike.
We visited Doha 19th Dec 2019 from Azamara Quest (and saw the football stadia still in construction). More of a tick list than a must do place in my opinion and preferred Abu Dhabi. Pity they didn’t give you a visit to Yani Bas island . Found your India trip fascinating and no doubt you will spot items we haven’t seen on our previous tripe to the Gulf state. Happy Xmas!