The last lazy sea day. Picked up our passports since we will have to carry them with us in Qatar tomorrow. We passed through the Strait of Hormuz during the day seeing the coast of Oman from our balcony. The captain pointed out the coast of Iran and an Iranian military ship which were off the starboard side of the ship during his daily announcement. We went to another level of the ship to see them and watched the coast of Iran go by as we ate lunch in the Colonna...

Breakfast in the suite to start the day, but we did not have to get up early. The shore excursion to Muscat met at 9:00. We were in line early wanting to be on one of the first buses out. As it turned out we were too early and had to wait in line with a lot of other passengers while the ship finished clearing customs and was allowed to let people disembark. Loading 18 passengers and three tour guide trainees was fairly quick. Again, the bus is less than half fu...

Another sea day, this time cruising the Arabian Sea which is part of the Indian Ocean at 15 knots. After lunch in our suite, we walked around the deck and saw dolphins jumping out of the water off the starboard side. There were several of them performing for us. Before dinner, we went to the show with a new comedian who just got on the ship at Salalah. He was okay, but most of his jokes were a bit tired and predictable. However, the audience was generous with la...

We've arrived in Oman for two port days separated by another sea day. Today, we left early for our shore excursion to see the sights around Salalah. Leaving the port, the bus had to stop for a security check. An officer came on board to check each person’s landing card. They had been given out by ship’s personnel as we disembarked. Before we got very far, just after passing customs and security, one couple realized they were on the wrong bus. Although...

Slept late today after doing laundry in the middle of the night again. I was awake at 3:30 and had the laundry bagged and ready to go expecting to wake up about then. So much easier to do laundry with no one else around so I took advantage of not being able to sleep regularly all the time. When I went to the launderette, I found the fire doors between areas of the ship closed. It was simple to open and pass through them. I did not know that they were closed at ni...