A visit by cruise ship will change your mind about the Gulf states
To describe Ali, our ebullient tour guide, as a proud Emirati would be something of an understatement.
As he led us through Dubai’s glitzy playground – where every scene screamed wealth and excess – he reeled off the city’s long list of world-beating attractions with the puffed-up gusto of an excitable teenager.
“When we want to build something, we look at the biggest in the world and build bigger,” he explained. “We are only content with number one.”
He was not wrong. Not only does Dubai lay claim to the world’s tallest building, biggest observation wheel (spanning 250 metres), and largest suspended aquarium; it also has its eyes on bettering Las Vegas’s ground-breaking Sphere entertainment complex, with plans for a £4 billion futuristic wonder called the Moon: a 274 metre replica of the real thing, with a 4,000-room hotel and 10,000 capacity arena, which will even glow at night.
“It won’t be like the Sphere,” he declared triumphantly, leading us towards the big daddy of Dubai’s skyline, the Burj Khalifa. “We will put that in our pocket.”
The lifts catapulted us up to the observation gallery in seconds – and at ear-popping speed – where we then walked through the wrap-around viewing platform, marvelling at the Lilliputian proportions of our surroundings. Far below, multi-lane highways wound like tarmac ribbons around skyscrapers that resembled Lego blocks.
I’d witnessed this concrete jungle from a different and equally spectacular perspective the previous afternoon, as we steadily approached the city aboard cruise ship Celestyal Journey.
Gradually, as we crept across the Arabian Sea, Dubai’s shadowy skyline appeared like a mirage on the horizon, the distinctive sailboat silhouette of Dubai’s famous Jumeirah Burj al Arab hotel ahead of us, and beside it, the palatial outline of the lavish Atlantis, The Palm resort.
But whether viewed from high above, or from across the glimmering water, my reaction had been much the same – and moreover, a far cry from the one I had expected. The Gulf is, after all, a region which seems – to those of us who have not yet made its acquaintance – large, brash and somewhat unapproachable. With its size, its splendour and its starkly contrasting cultures, it can seem an overwhelming place for a traveller to tackle.
Visit by ship, however, and an easy, cost-effective and practical solution presents itself. I sailed with Greek line Celestyal – one of the few to offer winter sailings through the Gulf states, with round-trip voyages from Dubai and Qatari capital Doha – and found the region, and its lesser-known corners, all but laid out at my feet. Accessible, manageable and gently explained by our wealth of excellent guides.
Escaping the chill of the British winter, we took in not only the UAE’s gleaming hyper-city and its nearby capital, Abu Dhabi, but also Bahrain’s capital Manama, with its maze of streets in the souk and grandeur of the Al Fateh Grand Mosque; and the beach and wildlife resort of Sir Bani Yas Island, formerly a barren outpost and now a holiday playground.
With only 1,260 passengers, our ship’s compact size enabled it to slip into Khasab on Oman’s isolated northern Musandam peninsula, close to the network of desert fjords stretching among the stark rough-hewn slopes of the surrounding mountains.
We set off to explore these inlets, dubbed the Norway of Arabia, in a traditional-style Arabian dhow, but were not alone. Racing past us was a convoy of speedboats piled high with tarpaulin-covered cargos steered by illicit balaclava-clad crews. “Iranian smugglers,” said our guide Khalid, as the unorthodox cavalcade whizzed by in full view of two official patrol boats in the harbour. “There’s no problem with the police. They are sleeping,” he laughed.
As we motored deeper into the fjords, the constant buzz of the smugglers’ boats receded and the remoteness of our tranquil surrounds hit home. We passed Telegraph Island, named after a short-lived British communication post built to aid messages between Britain and India in the 1860s, then turned back towards Khasab, escorted by a lone dolphin who, cresting the dhow’s bow wave, effortlessly kept pace as we clicked our cameras. All was quiet and calm – a world away from the superlative cities; yet another face of this captivating region that I might never have known existed.
Essentials
Sara Macefield was a guest of Celestyal (0808 2803543; celestyal.com), which offers a one-week Desert Days round-trip sailing from Doha from £569pp, including soft drinks, WiFi and gratuities (flights extra). Calling at Dubai, Sir Bani Yas Island, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. Departs January 17, 2026.
