Embarking Up the Wrong Tree

So we had an unscheduled time sitting at the port in Doha last night and now we had to inexplicably get off the ship to show our passports to immigration and then get right back on.

The Norwegian Dawn is so large that it was difficult to take pictures of.

There was a big aquarium in the port building that we had fun gawking at.

Quickly! Back to the ship!

It was funny because the announcements kept saying that we couldn't leave the port until every single passenger got off the ship and did the passport check. Why they didn't do this before we got on the ship is a mystery. It definitely had a "we're making this up as we go along" feel to it. As time dragged on the announcements repeated in numerous languages until it was clear they were down to like two Italian guys taking long naps and the announcements I imagine were cursing at them in Italian.

Some of the gingerbread houses in the common areas are pretty disturbing.

We did a safety presentation and learned a bit about the ship. If I recall correctly we currently had 1900 guests and a lifeboat capacity of 3000. They were talking about baby life vests being needed but then it was unclear where the heck they were. Finally I called one of the help desks and they said if one was needed that someone would bring us one. How comforting.

When we finally started pushing away from the beautiful Doha skyline some little tug boats guys followed us and guided us out of the harbor.

Ern had a nice new blackout tent thing that fits over his crib and keeps it dark in there for snoozing.

The water situation was a bit annoying. We had an unlimited booze package but this didn't include bottled water. The water out of the faucet didn't taste very good, but the filtered water in the cafeteria had big signs posted about not filling up personal water bottles. So I bought a case of water to be delivered to our room to take care of my people. There was much rejoicing.

Walking around seeing the different cocktails offered at the various bars on board is a nice way to pass the time and explore the ship.

We had some night cap mudslides to celebrate the seaworthiness of our fine vessel. 

Avast! There was a little onboard newspaper where we could read about the fun times awaiting us the following day.

Ernie Boards a Cruise

We woke up to our last morning at Sharq Village & Spa, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel. It was about time to get nautical.

The first few nights of this trip with Ernie not having his bed yet and suffering from jet lag were some of the hardest we've had since he was born. I feel like we were researching just going back home. We had really hard nights and then were zombies during the day.

This sign at a club was interesting because it forbade Arabic clothing.

The hotel layout was attempting to mimic a village with lots of little buildings.

We finally got an email from Finnair that our luggage was ready at the airport. It was supposed to be then delivered to our hotel but because it had arrived right before we were leaving town they made us come to the airport to pick it up. What followed was hellish. I waited for those bags for over an hour. Ernie took a nap, breastfed, and had time to hang out in the waiting taxi with Lydia while I paced around. It's pretty annoying that a company can screw up and take so much of your time and cause you so much stress and not really owe you anything in return.

Some advertisements in the airport for the Expo we visited yesterday.

Finally we escaped.

Finnair did give us an allowance for buying clothes and stuff that we needed due to our missing luggage. We didn't actually need anything but since they wasted so much of my time I decided to hit the mall and go on a little shopping spree on their dime.

Doha's Villaggio Mall has indoor gondolas because of course it does.

Inexplicably there were also double decker buses.

I couldn't pass up a visit to a Qatar McDonald's.

We ordered a feast fit for an eccentric king:

Peri Peri Chicken Wrap

Jalapeño Cheese Bites

Pineapple Stick

Karak Chai

Iced Flat White

Yellow Rice with 2 Pieces of Fried Chicken

McGravy

Ernie got a whole new wardrobe at the Gap. There was a pretty good sale going on, plus Qatar doesn't do sales tax.

I got a couple of things at Superdry. I've always thought that their stuff was cool because it has a Japanese flavor to it. I just read it's no longer cool and has now become a dad brand. So. Perfect for me I guess.

We approached the behemoth Norwegian Dawn having already survived quite a long and arduous trip. But we finally had all of our luggage and some new clothes and we were ready to roll.

The cruise terminal was kind of fun. There was a big fish tank behind the check-in area.

The ship's interior kind of reminds me of the interior of an RV. Like the stuff is nice but you can tell it's different from a normal hotel. Maybe due to the relative lack of space or maybe to be lighter. It's hard to put my finger on but there seems to be a cruise ship aesthetic.

The hallways by the rooms are a good example of this. Obviously the path is narrower and the ceiling is lower than it would be in a normal building. I never felt claustrophobic or anything but it was noticeable.

One of the buildings on the Doha skyline was flashing a Palestine flag in support. Speaking of which, due to the Israeli war in Palestine the Saudi Arabian stop on our cruise was canceled. Instead they gave us an extra day just stuck at dock in Doha. We weren't even allowed to leave the boat and explore the city for an extra day. I complained about it to our travel guide and tried to get some concessions but got absolutely nothing. Luckily we'd already visited Saudi Arabia and had a lovely time, because I would have been very disappointed if I was counting on the cruise to check that country off my list.

They really went all out with the gingerbread houses.

There was even a gingerbread Norwegian Cruise Line vessel back there.

They had an impressively diverse number of countries represented by their staff. Some of those flags I don't recognize.

The food was buffet style so Big Ern got plenty to eat. He was one of the few if only babies on the boat and got an excessive amount of attention from the staff as well as other passengers. At one point a passenger picked him up briefly without asking us. I kept it chill but that particular lady was so engrossed with Ernie that we started eating at a different ship restaurant. For the most part the attention was fine but it did distract Ernie from his meals.

I expected that a baby who was half me was going to be cute but this is just a lot.

It's been a very long day but I can't argue with the view.