Tuesday, April 23rd
Yellow arrow in red circle is Qatar, our location today.
HUMP DAY!! Cruise is half over. Where did the time go?? Next three weeks will be very interesting as we have never been in the Middle East. Today we are visiting Qatar. It is not one of the UAE countries.. Doha is the capital city located on the Persian Gulf coast with Saudi Arabia as its southern neighbor. With a population of over 1.5 million it makes up 60% of the country's population. Basically, Qatar's economy is the oil and natural gas industry. Doha is experiencing a very boom, with the city developing very rapidly, due to its current Sheikh's modernization program. Like Dubai, Qatar is moving away from its economic dependency on oil and now real estate is booming. Prices are more expensive here than in Dubai. Qatar is unusual in that 80% of the people living there are from other countries rather than Qatari citizens. The local Qataris' minimum wage is $8000 USD per month tax free. They also get subsidy to buy house and then loan with no interest. Eighty percent of the people here are workers from other countries. They may make $1000 per month. Maids and housekeeper only get $400 or $500 per month. They cannot bring their families here with them. The Qataris get free water, tv, phone, and other benefits the foreigners do not.
Here gasoline is cheaper than drinking water. Four liters (basically a gallon) of gas cost $1, whereas for $1 you can only buy 3 liters of water. Water comes from a desalination plant but drinking water is bottled water.
Our tour today was "Highlights of Doha". I took 139 photos today so not sure if I will get them on this posting or put them on the next one. I took lots of notes on the tour bus but then left the notebook on it when we got off. Second time I have done that recently. My "secretary" was not much help! It is 1:30pm now and just back to suite and I have ordered a couple salads for our lunch. Rebecca is getting her hair cut at 2pm down in the ship's salon ($92 for her cut and blow dry) Not cheap here on the ship. Massages are close to $200 for 45 minutes. Needless to say we do not get any. These photos are of our arrival this morning. I will put the rest of the Doha photos on next blog posting. Maybe later today depending on internet speed. Heading to workout now.
Our docking spot
New Doha in background
Port side bridge wing. Our suite balcony is below and slightly aft of it. You can see it in 2nd and 3rd photos above this one.
HUMP DAY!! Cruise is half over. Where did the time go?? Next three weeks will be very interesting as we have never been in the Middle East. Today we are visiting Qatar. It is not one of the UAE countries.. Doha is the capital city located on the Persian Gulf coast with Saudi Arabia as its southern neighbor. With a population of over 1.5 million it makes up 60% of the country's population. Basically, Qatar's economy is the oil and natural gas industry. Doha is experiencing a very boom, with the city developing very rapidly, due to its current Sheikh's modernization program. Like Dubai, Qatar is moving away from its economic dependency on oil and now real estate is booming. Prices are more expensive here than in Dubai. Qatar is unusual in that 80% of the people living there are from other countries rather than Qatari citizens. The local Qataris' minimum wage is $8000 USD per month tax free. They also get subsidy to buy house and then loan with no interest. Eighty percent of the people here are workers from other countries. They may make $1000 per month. Maids and housekeeper only get $400 or $500 per month. They cannot bring their families here with them. The Qataris get free water, tv, phone, and other benefits the foreigners do not.
Here gasoline is cheaper than drinking water. Four liters (basically a gallon) of gas cost $1, whereas for $1 you can only buy 3 liters of water. Water comes from a desalination plant but drinking water is bottled water.
Our tour today was "Highlights of Doha". I took 139 photos today so not sure if I will get them on this posting or put them on the next one. I took lots of notes on the tour bus but then left the notebook on it when we got off. Second time I have done that recently. My "secretary" was not much help! It is 1:30pm now and just back to suite and I have ordered a couple salads for our lunch. Rebecca is getting her hair cut at 2pm down in the ship's salon ($92 for her cut and blow dry) Not cheap here on the ship. Massages are close to $200 for 45 minutes. Needless to say we do not get any. These photos are of our arrival this morning. I will put the rest of the Doha photos on next blog posting. Maybe later today depending on internet speed. Heading to workout now.
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