Mystical Muscat

This should be a short entry. Two years in a row, the ship has docked in Muscat, Oman, on a Friday so we are never going to see the inside of the huge mosque. Ken decided not to go ashore but rather to stay onboard to workout in the gym and relax at the swimming pool. He declared it the best day ever. Sara joined Pat, our official tour guide, and her roommate Kay to enjoy the massive souk. It is so large and had so many little stores and alleys so it was easy to get lost and not remember how to exit.

The most memorable thing about this souk is the vendor who gave the tickets to the participants on the television show The Amazing Race. If someone tried to take a photograph of him with his remarkable white beard, he lowered his head to spoil the shot. Fortunately, Pat took a good picture of him while he was distracted by another customer. Also impressive were all the necklaces hanging on racks similar to those in U.S. department stores that hold the costume jewelry. When a customer asked the price of a certain necklace, the vendor weighed it and usually reported a cost of $500 US and up. One wondered how much the total inventory in these unassuming shops was worth.

Because we were the smallest ship in the port that day, we were not docked in the preferred space near the duty-free store. (Princess must start bribing the port authorities more.) When the free shuttle returned us to the Pacific Princess, Kay and Sara asked one of the tour company's guides in a red shirt if he could take us there. He did so we stocked up on overpriced Yellow Tail wine, which was still much more economical that the marked-up cost of wine on the ship. When he returned us to the ship, we tried to give him a tip that he refused. We then decided that we weren't in India anymore!

The champagne sailaway party at 12:45 p.m. was a great success with the waiters constantly replenishing the champagne in our glasses. Most of the passengers spent the afternoon in their cabins sleeping it off.