Arabian Kingdoms & the Gulf, 5 March 2030

Cruise overview

Depart Mumbai beneath the Gateway of India for the little-known Portuguese enclave of Diu, its sea-battered fort and whitewashed churches drowsing above calm coves, then pause off Porbandar, birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. Reach Muscat, where the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque glows in marble and chandeliers above the Mutrah Souq’s frankincense stalls, before threading the fjord-like inlets of Khasab, nicknamed the Norway of Arabia, aboard a dhow trailing dolphins. Anchor off Sir Bani Yas, a UNESCO-listed island sanctuary where oryx and cheetah roam beside a 1,500-year-old Christian monastery, then stand beneath the eighty-two domes of Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the light-dappled galleries of the Louvre. In Doha, wander the sculptural, UNESCO-listed Museum of Islamic Art and the restored lanes of Souq Waqif before the singing dunes of the inland sea. Your voyage concludes in Dubai, where the Burj Khalifa’s glittering height gives way to Bedouin firelight and the hush of the Empty Quarter.