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Dubai to Abu Dhabi: Cruise your way to Sir Bani Yas Island

Seasonal offering by Resorts World One will glide you gently through the Arabian Gulf and take you on an adventure full of animals, the sea - and music

Published: Thu 16 Jan 2025, 11:45 PM

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You can hear the scrape of feet as people sway on the dance floor — it’s a quiet evening punctuated by the gentle swish, swish, swish of the tide against the ship as we chug onwards. The lights are dim, the kids are giggling and the occasional eye bulges from the door as an unsuspected guest walks past the silent disco on Resorts World One.

Offering a two-night, three-day stay in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Resorts World One knows that while the days draw people from the cruise and into the docked city, the evening needs a little more planning. Which is why, there is a silent disco, where you can choose your channel — there are two — and move to the beat (that may be very, very different from what your neighbour is grooving along to). No one can hear (or judge) your musical choices, giving you absolute freedom to move your toes to that catchy-yet-cringey tune without anyone being any the wiser.

This seasonal boat ride runs until the end of March, and brings with it the opportunity to (besides having your own ‘I’m the king of the world’ moment) sit in a balcony in your cabin and watch distant ships sail by and see the horizon chop the landscape neatly into two, a piercing shift in colour the only hint that it’s happened.

One of my most favourite moments came at 5am, when sunlight couldn’t spear the clouds and had to be content with turning the sky a rosy hue instead at day break.

The ship is docked at Port Rashid’s Cruise Terminal 2, and takes trips thrice a week to destinations including Sir Bani Yas Island, Doha, Muscat and Khasab. It can host up to 1,800 passengers at a time but before you take out that brown paper bag and sit down to hyper-ventilate at the thought of a crowd, let us assure you that other than at disembarkation, this won’t feel like a cramped transit.

We check in by 6pm and head over to our cabin on the ninth floor, which is sandwiched nicely by the open-air deck, where we see belly dancing, a pool with a stage (where we are treated to a Bollywood night full of energetic numbers and where DJ Nisha takes to the decks to signal that we are on our way and it is time to groove).

A cruise is essentially a carnival you can’t exit for the night; it’s colourful and glitzy and full of people. Where you might find someone helping someone else flex for the limbo, you’ll find another cutting up food for their little ones, someone relaxing under the night sky in the bubbling waters of a hot tub, and others trying to get the best seats at the Zodiac theatre, which is home to acts that run the gambit of dance and drama, acrobatics — and, sometimes, comedy. (You may be tempted to sit right at the back as the performers tend to treat the aisles as an extension of the stage, but for a focused look at the acts, we suggest getting right in the middle, with a view of the platform.)

The morning is peaceful, full of countless cups of coffee and slaps of sun block as we play hide and seek with the sun on deck; there’s a foam party happening on the top deck and the kids are (for once) loving being all sudded up.

When the ship finally docks on Sir Bani Yas Island, we make our way to the buggies that will carry us to the starting point of a safari.

It may be well-known, but Sir Bani Yas Island is quite a cut-off location. With only two resorts to stay in, the retreat is home to 17,000 free-roaming animals including sand gazelles, blackbuck antelope, urial sheep, barbary sheep, and the Arabian oryx. It feels like a movie scene. The island was established in 1971 by Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and originally called the Royal Nature Reserve. Later, it became Sir Bani Yas Island, a nod to the Sir Bani Yas tribe, which first settled here.

Our guide, although not prolific in English, communicates in fits and stops, and through miming. Halfway through the tour, we believe we are all speaking the same language, of adventure (it sounds like squeals and yelps with a smattering of information thrown in).

There is a collective gasp as the four-wheeler heads to a heard of potent smelling sheep. Things start smelling more ‘natural’ as the day wears on and we come across gazelles and emus and others.

Our guide points to green houses where fresh produce is being cultivated, past windmills swirling the breeze to create zaps of electricity, and finally shushes us as the car comes to a sudden stop. “Look,” he breathes, pointing, and we strain at the sight. Finally, a spotted yellow coat moves with graceful strides and the cheetah yowls and stretches, its muscles flexing in a display of power as if to tell us to watch out, that we were leaving because he couldn’t be bothered with us. It’s probably true, too; these wild cats can run 80 – 130 km/h. We have been meandering at a gentle 20km/h.

While there are other things to do on this island — there are adventure safaris, kayaking, mountain biking, archery, hiking, and snorkelling — we recommend you taking the time to see animals frolicking on the 87 square kilometres of the premises. There are herbivores grazing on grass right next to carnivores snacking on steak. It’s a languid look at the circle of life.

We make our way back to get ready for the silent disco — those feet won’t dance by themselves.

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