For Dubai’s new cruise season, it is all smooth sailing, says Dubai Harbour CEO

For Dubai’s new cruise season, it is all smooth sailing, says Dubai Harbour CEO

Dubai: Weeks into the start of Dubai’s cruise season, it all seems like the smoothest of sailing all round. The first of the big vessels have anchored at Dubai’s cruise terminals, brimming with passengers wanting to catch the fine winter, engage in some heavy shopping and recreation onshore, and then move back onto the waters for the rest of the cruise. At Dubai Harbour, all of this action means the city’s second cruise terminal point is clocking in some good progress in the second year of operations. And more than justify Dubai’s decision to have a second such terminal and anchor itself further as one of the prime spots for the global cruise industry. Now, what comes across as real progress is that Dubai and the cruise industry have managed to rid themselves off all the pandemic-phase speed-breakers. And there were many during the whole of 2020 and well into last year as well. From the current vantage point, all that turmoil does seem like the distant past. Abdulla Binhabtoor is Chief Portfolio Management Officer at Shamal Holdings, which is the owner and ‘curator’ of Dubai Harbour. In an interview, Binhabtoor gives his feel on what sort of sailing is