Al Seef dhow cruise

The Al Seef dhow cruise: the same water, a considerably easier evening

Al Seef sails the same Creek as the Deira boats and costs about AED 20 more, and that difference buys the arrival rather than the cruise. Boarding is from a lit, level promenade with on-site parking, cafés to wait in, and the abra station next door — against a kerb on a busy road with several near-identical jetties and parking that fills by seven.

The boats are newer too. For a first dhow cruise, for a family, or for anyone who would rather not stand on a kerb looking for the right vessel, that AED 20 is the best value on the Creek.

Come early and walk the waterfront

Al Seef is a restored waterfront of coral-stone buildings and wind towers, free to walk and lit after dark. It was built within the last decade in a traditional style, which some people hold against it — though it sits on the actual Creek, beside the actual abra station, opposite the actual working wharfage, which is a very different thing from a themed development on reclaimed land.

Arrive thirty minutes before boarding rather than ten. The promenade takes about fifteen minutes to walk end to end, and if you have longer the abra across to Deira costs one dirham and puts you alongside the cargo dhows. Al Fahidi historical district, which is genuinely old, is ten minutes inland and almost empty at night.

The warm, low lighting is also what makes the place work — daylight shows the newness of the stonework in a way the evening does not, and between May and September the promenade has almost no shade by design.

What is on the boat

Two hours, a buffet dinner with a separate vegetarian counter, unlimited soft drinks and hot drinks, and live entertainment on most sailings. Toilets are aboard, the lower deck is enclosed and air-conditioned, and the upper deck is open.

Sit upstairs. The buffet and most of the seating are below, but from there you are looking at the Creek through glass, and the whole point of boarding here is the view of the banks you have just walked. Between December and February bring a layer — the upper deck is the coldest seat on the boat once the sun is down.