Hotel:
Dar al Masyaf (at Madinat Jumeirah near Al Qasr and Mina a’Salaam)
Website www.madinatjumeirah.com/dar_al_masyaf
The Dar al Masyaf is the more private enclave within the Al Qasr, so if you are asking for transportation from the Dubai Airport, tell them to take you to the Al Qasr lobby, where you will take an abra (boat) or buggy (golf cart) to your building. There is a small pool for every three or four buildings (each with about 8 rooms; 4 upper with balconies and 4 lower with patios). There is a butler for each building, which is essentially a concierge service. The butler also holds a nightly happy hour (6:00 to 8:00 pm), which is a nice touch so that you can enjoy some complimentary drinks and snacks and swap stories with other travellers. The rooms at the “Dar” are lovely, with a king-size bed, large seating area (two couches and coffee table), wet bar, dressing room area, and huge bathroom (separate shower, bathtub, water closet with toilet and bidet, twin sink vanity). GREAT selection of toiletries: separate shampoo, conditioner, body wash for men and women, toothbrushes, paste, talcum powder, lotion, cotton swabs, nail kit, sewing kit, shower cap). They supply nearly everything that you will need (minus mouthwash, floss, razors). You are supplied with robes (two kinds per person) and slippers, and more towels than you can use (they do the towel animals, too). Rooms have hair dryers and safes. You also get a fruit basket (replenished daily), and two boxes of amazing sweets (in neat leather boxes that you can keep). Bottled water is free in the rooms. The lighting in the rooms is good, with plenty of artificial and natural light. The mini bar prices are steep ($5 for a can of soda), but comparable to the hotel itself. We ate a light breakfast in the Al Faroozh lounge, where four sodas and two bagels with cream cheese ran about $15 (not bad). There are also two breakfast buffets, but it was too much food for us. There were too many restaurants on the property to mention; sadly, we did not use any of them for dinner. We didn’t eat on our first night after arriving late, and we chose to eat at the Mall of the Emirates on our only other night there. We walked along the concrete pathway past the ocean and the main Al Qasr pool (huge, great amenities like fruit kabobs, Evian facial sprays, cold towels throughout the day), and staffed by TONS of lifeguards. (In fact, EVERY pool had its own lifeguard, even the small ones). We didn’t really see the Mina a’Salaam, and unfortunately, it was TOO ungodly hot in August to take advantage of our free visit to the Burj al Arab (which was not as tall as I had imagined). August really isn’t the best time to visit Dubai. While 107 degrees merely sounds hot, with the humidity, you really can’t be outside for even 2 minutes without sweating and experiencing breathing difficulty. I’m not sorry that we stopped over in Dubai; it’s something to be seen once, but I wouldn’t hurry back for an extended stay anytime soon.
Tour:
Desert Safari (Sandboarding and Dunebashing in Dubai)
Hormuz Tours (website www.hormuztourism.com)
Hormuz was extremely responsive to my e-mails (unlike many other companies in Dubai), and they offered the exact tour that we wanted at a reasonable rate. (I think we paid $40 per person, excluding gratuity for a private tour.) I did NOT want to take the afternoon desert safari that included dinner at a bedouin camp, which was what most companies offered. The driver picked us up at our Dubai hotel for the hour drive to the desert. The drive is fairly interesting, with lots of construction projects along the way (they are building Dubailand: Dubai’s version of DisneyWorld, scheduled to open in 2010, I believe.) The road conditions were excellent. We actually left the emirate of Dubai in order to dune bash in Sharjah. The car (SUV) was comfortable, and the driver was friendly. We stopped at a small store just before dune bashing so that the driver could deflate the car tires in preparation for dune bashing. The store sold cold drinks, small souvenirs, and had restroom facilities (which we did not use). Dune bashing was really scary! We definitely should have signed a release waiver, and worn helmets. There isn’t much preventing the vehicle from flipping over on the soft dunes (they are really powdery--not hard-packed like the sand that we drive on in the beaches in the US), because you are going at a high rate of speed up and down some serious hills. It was fun, but I almost wanted to turn back several times because I couldn’t get the idea of flipping out of my head. We saw some camels being herded in the desert. The sandboarding was tough--not quite like skiing, and we’ve never actually snow boarded, so we can’t make a comparison. Going down is fun, but when you fall, the sand is burning hot! And you’ve got to walk back up any hill that you board down. If you’re worried about sandboarding, you can always just sit on the board and go down on your butt. But you do have to come back up after the fun.
Dubai Airport:
This is a huge airport, with about 4 floors (website www.dubaiairport.com). It’s nearly all duty-free shops, the largest we’ve ever seen. They resemble grocery stores, with many cashiers lined up, each running a separate conveyor belt/cash register. All the usuals are for sale (e.g., liquor, cigarettes, perfume, jewelry), but also less frequently seen items like TVs, blenders, and other household appliances. Passengers walk through the airport with their luggage carts (which resemble shopping carts) piled high with duty-free. There are smoking rooms and other stations throughout the airport, including in the Emirates lounge. In August of 2007, there was NO visa required for US citizens who were on a 96-hour stopover in Dubai (or for transit passengers). Emirates passengers with a layover of greater than 4 hours are entitled to a meal in specific restaurants. There are separate lounges for business and first-class passengers.
Dubai Airport Emirates Lounge:
The business class lounge was good; probably the first class lounge is better and more comparable to the combination lounge at JFK. There are upper and lower floors. The upper floor seems used by smokers, primarily, because that’s where the smoking area was. There are computer terminals (free internet access) in the smoking area, a small food/drink service area (there is a much larger area downstairs), several TVs, and small restroom facilities (larger facilities available downstairs).There are flight boards throughout the facility, and the usual announcements are made. Wait in the lounge until you are called. The boarding procedure at the Dubai Airport takes a long time, so it is best not to go until you are called; there are multiple security checkpoints before boarding the plane, and it takes a long time if you try to clear with the larger number of coach passengers (again, I got antsy waiting).
Airline: Emirates Business Class
We flew a Boeing 777-200 (JFK to Dubai and Dubai to JFK) which was excellent! We had the nearly lie-flat slumberette beds in business class. We saw the first class seats on our flight from Dubai to JFK, and they had the in-seat mini-bars (not sure if they had the enclosed “pods” or not. Definitely what I aspire to on my next flight!) These seats enabled my husband and I to get some actual sleep for the first time ever on an international flight, so it was worth the ticket price (used the American Express Platinum buy 1/get 1 free deal). Service was good, but not exceptional (service was better on the return than the outbound). The ICE entertainment system kept us busy when we weren’t sleeping--there were too many movie, TV, music choices to mention. The food was quite good. Three meals were served on the transatlantic flights: dinner (three entree choices), snack (three choices), and breakfast (three choices), accompanied by cocktails and various wines. There were additional snacks (e.g., sandwiches, fruit, chips) available in the galley whenever you liked. Meals are followed by a cart with desserts, cheeses, fruits, chocolates, and coffee/port/cordials. The cabins and bathrooms were kept clean. There were plenty of amenities available whenever one desired in the lavatories (e.g., toothbrushes, paste, razors, shaving cream, moisturizer, perfume/aftershave). Hot towels are passed out before/after all meals. There is a good selection of magazines and newspapers. Blankets, pillows, socks, eyeshades are provided, as well as noise cancelling headphones. There are separate amenity kits handed out for men and women, with the usual toothbrush, paste, comb, razor, deodorant, lotion, lip balm, etc. The business class cabin is large; if possible, request the smaller front cabin (behind first class) with just two rows, instead of the larger cabin with approximately six rows. The seating configuration is surprising for a business class cabin (2-3-2), but with the upgraded seats with the privacy panels and the amount of space between rows, even the middle seat in the middle configuration would be rather good. The middle bulkhead seats had the same large (I think it was 19” monitors) as the other seats; however, the bulkhead seats in the 2-seat side configuration had smaller (17” monitors) that pulled out from the armrests. Not only were the screens smaller (although who needs a 19” screen on the plane??), but they must have made the seat width slightly narrower (although the seats are wide enough for you to sit sideways or with one’s feet Indian-style for variation). There were NO laptop power ports at the seats--my only minor complaint about this aircraft. There is a neat nighttime starry sky displayed on the roof of the cabin during sleeping times.
Airbus 320 (Dubai to Nairobi and Dar es Salaam to Dubai): This aircraft is poor in comparison to the 777. We had problems with the entertainment system on all of our flights, but especially on this aircraft where you must request small cassette tapes to watch movies. It seemed rather archaic, and my first tape got stuck in the arm of the seat and was not fixable. On another flight, we were unable to remove the GUI directional information from the monitors, so it was difficult to watch a film unimpeded. The screens were smaller (less than 15”), and the seats not nearly as comfortable. The screens really ARE GUI, but you need to press so hard that it causes movement to the seat of the person in front of you. The business-class seats were certainly preferable to economy class, but they weren’t very wide, so you were unable to turn to either side to achieve a comfortable position for sleeping. Socks and eyeshades were provided, but no other amenity kit. Blanket, pillow, and noise-cancelling headphones also distributed. One meal was served; no dessert cart was seen in business class. We compared this flight to a first-class domestic flight in the United States: better than coach, but certainly not international business class (even though we flew internationally). The aircraft had the same 2-3-2 configuration. Our flight from Dubai to Nairobi was changed from a 3-class to a 2-class piece of equipment after booking.
We would definitely use Emirates again, especially on the transatlantic portion! They allowed us a multi-night stopover in Dubai free of charge, and we were supposedly able to claim Continental (or alternately United) miles for our flights, which will be more usable to us in the future instead of Emirates miles (but we still haven’t received our miles, even a week after the completion of our itinerary, or even for the first outbound leg, which took place three weeks ago). We should each receive enough miles for a free domestic ticket in the US (about 25,000 each), or to use for upgrades. Emirates participates in the American Express Platinum buy 1/get 1 free program, although you are purchasing the first ticket at a higher business class (refundable) rate rather than the lowest business rate that you can find online (but it still saved us money).
Emirates Business Class Complimentary Chauffeur Service:
JFK: At JFK, Emirates uses Boston Coach (www.bostoncoach.com) for their transportation. Vehicles were comfortable (Towncars and Cadillacs), drivers seemed knowledgeable. Upon arrival at JFK, business and first-class passengers who used the chauffeur service are met at the car by an airline representative, who supervises the removal of your luggage and assigns it to porters who take you right to the appropriate counter. Our only issue was that service is provided within a 60-mile radius (we live about 90-miles away), and we were not even able to pay for the additional routing. Instead, we drove our car and parked within the 60-mile radius in order to use the service. There wasn’t much of a hassle, and it was well worth the service that we received upon arriving in the car at JFK.
Dubai: We also used the chauffeur service in Dubai to get to/from our stopover hotel. Even if you have made your reservation previously, find the Emirates “room” (counter) after claiming your luggage and request your car. There wasn’t more than a 3-minute wait. Upon arrival back in NY, again find the Emirates representative after claiming your bags to reconfirm your transportation (not more than a 2-minute wait).
Nairobi and Dar es Salaam: No chauffeur service available.
