Dubai

April 4th

We docked right behind the QE2 which, despite a new coat of paint, looked quite forlorn…AND she is sporting, on her stern, the new place of her registration: Port Vila. Where is that you ask? Fiji! Fiji? Fiji! The name of the great port of Southampton has been obliterated. Sad! The sheikh’s yacht, Dubai, came out to greet us.

The gang got together for breakfast and some emotional farewells. Now Ross and I are “on our own”, but knowing the “people magnet” as I do….not for long!

We set off for our Atlantis adventure at 11am. We took a taxi to the maglev monorail on Palm Jumeirah Island. A very short ride, but fun…and spectacular views of the island and its sandy fronds. We alit, not at the grand main entrance, but at the back entrance, right in the middle of Aquaventure, the huge water park. Well you can imagine: a resort of this size….Easter weekend (an Arab country notwithstanding)….a hotel capacity of thousands….children as far as the eye can see…..it was bedlam. We were dazed and confused and got very lost trying to find reception to check in. We were almost ready to do an about face and hightail it back to the ship. We finally checked it, but our room wasn’t ready….well, we were two hours early!!! So we checked our bags and headed off for lunch on one of the beaches. After we checked in, we changed into our bathing suits and headed for Aquaventure. First stop, the torrent river, where we picked up our “inner tubes” and set off. Literally going with the flow! ☺ Ross took a detour into the rapids; moi did not! After we’d done two circuits, Ross headed off to do what I call the slide of death. (Jonathan, you will remember all this from “Sun City”, the prototype for Atlantis.) It’s really called the “Leap of Faith” from the top story of the ziggurat, down the steep slide, through the shark (nurse type) tank and out into the lagoon. Shrieks abound!

After a full afternoon, we headed off to Debbie’s new house on Frond E for cocktails with her and the boys. Peter is in London. Debbie had two bottles of Veuve Cliquot on ice. We sat outside and got sozzled yet again! We had hoped to lure them to dinner at Atlantis, but they had just returned from spring break – skiing ion Austria – at 1am and were a bit shattered. We had a great time and went back to the hotel for an amazing buffet dinner at Kaleidoscope. I have never seen such a selection of international food – well the clientele was certainly international: mainly Brits, Indians, Arabs and a smattering of other countries. We even found some Humm Ali –that wonderful bread pudding we’d had in Muscat. Yum! After dinner, we visited the “Lost Chambers”. Hmmmmmmm…very interesting sea life, but hokey Hollywood “Alien” style sets. The main lobby has the gigantic aquarium, as does the Bahamas Atlantis.


Our room, overlooking the Royal Pool and the lagoon was quite splendiferous: large, beautifully decorated and appointed…and a 3-part bathroom to die for! I lost track of the number of restaurants, including a Nobu. The place is enormous. At first, we were overwhelmed by the size, the confusion, the screaming children of the nouveau riche….but once we became acclimatized, we liked it more and more….for a short visit!

Must mention the magnificent Dale Chihuly sculpture in the Main Lobby. Here it is with some of the details - gold shells.





Today is Easter Sunday – the hotel was decorated for the season. There was an Easter shop selling outrageously large chocolate eggs….and there was an Easter Bunny roaming around. And, quite incongruously, women in head scarves and burkas were having their photos taken with him. A great statement – the Easter Bunny isn’t religious!!! Mind you, I am sure the chief ayatollah of Iran would disagree! What a place to people watch!

April 5th

Had breakfast in Saffron…..another amazing buffet: bread station; muffin/pastry station; Chinese station; Indian station; Middle East station; Pork (halal) station; juice station; fruit/cheese/deli station; American/UK station; pancake/waffle station….and tada….. chocolate fountain station with, for dipping, various color marshmallows on sticks and bins of gummie animals. FOR BREAKFAST! And you have no idea how many kids were eating them….and some adults. And ya wonda!!!!!

The service and cleanliness is impeccable. The company treats its employees very well. They are all foreigners, mainly Indian. They get accommodations, all meals, and one month’s home leave, airfare paid.

After breakfast, Ross headed off to more death-defying dives and I went to have my hair cut in the salon. I was sure I’d get a better cut than on the ship…and I was right.

We headed back to the ship around 2 and took some photos of the QE2. We also noticed that the crew has installed razor wire around the railings on the stern of Dek 3, the ain promenade deck. We will be in dangerous waters from now on and the ship is taking more precautions than 2 years ago. We have been given detailed instructions such as: Deck 3 is off limits at night; no balcony lights; all curtains closed at night and all lights off when not required. We are having a special drill tomorrow. We will be under the protection of an International Task Force, including the Royal Navy – I saw a RN ship in Muscat. Well, let’s hope we won’t be throwing balcony chairs at terrorists!

An epilog for Dubai – the city looks like one of those endoftheworld movies where life has been wiped out and everything has been abandoned. There are cranes, heavy equipment and building material everywhere – but nothing is moving and no one is working. Everything has come to a standstill. Of course, we saw the completed Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. I didn’t like the look of it two years ago when it was under construction, but it is really quite elegant. But the ravages of the recession and overbuilding are evident everywhere.