Dumped in Dubai BUT Saved by the Wizard of Bos

Our last evening on the ship and in Dubai featured a beautiful sunset over the skyline of this amazing city. We packed our bags and went to dinner for our last dinner in the Compass Rose Dining Room with Kathy and Bos. The people from Reception came and picked up our luggage to get it to the Luggage Free folks. None of this outside the door stuff for us. Yeah!!!

Bos waiting-but he really didn't look like that

Tuesday morning we were up by 7:00AM (10:00PM  Eastern Time on Monday) and at Compass Rose together for breakfast by 8:00 and then off the ship quickly and easily at about 9:15. Our car was to meet us at 9:30 for an 8 hour tour of the city and then the airport. Having no luggage we took a shortcut right into the terminal. Bos was drafted, begged or volunteered to go in search of the car. The car didn't come and didn't come. Bos checked outside about every 10 minutes looking for our sign and we waited.

Seafood Restaurant at Dubai Creek

In this age of modern communication and with three cell phones between us, none of them had service in the port terminal. Finally the Executive Concierge of the ship, a kind man named Jorge, offered to use his cell and make contact with our emergency people. He was so patient and called several numbers until he got a real person. The car showed up. We determined the driver at been waiting at the wrong ship. We were off and going at about 10:15AM (which was 1:15 AM in Florida).

Thank goodness for the Regent staff who, even though we were off the ship and not their responsibility,  took care of us. We will always be grateful to Jorge!!!!

Our car was much better than the day before- a van. We had a driver who hardly spoke at all and a guide who was Indian, spoke all the time but couldn't be understood most of the time. BUT we were off to see the city!

Dubai is one of the emirates in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai is the largest in population with 2.1 million citizens. It is the second largest in land territory after Abu Dhabi. Dubai was formelly established on June 9, 1833 when Sheikh Maktoum bin Butti Al-Maktoum persuaded around 800 members of his tribe of Bani Yas to follow him from the Second Saudi State to the Dubai Creek. It remained under the tribe's control until the United Kingdom agreed to protect the Shiekhdom in 1892. It joined the United Arab Emirates upon independence in 1971. As in Fujairah and Abu Dhabi the Independence Day of December 2 was being celebrated with flags flying from homes, buildings, cars and any other place you could see. They were celebrating 42 years of independence and doing it with great pride and festivities.

Each Emirates has a Shiekh. Women in the royal families are called Sheikha. The family connections must be a challenge for one trying to create a family tree for anyone born into the family- cousins, nephews, nieces-  are considered royal and there is lots of marriages between families. We must have seen in the two cities 30 huge palaces for members of the royal family.

Atlantis Hotel at Palm Island

Palm Island

Dubai has recently attracted attention through many large and innovative construction projects. We saw Palm Island- a creative multi use project with condos and commercial hotels.
There is also a multi-island man-made project called The World we can faintly see. The developer plans to have 100 islands representing the major countries in the world. The one for Lebanon was the only one with construction on it at the moment.

We saw the Jumeirah Mosque built in 1978. We saw the famous twist building where each condo can be turned individually toward the view of your choice. Cars are kept in the car garage but come to your door when you are ready to leave.

Twisty Building

Jumeirah Mosque

Burj Khalefa

We went down into the old city and saw the many shops in the Karama district.

Everywhere you looked the buildings just took your great away...or they did take my great away. So beautiful. It is truly a city built from the desert by oil. In 1971 there was only one tall building.

We saw the tallest building in the world the Burj (which means tower) Khalefa named for the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi who ended up providing the funds to complete the building. It is 2,716 feet tall. We were to go to the observation deck on the 124th level but the smog was so thick we settled for a viewing of the whole building.

Dubai is attempting to prepare itself for the time when the oil runs out. Tourism is a big business. The majority of tourists are from Spain, Russia and China.

Our last stop before the airport was to enjoy High Tea at the 7 star (only one in the world they claim) Hotel Burj Al Arab.

Burj Al Arab

The building itself is an amazing sight. The lobby was dominated by a huge 3-story fountain decorated with UAE flags made with red, white, and black roses and green leaves.

Fountain at the Burj Al Arab Lobby

At the appointed time we rode the escalator beside the giant aquarium to the top of the fountain and went in search of the elevator to the Skytop Bar. Elevators to the hotel rooms were guarded by security folks so no one could wander around that area.

Kathy waits to be called

Second stage for waiting

We waited for our time to go into the bar and what a memorable experience we enjoyed. We had a marvelous view as we remembered the fun times on our cruise and enjoyed 7 small courses of tasty food including, dates stuffed with almonds, champagne, a carving of beef with mustard sauce, an assortment of sandwiches, an assortment of pastries and scones, tea selected from a 6 page menu of tea choices,  and sorbet.

Our view at tea

We learned that the tradition of High Tea was believed to have been crated by Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford in the early 1840s. During this period, dinner was not served until 9:00 PM and the Duchess often became hungry. She would secretly order a small meal of bread, butter and other incites to be brought to her boudoir. When the Duchess was exposed she was not ridiculed as she had feared, instead her habit caught on and the concept of a small meal of cakes, tarts, biscuits and tea became popular and eventually known as "afternoon tea." The whole experience for us took almost 2 hours...and we loved every minutes.
Our car returned and we were off to the airport. The time was now about 4:30 and now was the time for the real Wizard of Bos to go into action!!!!

We arrived at the airport and our driver got a cart and took the carry-on across a busy street and deposited us in the lobby. No sign of anywhere to stop or sit down. We thought we could check in at 7:00 PM and that was a long way away. An official told us it would be 8:00 and that was even worse. We went upstairs to the food court where there were some chairs. In a little bit Bos went wandering to scout out where we would check-in with Delta and he learned there was a Delta office near where we were sitting that opened at 5:00PM.

At 5:15 he went over to see if there was anything those folks could do for us...especially since none of us were checking any luggage. He came back for the passports and low and behold he returned with Boarding Passes, arrangements made for three wheelchairs to transport us the unknown distance to the Marhaba Lounge. By 6:00PM we had ridden wheelchairs, two carts and three elevators down long corridors surrounded by lots and lots of shopping opportunities and with beautiful decorative features. One section had about 24 artificial palm trees and carpeting that looked like sand.  One section had huge overhead lights that reminded me of flying saucers with their many and varied patterns of lights and colors. There were fancy shops for everything you could imagine and every kind of food you could think of. AND LOTS AND LOTS OF PEOPLE!!!

With many, many kudos and sincere thanks to Bos we were able to spend the next 5 hours in a comfortable place and without the hassle of lines. Truly the Wizard of Bos!

UAE Flag made with flowers

Our flight to Atlanta was long- 16 hours long- but as pleasant as it could be. Some spurts of sleeping occurred but mostly TV watching and reading. Our trip from Atlanta to Tampa was perfect, the Leisurelimo driver was right there and we were home by 11:00AM (8:00PM in Dubai)- a total of 37 hours of travel!!!

The cruise was wonderful, the sights were amazing, most experiences were perfect and the time shared with friends unforgettable. We traveled a total of 4327 nautical miles on the ship, lots of miles on planes and many miles in a variety of kinds of cars and vans. 

How privileged we are to be able to see and experience the world!