saracen

My first trip report - go easy with me! Please feel fee to ask any questions.


Introduction:

My journey begins in early 2005 when a slightly drunken conversation with friends about ideal trips evolved in a wish to visit Australia. The Other Half (hereafter known as TOH) agreed to go but only if we went Business Class (who was I to argue), so I guess I had better start saving. The original plan was to go in 2006 but various other trips prevented this so in Jan 2006 we paid a visit to Trailfinders to find out what our options were. At this point I hadn't really thought about airlines other than it would be nice to go with BA, SQ or CX. The agent was very good but said that flights for when we wanted to travel would not be available till March. A few calls to them and they were finally out in April 2006, we then spent a day there putting a rough itinerary together. The agent gave prices for all the above airlines but suggested that EK were doing a promotion where by we could fly First for the same price as what others were charging for Business Class. We jumped at the chance. Although I am sure that the fact we had to pay for our tickets is an alien concept to many Flyertalkers!

To cut a long story short we were flying LHR-SIN (via DXB), SIN-BNE, SYD-DXB-LHR all in Emirates First Class! Plus a variety of Y flights on both Qantas and Virgin Blue whilst in Australia.

Now if you are sitting comfortably then I will begin!


Fri 9th Feb - Car service contacts me early afternoon to confirm car booking and collection (^). I bring their suggested time forward to enable us to spend a few quality hours in the new Emirates Heathrow lounge.


Sat 10th Feb - 8am
As part of the First class service, Emirates offers passengers a chauffeur at each destination point, most destination points include unlimited mileage. They do a similar service with Business Class but I know that some destinations have a mileage restriction. Our driver was early (^) and our First experience starts as we leave the house in a Volvo V70 (2.4 diesel) estate (stationwagon) to take us from our home in Leicestershire to LHR. The driver is called Ron and keeps us entertained with stories of who he has had in the back of his car, including Richard Branson and Mr Bransons mother!

For those who are interested the car company is called Tristar and they mostly use Volvo's, the reason being something about their safety record. They change their cars ever 45K miles and ours, even though it still looked new, would be replaced the following week.

Arrive at LHR and the driver took us as close to our entry door as possible but it was very busy with many cars all thinking the same thing! We head straight for EK Check-in. I must admit that First Check-in was a little difficult to find, it was not clearly sign posted but a quick ask at one of the desks pointed us to the First desk, which contained a red carpet. Check in took all of 3 minutes as there was no queue, with the standard questions and we were given lounge invites and boarding passes, both for LHR and DXB. Bags were tagged both Priority and First and tagged all the way to SIN. We were also advised that we could use the Fast Track security but were warned that the lines would be long. Security was something I was dreading as I felt we would be waiting A-G-E-S, however I was pleasantly surprised. At Security the queues for Economy were HUGE! The line for Fast Track was long but certainly not as long as Y. We were through in about 10 minutes max - result!


The Emirates Lounge - LHR
We found the lounge and whilst the check-in agent had explained where it was - Lounge E, she did not explain how to get there. No matter it was not a problem, we located it. The exterior looks very classy and with a swoosh of the automatic doors we were inside and greeted by the two dragons, although I have to say neither of them was (a dragon that is), both were very pleasant indeed. Both welcomed us to the lounge, took our invites and said that when boarding started we would be called. They then explained lunch was about to be served and that we could help ourselves. We were then directed to the lift that would take us upstairs. The lounge was an oasis of calm and practically empty when we arrived. About eight people in total. There is an indoor water feature at the entrance and this can be heard around the lounge, very soothing. I was disappointed that were we not given a tour of the lounge but I later found out that the dragon was to be left on her own just after we arrived and therefore it was not possible to show us around. This was a pity as normally with two dragons in place we would have boarded the plane directly from the lounge, which is a very nice touch.

Quick synopsis, one TV station (large plasma screen) showing BBC News I think, two drinks stations where you can help yourself, including champagne (Veuve) and premium spirits. Both stations had some pastries and nuts etc. But only one had food. While the other was mainly for drinks. The food layout was superb, Smoked salmon, large prawns, chicken korma, cod, ravioli in tomato sauce. All the food looked amazing and I wish I could have taken a picture of the menu but I forgot. I went for a salmon and prawn starter and then chicken korma, washed down with champagne. Very nice. All the food was kept constantly refreshed and the staff kept the whole lounge spotless. I then took a look around the lounge, by now there were one or two people inside but there were still plenty of free seats. The bathroom was nice, with Molton Brown and Kenneth Turner accessories. I then took a look round Terminal 3 as I wanted to get some toiletries and I had a voucher (thanks to a previous thread on Flyertalk) for duty free. The terminal was packed and hot. Did I mention that it was half term, there were plenty of kids around, might have explained some of the huge queues. It was a great relief to get back to the lounge. For research purposes I decided to take a shower, the lounge has two, both very nice and it was very refreshing. Should mention that the lounge has a great view of the runway (sorry not sure which one) and the planes as they are on stand. Should also mention the business centre with 10 workstations and some laptop points too. There were fresh flowers on all the tables.


EK002 77W LHR-DXB F 1E and 1F
1345 Sat 10th Feb

At 1300 we had an anouncement that our flight would soon be boading and then at 1315 we were asked to board. At the gate they had both a premium entry and one for everyone else. At the door to the aircraft were were greeted by name by the Purser (cabin director). I noticed this was not done for those travelling in Business class. Once seated we were offered champagne (Dom) or orange juice, arabic coffee (no offence but this is not nice drink but I tried it, and now having done so will never do so again) and dates. Menus in a leather bound folder were passed out in conjunction with wine lists.

The flight pulled away at 1350 but the captain said that there were 8 planes due to take off before us. We were on our way at about 1415, sorry for the approximations but I was not looking at my watch.

I didn't take any pictures of the aircraft, I think there are many examples of EK 77W in F on here and other sites and the cabin held no surprises. However I will say that we were greeted by name on many occassions. Our glasses were kept topped up. Calls were answered promptly and we were regularly given hot towels.

I should make special mention of the food. I have transcribed the menu below but the food was superb and I know others on the flight thought so. It was very close to restaurant quality. Absolutely amazing! Really wish I had had my camera to take pictures but I for one would have felt very strange doing this, I have other flights ahead of me so I will try.



I opted for a Gin (Bombay Sapphire) and Tonic with my lobster balls and chicken crustade. Then had the Chicken Ballotine which was filled with dry apricot, prunes and pistachio, served with honey roasted pumpkin and beans and accompanied by a balsamic reduction. It was divine. Just out of interest this is a creation by Holger Jackisch who is the Executive chef at Al Qasr in Dubai.

I followed this with seasonal salad which was fresh salad, served with croutons and fresh shaved parmesan and opted of the honey mustard dressing. When it arrived it was topped with chicken and looked great.

For my main I chose the Poached Salmon but asked if I could have some of the prawn dish to go with it, which was not a problem. I also asked for Corton-Charlemagne to accompany this, again not a problem. This wine was sooo good. I had a few glasses and the crew ensured my glass stayed topped up.

By now I was feeling full so decided to just have some fresh fruit and grapes from the cheese board along with a Baileys on ice. I decided to settle in and watch a film and selected The Devil Wears Prada. Once that was finished I opted for some more Dom, got the laptop out and started to write my trip report. I used ICE and selected the Lauryn Hill album. Perfect!

For my Savoury Snack I opted for Gravalax and Beef accompanied by more Dom! I probably had some pastries too but don't recall. All that Dom had started to affect my memory.

IFE was ICE, yes it is that good, in fact if there is a criticism (and it just a small one) there is too much choice 600 channels but all in all a very good system. It seemed to work without a hitch and I didn't see anyone having to have their system reset although a few had to be shown how to use the system. It is not complicated but I guess more than anything it is overwhelming. Screen I think is 19 inches but looks massive. I took a tour of the plane and I am sure the J class screens are the same size. I think the 2-3-2 configuration is not a good one as the person in the middle row would always have to climb over their neighbour. Y classed was packed and looked it!

I had been warned about row 1 on the 77W in relation to privacy and the location of the screen as it is fixed on the wall. I didn't find it a problem although it might be slightly difficult to watch while at a full recline although I did see people in row 1 doing this. However in future I would recommend row 2 as they also serve this row first.

So all in all my first time in F and I have to say I was very impressed, it is just a completely different experience to travelling any other class.

To be continued...

bseller

Very nice report! I'm anxiously looking forward to the next installment.
Just one question, tho: How do you think they get their tiny little legs apart??

TEX277

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience ^ I am very much looking forward to reading the following installments.

I see similarities in our trip report writing style, lay-out, enthusiasm and choice of photo hosting website. I like your taste ^ Interesting to note that you also live in my home county and seem to have developed a taste for a Singapore Sling at Raffles too. Were we separated at birth?

It is nice when the crew address you by name. Unfortunately this is not something that BA seem to be too bothered about even when we had the same crew on our return the following day.

Moomba

Nice Report saracen. I look forward to the rest of your trip with anticipation; and to see if you ever got the courage to take photos of the meals on board

saracen

I've started working on the next part - should hopefully post later today.

As for the second question I am far too innocent to know what you mean

saracen

TEX, they say immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I was hoping to emulate your excellent reports. It took me a minute to work out how you knew about the Singapore Sling - till I realised I'd uploaded the pics! Also while I live in Leicesteshire I was not born here - I'm a Lancashire lad!

Yes I did - they will make an appearance later!

TEX277

Don't worry about it, nobody's perfect!

Have a great trip!

saracen

Sunday 11th Feb - 1am DXB
We arrived into DXB a little late and were one of the first off the plane into a waiting bus which quickly filled up. Although I see little point in letting F passengers off first onto the bus, only to then let J passengers on after. When we returned to DXB a few weeks later they actually let F passengers off onto their own bus and then transported us to the terminal. As soon as we arrived they opened security and this involved removing shoes, belts etc, I don't mind having to remove my shoes but there are never any chairs to allow passengers to do this. No matter, we were through in a few minutes and straight away I noticed that the terminal was very busy, and very hot with many people sleeping all over the place! I know this has been mentioned before but I am sure that this will be less of a problem when DXB gets its new terminal.


The Emirates First Lounge - DXB

Emirates has a dedicated First lounge and I don't know if it was the lateness of the hour but we again had to ask for the location of the lounge. Once we arrived though I have to say the lounge itself is amazing and huge, situated on two levels, good food choice and plenty of staff constantly cleaning up. They even had staff by the bathrooms who would clean up after every use. This lounge also had a water feature and whilst it was busy it was not overly so, although I did notice people had left coats and bags on chairs to reserve their seats, so had everyone been in the lounge and seated it might have felt a lot different. I took a look at the toilets, marble everywhere and Kenneth Turner toiletries. I didn't look at the showers but I will on our return. Upstairs are where the bedrooms are located and it looked like they were all occupied, I didn't even bother asking the lounge dragons (although they were both male) if there were any spaces. There are only four for the whole lounge! I didn't take any pictures but I had been up for what felt like an age so I just sat with a 7Up and some pastries while waiting for the flight to be called. They did have champagne in the lounge but for some reason I didn't have any and again the food selection was very good.

I had heard a great deal about DXB duty free but did not venture out into the terminal due to my being tired. I had not slept on the previous flight - too excited being in F I think and playing with ICE and drinking Dom! We were soon called to Gate 19 and there is no priority for F or J just one big line, not good . However as arrived at the air bridge it split into two, there were two doors one for F and J and another for everyone else, so we of course took the first door .




EK404 777 DXB-SIN F 2J and 2K
0245 Sun 11th Feb
We were greeted by name on arrival but not shown to our seats. Champagne (I was later told this was not Dom, I was told but I forget, I suspect it was the champagne used in Business Class) or orange juice were offered and just before take off a hot towel. The menus and wine lists were already in the seat backs in a Gold First Class card wallet.

Emirates is in the process of upgrading these planes but ours was one of the old ones, not to worry, it gave me a chance to experience a different kind of plane. I have since learned that this route (DXB-SIN-BNE) will be serviced by a 77W from Jan 2008. The seats do not lie flat but do have a reasonable recline, and with the privacy hood raised, they do allow some privacy. They were actually very compfortable for sleeping even though they are not lie-flat seats. IFE was the TV and Radio but I did not use this. Once we took off the cabin service started, we were offered amenity kits, with some nice products, in a real leather case - ^. The kit contained Kleenex tissues, Plax mouthwash, Roger & Gallet Cologne, Colgate toothpaste, toothbrush, roll-on deodorant, a comb, Bvlgari refreshing towel, Azzaro aftershave balm, razor and Gillette shaving foam. They asked if we wished to be woken for breakfast and then they started with the food service, which on this flight we were offered a snack consisting of sandwiches and cakes. I had a few nibbles and a few glasses of Dom, the crew member mentioned that most people were asleep (not surprising as it was the middle of the night) and so it would be very easy to give me and TOH very personal service. Which is what happened because my glass was never empty! After a few glasses though my eye lids started to get heavy and I then put my eye mask on and went to sleep. I woke a few times during the night as we had some very bad turbulence and then I woke fully just before breakfast started, in fact as I awoke I was almost immediately offered orange juice.

I do like the service on EK, on both flights, most times we were greeted by name, although it was funny as we never sat in our assigned seats and they kept getting our names the wrong way round (if that makes sense!), the food is wheeled out on a trolly and you are allowed to select what you want and they do like to offer you top ups too. My waistline is not going to cope with this!

For breakfast I chose the fruit and yoghurt, vegetable omlette and some croissants. All very tasty. The croissants were lovely and warm.



The crew were very good on this flight too but as a previous Flyertalker has mentioned about EK crew both flights were manned by the beautiful people (and I am not being sexist here because I am also including the male staff too ) and all from lots of different nationalites, which I think is a great touch. I would be interested to know what the selection criteria for their staff is.

Arrived SIN at 1350 - five minutes late. The flight was continuing onto Melbourne, with a new crew and the remaining passengers were given the option of leaving the craft during this changeover. Now I am not sure why the following happened but it was a nice touch. At the end of the airbridge was a sign with our names, where we were greeted by an Emirates employee who welcomed us to SIN and then introduced us to a colleague who would escort us through the terminal. We were taken straight through immigration to a special free desk to process our passports, while others had to wait at the regular immigration desks. Once immigration formalities were complete we were then escorted to the luggage carousel. Our baggage was one of the first off and we were escorted out past customs to meet our driver. He then led us to a waiting point while he fetched his car which was a Mercedes E200 Elegance. Now I know for a fact that there were others in F who did not get this "fast track" treatment, and to be honest we certainly felt like royalty when it happened! The driver was very chatty, said we were visiting at the right time as we have avoided the rains, told us a little about the city and explained why the place looked so clean - chewing gum is banned and litter dropping is a punishable offence. We reached our hotel at 1430, not bad timewise at all.


Raffles Hotel, Singapore - Courtyard Suite
Sun 11th Feb.
On arrival at Raffles, the car door was opened by our driver, who we gave a tip to, and then one of the Raffles doormen shook us both by hand and welcomed us to Raffles. Our bags were taken from the car by a porter, who also welcomed us to Raffles. We were led by the Raffles doorman through the main door, and the gentleman who held open the door also welcomed us to Raffles too. At the Reception Desk after a quick "Welcome to Raffles" we did the check-in formalities and the receptionist introduced us to our escort who would take us to our room. We received a "Welcome to Raffles" from our escort who took us through, along with a porter, to our room. Great first impression ^.

The escort explained the entry system to our part of the hotel and also how to get into our room. We were then given a guided tour of the room and an explanation of who our valet was and how to reach them, although we never used them. The room was fabulous, high ceilings and beautifully decorated. It was one of the best hotel rooms I have ever stayed in. The room has an entrance hall/living area, containing a sofa and chair, dining table with two chairs. There was also fresh fruit on the dining table. This was separated from the bedroom by a curtain, plus there are two "windows" either side of the curtain that had shutters that can be closed. The bedroom contained two beds, huge closet containing wardrobe, tv, selection of drawers and cupboards, a smaller desk and stool, valet stand, another chair and matching footstool. There were no tea or coffee making facilities. There is a door leading to a dressing area containing huge mirror, twin sinks. Inside the dressing area is another door leading to a bathroom with bath, separate shower and toilet. Huge suite and very tastefully decorated. I should mention that the rooms have no view to speak of, which may put off some people, this did not bother us.

I urge anyone who has the chance to stay here if they can.


Afternoon Tea
TOH decided to have a snooze and I changed into shorts and took a tour of the hotel paying attention to the arcade where the shops are, and the famous Long Bar. The shops that form part of the Raffles Arcade were very busy and to be honest the public areas of the hotel are really touristy, but that magic room key gets you to areas the tourists only dream of! The areas the public don't get to are so quiet and beautiful, it really is a magical place that you get a feeling of how colonial Singapore used to be. I enquired with one of the staff about Afternoon Tea, they explained that there were two choices the Bar and Billiards Room and The Tiffin Room. They recommended the Tiffin, but that it might be full as Sunday was a busy day but we might be able to get a table at a later sitting. I asked about how to book and was then escorted and introduced to the Maitre d' of the Tiffin I asked about availability for Afternoon Tea and he explained with a wink that for residents they would always have a free table ^ ! He then discretely told me that there was a dress code of long trousers and closed shoes (as I was wearing shorts and flip flops!) Back to the room and quick change and TOH and me arrived at the Tiffin Room. The Maitre d' immediately recognised me and led us to a table and explained that it was a buffet, to help ourselves and someone would be along shortly to take our drinks orders.

The Tiffin Room was busy, all the tables were taken, there was a harpist playing which was a lovely touch. As it was so busy we had to wait in line a while to get some food but with subsequent visits, there was no queue at all. Not sure what is it about Afternoon Tea but we ate quite a bit and then didn't eat anything else till the following morning. It is obviously the thing to do while in SIN as plenty of people were taking pictures. A little touristy perhaps. The other thing for me is that I feel Afternoon Tea should be served to you rather than a help yourself buffet but I could not fault the food (traditional scones with jam and cream, sandwiches, cakes and pastries, dim sum, fruit), the presention or the service, and they kept both my coffee and TOHs tea topped up. For those that have been, for me, two of the best Afternoon Teas I have ever had are at the St James in London and Kilworth House in Leicestershire.

We then took another tour of the hotel, taking in the oldest parts, very nice and peaceful, we looked at the rooftop pool, the Spa and the gym. We then both had an early night ready to hit SIN with a vengence the following day. The beds and pillows were very comforable and certainly condusive to a good nights sleep.

The following morning after a quick workout in the gym (very small, but the use of mirrors made it look bigger) we had breakfast. I am not a gym fanatic but on this trip I think regular attendance is essential if I am to maintain my weight on our travels. Breakfast was served in the Tiffin Room, this was a buffet affair, very well presented and delicious, we hoped by filling up here we could keep our hunger at bay until Afternoon Tea at the Shangri-La later that day. We checked out at midday, left our bags with the concierge while we went to the Long Bar for Singapore Slings and a visit to the Raffles Museum. At 2pm we asked for a taxi to take us to our next stop, the Shangri-La. This arrived as our bags were brought out front. Very prompt. We had enquired about using the hotel Bentley for our transfer to the Shangri-La. Costs were SIN$250 for an airport transfer or SIN$250 per hour for general use with a minimum hire period of 2 hours. We thought about it but declined! Our taxi to the Shangri-La cost less than SIN$10!

The staff at Raffles are very attentive, many greeted us by name while we there, and both at breakfast and Afternoon Tea they kept our glasses topped up and always smiling. Full marks really.

Rant - Can I just say that for a hotel that harps on about how the Sinapore Sling was invented there and it is supposed to be a trademark of Raffles, the whole image is shattered when the Sling is poured from a readymix bottle, hardly inspiring. I have heard others mention this but I always like to try these thing out for myself and give an honest review. If one is paying SIN$18 (+tax) for a drink that is basically being poured out of a bottle, it borders on rip off. The place is heaving with tourists, all there to sample the famous Sling and the floor is covered in nut shells (ok this is supposed to be traditional but still makes the place look messy). I am not advising others to avoid a visit but just be prepared that your drink is not individually made up as I would think it should be in a five star hotel. How was the drink? Actually not that bad, quite refreshing really but still out of bottle, it just didn't seem right. Rant Over!

Next stop, the Shangri-La.

olegator

[QUOTE][B]I opted for a Gin (Bombay Sapphire) and Tonic with my lobster balls and chicken crustade. Then had the Chicken Ballotine which was filled with dry apricot, prunes and pistachio, served with honey roasted pumpkin and beans and accompanied by a balsamic reduction. It was divine[QUOTE]

cannot read it
YUMMY!!!

bseller

Again, a Very nice second installment!! As for the Raffles, it is truly one of the finest hotels I've ever stayed in, although I suspect I'll not do it again for a long, long time....$$$$$!!!.

Next time through, however, avoid the LongBar and take your drinks in the Courtyard Bar just below. It's a great spot for people watching, there is music occasionally, and the drinks are prepared as you watch.

Best, Dave

saracen

Dave, thanks for the tip but unfortunately, like you, I will not be returning for quite some time, mainly like you for monetary reasons! We did see the Courtyard Bar but I suspect we wanted to do the touristy thing in the Long Bar.

bseller

Not at all unusual or unexpected. Just remember that the Courtyard Bar is 'outside' of the Resident's Only area when you're next in SIN!

Best, Dave

magiciansampras

Great post! I've always wanted to fly EK!

Seat 2A

Unfortunately, my airline's FFP doesn't include Emirates, much less any other middle eastern airline, so I'll have to rely on reports like yours in order to fly them vicariously. Thanks for a most enjoyable read. ^

Seat 2A

The title says:

EK First - LHR-SIN-BNE SYD-DXB-LHR (plus some internal Y flights) with pics

I was just curious as to the rest of this report. Seems we only got as far as Singapore on this thread. Is the rest published somewhere else or did it die a premature death?