Part 3.
Dec 16th EK653 MLE-DXB
Fun facts about the resort itself. There were 120 employees who stayed on the island in a housing area right in the middle of the island. They also had a soccer pitch and tennis court to themselves though the soccer pitch was open to guests at some point but they closed it off and made it for employees only. There were 62 villas which consisted of beach and water villas including 2 ultra lux 2 floor villas. Some of the staff returned to family in Male and surrounding islands on their days off, others stayed on the island. Most of the workers were from Male and surrounding areas, rest were from India, Sri Lanka China and Europe. There was one girl who was from South Africa.
On the last day at the resort we had to check out by 12pm but our flight wasn't until 11pm. We were given an option to check out late; 4pm was $100(US) or 6pm for $150. Seeing how most of our stay we only went to our room during the evening to go to bed we decided not to take the option for late check out. Our all inclusive package was also going to expire at 2pm so our last meal would be lunch and all drinks would end as well. We decided to speak to the duty manager and ask if we could extend the drinks until 6pm because our boat to MLE was scheduled at 7:45pm. We explained that we didn't arrive at the resort until the evening so it was only fair to extend the drinks. The duty manager agreed and extended the drinks until 6pm.
We watched our last stingray feeding which happen daily at 5pm. such beautiful creatures...
We killed time at the bar and during our stay we made friends with Kannan who was not only a really good bartender but one of the friendliest people I've met. He asked about our first slow song at our reception the first night we arrived at the resort and from the moment on he would always play the same song when we sat down at the bar. I had a good chuckle every time I heard our song come over the speakers. We also asked about his life outside of work, he told us about his wife, daughter and family back in India and how he's been working at the resort for 7 years so his entire family could have a better life. Even though our drinks were free during our stay we decided to leave him a tip on our final bill.
With our song in the background and sipping the last few drops from our drinks, we finally got up from our table and made the walk down the pier to our waiting boat. It was a bittersweet moment; glad to be going back home to our families but missing the new friends we made at the resort who were like family for the few days we spent on their island.
Resident bird saying his farewells
Our luggage was brought out to end of the pier and the duty manager, who was a young Russian girl, came to bid us farewell. She told us during our stay that she worked on cruise ships from Victoria and visited Vancouver off and on before getting a job on the island and wished us a safe trip back. There was also another couple with us who were returning to Singapore on the Singapore airlines flight which left around the same time as our flight. Very nice couple but couldn't speak English so they would say one or two words and just smile at us. There were also a few employees from the resort who were hitching a ride to Male.
We got helped into the boat, given life vests and we were on our way. It was pitch dark when we left, not a single cloud in the sky. Lucky for us we escaped the rain for the most part, however it did rain during the mornings during our stay but we were in bed so it really didn't matter to us. Overall the weather was stunning during our stay and upon departure it was a calm and clear night. As our boat sped away from the resort it was now time to focus on the flight ahead. We had plenty of time because we left the resort at 7:45pm, it would take us around 45 minutes to MLE which gave us plenty of time to check-in.
We finally reached Male. It was the first time I've seen the city of Male at night and it look like a miniature version of NYC. It's a bit surreal seeing high rise buildings on such a tiny piece of land in the middle of nowhere. My moment of awe was interrupted by the Asian couple traveling with us who seem to be in a rush, well the husband was because he got up even before the boat docked. He kept yelling at his wife to get up, she didn't look to please and turned to us with a big smile and said "he's crazy".
The boat finally docked and there was two guys who were on the dock helping with our bags. The guy helping us had a MLE airport badge hanging from his lanyard and was dressed in slacks and dress shirt. Not your typical baggage handler. He carted our luggage to the departure security check point. The first check point you show your boarding card and passport and your bags are x-rayed for banned items. Once that's completed you can go to the ticket desks. There was no queues for any of the check-in desks so our helper brought the luggage to the Emirates desk and unloaded our bags. I told him we were fine now and he could leave, he said he had to wait until the bags were checked in. I've traveled enough to India and Asian countries to know what that meant, TIP. I had no cash on me except for 10 dirhams from our Dubai trip so I gave it to him. He thanked me and walked off.
I handed our passports to the agent at the Emirates check-in desk and he started to check us in all the way to SEA. I also mentioned we were eligible for Dubai connect because we had a 7 hour layover at DXB. He acknowledged that indeed we had Dubai connect confirmed and went ahead and booked us in. Up until now we had no issues with the check-in process during our flights but this guy messed up and booked us at the Al Bustan Rotana instead of the Le Meridien. He quickly turned to call his manager who came over and apologized. Turns out that the Al Bustan is also a 5 star hotel but he said the Le Merdien was a better option. He couldn't change the booking so he sent an e-mail note to customer service at DXB and told us to speak to customer service before immigration to fix the issue. I'm always wary of airline employees claiming to send e-mails to fix errors they made so I decided to take his business card for good measure.
The agent gave us boarding passes all the way to SEA and fast track cards for immigration. We made our way up to the second level which was empty, immigration officer stamped our passports and made our way to the security line up. There was only one line open but the line wasn't long. There was no priority line up. Once we cleared the security line up we made our way through duty free. Surprisingly the duty free isn't that bad at MLE, there's tons of survivor items and quite a few luxury items for purchases including Hublot watches. We weren't in the shopping mood so we made our way to the Leela lounge which is basically a premium plaza lounge. It was newly renovated and reminded me of the international side premium plaza lounge at YVR. The food choices were decent, I did like the large selection of fresh fruit so decided to grab few items and relax.
I must say the crowd in the lounge seem like the cream of the crop. One woman, who honestly look like a supermodel, was on her Vertu phone talking really loud about her trip to someone, another woman was napping on her Chanel pillow wrapped in her comfy Hermes blanket. There was young man sitting near me from Brazil who played for a football club and was wearing the most blinged out Rolex I've ever seen. He was traveling F on our flight all the way to Rio with his female companion. There were a few F pax for the Singapore flight as well. I also noticed a lot of Russian J passengers who were on the same flight as ours, I assume they were all connecting at DXB to Moscow.
The people watching got boring and I was getting hungry and so was the wife. There was nothing in the lounge plus as far as a meal so I decided to go get Burger King while the wife stayed back in the lounge. I brought the meal back to the lounge and we ate at our seats, we got a few looks but I could careless because at this point Burger King tasted like a gourmet meal. After our meal we decided to head down to the gate area, MLE is tiny so all the gates which are basically 3 doors leading you outside, are located on the lower floor with one big sitting area. It was very crowded as our flight seem 95% full.
We sat around for 20 minutes when the first announcement came over the speakers which we could barely make out. It was announcement for F/J pax but it seem like priority boarding was for everyone because everyone got up and rushed the gates. The employees at the gate didn't seem to care what class ticket you had and started allowing everyone to board. We finally got through the hoard of bodies and made our way outside to the plane. There was a 2 stair setup; first stairs for F/J which lead through the F cabin and the other was set up for Y passengers. This time around we wouldn't luck out, we got the old 773 which look beat up. It also had the old ICE and old F class seats which is common on domestic 777's Emirates use. There were a couple J pax from Colombo where the flight originated from sleeping in their seats.
The FA's came by with the usual drinks and hot towels, there would be no alcoholic drinks until after takeoff. I decided to take a look around my seat, my god was this plane in bad condition. My touch controller wouldn't turn on. The power plug was busted and there was no USB ports. The older ICE system was slow and dimwitted with a idiotic mouse pointer on the screen. The seats made a lot of noise when moving your seat selections. The plane was done loading but had to load some bags so I got up to the use the washroom, I almost puked. The toilets were filthy. I don't care if you're traveling in Y, J or F the toilets shouldn't be this filthy especially for an airline like Emirates. I got back to my seat and told my wife she would have to wait until Dubai to use the washroom.
I opted out of dinner because I had just ate and decided to sleep instead. Our 3hr30m flight went by in no time and there was no traffic at DXB so we landed on time. Our plane made it's way to concourse A.
I would say majority of the pax on our plane were connecting pax so they went through the connections exit but we had to make our way to the main exit so we could go to our hotel for the short 7 hour layover. We caught the train to the immigration hall.
Before we could clear customs and exit we had to resolve our hotel issue. We made our way to the customer service desk which is located before the immigration desks. We approached the Emirates employee who seem like she was having a bad morning. She rudely asked for our boarding passes, I handed them over. She asked what the issue was, I explained what happen. She said she couldn't do anything and the hotel they provided in MLE was 5 star. I told her I didn't want this particular hotel and told her I was advised I could have changed by visiting customer service. She told me to wait and she called her manager. He advised her that the Le Meridien was fully booked and that we had to stick with the hotel given to us. I said I wasn't happy and I wanted an alternative hotel.
Mind you I was sort of acting like a prick at this point, I was exhausted, annoyed and I had it in my mind that the Le Meridien was the better hotel. The lady helping insisted she couldn't do anything and that the hotel we had was 5 star because Emirates would never put F/J pax in a hotel less than 5 star. I asked her to check the e-mail the manager from MLE sent and I handed her his business card. She changed her tone and said she didn't understand why this guy said they would change the hotel once we arrived in DXB but agreed I had a point about changing hotels so she called her manager again and informed him that two pax in J were not happy with the hotel and they had a card from the manager in MLE who promised a better hotel. She got off and offered the Jumeriah Creekside hotel. I accepted, thanked her and made our way to the fast track line up.
The baggage claim area in DXB at this time of night was empty, most passengers arriving on early morning flights probably connect to other flights.
We went straight to the chauffeur area, collected our voucher and made our way out...
Our driver...
The Jumeriah creekside is 5 minutes away, it was a nice quick drive and all I could think about was taking a shower and relaxing for an hour or two. I knew we didn't have a enough time to get a good amount of sleep but with a 13+ hour flight ahead of us I didn't mind staying up so I would get a good sleep on the plane.
The check-in was a breeze. The person helping gave us breakfast vouchers which started at 6am and informed us that Emirates would be picking us up around 7:30am. If they didn't pick us up, the hotel would provide 20 dirham towards a taxi.
After collecting our key we would in to the lobby area, the hotel itself is very nice and has a lot of character. By far one of the best airport hotels I've stayed at. Seems like arguing for a different hotel paid off but too bad it was such a short stay.
Heading up to our room which was on the 6th floor...
Loved this carpeting...
The room was really nice and very clean. All items in the minibar were free but only had a few cans of pop. We finally took a well needed shower and took a quick nap, it was only an hour long until we got up and made our way to breakfast. The breakfast buffet was massive, so much to select from including a proper English breakfast with beef sausage and English beans. That's what I got plus a side of fresh scrambled eggs and fresh orange juice. It was excellent.
After breakfast, we went back up to the room, came downstairs and checked out. We were a bit early as it was only 7am, the driver wasn't suppose to come until 7:45 but my wife wanted to check out the shopping at DXB so I requested if we could get the car to pick us up earlier. The hotel employee who checked us in was very friendly and called Emirates. About 5 minutes after the call the driver showed up. Impressive! We loaded up our bags and made our way to DXB.
End of part 3.