Dubai or not Dubai...that is the question...

Have you ever been on a Disney or Universal ride that starts with a movie describing the adventure you're about to take as a "place of the future" or the perfect place? Then you get on the ride, and something goes terribly wrong for purpose of the story? Well, I was watching a tourist advertisement about Dubai that the ship was running continuously the night before we arrived and it sort of felt like that pre-theme park video you see before getting on the ride that tries to take over the world. I am sorry for this vague preface, but I just had the strangest feeling about Dubai. It was one of the places on this tour I was looking forward to going the most, because of all the hype about it, with Dubai being the new playground for the rich and famous. Plus, my favorite TV show is 'Great Hotels' on the Travel Channel and I have seen about a hundred specials on the 'Burj al Arab' hotel, the world's only 7-star hotel. And FINALLY, because I was ready to get out of the poverty zones of all the third world countries we have been hitting recently.

SO....Dubai! The second we step off the ship, it is apparent that this place is trying so hard to be "the destination." The cruise terminal was gorgeous, everything marble, a post office and internet cafe inside, shops....it was just a very beautiful entrance. Before I begin about my journey of the day, I want to begin by saying that there has been a bit of an obsession onboard with the passengers and Dubai because everyone has been really looking forward to it. "THE" thing to do was be at the 'Burj' hotel, as they call it, but I think I heard from at least 20 different passengers how impossible it is to get a reservation there. And you cannot even get close to the hotel entrance without a reservation guaranteeing to put at least $100.00 on your credit card. Once you finally get this "impossible" reservation, they send you a text message or email just hours before with your confirmation number in order to get in the gate. My dilemma is: I really want to go!! The only way seems to be with a tour that the passengers can sign up for with the ship that takes them to high tea for $160. Not only was the tour at maximum capacity because everyone was obsessed, but they were not letting any crew be tour guides. So, I did what I usually do: attempt the impossible and try to get a reservation anyway. I sent an email from my super high profile "Press@AshleyBlakeFisher.com" email address hoping they would think I was somebody important. I remembered a story my uncle had told me once about getting my parents into a hotel in Reno and saying he was their pilot and that Harlan Fisher was a world famous gambler. Hmmm.... So my email went a little something like this:

To Whom This May Concern:
I am the personal assistant to Ashley Blake Fisher and she will be sailing into Dubai on the 6-star Regent Voyager this Sunday. Ms. Fisher would like to make a lunch reservation and requests a table with discretion and privacy. Please let me know at your earliest convenience what time she can expect a reservation. Thank you.

Call me ridiculous, call me pushy, but not an hour later I received an email back with a lunch reservation at the newest restaurant, Junsui, at the Burj! HA!

So I hop off the ship in a brand new outfit from Singapore, and I tell the cab driver, "To the Burj, please!" And what a fabulous, fabulous experience it was. The outside of the hotel itself is overwhelming..as it's the tallest hotel in the world. Once inside the gate, all you see are rolls royces (each suite receives a complimentary rolls royce). Then, we walk inside and the lobby is even more ostentacious the Trump Towers. Everything is done in gold and the first thing I did was look up at the enormous atrium. Lunch was just awesome. Junsui is an Asian restaurant, and since it was a buffet, there was a price fixe menu of $115 per person. Yes, for a lunch buffet. But if I tell you there were four kitchens (Thai, Sushi, Chinese, and Vietnamese) and every dish was better then the next. The sushi chef was making any roll you could possibly think of, and it was the best sushi I've ever had. The thai food was out of this world...and now that I have actually been to Thailand, I knew what it was supposed to taste like. You couldn't do anything without someone doing it for you. A waiter walks you to the buffet and carries all your plates, is constantly bringing hot towels and palette cleansers, and peddles the $16 diet cokes like they are going out of style. The dessert was even better. They had a HUGE chocolate fountain with every possible dipping item in the world. They had truffles, ice cream in every flavor, the list goes on and on. We took the elevator up to the top floor and saw some of the famous real estate projects like The Palm Islands and The World (which didn't really look like the world at all). I also went to the spa to grab a spa menu for my mom. $100 for a 25 minute massage!!!

As we were leaving, I saw a bunch of passengers that were there for the "High Tea" tour. The look on their faces to see me coming out of lunch was priceless. Everyone wanted to know my secret to see how I possibly managed to get a lunch reservation. Don't tell !

After lunch, it was straight over to Mall of the Emirates, one of the largest malls in the world. Inside the mall is Ski Dubai, one of the coolest (literally) places I have ever seen. It's an indoor ski slope that is HUGE...complete with a ski lift, sledding, and a huge mountain. Being from South Florida, I am not an avid skier, but I definitely had an appreciation for this place and took some pictures. I spent some time scoping out this huge mall, but really didn't buy a lot because everything was pretty expensive. Since leaving Shanghai, I refuse to pay more than 10 dollars for ANYTHING. ;)

That night, some of the cast went out for a night in Dubai and ended up at this place called "Dubai Marine" which consisted of 3 clubs. The first one was Budoir, and it was gorgeous on the inside. There was also an 80s bar next door. I didn't end up staying out all night because I was exhausted from running around everywhere all day. Before Dubai Marine, we had a drink at a club called 'Mix in the Grand Hyatt hotel. I must say in my travels I have found the Hyatt hotels in every country to be my favorites. They are always the most beautiful inside and out. But I digress..

Another area I forgot to mention that I visited was the Gold Souq (Market), where you'll find more gold than you could ever imagine. I went to look for a few minutes, but I'm not a gold fan.

Day two of Dubai just consisted of a morning visit to the Wafi Center, another big mall and famous pyramid hotel. Again, there was nothing to buy, but the mall was like a museum. They had the most ridiculous stores. Stores that sold furniture completely covered in Swarovski crystals. WHHHAT?? I know what you all are thinking: my house will have that one day. Yeah, maybe. We sailed out of Dubai that day at 1pm, so unfortunately, that was all we were able to do that day.

So overall, Dubai? While lunch at the Burj was definitely a highlight, I have to say that Dubai is all too much like Las Vegas. And I actually prefer Las Vegas! I am definitely glad for the experience of going all the way to Dubai, but it seems as though it's trying too hard to be the perfect city and appeal to Americans. While I did see a lot of Muslims there in the full Muslim garb (some women completely covered except their eyes), the majority of people there were Europeans and Americans. Everything was incredibly clean and beautiful there, but why travel all the way to the Middle East when we have it all in Vegas??

The next day we arrived in Muscat, Oman, and I must say it was much different than I thought it would be. It was completely clean and very charming. I got to be a tour escort in the morning and cruise on a Dhow boat (really cool old style Middle-Eastern boat) and we saw A TON of dolphins!!! There were hundreds of them so close to our boat doing tricks and jumping...it was awesome! We stopped by a palace as well, and that was pretty cool. Later that day, I went to the Souq (market) and saw a bunch of crap that I really don't want/need. However, I did have a delightful day in Oman...no this was not an April Fools joke, I was really in Oman.

Thanks for reading! Our next stop is Aquaba, Jordan, in which I am doing a crew tour to the once forbidden city of Petra! Then we're off to Turkey and Greece!

All my lovin,
The personal assistant to Ashley Blake Fisher

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