We were up early today; there is no sleeping in on turnaround days, even one where the Pacific Princess overnighted in Venice. There were no sounds of the ship maneuvering against the pier, but people started disembarking the Pacific Princess particularly early, plus there were the sounds of truck traffic bringing in supplies and food stores (our cabin was pier side, and, for the first time this cruise, I closed our room darkening drapes to shut out the bright lights).
We were in the Panorama Buffet by 6:30am, and meeting up with our disembarkation group in the Cabaret Lounge by 8:40am. We had opted to take a Princess transfer to the Marco Polo Airport. Venice is one of the few cities in the world where, hauling four months worth of life’s necessities, I would always opt for a Princess transfer.
We had quite a wait at the airport, but we had minibar sodas and waters to see us through and a few leftover Euros to spend on snacks. We were able to check our suitcases at noon, and that freed us up to go through security. Honestly, I think that every part of the world does this differently. In Venice, the shoes stayed on but the coats came off, and liquids were placed in a bin on the conveyer belt. In French Polynesia, we were looked at as if we were crazy when we put liquids in a bin.
Luckily, we had a much coveted but seldom granted empty seat between us, and that made all the difference in flight comfort. Of course, it helped a great deal that the flight was just under six hours. G napped a little but I did not. I think, for the first time in my life, we had a baby of about 14 months who cried the entire flight. I felt sure she’d fall asleep once we were airborne, but no such luck. Oh well, if I eventually felt like crying too, I can only imagine how her parents coped. She was a darling, all smiles and flirts…as we were disembarking the plane.
Getting through the Dubai airport was time-consuming…a long walk, a massive elevator to a train, another long walk, a long line for immigration, another long walk to baggage claim (so much time had passed that I feared our luggage would have been removed and sent to lost luggage), and, finally, one more passport control stop. We ordered an Uber to take us to our hotel, and that turned out to be an inexpensive but harious experience; every single Uber car was a black luxury sedan. Thank God for Uber’s license plate information! We memorized the last four numbers and walked up and down the sidewalk looking for “our” car. Driver Mohammed from Sri Lanka was a dear, loading and unloading the big suitcases and acting as tour guide, too. Frankly, I had been amazed. The airport at 1am was as busy and lively as any airport on a busy afternoon.
As for our hotel…well, people all around the world have spent less time and effort buying a house than we did in choosing our hotel in Dubai. We looked at but immediately discounted the Burj Al Arab, the sailboat-shaped luxury property that impressed the world when it first opened. Sure, it was ridiculously expensive, but it wasn’t unusually so for a luxury hotel in Dubai. But we were far more interested in being in Downtown Dubai, by the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building), the Dubai Fountain (the world’s tallest fountain complex), and the Dubai Mall (the second largest in the world). Sunset is early at this time of year; we wanted to feel like our day wouldn’t end when it got dark.
We settled on The Palace Downtown, and, to celebrate our milestone anniversary, went big with a fountain view, Burj Khalifa view room. Well, was it is simply unreal, and we have a front row seat to the LED light show on the Burj Khalifa and have dancing waters so close that, if the wind is blowing, we might get sprayed.
Of course, arriving at 2am last night, we cared not a bit about any of that. We wanted room to open suitcases, hot showers (massive, with a large rainfall showerhead, and a comfortable bed (also massive, we could go the entire night without so much as touching feet), and our room offered all those, too. By 3am (midnight in Venice) we were asleep.