So, leaving the house at 17:00 we quickly arrived at the airport, where check-in was quickly completed after passing through the first set of security screening. At check-in we also got a voucher for our free stop-over in Dubai, we had been allocated Le Meridien hotel, which is just across the street from the terminal, so I decided we would have to use that as well, as long as we arrive on time. We then proceeded to fill in immigration forms for the kids, as they have Philippino passports, and then we had to clear immigration, before there is another security screening, and then we are finally in the boarding area.
After killing a little bit of time in the terminal, we were quickly starting boarding, and we were greeted by the door by one of the cabin crew, and showed to our seats, which were 7 D E F. Emirates operates with 7 seat abreast in Business Class on their Boeing 777s, in a 2-3-2 configuration, so this suited us well so we could sit together.
- Introduction – Christmas is Norway 2019
- Emirates Boeing 777ER Clark – Dubai business class
- Stopover in Dubai at Le Meridien
- Emirates Boeing 777ER Dubai – Oslo business class
- Christmas holiday in Norway
- Radisson Blu, Gardermoen, Norway
- Emirates Boeing 777ER Oslo – Dubai business class
- Emirates Boeing 777ER Dubai – Cebu business class
- Emirates Boeing 777ER Cebu – Clark business class
We were in a 3-class version of the Boeing 777, and located in a small cabin with only 2 rows of 7 seats each. In front of that was first class, and behind us a wall and then 4 more rows of business class seats. The flight seemed to be fairly full, at least 90% of the business class seats were taken.
Before departure the cabin crew handed out amenity kits, and took drinks orders. The kids asked for orange juice, and I had a glass of champagne.
We pushed back on time, and were airborne at 20:03
We were then quickly served another round of drinks, and the crew came around to take food orders at 20:36
The menu was available online several weeks before departure, you can see it here:
The kids had their own children meals, and I ordered the Smoked Chicken with pineapple salsa and vegetable salad for started and the Beef with mushrooms and broccoli for main course. The food was served maybe 30 minutes after the food order was taken.
The food tasted fine, but it was nothing out of the ordinary, and the servings were quite small, so I was not too impressed with it.
Food service was done by 22:00, and the trays were cleaned promptly, and it was time for me to relax and read a book, while the kids kept watching movies.
The seats were not the most comfortable, but the cabin crew came around with extra padding for the seats, which made them somewhat better. Also, the seats doesn’t fully recline into a flat bed, but rather about 160 degrees, which I don’t mind, as I anyways prefer to have my head higher than my feet when I am sleeping.
Also, the seats are quite narrow, and with me having the middle seat it felt almost cramped, when I was leaning back my shoulders were touching the walls on both side of me, so this is not the most comfortable product out there. For the kids it was of course plenty of space 🙂
After having read my book for a while I decided to have a nap, as it was going to be a long night of traveling, and quickly fell asleep and only woke up as we were starting our descent onto Dubai.
We arrived about 30 minutes head of schedule, and were parked at a remote stand. After disembarking it was about a 15 minutes bus ride to the terminal, and we then started searching for where to go to get our free stop-over at Le Meridien.