FAR far away: singapore to Morocco
It was an extremely long way from Singapore to Morocco. There was no direct flight and even if there was, the flying time will be about 16 hours… too long a stretch for us to bear in an “iron container”. We decided to fly by Emirates Airline as it broke the flight trip into two about equal legs with a 3 hour transit in Dubai which would be for us to stretch our legs and get refresh.
We left Singapore at midnight and after 7.5 hours we landed in Dubai. Upon landing we received our first bad news through our email alerts. The 2nd leg of our flight was delayed by 6 additional hours. So instead of a nice 3.5 hours transit, the transit time increased a 9.5 hours. Oh dear, we had no “good” sleep on the plane and now had to spend additional hours waiting for our next flight.
Seven years ago we were in Dubai a beautiful airport. We wondered if the airport was still as nice. Upon exiting the plane we walked into a nice, posh and clean airport.
Fly emirates, fly better??
For the six additional hours of transit the only compensation we received from “Emirates” was a “coffee voucher”. We received the vouchers through our emails, as for the other passengers who did not left email contacts, they were unaware of the the vouchers so we suggested they sought out the Emirates counter.
We went in search of “Costco coffee” to redeem some coffee and food.
After the early “coffee cum breakfast” break we walked around the airport in search of some forms of entertainment. Unlike Singapore Changi Airport which had a movie theater, mini butterfly catchment, indoor garden, rain votex etc etc which were free and entertaining to transit passengers, this airport only had shops and restaurants and cafes.
As we wandered around we came across several “money changer” counters and Moroccan Dihram was available. A huge sign indicated “no charges, duty free etc”. So we thought it would be great to get some Moroccan Dirham before we enterred Morocco. But upon checking we found the exchange rate extremely poor, the rate were more than 30% off the spot rate!
We popped into shop after shop looking at their products. Nothing caught our “wants” so we decided to walk into an airport lounge for more coffee, brunch and shut eyes. We found “Ahlan Lounge” and went in.
We lazed in Ahlan Lounge till about 1 hour before boarding time. Unfortunately while we were searching for our boarding gate of the 2nd leg of our flight, an email message from Emirates arrived. The flight was further delayed for another 5 hours! Since the flight was delayed there was no boarding gate or staff!
We had questions but there was no staff about! We found an “Emirates” counter and was told that the 2nd leg of our flight started from Doha and would stop at Dubai to pick up more passengers before flying to Casablanca. Weather at Casablanca was bad and incoming plane could not land. The plane from Doha would only take off till the weather cleared in Casablanca. We were warned of a possible third delay!
This was very upsetting, if we knew upfront that the total of the two delays was 11 hours which increased our transit time from 3.5 hour to 14.5 hours we would have checked into the transit hotel for a good sleep. Unfortunately the delay details came in “piece meal” manner which made it difficult to decide on the “transit hotel”.
Like the first delay, Emirates compensated us with a meal voucher for this 2nd delay. The delay were worsen by “ZERO” information from Emirates Staff. All we had were “delay emails” with NO EXPLANATIONS” and voucher emails. Why couldn’t Emirates be forcoming regarding the “delay details”. Not knowing was very absolutely frustrating. Emirates certainly failed on its theme “FLY EMIRATES, FLY BETTER”!!
poor services at hertz
Eventually we took off from Dubai Airport after waiting for 14.5 hours (3.5 hour original transit and 11 hour delay) and after another 8 hours on the plane we finally landed at Casablanca at 10 pm. We quickly crossed custom, picked up our luggage, quick stop at the money changer counter and raced to Hertz car rental outlet just outside the airport but it was already closed. We were late by 30 min! We called the number displayed but there were no pick up!
When we knew of our delay in Dubai many hours ago we dialled allthe numbers on our “car rental booking form” to get in touch with the Casablanca Airport Hertz Rental Outlet. We called but found no one answering the phone so we left message. We called the outlet, we called the main office, we emailed them informing them of our delay. While in Dubai we got absolutely no reply from Hertz. Even after we landed in Casablanca we still had no reply from Hertz!
Reorganising our plan caused by the delay
The delay had caused us to lost some 8 hours. We were supposed to pick up a rental car, drive into Casablanca city, explore the town a bit, stay a night, then visit Hassan II Mosque the next morning then explore the city again and leave for Rabat the next town.
Now on touch down we could not pick up our rental car. We had already booked and paid for a hotel room many kilometers away in Casablanca central, should we forfeit it and stay somewhere near and picked up the rental car the next day? Or should we go to our already paid hotel, to stay a night and pick up a rental car in a Hertz outlet in town! All these questions and Hertz was total out of touch to help at all! The rain was coming down on us and standing in the middle night outside Hertz outlet was not a “welcoming experience” to Morocco.
Getting into Casablanca
Luckily there was a couple of taxis drivers standing near Hertz Car Rental Outlet so we went to seek help from them. In the end we hailed a ride to Casablanca central and the agreed charge was 300MAD. We knew we were overcharged as I had read somewhere that the taxis fare was about 150MAD, but we had no other options. It was wet, cold, dark and late. There were three taxis drivers standing in front of us and they probably had already “ganged up” about the price.
The distance into town was about 33 km and should take about 40 minutes, unfortunately our driver was detouring into small roads… taking a “long, long” way. Mid way he transferred us to another car, apparently the new driver was his son. A bit of “nerve wretching” as we wondered if we were being “kidnapped”. By the time we reached our hotel it was over 1.5 hour.
A lesson learned here! Next time if something similar happened we would forfeit our paid hotel, stayed near the airport.
Stay for Day 1
Our stay was at Melliber Appart Hotel. The main reason we picked this hotel was that it was within walking distance to Hassan II Mosque, one of the “must see” of Casablanca. Furthermore the price seemed reasonable for a mini studio.
True enough we were able to see the mosque directly from our balcony. The “night” look of the mosque was lovely and we would be great to be able to walk nearer to the mosque. Unfortunately it was after midnight and we did not want to be out exploring in this unfamiliar country.
The Silver Studio at Melliber Appart Hotel costed Eur86 (935MAD) for one night with breakfast for two in the next morning. The studio was rather spacious with a sitting area and a small kitchen. Too bad we were not able to enjoy/utilise them as we were dead tired and was off to bed once we were done with our showers.
Breakfast the next morning was very simple, consisting of toast, butter, jam, juice and milk served in the dining room of the hotel.
Melliber Appart Hotel was a old hotel so the furnishing was not as modern and new. Overall it was okay considering its proximity to Hassan II Mosque and the pricing. Another reason we booked this hotel was that it had free parking which would have been crucial if we had our rental car with us.
