V-Flyer

This was a quick 3 day break to the Hilton Resort & Spa in Ras Al Khaimah to celebrate Mr. D’s birthday. We had a wonderful 3 days helped by being upgraded to The Royal Beach Villa complete with 12 foot wide bed, double Jacuzzi bath, its own hammam and private swimming pool in the garden. We booked through VH so transfers to and from the airport were included. On the morning of our return the coach picked us up at 6am for our 10 am departure. The journey took 1 3/4 hours using some back roads. The traffic can be horrendous with appalling driving on the main route and we did pass an accident involving 4 cars crashing into each other.
At the airport we went through the first security check before check in and as Mr D is a gold card holder we went straight to the Upper Class check in. The young lady at the desk was very friendly and welcoming and gave us our invite for the lounge. We asked about emergency exit seats and told they were all free so we purchased 50C for £60 and had 50A for free. We then proceeded to the next security check and the long walk to the lounge. The lounge was fairly quiet; it has quite a good selection of hot and cold food. Boarding was called on time and we made our way to the gate. There was a separate priority boarding line but very few people boarding anyway. The plane was an A330 Golden Girl just 6months old.
Once on board we made our way to our seats and were greeted by the nicest cabin staff we have ever had, they were very chatty and naturally friendly, they found out we were flying club members and that it was Mr. D’s birthday. We took off on time and has soon as the seat belt sign went off one of the male flight crew we had been talking to came back with two glasses of champagne and 4 bags of pretzels and said “Welcome back and Happy Birthday”. It was a lovely gesture and very much appreciated. The CSS was amazing she reminded me of a head mistress keeping the class in order and stood for no nonsense on the flight insisting that if people wanted to sit in the empty extra leg room seats they would have to pay £30 for them as other people had paid and it wouldn’t be fair to them and she made sure anyone who had moved paid!
Cocktails were offered on the first drinks run. I stuck to white wine which was very pleasant and nicely chilled. The dinner service followed shortly after, a very nice Greek salad then a choice of Creamy chicken in mushroom sauce, Braised lamb in Arabic spice or Penne arrabbiata. I had the penne and Mr D the chicken and both were excellent. There was a pause before the dessert and coffee or tea was served. It was a lovely refreshing Raspberry mousse with berry compote. I passed the most of the flight reading a book I had started and wanted to finish. The IFE was VERA and had a good choice of films but being a regular cinema goer I had seen quite a few of the films.
Afternoon tea was served about one hour before landing, really fresh cheddar cheese and tomato sandwiches and a moist banana muffin, tea or coffee. Love heart sweets were handed out before the seat belt sign came on. The young lady crew member who looked after us during the flight continued the friendly conversation with us whilst she was sat on the jump seat for landing. We landed a little early and didn’t take long to pass through Border Control and surprise, surprise priority baggage worked - our luggage was waiting for us.
We made our way to the bus stop to pick up the car from Purple Parking business car park and who should also be in the queue but the young gentleman who had served us the champagne on the flight, he started chatting away genuinely interested in if we had enjoyed the flight and were we would be flying next.
To sum up I really liked the A330 for flying in economy it doesn’t seem so crowded. The food was really very good and the flight crew fantastic. It all made for one of the best flight experiences we have had flying with Virgin, and I have also flown many times in Upper and PE.

Sound like a perfect trip. Makes it so much special when it all goes to plan

Sounded like a great trip, it was a shame that our recent VS trips were not even half enjoyable as yours.

Shows that not all VS flights are fraught with problems.

Top Marks for the Crew on this flight

Nice treatment from VH on the Hotel upgrade - it is somewhere that is on my "to do" list having stayed at the Hilton Dubai Creek a few times and a friend of Mrs Buns telling her it is a place to visit as an all inclusive resort

Buns

I also like Ras Al Kamiah, was lucky enough to hav2 2 works trips there....glad your flight was so good, just shows how important the CC are !

Buns wrote

Nice treatment from VH on the Hotel upgrade

Buns, the upgrade had nothing to do with VH. Mr D is a HH Diamond and guest relations met us at check in to sort out the room for us. We had met all the young guest relations team when we were there last March so they knew us which I think helped. We were given an upgrade to the Royal Suite in the main building that time, They really look after their loyal customers there.
I am sure Mrs Buns will love it there. It's a really relaxing holiday. We only booked half board as we are not big eaters or drinkers, however the drinks are quite expensive so it is probably worth going all inclusive if you are there for a longer stay. This was our third stay and I am sure it won't be our last.

Daffodil wrote:Buns wrote

Nice treatment from VH on the Hotel upgrade

Buns, the upgrade had nothing to do with VH. Mr D is a HH Diamond and guest relations met us at check in to sort out the room for us. We had met all the young guest relations team when we were there last March so they knew us which I think helped. We were given an upgrade to the Royal Suite in the main building that time, They really look after their loyal customers there.
I am sure Mrs Buns will love it there. It's a really relaxing holiday. We only booked half board as we are not big eaters or drinkers, however the drinks are quite expensive so it is probably worth going all inclusive if you are there for a longer stay. This was our third stay and I am sure it won't be our last.

Thanks for the clarification - it is worth remembering how Hilton status is recognised out there

buns

Fabulous flight and service, great TR