Channeling our inner oligarch, we stride up the red carpet and step aboard the super yacht Stardom.
This four-storey, 42-metre-long floating beauty is all gleaming white fibreglass, polished teak, glittering chrome and cushy sectional couches.
Captain Prithviraj Chandran welcomes us with a smile and gestures for us to ascend three levels to the skydeck where the DJ is spinning a thumping remix of Cold Heart by Elton John and Dua Lipa and the bartender is pouring chilled white wine and tequila shots.
We definitely feel like we’ve arrived in style in Dubai – the United Arab Emirates megatropolis where desert meets Arabian Gulf in a bombastic display of wealth, excess, spectacle and sumptuousness.
Of course, my wife, Kerry, and I aren’t really ultra-rich yacht owners, but tourists on the three-hour Xclusive Yachts’ ‘Luxury Super Yacht Experience’ with 28 other visitors to Dubai who want a taste of how to live it up in this blingy destination.
And revel we do, motoring out of Dubai Harbour into the Arabian Gulf past the crowded super-highrise skyline to drop anchor and dive in off the aft to swim and splash.
Drinks are delivered for us to sip on the edge of the raft tethered to Stardom.
We feel like sheikhs and shaykhahs, soaking up the sun and the view, not a care in the world.
Back on board and dried off, we lounge, socialize with the international crowd, devour Arabian lamb skewers and tomato-and-bocconcini salad and dance on the top deck when the DJ pumps up Single Ladies by Beyonce.
Beyonce and hubby Jay-Z are known to enjoy bougie yacht life, too.
The super yacht experience is just one of the highlights on a trip of highlights to glitzy Dubai.
It actually started by boarding one of Air Canada’s new, four-times-weekly, non-stop flights to Dubai on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
In keeping with Dubai’s reputation for opulence, we splurge for business class to fly in pods with lie-flat seats so we can sip Laurent-Perrier Champagne before getting a good night’s sleep and arrive refreshed to take on Dubai.
That includes a Dubai Travel & Tourism desert safari to do some dune bashing (off-roading in a 4x4 SUV in the desert), riding camels and Arabian barbecue at a desert camp complete with belly dancing and fire-eating entertainment.
Of course, we also had to zoom up the top of the world’s tallest building – Burj Khalifa – to survey our modern sheikhdom before going traditional and taking a wooden abra boat across Dubai Creek to the Old Town to barter in the gold and spice souks.
Our bases for this clash of new and old are the Four Seasons Hotel Dubai International Financial Centre for its downtown vibes and the Four Seasons Resort at Jumeirah Beach for seaside splendor.
At the Four Seasons downtown we live the rooftop lifestyle, lounging by and dipping in the exposed-glass swimming pool on the top floor before heading to dinner of red snapper at Mina Brasserie (yes, by celebrity chef Michael Mina) and drinks at rooftop Luna Bar with, what else?, an awe-inspiring view of Dubai’s unbelievable skyline, including the Burj Khalifa.
By the way, our junior suite at the Four Seasons downtown also has an incredible view of the loftiest tower on the planet.
For rest and relaxation, it’s off to the Four Seasons Resort at Jumeirah Beach, the seaside retreat with two infinity pools, prime beach and enough restaurants and bars to keep us sated and hydrated before, during and after lounging and swimming.
That means breakfast (including caviar in addition to fruit and granola) at Suq, dinner of black cod at Mediterranean-meets-Asia restaurant Sea Fu at beach’s edge and drinks at the trendy rooftop Mercury Bar with yet more views of the Burj Khalifa.
Our suite, with two balconies, meant we were never far from the lap of the ocean, a sea breeze and the sway of palm trees.
It was also comforting and exhilarating to stay at two, five-star Four Seasons properties that are distinctly Dubai, but part of the esteemed hotel chain founded and still headquartered in Canada.
Check out www.xclusiveyachts.com, www.fourse
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