TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert Walshe

Home and Away Extra

Trip Advisor has been told it can no longer claim to offer “trusted and honest reviews” after an investigation by ad-vertising watchdogs found the site could not guarantee cus-tomer feedback was genuine. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it was possible some of the reviews on Trip Advisor were fake with no way of proving they were from genuine customers as the site doesn’t vet its users. It ordered Trip Advisor to avoid running adverts claim-ing its reviews were from real travellers, or were honest, real or trusted. It said this should be a warning to all websites that make claims about the reality of their user-generated content. The ASA’s ruling was based on a survey of the site carried out in July 2011 when it was still owned by the travel booking service Expedia.

LivingThE cruise industry has announced a new emergency lifeboat drill to be carried out before departure from port following the Costa Concordia disaster. The new policy, which re-quires passengers to be informed about safety protocols and emer-gency evacuation before the ship leaves, is part of the Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review launched last month. On rare occasions that passengers arrive after the muster has been completed, they will be provided with individual or group safety briefings. Current legal re-quirements only say that a muster should occur within 24 hours of pas-senger embarkation.

This is why passengers who boarded the ill-fated Concordia hadn’t gone through the drill before the ship hit rocks and capsized off the island of Giglio on 13 January. The Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review will include a com-prehensive assessment of the criti-cal human factors and operational aspects of maritime safety. Recom-mendations will be made on an on-going basis.

Holiday HotspotIn Dubai’s glitzy shadow, another

oil-rich emirate is quietly reinvent-ing itself at a rapid pace—building lavish museums, libraries, and uni-versities. Doha, Qatar, is fast becom-ing the new cultural capital of the Middle East. The city makes an ideal 48-hour stopover if you are booking a long-haul flight from Heathrow or Manchester to Asia, Africa or Aus-tralia on the national airline, Qatar Airways.

This small peninsula sticking out into the Persian Gulf from Saudi Ara-bia is now the Middle Eastern city to visit and do business in. Doha be-gins in the middle of its eastern side and expands further west almost on a daily basis such is the rapid growth in this city. The core of the city’s coastline is the Corniche, a landscaped seafront with a four-mile promenade. To its north is West Bay, an ever-changing area of high-rise office blocks and apartments. The hotels of Qatar have been remod-eled to accompany the standards of national and international tourists who regularly visit this place and leading the charge is Four Seasons the Leading Resort winner of the

region at the World Travel Awards 2011. The property has established itself as the top hotel and place to stay with an amazing location and a charming traditional interior that makes it feel grander than its years. The hotel is one tower in a complex of four of matching architecture: two others are residential and the other will soon be a headquarters to a high profile telecommunications company. The Four Seasons Doha with 232 rooms, including 57 suites enjoys an intimate feel of traditional hospitality. Furniture is French and the bathrooms elegant in a homely atmosphere. Guests are now being treated to a new look and feel in all standard, superior, deluxe and pre-mier rooms & ambassador suites.

The renovated rooms now sport aqua and taupe schemes, with a rich golden yellow treatment afforded to the Ambassador Suites. All rooms and suites received a complete re-freshment of upholstery, soft fur-nishings such as curtains, carpets and cushions as well as thoughtful upgrades to room accessories, fur-niture and light fixtures. The Royal Suite is a palatial two-level private residence on the hotel’s top floor with glorious views of the Persian Gulf. With two king bedrooms on the upper floor, the suite features an oversized living room with grand piano, opening onto a large furnished outdoor terrace. The refreshed offering marks the com-pletion of the first phase of a multi-million dollar renovation project which will also see the opening of an all-new Southeast Asian-inspired sig-nature restaurant called” Nusantao” replacing the Brasserie on the Beach offering. The new restaurant will bring the culinary excitement and sensory wonders of the Far East to a contemporary urban dining environ-ment. Meanwhile the properties sig-nature offering “Il Teatro “continues to draw inspiration from the finest culinary traditions of Italy.

I found the experience here re-markably elegant, without the slight-est hint of pretention and a service philosophy Michelin star in every way. After dinner drinks are served in the “gentleman’s club” atmos-phere of the “Library Bar” where the bar-staff are particularly proud of their whisky menu.

The hotel’s three-story Spa incor-

porates the five elements of water, wood, earth, metal and fire, this process is the foundation upon which many ancient Chinese prac-tices of health, healing and wellbe-ing are based.

These elements are reflected throughout the Spa’s design, treat-ments and cuisine to create an in-tegrated approach to relaxation, wellness, fitness and nutrition. Eleven treatment rooms, including a private spa suite, are all individu-ally designed, incorporating natural materials against the soothing back-drop of a water wall.

The usual Four Seasons high standard of service I have come to expect from my favourite hoteliers in the world is immediately evident in Doha with the usual attention to detail. The Concierge desk in partic-ular will plan for your perfect stay.

The team here organised my diary including a visit to Doha’s Souq Waqif, the city’s original souq which bursts with local culture and re-gional flavour and is home to many highly rated Iranian, Moroccan and Lebanese restaurants. A must see is the Museum of Islamic Art a stun-ning building housing the world’s foremost collection of Islamic art. www.fourseasons.com/doha Qatar Airways has opened its new Pre-mium Lounge at London heathrow, reinforcing the importance of one of the airline’s busiest routes. The Pre-mium Lounge at Terminal 4 is the airline’s first dedicated facility for First and Business Class passengers outside its Doha hub. The opening marks the start of another busy year

for the carrier, with the launch of new routes, as well as additional capacity on the London heathrow – Doha route, which was stepped up from four to five flights a day from March 25th. www.qatarairways.com/UK

Weekly Best BuyMaptravel’s trip to Peru will visit

Machu Pichu, Cusco, Lake Titicaca and Lima by air and a journey on the Andean Explorer train, with side trips to St Martin de Porres and St Rose of Lima. Twelve days of interesting tours, from €2,575pps including flights from Ireland. www.maptravel.ie

World Travel Centre currently has some good offers to Australia on Qantas and British Airways flights. Perth is available from €859 return if you travel between 16th April and 30th June 2012. www.worldtravel.ie The official residence of the Presi-dent, located in the Phoenix Park, was built in 1751 for Nathaniel Cle-ments and the original building was finished in 1754. The stately Geor-gian manor has been the home of both British and Irish politicians. You can learn more about this mag-nificent home and its colourful his-tory from the free guided walking tours that run from 10.15am to 4pm in summer and 10.30am to 3.30pm in winter. Free tickets and tours begin at the Phoenix Park Visitors Centre

Robert Walshe is a freelance con-tributor / broadcaster and Travel Editor for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray

n Four Seasons Doha, Qatar. n Ill Treatro at Four Seasons Doha.

Grumpy Old DogsDOGS go through changes in their lives just like us. They develop in a certain way at certain stages in their lives. When they are very young, life is all about leaning les-sons and having lots of fun.

As they get older they will start to settle down a bit and become more knowing about things. They will have had many experi-ences and will not be as excited, or distracted by things that pups would be excited or distracted by.

When dogs reach middle age which is about 6 or 7 years old then many of them become less tolerant of unruly pups jumping on them, or children pulling at them.

They just want some order in their lives. It is at this time that some of them growl at other dogs or maybe snap at children if left unsupervised.

Some dogs live longer than oth-ers so middle age comes a little later for some.

The average age that a dog lives for is about 13. Some die younger and some live till they are 19 and older. Small dogs tend to live longer than large dogs.

It is always good to supervise dogs in the presence of children no matter what age the dog is and, as dogs get older and more feeble they need to be supervised more, and protected from things that they would have taken in their

stride when they were younger. heart problems, arthritis and

other medical complaints can cause dogs to appear grumpy. This is because the dog is frail and needs to be handled in a gentle way. It can be painful for a dog to have a toddler fall on it or pull it around when it is not well.

Very often, an owner doesn’t see the problem until something hap-pens.

Never take a dog for granted. It is an animal that is capable of anything given the right circum-stances.

Please watch out for signs of change in your dog as they age. Grumpy old dogs need a quiet and peaceful retirement.