Welcome to my next trip report, which will share in greater detail about my brief trip to Morroco and an unexpected side trip to Paris last July, with a chance to fly the Royal Air Maroc flagship 787-9 and check out the brand new Park Hyatt Marrakech.
A Trip To Marrakech…And Paris…on Royal Air Maroc (American Airlines + United Airlines Too)
I already teased this trip out with my first impression posts and my posts surrounding the 2024 Summer Olympic games in Paris, but never offered detailed flight and hotel reviews for my journey.
The more I fly, the more I see that changes happen slowly (I could have switched my 2025 SAS review with my 2016 one and I bet many of you would not have noticed the subtle differences), so I’m not feeling particularly bad that I waited too long to begin this report.
It was the opening of the Park Hyatt Marrakech corresponding with award space on Royal Air Maroc that really prompted this trip. I was one of the first guests and the first Globalist to the hotel, which I shared a little bit about here.
The outbound from Los Angeles – New York – Cassbanlanca – Marrakesh, all in business class, was 57,500 American Airlines miles and $23 in taxes.
I had a pleasant stay and a great couple of days in Marrakech and was going to head home from there (possibly via Tunis), but received an invite to the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris and so I unexpectedly booked a next-day ticket to Paris and flew to the French capital. That ticket was $125 in economy class.
There, I can’t say I enjoyed the opening ceremony (it was absolutely pouring rain and the whole mocking of the Last Supper was in poor taste, though Celine Dion and the hot air balloon were nice touches), but I was thankful to take part in one…
I stayed at the Hôtel Wallace in Rue Fondary, part of the Mr. and Mrs. Smith collection (Hyatt). Talk about small rooms…
That left me with a need to get home and I booked a United award ticket from Paris – San Francisco – LA in business class for 80,000 MileagePlus miles. It did not go well…
Here are the segments for this trip report:
- American Airlines A321T Business Class (LAX-JFK)
- Soho Lounge JFK
- Turkish Airlines Lounge JFK
- Lufthansa Lounge JFK
- Primeclass Lounge JFK (Terminal 1)
- Royal Air Maroc 787-9 Business Class (JFK-CMN)
- Royal Air Maroc Domestic Business Lounge Casablanca (CMN)
- Great Coffee And Bad Culture In Casablanca Airport
- Royal Air Maroc ATR-170 Business Class (CMN-RAK)
- Photo Essay: Marrakech
- Great Coffee In Marrakech
- Park Hyatt Marrakech
- Royal Air Maroc Lounge Marrakech (RAK)
- Royal Air Maroc 737-800 Economy Class (RAK-CDG)
- Great Coffee In Paris
- Photo Essay: Opening Ceremony Paris 2024 Olympics
- My In-Seine Detour To Paris For Olympics Opening Ceremony
- Hotel Wallace Paris (Mr. and Mrs. Smith)
- Star Alliance Lounge Paris (CDG)
- United Airlines 777-200 Business Class (CDG-SFO)
Thanks for reading! Let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to focus on as I share this series over the next few weeks.
“mocking of the Last Supper”
It was not a mocking of the Last Supper but a paian supper…
Yeah sure.
I hadn’t heard about the Last Supper controversy until just now and honestly I’m torn. On one hand it certainly does seem to have been somewhat lacking in decorum. On the other my personal view of a civilized religion is one that lets you leave without threats or some onerous penalty and can laugh at itself a little. Perhaps I’m just overly influenced by re-watching The Name Of The Rose yesterday and my inclination toward the Jesuit view of things though. Great movie if you haven’t seen it.
Indeed. This was no Charlie Hebdo situation where I am calling for the violent death of the participants. The answer to speech is more speech…my usual mantra. I still found it in poor taste.
I’ve only been to Morocco once and it was in the port city of Nador in the eastern part and away from tourist cities. I look forward to the reviews to see if Matthew encountered anything similar. If Nador is what the entire country of Morocco is like, I will probably never go there again.
I visited Morocco in 2023, after wanting to for a long time. I was surprised to be be not at all a fan.