Dubai:Sleep with the fishes in 7-star digs

For years, William Shatner has been telling us the travel service he shills for can get us 3-star hotel accommodations for 1-star prices, sometimes 4-star rooms for 2-star dollars.

I wonder how much he can knock off the price of the world's latest -- and perhaps first -- 7-star hotel?

It's the Hydropolis Dubai, being promoted as one of the world's most extravagant tourist attractions and scheduled to open later this month inthe Arab emirate.

The sprawling, almost surreal facility is an underwater luxury hotel in the middle of desert land. Getting there is half the fun, and amazement factor.

The facility is divided into three section:

• The land station: This large building has a rolling, wavy roof. Visitors enter it to head toward the tunnel.

• The tunnel: 1,700 feet long, it and carries a train beneath both land and sea to the hotel. it is shaped like a collection of bubbles and curves designed to provide maximum resistance against sea water pressure as well as the typhoons known to occasionally hit the region. It features area two observation domes which allow views of the water and marine creatures.

• The hotel: The facility looks like a circular atoll, wirh a low barrier between it and the water. The main structures are designed to mimick natural forms with curving shell-like surfaces mimicking natural forms.