All I can say to people who choose Emirates is "caveat emptor" (note that I am EK Gold).
EK can be quite good, especially when the flight is lightly loaded and everything else goes to plan. But on a fully loaded flight, with a couple of glitches, it can quickly turn to hell. And note that most EK FA's have ESL at best. Also, the fact that they squeeze more pax into a 777 than most other "premium" airlines doesn't help (if you want more info, consult
www.seatguru.com).
I have personally experienced similar non-assistance from EK, when last year's Icelandic ash cloud started causing problems in Europe. EK wanted to strand me in KUL and not fly me to DXB (for which I was ticketed), which was clear of ash. No one from EK was there to help, and all pax were left to their own devices, even F class pax.
I decided the only way I was going anywhere was to take the initiative and go to the ticket counter and request that my ticket be changed to somewhere they would fly me to, ROM in this case. This was done, and I was on my way. Meanwhile the 300 other pax who were denied boarding were about to lynch the locally engaged contractors who were handling the flight.
So take my word for it, EK will walk away from their responsibilities in a crisis, as seems to have happened in the OP's case.
BTW, I'm informed that EY performs much better in similar circumstances, but can't vouch for this personally.
