Hi Fiona,
Remember my last post on Dubai?? they will be paying YOU to go there next they are in deep do-do.

That is why I couldn't understand the Arabian Courtyard's stance. We were paying for the executive floor and also actually liked the reports/reviews of a couple of their restaurants so would have spent a fair bit of money with them.They've just thrown away money. The Hilton's lowered rate was just too good to resist( and I get points and BA miles with them )

Fiona.
Its called brain dead some hotels have no idea,when I try to book from Qatar for a weeked they up the price so I get a friend in Dubai to book for me.

How did the Dubai trip go Fiona?

Hope you had a fabulous time and look forward to hearing all about it.

hi
loved the hotel -and Dubai was worth seeing but I'm glad I stayed where I did- not too keen on the Jumeriah area. It was a bit too hot though! I'm catching up on here and on ironing but I promise I'll do a review and a short report in the next day or two.

Hotel was great. We had an executive plus room which had 2 walls of floor to ceiling windows with a stunning view of the creek. We actually never closed the curtains the entire stay( couldn't be overlooked). We did go to the executive floor for breakfast first morning but then used the Glasshouse for the remainder of our stay. This had every thing you could possibly want for breakfast. The Glasshouse is run by a Gordon Ramsey team and we actually had 3 dinners with them. Food was of a very high quality. Ramsey has also the Verre restaurant which has been the number one in Dubai for years. We had meant to try it even though the prices were frightening but frankly after a dinner at the Glasshouse I couldn't see how Verre could be so different as to justify the prices. Part of the reason we had 3 dinners there was due to the fact that 2 nights they had a 1 dirham per drink deal if you ordered 2 courses. That is less than 20p. Needless to say the restauarant was packed! Another couple of nights we didn't actually have dinner as we had had enough food during the happy hour in the exec room( 6-8pm)
To be honest we were very lazy at night and often found ourselves too exhausted after a day trailing round to be bothered with going out.
We did the Big Bus hop on/off for the first 2 full days. This was a great way of seeing all the sites and we left the ones within easy distance of our hotel for the following days.
What totally amazed me was the scale of the building in Dubai- marina and beach area. Of course I knew there was a lot of buiding but its another thing actually witnessing it. Whole areas of very high skyscrapers being built- perhaps 6 to 8 right next to each other. There must be hundreds being built just now. One area being developed just now was going to have twice the population of Hong Kong- and thats one small area of Dubai. I think we picked the right area to stay in as most of what I wanted to see was within that area. Jumeriah- I was not particularly enamoured with. At least where we were we could walk within streets of traditional housing and shops and see the working population.

Thanks for the info and glad you enjoyed Dubai and your hotel Fiona. It takes me right back and I am desperate to go back!! The Big Bus is certainly a great way of finding out about all areas of Dubai. Just a pity it takes so bloomin long.

Sounds like the Hilton had a good deal with the drink for 1 Dirham!! Would have certainly taken advantage of that.

Funny how lots of people prefer the beach area but like you, I would rather stay away from the beach area and I am more than happy with Festival City and cannot wait to go back!!

Just love those emails from KLM advsing of world wide sales

had to start a new post as the last one started to jump all over the place.
What impressed me was that Dubai's heritage is now being actively preserved and entry to any of these sites were either free or less than 50p.
The museum is a must see. Unfortunately what seemed like the entire passenger list of the Cunard ship in harbour(Queen Victoria- never heard of it before) descended upon us just as we entered. It reinforced why I have never wanted to go on a cruise up till now. I wasnt having a good day healthwise and I panicked a bit with the crowd.
On the same side of the Creek as us there was the gold souk and a covered one, and a difficult to find Heritage House. But I'm glad we perservered as it was well worth it( and free entry- with water, tea and coffe free as well. Right next to House is the school which was one of the first to be built in Dubai. They taught most things through the Quran. I liked the way they listed all the teahcers there had been and then added " and three females" at the end
Our bus took as to the Palm and to the Atlantis hotel at the end of it. Brilliant construction and again masses and masses of high rise but also masses of identical two storey houses. Goodness knows the prices of them.
We spent a day by the beach of the Hiltons sister hotel- free shuttle to it. Personally after our own hotel of just 120 rooms this one was just far too big. Hundreds and hundreds of deckchairs but very difficult to find any unoccupied. It was a seeringly hot day and I spent it under the beach brolly. Even then my book pages felt out as the glue had melted. We spent our last day at our rooftop pool. Great views from it and the barman constantly came round with cold clothes and with iced tea.
We did an evening cruise, booking the Radisson boat and although the food was nothing to write home about I did enjoy the actual cruise.

We had another night at the Heritage Viallage, which has lots of outdoor restauatants and then went next door to the Irish Village which was very lively and an obviousl expats haunte.

yet again the page began to jump.
Yes the Big Bus was a long route. Three and a half hours taken even without stops.
You know I might end up a beach resort yet as flights to Dubai are cheap enough and its guaranteed sunshine at that time of year- but I wouldn't be expecting too much from the holiday apart from R&R. I also think everything appeared dearer there.
Our hotel was less for our ex room than it was a year ago for a standard one. We made good use of what we got- food and drink. We also never ate at lunchtime as we had had a big enough breakfast.
One disappointment I had was that the souks were not what I had envisaged beforehand( exception being the one adjoining the gold souk).
While there we say quite a few kissed being exchanged- in welcome mainly and it did make me wonder why that couple are in jail just now. We also read of a man being given one last try to admit in the misdemeanours court that he had stuck up his middle finger to a another car driver.
It does reinforce the fact that you really should read up about a country's customs before you visit.
Dubai is somewhere I would use for a stopover but not automatically for a full holiday again. I feel I have done most of what I wanted- although we never got round to a desert safari as we couldn't decide if it was really something we would enjoy.

I know what you mean re the page jumping about as it always seems to happen once you have fully typed in the white box. Once you get beyond that, you cannot see what you are typing and as you sya the page jumps every time you hit the keyboard.

Sounds like you packed a fair bit into your visit and I am glad you enjoyed it.

We like to go in Feb as the weather is just perfect then. Having done most of the sight seeing we just go for relaxation and a wander around the many malls. The DSF (Dubai Shopping Festival) is on between January and February when they have the big sales, although with the poor exchange rate alot of things are cheaper in the UK. Like you though would love to do a desert safari although I am quite scared of scary driving (Aberdeen is bad enough)!!

It is an expensive holiday though once you start eating/drinking out although you can eat in the Malls fairly cheaply.

We are off to Bodenmais in Eastern Bavaria in June and really looking forward to that. Funny how we enjoy our Bavaria holiday as it is completely the other end of the scale from Dubai. However depending on the pennies may try a few days in Dubai in November as April next year is a significan birthday for me and I want to go away somewhere but not sure yet where!!

we did go to a few malls but usually I was done in by that time and found that they were just too huge We did look for a couple of specific things- all of which were most expensive than home- watch, notebook and running shoes. The Burj Khalifa reopened while we were there. Unfortunately it was the day after we visited the adjoining mall. However, I don't think we would have paid the best part of £80 each to visit its observation deck Have to say that it is a stunning building.