Part 2
The next morning, we went down to the breakfast and had some coffee and fruit. All I can say is “If only”! It made the Waldorf Jerusalem’s breakfast look like something you would find in a holiday inn.
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On the agenda today was Ferrari World, and the Sheik Zayed Mosque. Ferrari World was pretty cool but not much to do after 2-3 hours. I was really impressed that for every ride they have someone hold your stuff and give you a ticket while you go on the ride. We got there at 11 when they opened so we didn’t have to wait on line for any of the rides. Being that we had sometime to spare we ended up going to YAS waterpark which is about 5 minutes away. The waterpark was ok, nothing special and spent a few hours there. We then went to the Sheik Zayed mosque which was magnificent and something I recommend to everyone. After that we headed back to the hotel where we had dinner at the room. After dinner we went down and had a few drinks and some hooka and then went to bed.
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DUBAI
Now it was time to go to the Burj. I went back and forth on this many times in my head. The price for 1 night came out to $1500 ($1700 with tax). I decided to go forward with it since having the AMEX plat card allowed early check in and late checkout so I would be able to spend the whole Shabbat there. Officially check in is at 1, with the AMEX its 11. We arrived at the hotel at 930 and after 15 minutes we were led to our room. With AMEX you are also supposed to get an upgrade if available, they offered me this if I wanted to wait- however I said no. When we got off the elevator the hostess introduced us to our butler. Each floor has their own butler on site 24/7 so if you have an issue where your key isn’t working, or need arrangements made someone is there to take care of it. I ended up giving him the food with instructions for the kitchen and he had everything ready for whenever we wanted to eat which was amazing. Now ive seen many beautiful suites and hotel rooms. For a standard room this easily takes the cake. The room was massive. Downstairs has an office with a large living room area, and a bathroom, upstairs has a huge bathroom with a shower and Jacuzzi, a walk in closet and a bedroom. All rooms have a great view of the ocean.
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We then went to Wild Wadi Waterpark and spent a few hours there, the park is complimentary when staying at the Burj and is a 3-minute gulf cart ride away. This Park was much cleaner with better rides then YAS. By 1pm we were tired and went to check out the beach, which is part of another hotel. The ocean was clear as can be and we just hung out there until an hour before Shabbat. Another great thing about the butler is we had them press the elevator button whenever we needed. At the lobby there is also always someone there standing to press for whoever needs to go up or down. After dinner we went up to check out the bar at the top of the hotel, being that we were guests we were seated right away. I believe you need reservations if you aren’t staying there. Drinks were very overpriced and VERY SMALL, I do not recommend this.
The next day (Shabbat) we hung out by the infinity pool overlooking the water, which is really nice but nothing special (IMO the nicest pool I saw was at the Sands in Singapore). Also with Amex we were given complimentary massages which we decided to book at 6pm. Officially checkout with AMEX is 4 but we were able to push it to 6, where we then went to get our massages. By the time we were done Shabbat was over.
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The main question everyone probably wants to know is “Was it worth it?” The answer is simply no. “Was I happy I did it?” The answer is simply yes. To me it was like renting a Ferrari for a day, would I ever lease one, no? But perhaps I would try it for one day. Same thing here, I probably would never stay here again and took it as a once in a lifetime experience. The hotel is gorgeous the rooms are massive and the service was impeccable but to me it still doesn’t justify the price tag, but to each his own. We were then off to the RITZ.
Being a platinum member we checked in at the club lounge, and met one of the chefs who took all of our food. For the rest of the trip we ate dinner at the lounge every night which was great as we were able to have drinks and eat like normal people at a restaurant. The hotel was really nice and the service was once again phenomenal. We then went to check out the Dubai mall which was massive and supposedly one of the biggest in the world with every name brand store you can think off.
For the next couple of days I was busy at the show while my wife hung out by the hotels pool. On Sunday night we went to Emirates mall and went to a 4DX movie which was GREAT!!! They need this in NY ASAP! The next night we went to see the Burj Khallifa water show, the boat ride is inexpensive and was really relaxing- then went to Ski Dubai which was very cool. There are only a couple of slopes but was cool skiing indoors, we spent a couple of hours there before heading back to the hotel.
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Tuesday morning, I had a meeting early before we went down and got the last couple of hours in the sun. We were then off to the airport. If you are flying in B or F you check in via your own terminal, the airport itself was amazing, nothing like the beat down airports you find in NY. After hanging in the lounge for an hour it was time to head to the gate which was basically right by the lounge. Before going on the plane we needed to check in our ipads and laptops as per the new rule- it honestly wasn’t such a big deal to me. I ended up booking the “honeymoon seats” which basically has the console at the outer part of the seats and no real barrier in between you and the person you are sitting next to (each row reverses). Flight back was a breeze with service being excellent.
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Overall we had a great time in Dubai the people were very nice, city was beautiful and clean, and everyone there spoke English. IMO Emirates Business was better than Etihad Business but Etihad F is far and away better than Emirates F. I wanna give a shout out to ual902 for helping me with a couple of things and most of all DAN for the tremendous work that hes done in showing all of us how to utilize cc spending.
Hope you all enjoyed.