Author Topic: Dubai Trip Report - CBS  (Read 4599 times)

Offline Cbs

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Dubai Trip Report - CBS
« on: December 09, 2020, 03:34:06 AM »
After the latest developments with the UAE / Israel peace agreement, I felt it was a good time and opportunity - especially as a travel advisor - to go and see whats happening on the ground while making long overdue Covid vacation out of it.

SUMMARY

Before Travel

 - Make sure you get a PCR test within 96 hours of departure
 - Test results must be printed and shown at checkin
 - Theres a health form that must be filled out, we had done it prior and printed , otherwise supposedly they give it out at the airport
 - Upon arrival there is no COVID test needed for USA flights, Only Israeli's (and possibly other countries which i'm not aware of) need to take a rapid on arrival

Flight / Hotels/ Kosher

 - Booked B6 from FLL-BOS 11k flight + 5.5k extra legroom +11.20 tax Per person Round trip
 - Booked Emirates First class on EK Flex award BOS-DXB - Cost: 217,500 Amex Transfer to EK + $361.15 Tax Per person Round trip
 - First 3 nights at the Address Dubai Marina Hotel  - One bedroom residence for $390/avg night incl. tax (read below full TR to see how i ended up bring the price down at the property)
 - Second 3 nights at the Address Sky View Hotel in Downtown - Premier Sky View Room $400/avg night incl. tax
 - Make sure to make Reservations at the Armani/Kaf Kosher restaurant in advance!
 - If you are traveling anytime soon, make sure to bring a decent amount of snacks/food with you for Breakfast, lunch (unless you are in a hotel that offers Kosher for room service (See Here for more info)
 - try and AVOID Treats Kosher Caterer unless you have no choice - Food is horrible, Service just as bad, they're accepting more orders then they can handle..
 - Eli's Kitchen is another caterer but they were too busy to accept any orders - supposedly opening a restaurant in Hilton Habtoor soon

Excursions

Sites to find deals
  Groupon
  Greatdeals.ae
  getyourguide.com

We Only did until the Burj Khalifa below

 - Miracle Garden (need 1-2 hours)
 - Global Village  (Need 3-4 hours - opens at 4pm ) Suggested to go in evening
 - Walk thru Marina
 - Xline - zip thru the marina (need max 1 hour from checkin till land back) - Book online in advance to secure a spot
 - Desert Adventure - (need 6 hours - from 3pm -9pm) - Includes Quad Biking, Dune Bashing, Camel rides, (non kosher) BBQ dinner in a camp site with "Shisha" while watching Cultural shows
 - Fountain Show on the boardwalk downtown - from 6pm every 30 min (buy a ticket online/walkup to be closer to water but you can still see it without that
 - 3 Main Malls - Mall in Marina (Basic) , Mall of Emirates (huge mall - Has ski indoor) , Mall of Dubai (downtown -even bigger mall has aquarium inside and is a very high end shopping mall)
 - Gold / Perfume / Spice Souk - Marketplace in Deira area (need half a day minimum for this)
 - Burj Khalifa - View points from above - Buy tickets online in advance for best price
 - Dubai Sky Dive - not cheap but supposedly incredible - book online
 - Helicopter ride - Book online, recommended is the 22 min flight option
 - Hot Air balloon - https://www.ballooning.ae/book-one-fly-two until 12/15/20 for a "relatively" good deal for 2 ppl
 - Dubai Creek Boat ride ( need 2.5hrs - Board 8pm - duration 830pm to 1030pm)

Getting around Town

 - Car service - we used from the Airport (including VIP fast track thru customs)
 - Uber - Decently priced. The regular category car will usually be a White Lexus Sedan with a nice interior
 - City cab - Cheaper then Uber, they use the Meter (CC accepted), cars are older and not as pleasant as uber but its good enough for a quick drive

Nothing is more then 25min away from each other (Other then the desert which is 40min to 1hr)

Jewish Center / Chabad

There is a daily minyan there , info for Minyan and Shabbos meals can be found on www.Jewishuae.com
The Center is in the Al Wasl district. They ask that to get the location please whatsapp the number on their site to provide passport info for security reasons


For a more detailed trip report Stay tuned for the next posts with interesting details / tidbits / pictures / recommendations/ do's and dont's and more!


« Last Edit: December 09, 2020, 03:40:16 AM by Cbs »

Offline Live N Learn

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Re: Dubai Trip Report - CBS
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2020, 05:59:41 AM »
Nice! Looking gorward.
".איזהו חכם, הלומד מכל אדם"

Offline Dan

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Re: Dubai Trip Report - CBS
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2020, 10:28:33 AM »
Nice!
How come you didn't rent a car? What did you wind up spending on transportation?
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline Cbs

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Re: Dubai Trip Report - CBS
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2020, 02:23:59 PM »
Nice!
How come you didn't rent a car? What did you wind up spending on transportation?
I'd have to say that including the car service from the airport which was a bit more expensive and a few ubers and a few city cabs if be all in for $150usd approx (maybe bit more but not much more)

I didn't want to have to deal with parking and driving unfamiliar roads

In addition in my case some of my rides I did with a travel partner from Dubai who owns a car so that saved a handful of costs as well (most of the those trips though isn't a trip that your average tourist will do - which you will see in my trip report soon)

Offline TimT

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Re: Dubai Trip Report - CBS
« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2020, 02:31:51 PM »
What’s the overall reaction to frum yidden there ?

Offline Cbs

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Re: Dubai Trip Report - CBS
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2020, 02:37:55 PM »
What’s the overall reaction to frum yidden there ?
In general everyone is very friendly there. You barely see locals. Most hotel employees and mall/shops/souks are foreigners. A lot of Indian and Philippines. There are many Arabs from other countries as well. I personally wore a cap majority of the time as a personal preference. Many people thought I was Muslim (bec of the beard)

When I walked around without a cap I did get some looks but a lot of the looks were from Israelis! Then they come over and say shalom to show you they're also Jewish

You definitely hear a lot of Hebrew in all sorts of places!

Offline chuchem

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Re: Dubai Trip Report - CBS
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2020, 06:39:22 AM »
the food situation is bad.... armani is booked out for entire month. eli isnt taking orders for entire month.... crazy...

Offline Kobe Bryant

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Re: Dubai Trip Report - CBS
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2020, 08:30:46 AM »
Very informative TR. Thank you.

Offline lansky

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Re: Dubai Trip Report - CBS
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2021, 05:21:51 PM »
Are there any places that sell cold cuts,chicken etc?