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.
SUMMARYBefore 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
ExcursionsSites 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 / ChabadThere is a daily minyan there , info for Minyan and Shabbos meals can be found on
www.Jewishuae.comThe 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!