ffay005

Waitlist just cleared so I'll be spending another weekend in AY J and Dubai ^

Five star hotel for €63 a night, with good reviews on Tripadvisor. I wonder what awaits me in reality...

FFlash

ffay005

Not really. I spent two days in Dubai some twenty years ago, and a weekend last month, so I'm not an expert. Dubai is definitely not my favourite, but considering the current weather back home and the bargain of 51k+€45 for A350 J flights, I'm convincing myself that it should become my new favourite And my last trip was a great experience, the contrast between old Dubai (Deira, Bur Dubai) and the new town (Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, Dubai Marina) is amazing. A quick ride on the metro will take you from one world to another.

Last time, I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Dubai, which is within walking distance from Deira souks. They claim five stars, I'll gladly give them four but no more, but they're very moderately priced. This time, it would have cost €95 a night. If the link works, you can read my review here: https://www.tripadvisor.fi/ShowUserR..._of_Dubai.html

I'm trying something different this time. I'll let you know after my trip if €63 really gets you a five-star in Dubai. Somehow I doubt it, but we'll see!

niksal

ffay005

My sister gave me a lecture about what a charade the whole place is... Yes, if you stay in the new part and only see skyscrapers, malls and hotels, then I would agree. But why not hop on the metro and get off at Palm Deira? Walk south along Al Sabkha Rd to see a busy commercial street in the older part of the city, very much walkable and as real as the Middle East gets. When you reach the shore, cross the Creek for 1 AED and visit the National Museum and the Al Fahidi district with old, renovated buildings.

I'll be staying in Al Karama this time. It should be a residential neighbourhood where most residents are South Asians and with ample and cheap shopping opportunities. I'm not planning to set up my own Tokmanni back home, so I doubt I'll buy anything, but it sounds interesting. And I'm planning to visit Umm al Quwain, which should be some 90 AED by taxi. A laid back town with no tourists and no oil money.

Okay, anyone give me the address of the UAE tourist office? I'll need to send them a bill to get compensated for all this marketing.

FFlash

Richey66

I would disagree. Dubai is not worth going if you want to see "real" Middle East, Deira old city is small and not that interesting. Dubai's selling point is exactly this absurd unplanned grandeour, skyscraper forests, ultra-luxury, biggest malls etc. Guess you can call it fake, although Burj Khalifa feels pretty real architectural statement to me. But if you wanna see old-school stuff, you can hop over to Oman, 40 min flight.

niksal

Steve_Hun

The Palm is a golden cage. If you want LOT cheaper meal options, next time (if there ever will be such), stay at Jumeirah Beach Residence. There are plenty of hotel options (from three to five stars) and the whole street is just full of coffees and restaurants! With a ~10 minutes walk you get to the metro, which if needed takes you to downtown fast and cheap. Or depending on the time of day, you can also grab a taxi, if it is not rush hour.

CPH-Flyer

I always wonder why people go to Dubai for touristic reason. Watching paint dry is my usual parallel to the city. I get the point about escaping the Nordic winter weather, but compared to other destinations in the region the beaches are far from nice. Service is miserable and food is uninspired.

Apart from checking in for my departure flight to get out of there, I have yet to have a positive experience in Dubai.

kanamurva

I have to agree here. Dubai is a shithole country: artificial, terrible human rights' situation and expensive. Beaches also not that great. And we were half of the time in Deira and didn't like that "original middle east" feeling either: lots of indian/pakistani men staring at you and your wife in every corner. And my wife had a very decent covering clothing and a scarf. The souqs are selling all kinds of cheap crap spiced with lots of hazzle and aggressive selling. The best part was taking the small river boat across the river in the center.

Still, when I read about the level of ay service on that route, I feel tempted to go there. One thing to keep in mind is that you take a big risk if you get drunk on plane, since people have been thrown to jail because of consuming alcohol.

ffay005

Back on topic, my recent flights were pleasant as well. Had the same crew outbound Friday, inbound Sunday. The service concept, however, is full of surprises. Despite having the same crew, there were inconsistencies: no PDB ex-HEL, but a hot towel and a tablecloth were provided. Ex-DXB, PDB but no hot towel and no tablecloth. I didn't say anything about these to anyone. However, a little before landing at HEL, the purser came to ask how the flight was and mentioned that the concept was new to them and that they had tried their best to follow the written instructions they had been given. She was also genuinely interested in hearing my opinion about the concept and especially about the meal service on the return leg. She would have wanted to serve some light savoury snack before landing instead of the ice cream, which should be part of the meal service. I agreed with her on that.

The appetizers have changed since my November flight (HEL-DXB Salmon tartar, marinated shimeji mushrooms, trout roe and fried onion; DXB-HEL Beef pastrami, roasted beetroots and butternut squash, apple mayonnaise and blue cheese crumbs), everything else remained unchanged. The November appetizers were more to my taste.

aama

The best 40k I've ever used on AY. Mrs. & Jr. enjoyed it as well!

ps. Who in their right mind puts something so divisive like blue cheese in an airplane food? IMHO should be on the side or something

ffay005

My thoughts exactly!

OH-LGG

I'm going to spend lazy Sunday on 10FEB19 for the last time this spring.

If anyone interested to join, X -availability is good right now, it's 19000 + 19000 points.