sfoactuary

Getting there/Check-in

Our Emirates chauffeur pulled to the front gate of the Burj Al Arab where there was a guarded security checkpoint. Apparently, you can't even visit the hotel unless you're a hotel guest or have restaurant or spa reservations.

After providing our name to the guard we were waved through, and drove past at least a dozen tourists standing around taking pictures. The unique sail shape and self-proclaimed 7-star status certainly make the Burj Al Arab one of the most recognizable hotels in the world.

We pulled up to the circular driveway and the bellman immediately ran over to help us with our bags. Even our nice Mercedes wagon was looking like a piece of junk compared to the hotel's white Rolls Royce parked out front, along with a murderer's row of automotive talent that included a matte green Lamborghini, a gold Ferrari, and a yellow McLaren. It was like a scene out of the Top Gear guys' wet dreams.

If you think the Emirates style of decor has a lot of bling, wait until you see this place. The Burj Al Arab has the most over-the-top decor that I've ever seen, with gold trim on told of gold leaf on top of even more gold.

We took a second to marvel at the atrium, which according to the hotel staff is the tallest in the world.

Tallest atrium in the world


Lobby fountain


Lobby restaurant entrance


We took a seat while the front desk clerk checked our reservation, and enjoyed some Arabic coffee and dates in the mean time. There were two huge aquariums on each side of the lobby.

Lobby aquarium


She returned with some good news. Actually, she clarified that there were two pieces of good news, and our ears perked up.

"First, I'm happy to let you know that your room is ready."

That certainly falls into the category of good news - I mean, it's definitely not bad news. But it was already 2pm and check-in time was 3pm, so I barely cracked a smile. We weren't expecting much out of item #2, and let her continue.

"Also, you've been upgraded from a 1 bedroom suite to a 2 bedroom suite"

Now that's what I call good news! The practical side of me was thinking, "what the hell are we going to do with an extra bedroom?" The other side quickly took over, with the mindset that "more is always better". At this point, we didn't realize just how awesome this upgrade would turn out to be.

We were escorted over to the elevators, and rode up to the 12th floor where our room was located.

Shopping boutique


Elevator bank


I found if interesting that the hotel doesn't seem that large from the outside, but from the inside it feels absolutely massive, with unique architectural nuances around each corner.

View from the inside




We arrived at the 12th floor, and as soon as the elevators opened there was a man in a tuxedo waiting for us. He escorted us further down the hall to the butler desk, which was staffed by 3 additional butlers.

While most hotels use the front desk as the funnel for guest inquiries, the Burj Al Arab is more floor-centric, with each one staffed by a team of butlers. Each time we arrived at our floor there was at least one butler manning the desk, and would walk us back to our room. In total, the hotel employs over 250 butlers that take pride in helping guests with anything and everything they desire.

They began to give us an overview of the hotel at the butler desk, but my continuous inching toward our room must have been a hint that I was anxious to get inside. They led us to our room to finish the check-in process.

About to enter our suite


Our Suite

So there are suites, and then there are suites. The 1 bedroom suite that we had originally booked was the entry-level suite, but still comes at a whopping 1,830 square feet. All the rooms in the hotel are duplex suites, with the living space located on the first floor, and the bedrooms located on the 2nd floor.

There are several room categories, with the largest "Royal 2BR Suite" coming in at an insane 8,400 square ft. with an equally ridiculous price tag of $19,000 per night.

Our amazing upgrade bumped us up several room categories to a 2 bedroom and 2.5 bath suite, spread across 3,600 square ft.

Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area where the two of us had been used to living in a 700 sq. ft. condo prior to recently moving, we just didn't know what to do with that much space. We suddenly found ourselves in a hotel room that was 5 times the size of what we were accustomed to!

Here's the tour, starting with the foyer and an adjacent half bath.

Suite foyer


1st floor half bathroom


The 1st floor of the suite opens up into a full office equipped with an iMac, printer, and scanner. This space would be really useful for those that have real work to do. For me, I primarily used the space to hook up my iPad and watch Sons of Anarchy on a bigger screen.

Office


After a hard day's work, it's natural to want a drink. Next to the office, there was a 4-stool bar which was fully stocked with an assortment of refreshments and treats. We cracked into the bottle of red wine and grazed from the fruit platter.

Bar area


Then we dug into the sweets which included a box of baklava in the shape of the Burj Al Arab, and a plate of tiramisu.

Baklava


Tiramisu


There were bottles of water all around, and the butlers brought more each time they came to freshen up the room. It was a French brand that we'd never heard of, and came in a glass bottle. It tasted like...water.

Wattwiller water


The 1st living room was outfitted with a huge sectional sofa, a small table, and a padded wall? As you can see, the decor looks like it was taken from the set of Aladdin.

Living room #1




Throughout the suite there were fantastic views down to the beach, and there was a constant stream of helicopters flying by.

View from the suite


This is the most high-tech hotel room that I've ever stayed in. There were a total of 4 TV's, and each one took every opportunity to remind you that you were staying in the world's most luxurious hotel.

Every single room in the suite was wired with surround sound, as well as dimming lights that could be set at 4 different brightness levels. Each individual room had a panel to control both the sound and lighting.

Since the suite is so large, of course you're not expected to get up and open the front door. My favorite feature was the ability to open the front door from any of the remote controls scattered across the suite.

Burj Al Arab, the world's most luxurious hotel


The 2nd living room provided even more space, with another sectional sofa along with two large chairs with ottomans.

Living room #2


Adjacent to living room #2 is a formal dining room, equipped with a large 6-person dining table that can be used to host a proper dinner. Or, in our case, to pretend like we were hosting a dinner for our imaginary friends.

Formal dining room


Here's your dinner, fruit!


If you really were hosting a a dinner, there's a kitchen adjacent to the dining room which was equipped with a microwave, sink, oven and stove top.

Kitchen


After exploring the 1st floor, we headed back to the foyer and made our way upstairs to the 2nd floor. The foyer featured a grand staircase and chandelier.

Staircase to 2nd floor


There was also a virtual clock projected onto the wall.

Virtual wall clock


At the top of the stairs, the hallway branched off in two directions toward each of the rooms. The spare bedroom featured two twin beds and a full en-suite bathroom. Since my wife took over the master bathroom, this became my bathroom.

Obviously we had no use for this bedroom, and it was completely unnecessary.

Bedroom #2




Spare bathroom


And finally, the master suite which was humongous. It started with the bedroom area which featured a king bed along with a day bed and additional chairs in each of the corners.

There were more mirrors than I could count, including the infamous mirror above the ceiling. It's not to everyone's taste, but I found it amusing as a deterrent from eating in bed, since you had a perfect view of yourself making a mess everywhere.

Master bedroom


Behind the bedroom there is a walkway which connected to a powder room which contained the wardrobe as well as a full make-up area.

Make-up room and wardrobe


The master bathroom was basically identical to the spare bathroom.

Master bathroom


The shower and bathtub were both huge, although we did have some trouble with the shower draining too slowly and made a bit of a mess by flooding the floor. I guess the spare bathroom came in handy after all!

Shower


Both bathrooms were stocked with full size 6-12 oz. Hermes toiletries, and since we barely put a dent in them, I broke my rule of never checking bags and brought them back home. The spare bathroom paid off, since it essentially doubled our loot which totaled 2 bars of soap, 2 bottles of perfume, and 8 bottles of shampoo/conditioner/body wash/lotion that took up half the space in our suitcase.

Hermes toiletries




Hotel Facilities

While the hotel is massive, the rooms actually take up the vast majority of the space. Additional facilities include a small shopping boutique located in the atrium, and a fitness center, spa, and indoor pool located on the 18th floor. My wife went to the gym to work out and reported back that he fitness center is very large and well-equipped, and actually offers both a co-ed gym and a gym specifically for women. As you can guess, when given the choice it appeared that all the women were in the women's only gym.

They were very strict about pictures in the spa, gym, and pool, so unfortunately this section will be picture-less.

Activities

Staying at the Burj Al Arab grants you access to several of the nearby Jumeirah facilities, which include the outdoor Executive pool, Jumeirah beach, and Wild Wadi water park. There is buggy service which takes guests along a loop to all of those locations.

Since we were there for just one night and the 1st day was already packed, we only had spare time the morning of our departure to check out the neighboring facilities. By 10AM the temperatures were already approaching 90 degrees, so we weren't too keen on just sitting around at the pool or beach. We wanted to be in the water, and no better place to do that than at Wild Wadi water park.

Wild Wadi opens at 10AM and being the early bird certainly had its benefits. There were no lines for the first hour, and we were able to get through all of the rides in no time.

The best ride is the Jumeirah Sceirah which was a 400 foot slide that reaches speeds of 60mph. You're placed into the launching pod, and as the countdown reaches "1", the floor of the pod opens up and you go flying down. I'm a total chicken when it comes to roller coasters, so my screams were probably heard all the way from Abu Dhabi.

Wild Wadi encourages the use of GoPro cameras, but this was the only one where they don't let you take it on the ride. I was able to snap a picture of the Burj Al Arab from the top of Jumeirah Sceriah before taking the plunge.

View of the Burj Al Arab from the top of Wild Wadi


We did put the GoPro to good use on a couple of the other rides, and captured a couple selfies with the Burj Al Arab in the background.

Waterslide selfies


Food and Beverage

Since we were at the end of our trip and had done most of our over-eating in the Seychelles, we didn't really feel the need to have a proper dinner. Also, we had read reviews about the food at the hotel which were a mixed bag, with many feeling that it was overpriced for what you get.

Therefore, we felt like a nice compromise would be to have afternoon tea at the Skyview Bar, and made reservations for 4:30PM which is the last seating of the day. There are two afternoon tea seatings, each of which has two reservation times staggered 30 minutes apart. I would recommend the 2PM or 4PM reservations times, since by 4:30PM all of the window seats had been taken.

There was still plenty of space to walk around and enjoy the fantastic views from the 27th floor.

View from Skyview Bar


The Skyview Bar has a really unique style, and is sectioned off from the restaurant for afternoon tea and evening cocktails.

Skyview Bar




The afternoon tea here is as much about the ambiance and views as it was about the food. Overall, it was a fun experience, but the "Burj" factor is certainly baked into the cost and I can see why people felt the way the did about the restaurants in the hotel.

Our 5-courses started with champagne and dates, followed by the meat of the day which was a delicious cut of beef served with a helping of mashed potatoes.

Meat of the day


The courses alternated between sweet and savory - next up was a delicious berry fruit tart.

Fruit tart


It was then time for the smaller Burj Al Arab platter which was filled with finger sandwiches. There were only 5 sandwiches per person on the platter, but the waiters came by frequently with refills. They must have sensed my hungry eyes, and since we were making dinner out of this, I didn't hold back. Much to my wife's embarrassment, I had the waiter swing by several times and must have had at least 20-25 of these little guys.

In general, you can really think of this as an afternoon tea buffet, since they do not nickel and dime you at all. In addition to the food, we must have tried 8 different types of teas, and if anything the waiters were encouraging us to try more.

Cold finger sandwiches


Lastly, the large Burj Al Arab platter was brought out, and contained scones, muffins, a wide assortment of other pastries, and mini creme brulees. Oddly, they don't give you two of everything, so my wife and I had to cut each piece in half in order to share. No need for refills here, as this was an unreal amount of sweets that left us on a sugar high for the rest of the day.

Afternoon tea sweets




The next day we headed down to Bab Al Yam restaurant for breakfast which is located on the ground level next to the beach. The other alternative for breakfast is Jinsui which is an Asian-style buffet.

There was a high-quality selection of items for breakfast, but it certainly wasn't quite as overwhelming or indulgent as we expected it to be. During our first stop in Dubai I had been blown away by the eggs at the Emirates First Class Lounge, which had the most amazingly golden yolks I've ever seen. I made sure to squeeze in one last order of sunnyside up eggs here.

Breakfast buffet




As a bonus, we had been wanting to try camel milk at some point during our stay, and luckily they had it here.

Camel milk


Breakfast selection


Final thoughts

Overall, our stay at the Burj Al Arab was as ridiculous and over-the-top as we expected it to be. Everything about this 7-star hotel is loud, but beyond that it truly did live up to the hype as the most luxurious hotel we have certainly stayed at.

In some ways I view our stay more as the purchase of a "royal treatment" type of experience, rather than a night of hotel accommodations. They do not nickel and dime you here at all, and if anything it's quite the opposite. As a guest, you're showered with all the finest food, drinks, amenities, and services your heart could desire. Of course it's all baked into the price, but with this all-inclusive mindset you're able to really just relax and enjoy.

Would I stay again? Perhaps. I'm glad we tried it once for the novelty, but there are so many amazing properties in Dubai such as the One and Only The Palm that I would like to try before returning to the Burj Al Arab. However, I would absolutely recommend staying at the Burj Al Arab at least once, and would also recommend it only for relatively short (1-2 nights) stays.

roastpuff

That is one insanely huge hotel room! Sometimes it's fun having hotel rooms larger than your actual residence. The rest of the hotel also looks quite impressive in scale. The decor, however, leaves much to be desired in my tastes. So gaudy... even beyond what I've expected from Dubai. It also feels old, as if it was out of the 60's or 70's with that color scheme.

The afternoon tea looks great - would you say that it was worth the price, considering the food and the view? I have a 9-hour layover, and debating whether to go to the Burj Khalifa viewing platform and spend some time in the Dubai Mall, or to go for afternoon tea. Arriving at 12:30PM (supposedly) makes me nervous about missing the first seating at 2PM, and I'd really like to get a window seat if I'm paying that much for afternoon tea.

sfoactuary

It's funny, looking back at the pictures the decor really does jump out as gaudy and over-the-top, but when we were immersed in it while staying there it really didn't seem that bad. But completely agree that it certainly isn't a style I'd choose for my own home

Afternoon tea is worth the price if you go in looking at it as more than just afternoon tea, but also including the price of admission to visit the Burj. The food was fine, but on it own definitely does not justify the price they charge. If you're arriving at 12:30PM, getting to the hotel by 2PM sharp will require some luck, as the afternoon traffic in Dubai can get really bad.

I think it comes down how long you want to spend out in Dubai. If you just want to visit the Burj and do afternoon tea, it's probably 3-4 hours maximum, and with a 9 hour layover you'd either have to go back to the airport early or find something else to do. Perhaps you could pair with a visit to the Mall of the Emirates which is closeby.

The Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall option may be preferable for such a long layover. On our trip last year we were able to easily kill 8 hours doing exactly that.

offerendum

So you had more or less 2 suites. Not really necessary but if it`s "for free".

sfoactuary

Exactly, in fact not necessary at all but I wasn't going to turn it down

janehoya

I've loved reading your fantastic trip report. Thanks for posting.

sfoactuary

Thanks for reading!

roadwarriorafrica

My wife and I had lunch once at the 'underwater' seafood restaurant at Burj. It was uber bling, but I think we can make a better seafood platter at home. Was it worth it? yes. Would I go back again? Don't think so.

Loved your report so far.

offerendum

Food Quality is bad and I don`t find it uber bling. When we eat no one wore a suit which was tailored in a proper way. I would call it almost a tourist-trap, also the experience with the aquarium is nice and worth the visit.

sfoactuary

It seems like your experiences are pretty consistent with what we had read regarding food quality at the Burj Al Arab restaurants. The experience is unique and amazing, but the food itself leaves a lot to be desired.

I'm surprised that the hotel hasn't tried to improve in this area, especially with the ridiculous prices that they charge.

sfoactuary

After spending the morning at Wild Wadi water park, we soaked in our last few moments at the Burj Al Arab before packing our bags and continuing the long journey home.

With a 5:10PM departure, we left the hotel around 2PM since the afternoon traffic can be quite bad in Dubai. We jumped into a taxi, and 50 AED and only 30 minutes later we arrived at Dubai International Airport.

We had been through DXB a handful of times already, but each time we had been flying Emirates. Emirates is truly the king, or sheikh in the case, of DXB airport, and has exclusive use of Terminal 3.

Cathay Pacific, along with many of the other non-Emirates airlines, fly out of Terminal 1, which almost felt like an afterthought. It's pretty clear that Terminal 3 has gotten all of the state-of-the-art upgrades, and it was a simple check-in and security experience at Terminal 1.

Then there was a long walk, like a seriously long walk, to the gates. I've had some long walks at airport such as HKG, but this one was truly a marathon that clocked in at well over a mile based on my wife's Fitbit.

Cathay Pacific only runs 2 flights per day through DXB, and therefore has no need for their own lounge, and share with the British Airways lounge.

After our previous experiences at the Emirates lounges at DXB, this was a very abrupt return back to reality. Not to say anything bad about the British Airlines lounge, other than the fact that it was a perfectly comfortable and typical airport lounge experience that you'll find at most airports around the world.

The seating area is actually on the smaller size, but didn't really fill up even as we got closer to departure.



There were several hot food, soup, finger sandwiches, and other snacks to choose from, along with a wide assortment of drinks. The hot food and sandwiches were pretty mediocre, so we decided to hold out for a proper meal on-board our flight.





While food and drinks are nice, what I really want out of a lounge is a clean bathroom and fast wifi. The British Airways lounge had the clean bathroom down, but the wifi was ridiculously slow to the point that it was unusable.

Overall, the British Airways lounge at DXB was a perfectly nice and comfortable lounge, but is a notch below it's counterpart at SFO, and several steps below the lounges offered by Emirates. While it doesn't make sense to choose an airline simply based on the lounge experience, it's pretty clear that when traveling through DXB, flying Emirates has its advantages over other airlines.

sfoactuary

We had already taken one step closer to home from the Seychelles to Dubai, but now it was really time to head back. The direct flight from the West Coast to Dubai is already long enough at 16 hours, but we were going to take the even longer route via Hong Kong that would add another 8 hours in transit.

Before this year I had actually never flown Cathay Pacific, but within the past 12 months it's been the airline I've flown the most. While the First Class product may not be as extravagant as other airlines such as Emirates, we found that's it been consistently excellent.

But in my opinion, Cathay Pacific's Business Class product is where they really shine, and it's one of the very best in the market today. Today's flight would be similar to our return from the Maldives on Cathay Pacific earlier this year, starting with a ride on the Airbus A330-300.

Quick aside on trip reporting - at times it can actually be hard to sit back and enjoy yourself in the moment, because you're so consumed with capturing every single detail. More than anything, what I really enjoyed about these flights is that I'd taken them before. With all the previous photos and experiences in my back-pocket to lean on, there was no longer a sense of needing to stay alert, which in turn allowed me to enjoy myself more.

We headed over to the gate just as boarding was starting. From the looks of it, DXB-HKG is a heavy business travel route with the Business Class cabin at full capacity.

Our ride to Hong Kong


Since I had booked the trip several months out, I was able to get seats in the mini-cabin from rows 19-21. Since this is partitioned off from the larger Business Class cabin and Premium Economy sections, it's extremely quiet and private and would highly recommend getting seats here if available.

A330-300 seat map


Without the Dom and caviar that you get in First Class, Business Class comparisons across airlines boils down to the seat. And Cathay's are top-notch, featuring the reverse herringbone 1-2-1 configuration. The seats are extremely comfortable and private, and stretch out into a complete 180 degree flat bed.

And the best part about these seats are that they are as wide as you can find out there. In fact, the Cathay Pacific Business Class seats at 21" are actually wider than the 20.5" you get in Emirates First Class on the 777-300ER!



One little detail that makes all the difference in the world is the wedge that sticks out diagonally from the seat near the armrest. It can be raised or lowered based on your preference, and provides that extra little bit of space that you need to maneuver and shift while sitting, or to sleep comfortably on your side.





Even though I admittedly watch a lot of TV and for the most part am caught up on the latest blockbusters, I was still disappointed in the IFE selection on our flights. There was literally nothing that I wanted to watch and luckily had brought backup IFE on my iPad which was loaded with all the Sons of Anarchy I needed to fill the 24 hour journey.



The IFE and seat controls are simple but effective, and in some ways I like the idea of the tactile controls as opposed to dealing with the complexity of a fancy system.



The footrest provides plenty of space and there is more than enough space in front of you to place a bag as well as your shoes.



Since we hadn't eaten much that day and the lounge food wasn't very appealing, we were looking forward to a proper meal. And since we had been traveling for 2 weeks in the Middle East and Africa, I had a huge craving for In-N-Out Burger, Mexican food, or Asian food. Given that we were on an Asian carrier, understandably the last one was the only craving that I was able to satisfy for now.

Dinner service started about an hour after takeoff, and consistent with our previous flights, the food on Cathay Pacific is a true highlight. I would take these meals over the food served in Emirates First Class any day.





First up was the prawn appetizer, salad, and garlic bread.



I chose the red snapper in sweet and sour sauce for my entree and was as happy as could be, it was absolutely delicious.



To finish up, cheese and then the chocolate mousse cake. The food was excellent, and really my only gripe was that service was a bit slow, with meal service taking around 2 hours from start to finish.





There was only 3-4 hours of flight time left, and we dozed off for a the remaining few hours before landing at HKG where we had an upcoming 4-hour layover. I won't bore you with the details, since we literally repeated the layover we had in May, which was spent showering, relaxing, and eating at The Wing lounge.

The internet speed at the Cathay Pacific lounges was blazing fast, and I only wish that all lounges could provide similar speeds. We were able to make calls and video chat with no issues.

At this point we had basically pulled an all-niter, and in general were just exhausted from the 2-week trip. Other than the fact that our flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles was on a different plane (Boeing 777-300ER) and twice as long as our flight from Dubai, it was essentially the same experience.

So I did something I've never done before in my life...I actually passed on the opportunity to eat on-board the flight! For people that know me, they know how crazy tired I must have been since I just don't miss out on any opportunity to eat.

But again, the beauty of being on a flight that I had taken multiple times was that I didn't like I was missing out on anything. Immediately after boarding the Benadryl went down the hatch, earplugs and eye shades went on, and 30 minutes later I was out like a rock for a glorious 10 hours of barely-interrupted sleep.

Next thing I knew we were just a couple hours out from LAX and the second meal service was about to start. No chance that I would miss this one.





Breakfast started with some fresh fruit, along with a croissant.



I always go for either the congee or dim sum for breakfast on the Cathay flights, and flipped a coin to decide. Dim sum it is.



I spent the last hour shaking out the cobwebs in my head, and arrived at LAX as rested as one can possibly be after a 12 hour Trans-Pacific flight. Overall, another fantastic flight aboard Cathay Pacific and I can't wait to fly them again.

P.S.We really need to work on our Global Entry pictures, can two people look any more suspicious than this?

farbster

It's a good thing that you had more than one bathroom. I hate when they have the toilet right in the middle of the bathroom. That's among the worst sins, especially since they had tons of room!

offerendum

Absolutely. Personally I find the bathrooms at Burj underwhelming. Not bad but also not great (not seperate toilet, no window, bathtub not so spacious). The problem with the toilet isn`t so much one because the 2nd toilet in the basement.

GE90-115B

Very nice trip report overall, I particularly enjoyed the DXB-LAX portion of the report which yet again shows how amazing CX J is Just curious, was your flight to LAX CX884, 882 or 880?