Dubai Holiday deals ??

myright

bump......

Incapuppy

Have you checked out the destination info and dedicated Dubai forum on Trip Advisor? More useful stuff on there than you can shake a stick at, I should think!

Doshwaster

joaniemerc wrote: »

We stayed at the 4* Crowne Plaza Hotel, Sheikh Zayed Road. It was a very comfortable stay - 5 mins away from train station which was very efficient. Has a pool/sun terrace although you lost the sun about 1pm behind the tall buildings but then we'd just go off exploring.

I really like the Crowne Plaza in Dubai. It's in the downtown area near the Emirates Towers rather than the beach but it's close to loads of things. The hotel itself is a huge complex with a shopping mall and several bars and restaurants. It may not be at the luxury level some of the 5* hotels in Dubai but it's a good compromise between quality, price and location.

Anyone going to Dubai should be aware that the city is not a budget destination for hotels. You can get good quality at affordable prices but if you are expecting "cheap and cheerful" then you are going to the wrong place.

joaniemerc

myright wrote: »

thanks for the advice here. i just went on ebay and I have found people selling individual vouchers for different activities. So if you could tell me most common/ or a 'must' activity then i can order them vouchers
thanks

Obivously depends what you want to do but I'd say waterpark vouchers (Atlantis and Wild Wadi), restaurant vouchers (look for restaurant vouchers that are in the waterparks), restaurant vouchers for Mall of the Emirates or Dubai Mall and any excursions that you fancy - Jeep Desert Safari maybe. We also used vouchers in Crowne Plaza - there's a Wagamama there and there are vouchers for this in the Entertainer Book, we also used 2-4-1 breakfast vouchers at the cafe in Crowne Plaza Hotel - the main restaurant for breakfast was a bunfight but we were there over New Year and hotel was busy - found the cafe much more relaxing and if you bought items from them they'd give you a 24hr code to use the internet if you have a laptop. We also used Ben & Jerry and Dunkin Doughnut ones.

Honestly, there's just too many to name. We had the whole book which we bought off Ebay so each day we'd look through the vouchers and see which ones we could use where we were going to be, IYSWIM. Then you only have to take the vouchers out rather than the whole book which is weighty.

I think if you're not sure what you'll do or where you'd go I'd buy one online and have it delivered out there to your hotel. As you will have seen, there is a market for the Books on Ebay so you will get your money back.

vegasvisitor

We have been twice, once in 2005 and again 2 weeks ago. We only stayed 3 nights both times, it was a stopover. Recently we stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton on Sheikh Zayed Road. Same area as the Crowne Plaza. Almost opposite Emirates Towers. Between 2 metro stations (both easily walkable). Bars within the hotels nearby, close to the main malls (easy on the metro).

We booked using lastminute on their 'top secret hotels' - we got a very good price, saved over £150. This hotel comes up as description 'enjoy the suite life on Sheikh Zayed Road' and it even came out as a 'preferred' room, which is a corner suite. This means we probably saved even more because it was an upgraded room. We sunbathed in the morning, but I think you would get the sun for quite a while up there because of the location and also the pool is way up on the roof - there is also a very nice rooftop bar.

Tabbitha

I've been to Dubai last year for 7 days and the year before for a 4 day break. First visit we stayed at a Novatel and second visit at The Holiday Inn, both are low budget hotels, but were very clean and new as is most of Dubai to be honest. We normal stay 5 star in Europe, but because we planned on only really sleeping there it didn't matter. Definitely get the Entertainer book, as someone as already said you will make your money back within days, for my last trip we visited Wild Wadi, Altantis Water Park twice had afternoon tea in the Burj Al Arab (£75 per head) dinner at Altantis, went skiing at Ski Dubai (In Mall of the Emirates), plenty of shopping in the malls. Dubai Mall is the biggest in the world I think, beautiful at night time to watch the water show outside and has an Ice skating rink. No matter where you stay the Metro system (above ground monorail) is really cheap or get a taxi, we stayed near Dubai airport last visit and managed to get to the Jumeriah (Palm, Burj Al Arab and Wild Wadi, beach) area easily. Your hotel or indeed the Entertainer Book has a map of Dubai which is very approx 20-30km, so most places are about 30mins max away.
One thing I do need to return to Dubai (any excuse) is a trip up Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world), but you need to book in advance, on their website I believe.
Both visits we traveled Virgin Altantic from Heathrow so couldn't say about other airlines, tho I have read Emirates are good too. I booked with Last Minute dot com first trip and £800 for 2 ppl including flights, second visit used Tesco Vouchers (x4 = £770!!) plus £600 for 2 ppl and booked directly with Virgin Holidays, good luck Dubai is amazing you'll love it.

vegasvisitor

You can turn up at Burj Khalifa and pay to go up on the day. You can also prebook on their website, you have to choose a day and time.

Prebooking is about £20, and it's about 4 times as much to pay on the day!!!

budgetflyer

Doshwaster wrote: »

I really like the Crowne Plaza in Dubai. It's in the downtown area near the Emirates Towers rather than the beach but it's close to loads of things. The hotel itself is a huge complex with a shopping mall and several bars and restaurants. It may not be at the luxury level some of the 5* hotels in Dubai but it's a good compromise between quality, price and location.

Anyone going to Dubai should be aware that the city is not a budget destination for hotels. You can get good quality at affordable prices but if you are expecting "cheap and cheerful" then you are going to the wrong place.

Its worth looking at "ICH friends + family rate" thread
A lot of the ICH hotels |(which Crown Plaza is part of) were valid on that when I did an 18 hr stop over last year.
Although I ended up booking HI Xpress Airport,we still saved quite a bit on the usual best available rates.

abuassaf

People who bought Entertainer family book for dubai, could you please tell me how many vouchers are in the book for the following activities:
1- Wild Wadi water park pay 2 for 1 for adults and kids.
2- Aquaventure water park (Atlantis) park pay 2 for 1 for adults and kids.
3- Dolphinarium Dubai pay 2 for 1.
4- Dubai aquarium & underwater zoo at dubai mall pay 2 for 1 ultimate package.
5- Ski Dubai pay 2 for 1 snowpark entrance.

Appreciated your response.

Enigmatic_Me

If you want to do Dubai on a budget you can do. Places like Holiday Inn Express, Premier Inn are very reasonable. Depends on what you want. Hotels like this though won't have sunbathing areas so if you want to lie by the pool some days maybe not ideal.

We have stayed twice at Crowne Plaza Festival City and got great rates. Fantastic hotel (check Trip Adviser reviews) and right next to Festival City shopping mall where you have lots of choice for eating and shopping . It also has a gorgeous canal walk with lots of restaurants that have outdoor seating for eating.

Been for 6 nights, 7 nights and even 10 nights and I could still go for longer as we just love Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Can also recommend afternoon tea at Burj Al Arab, an amazing experience, expensive but worth it.

The Big Bus tours are an excellent way of seeing Dubai and getting all the info although they can be quite long but would recommend one of these tours for a first visit.

The shopping malls are amazing and it is such a clean safe City.