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Old 24 Feb 12, 08:12 PM  
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Siddex
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Join Date: Apr 07
Location: Norfolk

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Celebrating My 40th In Dubai Trip Report - Day 5

Thursday 28th April – Day 5:
We woke up to another gloriously sunny morning on our last full day in Dubai. We followed our usual morning routine of throwing our pool things together and hitting poolside by 9AM before breakfasting at 10.

As it was our last day, we stuck by our tried, tested and thoroughly approved location of Sloane’s. Maria had her usual non-hot omelette and I decided to compile a breakfast of my favourite things from during the week. This seemed to consist of a lot of cake and pastry type things, I avoided the chicken sausages like the plague. We left Sloane’s for the last time very, very stuffed – as you should leave all breakfast buffet places!

We returned poolside and spent the morning frying in the Desert sun and cooling off in the pool. As my sun tolerance levels are a lot lower than Mrs P’s, I had a mid morning break inside and made use of this time by checking in on-line for our flight home.

I had been having trouble with the wifi all week, so I asked if they could help me out at Guest Services. Well once again the Grosvenor excelled in their customer service. Very soon, I was checked in and the boarding passes had been printed. An early morning call had been arranged and also the delivery of some pots of tea to our room. Luggage collection from our room was arranged and the car to the airport. I have to say again – fantastic service.

Once the sun had disappeared behind the tower it was time to go and freshen up for this afternoons excursions, namely afternoon tea at the Burj Al Arab (7* - sail hotel). So we changed into appropriate attire and then got a cab to the Madinat Souk. Whilst waiting for our taxi at the hotel we saw the concierge that had booked the things for us earlier in the week. He came over to us and wished me a belated birthday from Tuesday, asked me how my birthday had been and what the meal was like at the restaurant and finally he told us to enjoy our afternoon tea. We were a bit surprised he had remembered us and also the specific things he had sorted out for us. But once again, this was an example of the amazing people that the Grosvenor House Hotel employs.

The Madinat Souk is a little Arabic type market place near the Burj. We purchased some last minute souvenirs and had a look around the many little craft type shops in there. We then got another cab to the Burj, at the gate we had to give our names and purpose of our visit because they won’t let any old person in there. You either have to be staying or dining there, to be allowed in.


View of the Burj from the Madinat Souk.


At the real thing.


Burj entrance area.


Some of the cars parked near the entrance!


The Burj Al Arab lobby!


Another part of the hotel entrance.

Access was granted and the driver dropped us off at the front entrance of this impressive hotel. We made sure we took plenty of pictures of the entrance and lobby area, before heading up to the Skyview Bar in a glass elevator.

We checked in for our afternoon tea reservation and were shortly taken to our table. We had a nice little table right in the window, with a great view over the beach and sea. First up were our champagne cocktails, I struggled through mine as I am not a great champagne lover but Maria enjoyed hers very much. So much so, that she felt compelled to have another one! The first drink was included but subsequent champagne cocktails were about £25 each! So I made sure she drank the second one very slowly!


The view from our table.

The tea was delivered, after picking which one we would like - they did not do Tetley’s, so we chose a fairly normal breakfast tea! The menu had loads of different options for tea, but some of them sounded a bit daunting so we stuck to a normal sounding one. We also took delivery of our sandwiches and a selection of cakes, these were presented on a Burj shaped cake stand!


The afternoon tea offerings.

The service here was very good (as you would expect I imagine) and everything was explained very clearly to us and we were kept topped up with tea, sandwiches and cakes. The food was nice and was fairly normal, so it was quite edible. I love sandwiches and cakes, so I made sure I ate lots of it! At one point I was also delivered a little mini birthday cake, which I thought was a nice touch.

All in all, it was a very good experience and one I am glad we decided to do. We had deliberated at length on whether to do this experience because of the price (425AED - £75 each), but in the end decided to go ahead and do it this once – just so we could say we had done it. We enjoyed our afternoon tea and left there very stuffed indeed.


My birthday cake from the Burj Al Arab.

We requested a buggy ride back to the Madinat Souk (the hotel provides a free shuttle service)to various locations close to the hotel). From here we then caught a taxi back to the Grosvenor.

We arrived within the ‘happy hour’ window, well happy 2 hours actually (6 – 8PM), so hot footed it up to the club lounge to sample some complimentary drinks on our last evening. I was dressed suitably today, so did not have to go via the room and change. Earlier in the week I had been asked to leave the club room and change, as I was wearing long shorts and not trousers! This was during the day as well!

We managed a few drinks in the club lounge but no snacks tonight, as we were both very stuffed from the afternoon tea. Our original plan was to go out into the Marina tonight and grab some dinner, but we were both very stuffed from earlier and could not be bothered. So what we actually did, was go back to the room, pack our cases and then have a couple of drinks on the balcony.
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