Dubai - April 2019 Day 1

[katnav]

I hadn't planned on writing a trip report for this holiday but did write notes throughout for future planning. However I quite like reading back our Florida report so as I still have my notes I am going to go for it.

So this is us.
Me - Kate, holiday planner, general organiser.
A - Works hard for us to be able to have nice holidays
J - Almost 7 at the time of holiday, sensitive, inquisitive, talkative, lovely boy
A - Almost 5 at the time of holiday, the wild child, hilarious, loving, always pushing the boundaries!

We have been to Dubai once before in October 2015 when my brother in law lived out there. We stayed in Business Bay this time to be near his apartment but were looking forward to being on the beach this time in Dubai Marina.

This holiday was booked shortly after we arrived back from Florida in June 2017 and we very nearly booked to go back to Florida but for reasons I can no longer remember we ended up with 11 nights in April staying at the JA Ocean View hotel in Dubai. We got an amazing price through expedia.com and when trying to get a couple of other travel agents to price match they said they could get no where near that price and suggested I book immediately as they thought it was either an error or a deal that wouldn't be around long... so book I did!

We had a night flight from Heathrow with Virgin landing early the next morning in Dubai. Flight was easy, we all had some sleep on the flight but arrived still very tired. Immigration was very easy and we were off the plane and in a taxi within 45 minutes.

The taxi to JA Ocean View was 105 Dirham. The hotel looked nice on arrival but check in was a shambles. It was busy with only 2 people serving so they said to sit to the side on the comfy sofas and they would call us over shortly. There was one other family already sat in that area also waiting to be checked in. After about 10 minutes we still hadn't been called and then other people arrived to check in and stood in a queue by the check in desk and then they started to check them in!

We were very annoyed as we were tired, the kids were restless. After what felt like forever but was probably about 20/25 minutes we were finally checked in and they did apologise for the confusion.

We were offered an upgrade to club level but it was £65 a night so quite costly for 11 nights so we declined. Rooms were not due to be ready until 3pm but they said we could come back about midday and we should be able to get into our room. They explained where the spa was so we could change and store our day bag and we headed off to the pool.

This was easy enough and the spa and changing areas were very nice.
We headed out to the pool and found some empty loungers. It was a bit awkward as after about 10 minutes or so a couple appeared and stood in front of our sun beds looking very annoyed. Eventually they asked where their stuff was as we were sat on their loungers. I explained they were empty when we arrived and luckily a man in the row behind came forward and said the staff had moved their stuff as they had been gone for over an hour. They looked really annoyed and headed off but seemed to believe we had something to do it with it.

The stolen lounger!

We let the kids have a couple of hours swimming and we chilled by the pool before getting changed and heading to reception to see if our room was ready, which it was. Room 1306 with a view over the pool and beach. Very nice room with a large king bed and a double sofa bed.

We unpacked a little and got changed before heading out to find some lunch. We heaaded to Cheesecake Factory (a planned event!) and sat outside for lunch.

The kids both ordered corn dogs, I had the cuban sand which and A the tostada salad with 2 fruit lemonades. This can to 258 dirham. It was a nice lunch and don't worry... we return for cheesecake later in the holiday.

waiting for lunch


We were all tired now so headed back for a nap. We all slept for 2 hours, waking up at 4. We decided to make the most of the beach front position of the hotel and got changed for the beach. The hotel provide beach bags what have the beach mats, umbrella and towels which you pick up pool side and drop back on your way. The hotel has a walk way next to the pool with a lift at the end taking you down to street level and it is a 1 minute walk down the path to the beach.

We all had a fab time in the waves and stayed until sunset at 6:30. The weather was beautiful and the sea temperature perfect.

We headed back for showers and to get changed for dinner and headed along The Walk and ended up in Bianca Italian. The food here was nice but service pool and we got 2 of our meals and the other 2 didn't show until the first 1 were finished. We did complain and they took both adult meals off the bill which was a nice gesture but disappointing that we didn't all get to eat together.

After dinner we walk back along the main street and came across some games and toys laid out for the kids which of course we stopped at for a little plan on he way home.

Back and in bed for 9:30. J had never been so tired, asleep before he even reached his bed.