Sofitel the Palm Dubai 2019
My husband and I were planning on going to Turkey this summer however he had started a new job and the company only allowed him to take holiday no more than 2 weeks. We have family in Turkey therefore wanted to go for 3 or more weeks. Dubai wasn't in our plans we did really want to visit but thought it was expensive and we had planned to go in the future sometime.
However after doing some online research from looking into Morocco and Egypt holidays I found myself looking at holidays to Dubai. I contacted Southall Travel and the travel agent Phil gave us a great price. I didn't realise that June was a off peak season and we booked 10 days to Dubai Sofitel the Palm from 25th June-5th July. 2 adults 1 child and 1 infant on lap. this cost us including pick up and drop off from airport to hotel with half board £2,450, our flight times were very good also. We flew from Gatwick and returned to Stanstead with Emirates. I booked the holiday in April so had good time to pack and get ready as this was our first family holiday of 4. I was very stressed thinking the weather in Dubai was going to be very hot and horrible and that the kids were going to suffer however the weather was just perfect loved it so much. www.southalltravel.co.uk
Our time on the plane was horrible, my daughter which had just turned 1 hated the flight. my 3 year old got bored even though the plane offered children colouring books and other bits it still wasn't enough. Once we arrived in Dubai we had to go though passport control but the system was down for a very long time which was frustrating. Our driver was waiting for us and he took us to our hotel in a very nice 7 seater.
Arriving at Sofitel the Palm we were greeted by friendly staff and glasses of lemon and lime juice it was delicious. Our check-in went smoothly, they charged my credit card 4000 dirhams which made 850pounds or so, i used my credit card just in-case and this is just a deposit which they released two days before we checked out. We had booked a luxury sea view room which was the basic rooms however it was so spacious clean and the toiletries were Elemis :) the bed was comfortable and we had requested for a cot bed which was ready for us and my three year old slept on the sofa which was very comfortable. I had requested for a iron and ironing board which was all ready waiting for me so thank you for that Sofitel :D
The breakfast buffet at the Manava restaurant was so nice had a very large selection of food, lunch and dinner was very nice too every day was different very tasty and clean. The hotel was overall very clean the beach and pool was lovely. You do have to pay for drinks, ice cream, food, shisha etc separate by the beach and pool but wasn't so expensive. What I can remember Starbucks coffee was around 40 dirhams same with mocktails etc. Ice cream at Gelati was 15 dirhams and they were the best ice cream ever!
The kids club was amazing very clean and a lot for the children to do. The kids club was right next to the kids pool and our children enjoyed it so much. We met another family who were also from London and they live 15 minutes away from us and they had two daughters aged 3 and 7 so we all spent the rest of our holiday together as we got along very well.www.accorhotels.com
View from our room above.^
The Pointe is a 10 minute drive via taxi costing at 20 dirhams from the hotel, it is a beautiful place with many restaurants and shops also we found soft play called Cheeky Monkeys which we took the children to play costing at 55 dirhams a child for one hour. This place is a must visit you can sit by the beach on cushions with the view of Atlantis hotel..
I booked a desert safari with ABC tours, our driver picked us up with a luxury SUV from the hotel and dropped us back. He was amazing as he gave us good history about Dubai and on places to visit. We did dune bashing the driver was a little slower due to the children but it was so much fun. We arrived at the camp where they had camel riding, BBQ, henna tattoo, shisha and performances. We really enjoyed this and booked the whole thing for £102. Paid via paypal. www.abctoursdubai.com
We also booked Atlantis Aquaventure and the Lost Chambers Aquarium including lunch for £236 for the whole day. We loved loved loved it so much, the children loved it even though we could do the adult rides the children's bit was brilliant too. We were here from 11am to 5pm which was enough time to do everything. The Lost Chambers was amazing had lots of different types of fishes. This deal was booked via Atlantis website and paid with my Barclays freedom reward card.
Atlantis is 5 minute drive from Sofitel and the hotel has free buses on set times to drop and pick tourists, including the Mall of Emirates and to the Dubai Mall.. The bus to The Atlantis and Emirates mall is a small bus first come first serve but for the Dubai Mall it is a coach very comfortable.
We booked to see the Dubai Frame this was very interesting we received information on how the frame was built and the view was spectacular. Booked this for £30. It was lovely to see however it is not a must.
The Dubai Mall however is just something else! I must say that it is a eye opener. They had such amazing variety of everything. Krispy Kreme doughnuts had selections such as New York cheesecake and red velvet ones I brought them all. I had to eat everything while out there.
Cinnabon was my fave! Cinnabon with Nutella drizzle OMG must eat.
We ate at PF Changs it was delicious!!
I brought chocolate covered dates from Carrefour Emirates Mall. It is a must if you go. And I had some cinnamon latte from Kava & Chai which I am craving for.
Cheesecake Factory I had the salted caramel one it was so big but so delicious must give it a try if you haven't.
We used the Taxi back from most of our destinations and the most it cost us was 70 dirhams and this was from the Dubai frame. We didn't go to see the gold and spice souks but we went to visit the Madinat Jumeirah souk and had dinner at Trattoria Toscana which was delicious but pricey so be aware. The views was beautiful, the boat ride was 100 dirham.. But it is free to enter the Madinat Jumeirah if you wish to wonder around. I brought fridge magnets and keyrings from one of the shops as the prices were very decent compared to others. 9 dirhams for fridge magnet at 12 dirham for keyring.
Overall Dubai was so safe and clean we felt so welcomed and comfortable. The crime rate is literally 0 anyway so it felt amazing. I was so worried about the children or even ourselves becoming sick and had packed every bit of medication in our suitcase but thankfully we were all very well.
Everywhere we went had air-con. But I remember when we went to the JBR Marina we literally melted it was SO hot, but a nice hot. All my worries were for nothing, it is a very children friendly country as well. Oh and it wasn't so expensive after all I found it to be pretty decent baring in mind we didn't do much expensive things but I feel like I managed to do everything I wanted to do except for visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque as this was quite a drive to Abu Dhabi and didn't want to take the risk with the children.
However after doing some online research from looking into Morocco and Egypt holidays I found myself looking at holidays to Dubai. I contacted Southall Travel and the travel agent Phil gave us a great price. I didn't realise that June was a off peak season and we booked 10 days to Dubai Sofitel the Palm from 25th June-5th July. 2 adults 1 child and 1 infant on lap. this cost us including pick up and drop off from airport to hotel with half board £2,450, our flight times were very good also. We flew from Gatwick and returned to Stanstead with Emirates. I booked the holiday in April so had good time to pack and get ready as this was our first family holiday of 4. I was very stressed thinking the weather in Dubai was going to be very hot and horrible and that the kids were going to suffer however the weather was just perfect loved it so much. www.southalltravel.co.uk
Our time on the plane was horrible, my daughter which had just turned 1 hated the flight. my 3 year old got bored even though the plane offered children colouring books and other bits it still wasn't enough. Once we arrived in Dubai we had to go though passport control but the system was down for a very long time which was frustrating. Our driver was waiting for us and he took us to our hotel in a very nice 7 seater.
Hotel
The entrance to the Palm island was beautiful loved the way it was designed. The FIVE hotel grabbed my attention it looked amazing!! I checked it out online pretty expensive.. Driving down you could see the Atlantis it was magical, our hotel was right next to the Atlantis. Arriving at Sofitel the Palm we were greeted by friendly staff and glasses of lemon and lime juice it was delicious. Our check-in went smoothly, they charged my credit card 4000 dirhams which made 850pounds or so, i used my credit card just in-case and this is just a deposit which they released two days before we checked out. We had booked a luxury sea view room which was the basic rooms however it was so spacious clean and the toiletries were Elemis :) the bed was comfortable and we had requested for a cot bed which was ready for us and my three year old slept on the sofa which was very comfortable. I had requested for a iron and ironing board which was all ready waiting for me so thank you for that Sofitel :D
The breakfast buffet at the Manava restaurant was so nice had a very large selection of food, lunch and dinner was very nice too every day was different very tasty and clean. The hotel was overall very clean the beach and pool was lovely. You do have to pay for drinks, ice cream, food, shisha etc separate by the beach and pool but wasn't so expensive. What I can remember Starbucks coffee was around 40 dirhams same with mocktails etc. Ice cream at Gelati was 15 dirhams and they were the best ice cream ever!
The kids club was amazing very clean and a lot for the children to do. The kids club was right next to the kids pool and our children enjoyed it so much. We met another family who were also from London and they live 15 minutes away from us and they had two daughters aged 3 and 7 so we all spent the rest of our holiday together as we got along very well.www.accorhotels.com
Extras
I booked a desert safari with ABC tours, our driver picked us up with a luxury SUV from the hotel and dropped us back. He was amazing as he gave us good history about Dubai and on places to visit. We did dune bashing the driver was a little slower due to the children but it was so much fun. We arrived at the camp where they had camel riding, BBQ, henna tattoo, shisha and performances. We really enjoyed this and booked the whole thing for £102. Paid via paypal. www.abctoursdubai.com
We also booked Atlantis Aquaventure and the Lost Chambers Aquarium including lunch for £236 for the whole day. We loved loved loved it so much, the children loved it even though we could do the adult rides the children's bit was brilliant too. We were here from 11am to 5pm which was enough time to do everything. The Lost Chambers was amazing had lots of different types of fishes. This deal was booked via Atlantis website and paid with my Barclays freedom reward card.
Atlantis is 5 minute drive from Sofitel and the hotel has free buses on set times to drop and pick tourists, including the Mall of Emirates and to the Dubai Mall.. The bus to The Atlantis and Emirates mall is a small bus first come first serve but for the Dubai Mall it is a coach very comfortable.
We booked to see the Dubai Frame this was very interesting we received information on how the frame was built and the view was spectacular. Booked this for £30. It was lovely to see however it is not a must.
Food
The Dubai Mall however is just something else! I must say that it is a eye opener. They had such amazing variety of everything. Krispy Kreme doughnuts had selections such as New York cheesecake and red velvet ones I brought them all. I had to eat everything while out there.
Cinnabon was my fave! Cinnabon with Nutella drizzle OMG must eat.
We ate at PF Changs it was delicious!!
I brought chocolate covered dates from Carrefour Emirates Mall. It is a must if you go. And I had some cinnamon latte from Kava & Chai which I am craving for. Cheesecake Factory I had the salted caramel one it was so big but so delicious must give it a try if you haven't.
We used the Taxi back from most of our destinations and the most it cost us was 70 dirhams and this was from the Dubai frame. We didn't go to see the gold and spice souks but we went to visit the Madinat Jumeirah souk and had dinner at Trattoria Toscana which was delicious but pricey so be aware. The views was beautiful, the boat ride was 100 dirham.. But it is free to enter the Madinat Jumeirah if you wish to wonder around. I brought fridge magnets and keyrings from one of the shops as the prices were very decent compared to others. 9 dirhams for fridge magnet at 12 dirham for keyring.
Overall Dubai was so safe and clean we felt so welcomed and comfortable. The crime rate is literally 0 anyway so it felt amazing. I was so worried about the children or even ourselves becoming sick and had packed every bit of medication in our suitcase but thankfully we were all very well.
Everywhere we went had air-con. But I remember when we went to the JBR Marina we literally melted it was SO hot, but a nice hot. All my worries were for nothing, it is a very children friendly country as well. Oh and it wasn't so expensive after all I found it to be pretty decent baring in mind we didn't do much expensive things but I feel like I managed to do everything I wanted to do except for visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque as this was quite a drive to Abu Dhabi and didn't want to take the risk with the children.
Outcome
I was never a type of person to be interested in designer but since our trip to Dubai I have become very interested because everyone out there was dressed in designer hand bags! If only I knew before hand :D never mind next time maybe. 
Comments
Post a Comment