Dubai - worth the Hotel Upgrade??

[Beegey]

We are looking at booking a week in Dubai for mid March. Anyone visited this time of year before? Hoping for sunshine...

Also, does anyone have any experience of the Premium/Club Executive upgrades at the hotels (particularly the Jumeirah Beach Resort) ie is it worth forking out the £1500 extra? We have been warned that eating out locally is prohibitively expensive and wondered if we could cheekily fill up on snacks in the lounge outside of our 'half board' package.

What does one actually get for the upgrade and is it worth it?

Big thanks. I have been trying to book this blardy holiday for weeks now.

Hi, weather will be lovely and warm at that time of year.

I've stayed at the JB three times and once we upgraded to the executive club and to be honest, don't think it was really worth it. It was years ago so might have changed since then but from memory, the extras were a separate/earlier check in (a little lounge with a few drinks snacks in), the lounge which was snacks and drinks at set times in the day, I think in the afternoon and just before dinner and a separate beach/pool which whilst nice, I'm not sure is worth the extra.

The JB does a free shuttle bus to several malls which have nice restaurants which are not too expensive.

There are also some nice restaurants down a The Walk an area near the Ritz Carlton. One big bit of advise that we were given that saved us lots of money was to buy a copy of the Entertainer - we saved loads on meal deals, water parks, snowdome etc and we even managed to sell what was left on ebay when we came home!

Always stay several times a year on Premium leisure level/exec at the Jumeirah hotels, tho I not keen on JBH, much prefer the others. What can I tell you?

Le royal meridien is probably the best hotel I have ever stayed in. Just look on tripadviser. It is amazing

ooohhh going to Dubai 6th Feb,1st time.

Monica The Entertainer???

Staying at Jumeirah Zabeel Saray

Hi Beegey apologies for high jacking thread.

Emerates have flash sales on at the moment,dare not check them out in case we have paid too much

We got free half board with Destinology and do not plan to spend much more on food,apparently one can take breakfast till 11(dreams) Bring on the snow

Zabeel Saray is AMAZING, you will love it, was there in Sept :)

Yep get a copy of the entertainer. If you can't get it 241 then it ain't worth having!

true Freddie :)

i would personally say not worth upgrade, too many good bars and resturants in dubai to waste in one hotel.

Frankies (detorries and marco pierre whites) resturant on the walk is fab, as is ruth chrises at the addres dubai marina.

Bhudda bar, barasti, the only and only are all great bars for pre or after dinner drinks.

Parents have lived their 8 years and i go alllott and been pretty much everywhere.

Friday brunch at at good hotel is a must (al qusar, westin, mina a salam) 4 hours of every food imaginable whilst your champagne is topped up every sip u take and every other cocktail station or drink you want available.

Totally agree re Friday brunch at the Mina :)

Taking notes!
So The Entertainer,is that a magazine? From the UK or Dubai?

it's a magazine with vouchers in. Can buy in Dubai, well worth it, think you can order it for delivery to uk but i could be wrong, suggest you google it :)

The entertainer is a big book, full of BOGOF vouchers for all mall eats (maccas, ice creams etc) to atlantis waterpark, wild wadi and loads of great resturants. your money is made back just by using the atlantis vouchers.

Am pretty certain you cant get ordered to dubai, but you can order online to be waiting at your hotel.

The one you want will be the 'Family Entertainer' and maybe the Fine Dining if you want to go to some great more expensive resturants (my parents and brother buy 2 of each every year as you just save so much)

Also the friday brunch i spoke of (Mina a Salam) it has BOGOF for the friday brunch, we use these all the time and just did over xmas and new year.

You can entertainer at Spinneys, Waitrose, Carrefour etc, all the malls will stock it so its easy to get once your there.

I will be there at the same time too stay.

Great tip, and I love coupons! However we will be staying in a private apartment on the Palm, so is this something I can buy at the airport?

Strike my last post, I've just ordered one online to be delivered to work. Still got a few weeks so it should be ok time wise, by all accounts.

Plus it will give me lots of time to plan in a really sad fashion!

Oh wowzers, just checked this thread for the first time. Thanks very much for the replies and helpful info.

I will certainly get hold of a copy of 'the Entertainer'.

We did go for the upgrade in the end and booked it all through BA. We have a 2 yr old and 3 yr old so realistically won't be eating out at restaurants/ visiting local clubs and bars in the evenings, sadly.

Hopefully it will be a sunny, relaxing ish, easy holiday and I will be a satisfied Beegey :)

Beegey one tip our property owner gave us was to buy tickets in advance if you want to visit thr Burj Khalifa. You save 300AED per person and get the tie availability you want. Apparently it gets booked up very quickly.

I went online and booked for 100AED, glad I did because the tickets for our planned day were in short supply!

very good tip re Burg Khalifa and totally right!