Day 3 Wednesday 20th March Dubai
Our morning view.
We have been told that the courtesy coach to the Dubai mall was on a ‘first-come first-served’ basis. The first coach of the day to the Mall of the Emirates was scheduled for 10.30 am.
Our breakfast was in the Crescendo restaurant that was at the side of the pools. We were all very early at just after 8 am. The choice for food was extra ordinary, the only missing was real bacon. The substitute was so-called turkey-bacon. I ate a variety of melons and a small bowl of fruit muesli. The ‘egg bar’ was open and I next have a cheese-mushroom-onion omelette freshly made.
The restaurant was by now filling up with all the guests. Outside it seemed that almost everyone was smoking, getting to the restaurant early had meant we’d avoided sitting outside. We walked back through the hotel complex to our building to pick up all the things for the shopping expedition.
The courtesy coach would be leaving from outside the main reception. We walked along the front of the hotel by the road until we reached the main entrance. Inside this building was a high atrium with reception desks at the sides. In the middle there was a space were comfortable chairs that were a couple of steps lower than the main floor the overall impression was simply amazing. All around the area were fabulous displays of roses on all the desks and tables.
Back outside we sat and waited for the coach watching the comings and goings from the hotel. Slowly more and more guests arrived to stand or sit in front of the front doors.
Mall of the Emirates
At 10.30 am exactly, a small coach drove up to reception and stopped in the middle of the driveway. We joined the crush as everyone rushed towards the open doors. The coach was soon full and the latecomers had to sit on the jump seats that folded out into the aisle or even in the front passenger seats next to the driver.
The coach turned left and we headed back to the centre of the Palm. The road outside the Atlantis Hotel was down to one lane and the coach joined the short queue that had formed.
The Atlantis is at the end of a short Metro-line and as we passed again could see crowds of people taking pictures or selfies as they looked back towards the hotel or out to sea. Our coach followed the same route once off the Palm. Then after the first toll gantry it turned off the wide hideaway and joined the slower traffic on the parallel service road.
The coach entered an underground car park entrance. We then entered the lower part of the mall through a wide passageway. The mall lived up to its billing as the largest in the world. We picked up a map to help us find our way around. The downside was that it was in Russian but it did give us an idea of the layout.
Inside the mall there were upmarket market shops as well as international or even UK shops. The prices in the majority of the shops were not much cheaper than the UK. I tried several times to join the Wi-Fi but I needed to enter a code that would have been texted to my phone. As Vodafone did not give me free access in Dubai this clearly was not going to happen.
Coffee time
After an hour or so we stopped for a cake and a coffee. At the side of us 10 or 12 locals sat drinking coffee. This was the closest that we had been to anyone who was not a tourist.
In one of the open spaces we met passengers off Oceana who were on an excursion. We had guessed they were on excursions as they all had tour number disks. Oceana had arrived the day before and they were enjoying their free day in Dubai.
The ski slopes!
At the end of the Mall we stood fascinated by the huge indoor ski slope. Beneath us we watched people tobogganing down a helter-skelter of ice. Everyone was wrapped up in lots of clothes and we can see even see the breath of some of the adventurous tobacconists as they queued.
Behind them and stretching up to the high ceiling were a series of ski slopes that were reached by a chairlift. To the left of the slope we noticed an even higher slope which skiers were now coming down at the fair pace.
From the signs in front of us later in the day there was planned to be a penguin parade!
Once back at the entrance to the underground car park we followed the signs to the taxi rank. After a little negotiation (and even more understanding) we caught a taxi back to that our hotel for $15.
Anantara Hotel’s Beach
I tried to use WhatsApp to make a voice call but that function of of the app was blocked. We could send text and photos but video and voice calls were all blocked. I lay on the bed with my book and after a short read was fast asleep – catching up on my lost hours from the flight to Dubai.
The sun beds around the hotel pool were full and instead we went to the hotel’s private beach. A lifeguard move sun beds under an umbrella for us and I stretched out again for yet another sleep. The Sun may have been beating down but after dipping my toes in the sea, I decided that it was way too cold for me. Instead we just lay on the sun beds enjoying the warmth and continuing our sleep catch-up.
A refreshing drink in the Happy Hour by the pools.
I had had an email confirming our pick up from the hotel to the ship. This was to be from Main reception. Usefully there was a WhatsApp mobile quoted as the contact number. This is when I confirmed that WhatsApp voice connections were indeed blocked. A strange conversation via text then took place as I tried to confirm that our pickup should be at the North entrance.
Evening at the Anantara
Restaurant at the beach and then the Revo
After getting changed we made our way back to the beach and the restaurant there. The choice of drinks available for Happy Hour was rather limited and I ordered an IPA to go with my burger.
After our excesses (and expense) of the evening before we planned to make this late meal our last of the day.
The Anantara had Happy Hours in all the bars that were staggered across the evening. This was an opportunity too good to miss!
After our meal we decided to try another restaurant’s bar as it’s Happy Hour would be starting soon. We walked with a senior member of staff to the Revo restaurant. We had an explanation about how best to book a stay at the hotel for the best rates and meal deals. It seems that booking direct and staying for longer than four days gave the best room rates and a good price for half-board.
The Revo
The hotel has three entrances we were at the North which was nearest to the Atlantis along the Palm’s perimeter road. Next was the main reception which was at the main part of the hotel. We walked through a tunnel underneath the main hotel to reach the third entrance which was where the Revo café was. This hotel block was mainly serviced apartments and opposite the café was a small supermarket. Our hotel guide explained that this shop had been added to help the guests in the apartments who didn’t want to make the long drive off the Palm to buy groceries.
The Revo was not very busy and we only ordered Happy Hour glasses of wine. After a long wait they came and were served in blue glasses that completely hid their contents. From the weight of glass plus wine we queries just how much wine had been put in them. A short discussion followed with our server as we asked for clear glasses and suggested that “perhaps a double check and how much wine was actually in the glasses would also be a good idea.”
After yet another long wait the requested clear wine glasses arrived duly filled up to the mark with red wine.
Through the windows we watched a steady stream of deliveries of Uber food. We guessed that the residents in the serviced apartments above were having their evening meals delivered.
Once our wine was finished we went back to hotel for another night’s sleep and took advantage of the USB enabled plug sockets.
The view
One more image of the view from our room.
