Eat Drink Stay Dubai Newsletter 25/w14

Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 14, Edition 25

Apologies for today’s delayed send. Just like my football team, sometimes it takes a while for good things to arrive 😴

I would like to say there was some daily drama that caused the delay, but the truth is, I started writing about Abu Dhabi Comedy Week then thought it would be a great opportunity to turn it into a feature on the local comedy scene.

Was it worth the delay? Did you learn something new, or maybe thinking about visiting a comedy gig - or doing one - in Dubai or Abu Dhabi?

Have your say by clicking the comment button below 👇

If you’d rather drop me an email, just click here 

4 things worth knowing this week ⤵

🎡 Ain Dubai spins again?

🎭 Local Comedy: Abu Dhabi Comedy Week & more

💸 Double Miles with Emirates and flydubai

🛫 Premium Economy Deals to Dubai

🔖 Flying cars, gold notes, Etihad stop free hotel nights.

🚨 please note: some subscribers may be encountering deliverability issues, i.e. not all editions are being delivered to inboxes.

Please be sure to move this to your inbox (if it’s in ‘Promotions’ on Gmail) or mark as ‘not spam’ or ‘trust this sender’.

You could also add [email protected] to contacts or just reply to this email (even if it’s blank, or just saying ‘yo’) as this helps also 👍

ATTRACTIONS

What’s Going on With Ain Dubai These Days?

According to Whats On, Ain Dubai started ‘moving’ again. Of course, there’s nothing but speculation as to what may be really be going on.

There have been some interesting features about Ain Dubai, some exploring what may be going on such as this one from the Washington Post and this from Luxury Launches.

When it comes to Dubai news/announcements, there’s often no ‘happy medium’ as it’s either a barrage of social media/press or tumbleweeds. Ask any resident, and they’ll all know at least one Ain Dubai ‘story’ - usually all conflicting.

The official ‘word’ is it is closed for ‘enhancements’.

whatsondubai

View more on Instagram

Comment

Put it this way, if it was opening - Dubai would let you know. Many times over.

My guess would be, it’s routine maintenance or a check. Especially with two new big ticket hotels such as Delano opening up on Bluewaters, which may - or may not - be a factor 🤷‍♂️

Let’s hope everything works well for them and that big wheel gets spinning more regularly as it’s a great attraction 🙏

CULTURE

Local Comedy : More Than Just Abu Dhabi Comedy Week

Something that flies under the radar is how strong a comedy scene there is in-region. It’s not the just big megastars visiting for the stadiums or the expat-favourites, but there’s also a thriving local comedy scene including many different nationalities across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and even Saudi Arabia.

Abu Dhabi Comedy Week is well worth a look, and rightly so given stars like Kevin Bridges, Tommy Tiernan, Chris Tucker, Andrew Schulz, Aziz Ansari, Tom Segura, Maz Jobrani and Bassem Yousef getting slots.

Hopefully Jo Koy does a bit better than his last ‘tough crowd’ 🙂

It’s not just the UAE that’s ‘killing it’ though. Saudi Arabia continues to hold great gigs such as the recent megastar Russell Peters returning to Riyadh, following up recent visits by Paul Chowdry.

Keep on eye on Smile Entertainment KSA to keep in the loop for 🇸🇦

Hopping back to Dubai, check out Courtyard Theatre for your arts fix. Not only do they put on (and teach) hilarious improv nights, but it’s also a great intimate venue with many different events on away from comedy.

If visiting comedians is your thing, check out Laughter Factory, and if you’re keen on either trying your hand at it or just checking the local talent, Dubomedy is worth your time.

Yalla Laughs cover Abu Dhabi with some great shows focussed on local talent.

🔗 to Abu Dhabi Comedy Week

How was this feature about the local comedy scene?

👇👇 Have your say by commenting below 👇👇

EMIRATES SKYWARDS

Fly and Earn Double Skywards Miles With Emirates

Emirates and flydubai are offering Double Miles via this link

Register and book by 18 April 24, for flights until 15 Jun 24 across 250 destinations.

🔗 to Emirates Double Miles

Do you want more offers & deals posted each week?

👇👇 Have your say by commenting below 👇👇

OFFERS: FLIGHTS

Lufthansa Premium Economy to Dubai from €651

Regular readers will know I often suggest considering ‘positioning flights’ to avail of deals. This is when you take a short flight to start a new return flight from another country, usually one that’s a lot less cheaper (and sometimes better) to fly from.

Lufthansa prove the case with some great Premium Economy deals from 4 European airports (and London!) from 651 Euros. Stockholm, Budapest, Helsinki, London and Gothenburg are included in this deal - and are also great cities to explore also!

🔗 Lufthansa Premium Economy Deals to Dubai

Another good example of positioning flights is to fly Turkish Airlines ex-Luxembourg to Dubai (in economy) for €336

Although not Dubai-specific, I recently mentioned ‘Fifth Freedom’ flights on Emirates in a previous edition.

There currently are some interesting rates to fly between Bangkok and Hong Kong on Emirates in First Class from €855

Not to be outdone, Air France have discounted Premium Economy ex-Italy from €559, but you’ll need to pay for checked baggage at a rather steep €149.

DUBAI TITBITS

New junction to help Metro users skip train change at Jabal Ali station

From April 15, Red Line on the Metro will have a new ‘y junction’ at Jebal Ali Interchange Station. This will mean travellers won’t have to change trains.

Etihad Airways stop free hotels stays during stopovers

As often is the case with these ‘stopover’ offers, it’s debatable whether they provide much value. Sometimes the hassle outweighs the savings, and sometimes, well there just isn’t a saving.

Etihad Airways have taken the debate away it seems, by changing ‘free’ to paid. How is that an incentive?

Now you can get a 24-karat gold note in Dubai

I wonder what took them so long to think of this?

The Telegraph Reviews Kempinski The Boulevard Dubai

Remember all the kerfuffle a few months back about some Address hotels rebranding?

Good to see, according to The Telegraph, the old Address Boulevard still doing well as a Kempinski these days.

Another Ladies (ALL) Day deal to add to last week’s list, this time at Bla Bla

Dubai buys 100 flying cars?

Dubai-based company Aviterra has ordered 100 PAL-V flying cars. This is a separate story to Dubai’s RTA’s plan for ‘flying taxis’.

SZR and local traffic jams are getting busier these days, so is it time we took to the skies perhaps?

Imagine if you could get winched out of Barasti or brunch and lifted home, how cool would that be?

ENTERTAINER

REMINDER: Entertainer Promo Codes for Ramadan

Whilst there is a promo code for 10% off Entertainer 2024, please note that for Ramadan there are a couple of changes, as of today.

1. The promo code is not valid for Entertainer GCC during Ramadan.

2. However, the promo code is valid for Dubai 2024 - so now’s the time to purchase Entertainer Dubai 2024 as the 10% discount will only be available during Ramadan.

3. The promo code EDSD24 will work for all other Entertainer 2024 products as normal (ie Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman etc.)

More info here 👉️ Entertainer 2024 Promo Code EDSD24