Eat Drink Stay Dubai Newsletter 59/w48

Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 48, Edition 59

Hi Dubai friends,

Happy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it), and if you don’t, let’s hope you get lucky with Black Friday sales and maybe bag yourself a bargain. More on that later.

Hope you enjoy this week’s edition. I’ve trimmed a few things down, so if it works for you (or even if doesn’t), do let me know by clicking here

Thanks for reading 👏

Shaun

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EAT

Where to get your festive meal in Dubai for under 500 AED.

At.mosphere looks a good pick for Christmas Day, starting from 450 AED.

In terms of something unique, I’d always tip Pierchic, though it’s a tad pricier. It has a lovely ambiance, and now it apparently has the longest table in Dubai (100 covers) at Onda by Pierchic.

Another eating place I’d recommend a visit is Marriott Harbour Hotel, as on the 52nd floor they have the Observatory. It’s a 360 degree concept with a lounge half and restaurant half, and offers great views over Marina and Dubai Harbour.

They’ve been remodelling as ‘Observatory Lounge’ and the restaurant is now Prime 52 Steakhouse, an offshoot of the awesome Prime 52 at JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, and both reopened on 26 November.

To celebrate the openings, they’ve announced two deals:-

• Wednesdays at Observatory Lounge, Femme Fusion is a ladies night with 2 hours of free flow drinks and nibbles from 1800-0100. Ladies pay 195 and Gents 295 AED.

• Beef and Bourbon Night at Prime52 is aimed at ‘gentlemen’ on Wednesdays from the same time, with a chef’s selection steak and bottle of red for 395 AED.

DRINK

Get 25% Off Home Delivery With MMI

MMI have launched their Festive Wonderland Advent Calendar, which has small sample sizes behind each window.

More interestingly, they are offering a promo code TIMEOUT25 (courtesy of Time Out!) for 25% discount off your first order with MMI Home Delivery.

Dubai Refreshes the Parts Others Cannot Reach, It Seems?

Heineken has partnered with MMI to form Sirocco, a joint venture which will start building the UAE’s first large-scale brewery, planned for late-2025

Brands such as Kingfisher, Amstel, Birra Moretti and Heineken are all planned to be brewed locally.

Note this isn’t the first brewery in UAE, or GCC for that matter, as there is already a small microbrewery in Abu Dhabi.

STAY

Wynn Resorts have issued an update on construction progress at Al Marjan Island. Whilst some of that content is technical (eg. concrete and structural progress), more interesting is what’s missing - i.e. no update on their plans to be the first integrated gaming resort in UAE.

If you’re looking for a cool and unique, boutique style of hotel, do check out 25hours Dubai One Central.

Located in the newish One Central area, which is adjacent to SZR and before DIFC, you won’t break the bank and these are very quirky and fun hotels.

If you ever get to Berlin, do check out their property there as it overlooks Berlin Zoo Monkey’s House and has a stunning rooftop lounge and restaurant.

DUBAI

Behind the Numbers of DXB’s Success

Dubai International Airport has announced their results through to September, and they’re very good.

DXB says 68.6 millions ‘guests’ were welcomed in the first 9 months of the year, 23.7 million of which arrived in Q3. Year to date, that’s a 6.3% rise.

DXB’s top markets and destinations (in millions) are:-

• India (8.9)

• Saudi Arabia (5.6), growth of 15.2%

• UK (4.6), growth of 4.7%

• Pakistan (3.4)

• USA (2.6)

• Germany (2.0)

London was the top city destination with 2.9 million guests. Riyadh was second, with a massive growth of 25.8% to fly 2.3 million.

Given the last quarter is the heaviest in traffic, there’s every chance it will be a record-breaking year, and DXB is hopeful of retaining the title of the busiest hub airport in the world.

Last but not least, 60.1 million bags were processed with an ‘industry leading’ accuracy of 99.3%, of which 92% were delivered within 45 minutes for terminating passengers. BA, and Heathrow, take note.

Some more Christmas Markets in Dubai for you.

Visitors are often surprised by how big a thing Christmas can be in Dubai, and it’s well worth checking out a few of these markets eg Madinat Jumeriah. Just don’t expect bratwurst and gluhwein/mulled wine at them all though 😉

Dnata’s CEO claims passengers won’t have to wait for luggage at DWC, as it could be ready for collection before they enter arrivals, or even get it delivered to them.

Visitors to Dubai Airports may receive a special passport stamp up to 02 December.

Visa regulations appear to be tightening for Indian tourists, which appear to mirror recent restrictions applied to visitors from Pakistan and some African countries.

AI and cameras are aiming to cut out smoking in RTA Dubai taxis.

Is Ain Dubai about to reopen? Some new booths have been spotted on Bluewaters apparently, and it does spin now and again. Let’s see.

Dubai is so welcoming to visitors, there are even South American rodents in the desert - and nobody seems to know how they got there.

If you’re driving a truck and get out to have a chinwag, don’t forget to put the gear shift into ‘Park’ and apply handbrake, say Dubai Police.

dubaipolicehq

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DUBAI DEALS

Black Friday Deals Are Here: At Last ….

Folks, thanks for bearing with me on this. I know I promised to get the deals page live, but the truth is - I’m on vacation. That’s why last week’s edition was a bit short, as I was travelling all day (3 flights!).

That’s also why this edition is going out later than normal, as I didn’t fancy getting up in the middle of the night to write and publish it. You can maybe guess where I am as it’s five hours behind the UK presently.

It could have been easier to say, naah there’s no deals, but they are starting to come through now. Some are decent enough (eg Atlantis for up to 35%, BookingCom for up to 50%) and others are either a bit ‘meh (eg Bonvoy only offer an extra 5% off their normal ‘Escapes’ deals, and non-refundable at that, and weekend stays).

One that I’d flag up if you’re looking at staying at an Ennismore property, such as the afore-mentioned 25hours, Hyde, Delano, Mama Shelter etc. is the Dis-Loyalty promotion. Given all their new openings in Dubai, it could be lucrative to pay £79 to join with the promo code with a view to getting 50% off newly-opened properties or 30% on others.

The main thing to bear in mind with these kind of deals is sometimes it’s more PR and marketing, but also some deals do come through as merchants often wait to see what their competitors do. This is one reason why some go early well before Black Friday, whilst others may wait and do Cyber Monday, Travel Tuesday etc.

I’ve also added a few ‘cool things’ from Amazon on there that are cool travel gifts/gadgets/stocking fillers.

Anyways, have a look at the page here and see if you can grab a deal. I’ll update the page as I see any other decent deals, and when I get time/freedom of course.

Thanks for your patience!

🔗 Black Friday Travel Deals on Eat Drink Stay Dubai

EMIRATES

Take a look at the first A350-900 Emirates have just unveiled. Apparently, the business class seats were inspired by the Mercedes S Class, and it has a new generation of connectivity equipment to boost in-flight wifi.

The first scheduled flight is to Edinburgh on 03 Jan 25.

Even if Emirates haven’t launched a Black Friday deal yet, they’re offering a complimentary Yellow Boats Speed Blast tour. (Return) Flights need to be booked by 08 Dec 24 and travel to be between 09 Jan and 31 Mar 25.