First off, the trip lands around dusk. If you are lucky to have some sunlight and some dry air, you'll get some good views as you fly in from the NW. DXB is 8 hours ahead of Dulles, so its really around noon ET. You should'nt have any problems heading off to have a pint or two.
The Hotel is the Marriot, Festival City. It is the nicest hotel that I have stayed at personally during my UAL career. It's 5 star all the way with rooms that are impeccably made up. The most unique aspect of these rooms is the shower window that separates the bed area from the bathroom. There is a shade that you can lower for privacy if you bring a friend. The shower tub is top notch: you can select the water to come out of the bath faucet, an overhead rainshowerhead, or a hose sprayer.
The pool area is superbly maintained with golf course-like green areas (with big fluffy lounge pillows) and plenty of lounge chairs. The pool area is shared with the Intercontinental Hotel next door, so together there are 4 pools and 2 hot tubs to choose from.
The Dubai currency is the dirham (or Bull Durham, as tour guide Mohammed calls it), and the exchange rate is fixed to the dollar at around 3.65 dirhams to the dollar. Dividing dirhams by 3 will roughly get you close.
The gym has very good equipment with all the basic machines and free weights to get a good workout in.
Wired room internet access is free for crews. The bill will be adjusted by checkout.
Crews also enjoy a 20% discount on food at the hotel restaurants. This doesn't include alchohol (ouch!) or room service.
So, most of the crew ended up moseying down to the Belgian Beer Cafe. It was a very good time, but it was not cheep. I had 2 pints of Hoegaarten and the price was about $9/beer. They do a very good job with the Euro menu. I had the mussel large mussel plate with garlic and drawn butter. The fries came with mayo in these neat holders (tres euro!). We initially sat upstairs since that was the non-smoking section, but a headscratcher. All the smoke rose up to the upstairs anyway! We then moved to outdoor seating, and that was a bit better. It was a bit warm, but the ambiance and lack of confined smoke make it worth it.
After dinner, a few of us decided to check out the Eclipse Bar on the 26th floor of the Intercontinental next door. It was a neat bar with plenty of ambiance, but it was very pricy. I actually chose not to have anything there due to my sticker shock at the Belgian place. A smallish martini ran about $15 and a little 1/3 liter beer was $10. But, if you go up for the view and some elegant surroundings, you won't be disappointed. One word of caution, there are in-shell pistaccios mixed in with the regular nuts. Chomp at your own risk!
I recommend that you take a tour from Mohammed. He is a great tour guide of the city of Dubai. He's got quite a few one-liners, and neat little tidbits about the city and its government. His english is very good, as he spent 15 years in Minnesota and even got a Masters degree in the states. Give him a call or an email before you go to set up the tour. The three of us each payed him around $40. It was well worth it.
We started the tour at 10am and it lasted about 4 1/2 hours. The photos below are just a few of the shots I took on the tour. Have fun and ask lots of questions. Listen to Mohamed closely as the jokes might fly right past you!
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