SteveWe found ourselves with a day to explore Dubai whilst on a cruise around the Middle East. If you’ve ever done a cruise you will know that shore excursions laid on by the cruise company can be massively expensive. Fortunately, we had another plan. I’d found out that Big Bus Dubai operate a couple of circular routes around Dubai AND they also had a stop right by the cruise terminal too. Here’s what we did on our quick day in Dubai.
Big Bus tour
As soon as we’d had a customary huge breakfast on board, we left the ship and jumped on a waiting bus. The buses look like old London double-decker ones that had found a new life abroad. We raced to the open-top deck and took our seats. As the weather was brilliant, we saw that hardly anyone sat downstairs. The cost of a ticket was 220AED, although likely more at today’s rates. It included headphones to listen to a commentary, free bottled water and a dhow cruise if time allowed.
As it was 10am, and we had to be back on board by 5pm latest, we thought that this open-top bus tour was the best way to see a bit of Dubai. The way the tour works is you can choose to get off at any stop you like, and then wait for the next bus to come along to pick you up again to continue the circular route. We did this back in 2013 when buses were approximately every half an hour or so. Now during Covid times, this frequency may be reduced along with routes offered.
Jumeirah Beach
The first place we went to was Jumeirah public beach. It would have been nice to relax here for a while but we were eager to see more of Dubai while we could. The beach was impeccably clean and had a mix of locals and tourists dotted about. The sea was virtually still and still very warm in December! To the left of the beach, we saw the Burj Al Arab in all its glory.
Souk Madinat
From here we took a short trip and stopped at the Souk of the Madinat Jumeirah. The souk is quite a large Arabian style market selling souvenirs and traditional wares. After walking through the souk, we reached outside and found the waterways linking the 3 hotels in the Madinat Jumeirah collection. There were some great views and eateries around the promenade to be seen.
Inside the souk there were lots of small alleyways with small market type stalls everywhere. It was dark, and yet colourful. This is not a traditional souk that you might find elsewhere in Dubai but comes with a modern contemporary theme.
Atlantis, The Palm
Our next stop was Atlantis, The Palm. This hotel resort is right at the end of the Palm Dubai, and it’s about a 4-mile drive from the mainland. The man-made island is much bigger than I had realised! Atlantis itself is massive too. Very similar to a Vegas hotel in terms of sizing, with just as many eateries in the complex too. I would have liked to have visited their waterpark, but as time was short we decided to visit the Lost Chambers.
Lost Chambers is an aquarium inside Atlantis. The exhibits are lit up with some cool lighting and are set up through a series of dark corridors and rooms. We love visiting aquariums and have seen quite a lot over the years.
This one was very impressive visually but did lack a bit of information about exactly what marine life you were looking at. We saw sharks, rays and the largest groupers I’ve ever seen in their 11 million litres main tank. There were also some exotics in smaller tanks that I couldn’t identify.
We paid about £20 each for admission to the Lost Chambers, and at the time it was free for guests of the hotel.
Dubai Mall
After walking back through the hotel to the Big Bus Dubai bus stop, we hopped on a waiting bus. Our next destination was the Dubai Mall. This is the biggest mall in Dubai with around 1,200 stores. We thought we’d visit here to grab a bite to eat as well as see the aquarium they have there. This is part of the Dubai aquarium and underwater zoo. Time was still short, so we were content to see the large aquarium facing inside the mall itself without going further.
Burj Khalifa
What we did want to see though was the Burj Khalifa. This is the tallest man-made building in the world, standing at 828 metres tall. We’d discovered that if you walk through the mall to the food court on the lower ground level you will find the entrance. Now here’s the thing. We knew ahead of time we would be in Dubai on a certain date from our cruise itinerary, but chose not to book tickets in advance for the Burj Khalifa as we didn’t know the exact time we’d be able to get to the Burj Khalifa. This was a mistake, as when we got to the admissions area for the tower they were only taking pre-booked tickets. This was because they were at capacity, proof it must be very popular.
Slightly disappointed, we went outside to the Burk Khalifa lake to watch the fountains in the lake. Extremely similar to the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I later learned the same US company made both. We had a few problems taking the obligatory photos of the Burj Khalifa due to its size too! Nevertheless, its an extremely impressive feat of construction.
Heading back
Before you know it, we had to catch the bus and head back to the port. We boarded back on the ship before the curfew and had time for a quick shower and dinner.
Having seen Dubai for a day, it’s definitely somewhere I’d return to. Dubai is a very spread our place, so buses, taxis or the metro are essential to get around. Next time I’d like to see Dubai creek and do a dhow cruise. I’d also like to see the gold souk as well. Time to start planning!
