Staycation at the Waldorf Astoria, Palm Jumierah, Dubai

Oct 9, 2017
5 min read

What a staycation! We were luckily enough to enjoy an overnight stay in the Waldorf Astoria on the Palm last weekend.

Gav had won a night stay off his boss' at work for hitting his target consecutively for the past two months. YAY Gavlar.

Having stayed in my fair share of different hotels all over the world due to the nature of my job I always get excited to stay in one that I haven't actually experienced yet. We had the choice between Atlantis on the Palm, Anantara or the Waldorf.

Having been to brunch a few times at Atlantis and Aquaventure the waterpark and just visiting quite a few times over the years the thought of staying at Atlantis- no matter how iconic it may be, did not interest me. We also ruled out Anantara due to the fact we have been for a drink there before, so naturally we went for the hotel we haven't yet been to.

This presented itself with the perfect opportunity to switch off and just enjoy a stress free night with my SO.

My oh my wasn't it just that! Totally chilled, beautiful and quintessentially perfect.

Arriving earlier than check in (which is at 3pm) the concierge were very helpful, we were escorted up to the executive lounge as we had free use of this during our stay- something I was a big fan of and recommend.

We checked in early our luggage was taken care of, (YES I packed the biggest suitcase we own) and headed to the pool while we waited for our room.

The Waldorf has two pools, an adult and a child friendly pool. We made the mistake of heading to the kids pool first, but that's just because we saw the bar and naturally our feet took us that way. The cute little bar is poolside making it nice and easy to order a drink and was close to our sun loungers.

Something that surprised me was how easily we got two loungers in a good spot. You know what it can be like sometimes at beach clubs in Dubai, if you don't get there early enough then you'll struggle to find a decent spot to top up the tan.

After staying out by the family pool for an hour we decided once we came back from our room we would go down to the adult only pool as it was quieter.

We went back to our room to shove on some casual non beach clothes and headed to the executive lounge which had a terrace attached to it overlooking the sea and whole resort.

It was perfect timing as afternoon tea was on, not missing a chance to get food in our bellys we indulged just a wee bit- enjoying the benefits of the lounge and filling our plates with scones, cream, jam and lemon curd- I like to try everything.

Normally I would take snaps of my food but I was trying consciously to just enjoy the moment- a moment of sheer bliss, scoffing three big scones into my mouth!

After enjoying afternoon tea we then headed back down to the adult pool which like we thought was much more chilled and no sound of screaming kids. We found two loungers just on the beach right in front of the pool and we stayed until just before sunset.

Trying to plan our day out so meticulously as we wanted to maximise and make the most of our one night stay, we had planned on heading to the lounge in time for sunset to enjoy the free cocktail/drinks from 6-8pm.

Annoyingly after messing around a bit in the room, having a bit of a photoshoot on our balcony and me dancing around starkers we made it to the lounge a little too late for actual 'sundownders' but we still made the most of the drinks. They offered spirits, wine, and cocktails. I've started to drink Kier Royales recently rather than just prosecco- think I'm slightly processco'd out over the years.

Braving the evening humidity we headed outside for yet again another photo op! The marina skyline view was beautiful!

Just across the sea from us we could see Atlantis clearly.

Being responsible adults that we are we thought it be best that we prioritise our drinks over our food so we enjoyed a fair few bevs while in the lounge all whilst taking full advantage of the canope buffet, munching on REAL PORK HAM, cheeses and various other cold cuts.

Once we had wetted the whistle we headed down to 'Palm Avenue' a pool side/beach restaurant, where next to it there was DJ spinning some absolute bangers. We ordered a shisha and sat on Arabesque style sofa's next to the pool, it was really chilled and there was a romantic and intimate vibe, with only a few other people around.

It was nearly the perfect end to a perfectly relaxed and fun filled day. There was just one thing missing....

Ahhh there it is, my baby with ALLLLLL the food. Anyone that knows us both well knows that we both love our grub.

As cabin crew room service doesn't bother me that much, its just room service to me. But to Gav it's a novelty, I have to admit the thought of having room service with Gav excited me- what am I writing?! Well when I stay in a hotel on my own I need to eat and if I don't go out in that destination for whatever reason then room service is the only option, so it's just room service- dinner, it's not that exciting.

But room service with Gav was exciting cause I simply had someone to pig out with and sit in our dressing gowns and in my tipsy state giggle about how much we had just ordered.

So our choice of burger and fries, club sandwich and fries and a spicy chicken pizza as side with a thousand ketchup and mayo's went down a treat, then we both rolled around on our big bed in sheer food coma ecstacy.

We had plans the next day to get up early and go to the gym or play a game of tennis, but feeling a little ropey that did not happen and instead we headed down to the breakfast buffet-much to Gav's delight and tried to eat away the hangover.

Feeling like two beach whales we still managed to get a few nice photos on the beach.

The next day we just lay on the beach dipping in and out of the sea and the pool until it was time to check out and head on out to pick up our little fur baby Stacey (our one year old Jack Russell).

We both had such a lovely stay, everything from the style of the hotel to the kindness of the hotel staff made our stay five star.

So to anyone who is looking for somewhere for a short break to a longer stay then I would definitely recommend the Waldorf.