We Visited One Of The Most Luxurious & Expensive Resorts In The Maldives w/ A Stop In Dubai | VLOG
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- Опубликовано: 25 дек 2021
- After 2 years of planning then cancelling then planning and cancelling again due to covid, we finally have our #yolo trip planned out and are so excited to share our experiences at the Waldorf Astoria Dubai (DFIC) and Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi as well as business class flights on Qatar Airways QSuites and Emirates first class.
#dubai
#maldives
#waldorfastoria
#ithaafushi
#emiratesfirstclass
#qatarairwaysqsuites
#yolo
Thanks for sharing and for the 411 on award booking. It was a beautiful trip, especially the water villa in the Maldives.
My pleasure!
Nice video!!!
Thanks!
잘보고갑니다
Enjoy!
Kieran would like some credit card points, Tinks loved the video!
Thanks!
Great video, thank you for sharing! Literally watched the video 5 times already.
Staying at Waldorf DFIC later in 2022 and wondering if you have any tips to get upgraded? My booking is for the base level 1-bedroom using points/free nights and I have diamond status from Hilton Aspire card. Also does complementary breakfast include a la carte from the menu? Lastly, you mention chaos arriving in the Dubai airport. Can you estimate the time between landing and arriving at Waldorf DFIC? We are landing at 7pm and wondering if it makes sense to make dinner plans.
Also was only planning 2 nights on Dubai, but it seems like we might need 1 or 2 more nights to explore without feeling rushed. Thoughts? So far itinerary for exploring is the Atlantis Palm, Dubai Mall, and the Dubai Frame. The standard tourist attractions.
In Dubai, any must try restaurants for lunch and dinner? How well in advance did you make your reservations?
We will be flying to the Maldives after to stay for 5 nights, and then home. What travel arrangements did you make to get to and from the airport in Dubai?
Glad you enjoyed the video! After booking our stay at DFIC, the hotel responded to confirm our reservation. Being also a diamond member, I reached out to see if we would be able to get upgraded to a suite. They asked for my diamond membership number then informed us there was availability for our confirmed dates. The base rooms at this property are very nice but being upgraded and having a lot more extra space really makes a difference! I would love to hear if you have success with this or not as Waldorf properties tend not to give out upgrades. Its nice to hear if other fellow travelers are also getting these upgrades/successes! We initially booked the Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah but decided last minute to change it to DFIC mainly to save on drive time. Most of what we were planning to visit were closer to DFIC.
Yes breakfast for both menu and a la carte are free for diamond members! Its $65 per person so its a big plus for diamond members and the breakfast is fantastic! They have these little french toast bites (in the shape of a cube) that are just out of this world! The eggs royale was also amazing! I wish I was able to eat more while I was there. Make sure to go hungry! Lots of great things to try.
From the time we landed to when we got into our hotel room took about give or take 2hrs. It was chaotic but hopefully with the recent news of covid cases going down, you wont have to experience too much of this. The drive from the airport to hotel was about 20 mins. If you get in a little late, you can always check out some of the rooftop bars in Dubai. There are so many good ones to check out to grab a drink and bite to eat.
2 nights seems a little short. If you get in at 7pm, that would be your first night, then the next day is your one and only full day in Dubai then the day after you would be leaving. In theory, would be able to see the Atlantis Palm, the Dubai Mall and the Dubai frame, but it will definitely be rushed. You also have to think about drive times to and from and even lunch/dinner times that will cut into your itinerary. I would recommend at least adding in one more day if not two.
There are so many restaurants to try in Dubai. I wouldnt say the places we ate are a MUST (a must being a 10 out of 10) but I would highly recommend (highly recommend being a 7-9) Al Khayma Heritage Restaurant; Samadi Iraqi Restaurant - has a stellar view of the Burj Khalifa if you dine outdoors; Arabian Teahouse Restaurant/Cafe - has a nice view of the Al a Arab; Asil - voted the best restaurant in Dubai by TripAdvisor; Atmosphere - a bar/cafe for small bites in the Burj Khalifa. There is a dress code and it can get expensive depending on what you get. And lastly Ce La Vi, bar/restaurant. It is also expensive here. The food was pretty good but you are really paying for the views of the Burj Khalifa and the atmosphere.
The best way I found to travel around Dubai is by taxi. Thats how we got to and from the airport. There are plenty of taxis at the airport so there shouldnt be too long or any wait once you're out of airport. It isnt too expensive per trip if you're within the city limits but it does of course add up if you going to many different places throughout the day.
One thing to note that I will share to save you some money and even some grief is when you are at the mall or other touristy places (but especially at the mall), if you're asked if you need taxi, decline and walk outside. Outside, there should be plenty of taxis with taxi signs that are waiting. If you say yes, they will guide you toward the 3x-4x more expensive taxis - slightly nicer cars with more chit chat from the driver vs regular taxis that have the taxi sign with no chit chat.
I hope this helps. Which resort are you going to in the Maldives and when is your trip planned for?
@@resy4deux Thanks for these tips, super helpful!
I am now leaning towards extending my stay in Dubai by one more night. Glad to hear that you were upgraded at Waldorf DFIC in advance. Hope I get the same luck but honestly would still be very happy with the base rate room, looks fantastic.
For the Maldives, I managed to use my Bonvoy points to get 5 nights at the St. Regis property. Will be taking a red eye flight from Dubai and landing in the Maldives around 6 am. I hear the airport situation in the Maldives is much more manageable than the Dubai airport.
Thanks again for your tips and look forward to watching more of your videos! Can't wait for your next upload.
Amazing video!!! I am planning my wedding anniversary trip. Similar to you, q suites to Maldives and staying at the Waldorf. I considered stopping in Dubai for a day or too, but wasn’t sure if it was worth it for such a short time. I’m curious to know if you thought it was worthwhile? Also, I noticed that you traveled coach to the Maldives and first class from Dubai back to Seattle. A first class seat on Emirates would be amazing, but seems so expensive. I would totally travel coach for 4 hours if it was financially feasible to fly first class back to the states. Hoping that you wouldn’t mind sharing your thoughts and rationale for your travel itinerary.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the video. The stop over in Dubai was for 3 days and it was absolutely worth it (in my opinion) especially if you havent been. But this all depends on what you're looking to get out of your trip. My wife and I are both avid travelers and we tend to pack in our itinerary especially if its a quick stop. For this trip, we wanted the best of both worlds - explore and relaxation: explore and be a tourists for a few days before going to paradise and relaxing. If you're looking for more of a relaxing trip, it might be best to fly to the Maldives with a quick layover in Dubai.
Our flight from Dubai to the Maldives was in coach and we paid cash. Our Emirates first class and Qatar business flights were award bookings using points so all 4 one way flights (2 Emirates first class and 2 Qatar Business class) were nearly free - just paid the taxes on the flights which only comes out to a couple hundred dollars.
We did have enough to also book an award round trip business class to the Maldives from Dubai but decided to save it for another big aspirational trip. My rationale is with my current points, if I save and accrue another 30-40% more, I can book another first class flight. My preference is to maximize my award bookings for longer business or first class flights so that I can really enjoy the seat, the service; the flight! The cost benefit to use an award booking or even to pay cash on a 4 hr business class flight in addition to the amount of points/cash required doesnt make sense and thus we decided to book coach instead of business.
If you're planning to visit Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi, I would say do it. It's absolutely stunning! Definitely the best place/stay I have been to. Service is exceptional! The attention to detail they provide to you as a guest is nothing like Ive received before. The over-water villas . . . . there just isnt words to describe how stunning/amazing it is!
@@resy4deux Thank you for sharing. I was going to pay for round trip tickets which averages about $ 10-12,000 for 2 tickets, however with this information, I may sign up for a partner credit card that has a big sign on bonus ( I was thinking about capital venture… 100,000 points if you spend $10,000 in 6 months) It seems as though you still have to accrue quite a few points to translate to a business or first class ticket for 2 people. It also seems a little challenging to book award seats… Again if you don’t mind sharing….. did the tickets require an exorbitant amount of airline points and was it a hassle to book?
The Venture X would be a great start to building up your point base and the card also comes with a lot of other great travel benefits. The card is definitely on my radar and Im hoping to apply for it later this year.
Yes, typically these award bookings do require a large amount of points especially if its on longer flights. But because we had about 2 yrs to plan and save and because my wife also plays the points game, we were able to quickly save up and each book our own tickets (we originally planned and booked this trip in Dec 2019 for Dec 2020 but cancelled it due to covid and rebooked for Dec 2021 giving us an entire year to plan and save).
Its a big plus if you have 2 players in the points game. This doesnt mean you have to both have the same cards though. You can stagger different cards in order to maximize on benefits. An example of this is I have a credit card that gives me Diamond status at Hilton properties which gave us (both my wife and I and not just me):
-free breakfast at the Waldorf Astoria in Dubai and the Maldives (I think it was around $65 per person for breakfast)
-room upgrades, when available, to a junior suite in Dubai
-a resort credit we used for massages in the Maldives
-late check-out in the Maldives as our flight was late afternoon. I think we checked out around 3-4pm.
-free weekend night certificate we used toward a free night/stay in the Maldives.
-lastly, with the Hilton points I accrued over the 2 years or so, I was able to book all of our Dubai and Maldives stays for free (3 nights in Dubai; 6 nights in the Maldives)!
-everything mentioned above, for some of benefits I did have to jump through hoops in order to benefit and yes its a hassle but the rewards definitely out weigh effort.
Yes, I would also agree that it is a hassle to book award flights but again totally worth the effort in my opinion. Because we planned a year in advance, it did give us better opportunities to both book first class on the same flight. When I initially searched for availability, first class was completely empty, which is a good start. Award bookings can be tricky without exactly knowing how many seats are bookable for award bookings per flight meaning not all seats are bookable through award bookings. Typically, the airline will reserve 1-4 seats depending on class that are dedicated for award bookings and the rest will be bookable only with cash.
Some tips on award bookings:
1) Try and plan and book out 6-12 months in advance. Now, you might be able to totally score 2 business or first class awards bookings 2-3 months before your trip which is definitely doable but I say plan 6 to 12 months in advance because this will typically give you better odds/opportunities and more availability. You can search for award booking availability on the airlines website (award booking searches will sometimes require you to open an account depending on the airline's website which is free). Simply select award booking, select the destinations and dates, select 2 tickets. If it doesnt show you any availability, that flight either has sold out on award bookings; has only 1 award seat available or; no award bookings available at all.
PRO TIP 1: I typically will search availability using flexible dates to see if any other flights have availability for 2 tickets and will sometimes plan around that.
PRO TIP 2: To get a better idea of how full or empty business or first class is for a particular flight, I will do a search as if Im going to buy (pay cash) for a ticket, fill out the necessary information - name, passport info, etc - then view the seat plan in business or first class to see which seats are taken.
2) If you are planning to open a travel credit card, make sure that card (bank) has the airline partners you are wanting to utilize before applying. Banks like Chase, Amex and CapitalOne have a large spread and variety of airline and hotel partners but it is important to check which airlines/hotels they are partners with before proceeding and this can also give you an idea for future trips which airlines/hotels you can utilize to your advantage.
3) Once you have the points needed and are looking to transfer them over to an airline account, be absolute sure the amount of points and airline are correct. Once you transfer the points, you CANNOT get them back meaning it cannot be reversed and added back to your credit card account and this means you can only use it for flights through that airline. The transfer of points can be instantaneous but can also take up to 1-3 days depending on the airline for it to post onto the airline account before you can actually book the award booking.
4) Once the points are transferred into your airline account, book as soon as possible. As soon as the points are credited to your account, book it. Ive had instances where I was about to book 2 award tickets only to find out one was booked just a few minutes before and had to re-adjust my trip. In these cases, it helps to be flexible or if are able to be flexible with your travel dates.
PRO TIP 3: If you do decide to book and purchase these flights, it still might not be a bad idea to open a travel credit card. Using the Venture X as an example, if you book through their travel portal for these flights, you can obtain a lot of points quickly (I think its like 5x back for flights booked via their portal) which could be used for future trip. Food for thought.
Im thinking about making a follow up video on this topic with some better clarification and examples.
@@resy4deux I subscribed to your channel so I will look forward to seeing it.