Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary
Trip Reviews
Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and the Arabian Peninsula
planned by Nick Rhodes
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John Beveridge and his family visit the Ritz Ras Al-Khaimah.
Overall, my family and I were very happy with our destination choices, which were all suggested by our travel planner. We spent three days on the beach in Oman, two days in the desert area of Ras Al-Khaimah and four days exploring Dubai—a great introduction to this part of the Middle East which also appealed to our teens who can get tired of museums, etc. pretty quickly.
In particular, Six Senses’ property at Zighy Bay stood out in terms of its uniqueness, luxury and physical plant/location. The resort only offers pool villas, which are incredibly well-designed/thought out, and once you step out the door of each and every one of them your toes are in the sand. There are no hallways or buildings really at this resort. The food is tremendous (albeit tremendously expensive) and the services and activities, including a world-class spa with hammam, and microlights/paragliders which the whole family flew on, shine as well. There may not be a more “Instagram-able” resort in the world—just visit the website for a few minutes. It is an utterly exotic place, as is the road getting there…!
Next we traveled into the desert and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, Ras Al-Khaimah where we spent Xmas Eve and Xmas. A completely different idea in terms of a resort (think overly ornate, marble floors, etc.) but at the edge of the desert in a nature conservancy complete with animals walking around the grounds. It was a treat to climb a few dunes, ride camels and put our toes in the sand. As always, food at the Ritz was top-notch as well. The only thing we will say about this resort is that despite the amazing staff, services, food, activities and spa, and very nice, spacious rooms, the exterior of the place needs a refurb/upgrade. Lots of paint peeling on the outside of the hotel, a bit dirty here and there and some of the fountains seemed to be out of order (strange for a Ritz). On our way to Dubai we rented dune buggies and sand boarded in the dunes of Sharjah for a few hours which was also a blast.
Dubai was fantastic and interesting. At our agent’s suggestion, we did a full day tour of the city including visiting the spice and gold souks, riding a ferry across the “creek,” touring through old Dubai, and a trip to the top of the Burj Khalifa. Make sure you factor in traffic when moving around Dubai as during the festive season it is particularly crazy. Even our tour guide was annoyed by it!
Our agent suggested staying at the Ritz-Carlton JBR, which I would also strongly recommend if you have teens as it is located right along the JBR walk with shops and restaurants they can explore on their own in this very safe city. The Ritz JBR is located on the relatively uncrowded and very wide beach just west of the Palm Jumeirah. The beach to the west of the Ritz (at the Rixos and further down) really narrows right down to the water’s edge and was completely packed with people. We are so happy we stayed at the Ritz there for the beach alone, let alone their amazing tiki bar restaurant on the beach. Once again the food was very much up to Ritz standards and the company is clearly investing in this resort.
The trip was amazing; I am so sad it is over because I thought about it for nine months before going!
Nicholas was superb. Had detailed knowledge of the islands, fast to respond and customized his recommendation based on understanding our preferences. Highly recommend.
We travelled to Soneva Secret in August. Despite the usual issues expected in new hotels, Secret Soneva is the best travel experience we have ever had, bar none. Discrete luxury at its finest. Design, location, service and food all at elite levels.
First two days were windy and cloudy, then it remained windy but sunny, which was perfect. You get tanned very fast! It rains for about an hour a day. Weather was a cool 27 degrees Celsius. If you stay in an overwater bungalow you may hear some light banging of the waves into the villa from time to time.
A final note on the Soneva team, they truly go out of their way to ensure an incredible experience. They set us up with a romantic, secluded white beach dinner on a whim’s notice, for example.
Nick Rhodes planned 4 days for us in the UAE on the way to a longer trip in Oman. He booked the hotel, arranged tour guides and drivers and arranged for a person to guide us through the Dubai airport when we arrived. I had thought that the latter might be unnecessary but upon arrival the guide was very helpful. The airport is huge and, after a 15-hour flight, we might well have gotten lost. The guides that Nick arranged (one for Dubai and one for Oman) were excellent—they made sure that we saw all the big attractions and generally made very effective use of our time there. The hotel in Dubai was perfect—excellent location and a very nice place to stay.
We stopped in Dubai for 2 nights and one day on the way to Africa. Wendy put us in touch with Nick, who did a great job getting us set up for such a short trip. The driver and guide were so nice and super-knowledgeable, we saw and learned so much on the full-day tour. The accommodations were great and the meals terrific.
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