My Bana had a conference at Atlantis The Palm last week and we didn’t let the opportunity pass to stay in one of the most expensive hotel here in Dubai for free. The Bana initially suggested that we stay only on the last night thinking that we would get bored (boredom = more expense) since he will be in the conference the whole day and can’t even join us for dinner.

Checked-in at Tuesday to one of Deluxe Guest Rooms which had 2 queen size beds. Sadly I was not able to take any pictures of the room, you can view it here instead from the Atlantis website. Since it’s before Ramadan the hotel was fully booked as Arab families flew from other Middle East country to Dubai to enjoy some time with their family and probably go shopping as well since it’s DSS. Staying at Deluxe Room will cost AED850 with full access to Aquaventure, Lost Chambers and a free day pass at Kids Club. A family friend who works on the same company as Bana also stayed in the hotel with us. The wife J and I decided that for the first night instead of swimming we walk around the hotel to appreciate the interiors and then to Lost Chambers.

It was our first time inside the Lost Chambers and we all enjoyed looking at 65,000 colorful marine animals. The kids even got to touch some fish, Lost Chambers staff were willing to answer all our questions, it would have been much nicer if information on the marine animal was provided on the side of the aquarium.

Our favorite among them were the big fish, and jellyfish. Vierte and I visited Lost Chambers 3x and only once with Bana.

Vierte was excited to show his Dad all the marine animals like a tour guide pointing and describing each of them.

Every after breakfast we frequent both Royal and Zero Entry Pool have lunch take a nap and go back swimming again. We kept ourselves busy swimming for three straight days.

Vierte and I had lunch at The Edge located beside the Royal Pool, we ordered Malaysian Chicken Curry and Grilled Chicken with Mash Potato and Corn. Little foodie man was so hungry swimming all day that he requested the kind waiter to please cook it fast. The Malaysian Chicken Curry with Coconut rice just had the right spice that made me enjoy it even more and Vierte only had praises for his Grilled Chicken that he finish everything on his plate.

While we did enjoy swimming Vierte really wanted to swim with the dolphins. He was still underage to swim with them he can only do a photo session but it was quite expensive at AED 295 for a 30 minutes encounter.

 Good thing we were able to see the dolphins on our visit to Dolphon Bay since there were three groups having an encounter. He settled with the photo below for now but still insisted that he was a big boy and can swim with the dolphins on his birthday – 4 more birthdays to be exact.

We spent our last day at Aquaventure which we had free access even if we checked out that morning. The facility opened at 10am till 6pm, hotel guests can borrow towels and life vest if you wish to rent a locker which we did it costs 40Dhs.

Vierte didn’t like the slides and preferred the torrent and waves ride which we did four times and requested to swim at the big pool after.

We didn’t escape Dubai heat but we sure did have 4 days of bliss at Atlantis. Till our next hotel life (for free?) we are settling back in the comforts of our sofa. Be sure to visit Atlantis The Palm when you’re in Dubai.