I'm going to break up this review to the different parts of the holiday as they are not the same like chalk & cheese.
Atlantis Palm Hotel
The size of the hotel makes it almost it's own resort! The hotel is spread across the top of the palm! You need a golf trolley to get from one end to the other. Atlantis hotel has it's own shopping parade with designer shops & restaurants. It's own sea world aquarium and it's own water park where it has huge slides and you can swim with dolphins!! And if that's not enough you can hire super cars like Lamborghini's or Ferrari's! And has it's own helicopter pad with helicopters!! The hotel was mind blowing! When we arrived we where told we had our room upgraded which blew us away. We where taken to our room which was huge! We had an amazing view from our balcony. The only down side was the room wasn't adapted for disabled people. But I could get around in my chair. The bathroom wasn't adapted but it was big! it had a bath & sink, separate shower and separate loo.
The hotel had disabled toilets in the main part of the hotel but non outside. The whole of the inside was marble floored but the outside was a totally different matter! It was mainly cobbled in the hotel grounds which was horrendous in the wheelchair but the main path along the beach was concrete which was breaking down, it was awful! I'm still literally covered in bruises still from being thrown round in my chair!! The hotel still has a lot to do to make it 100% disabled friendly but the overall inside was great but very expensive!!
The Costa Serena cruise ship
I knew before I got on the ship that it was fairly old, but you could call it tired!! I had to be carried in my chair on to the ship as usual! We got on the ship at 4pm but wasn't allowed in to our rooms till 8pm!! When we eventually got to our room the door was very small! (I knew it wasn't a disabled room)We got into the room ( I had to get out of my chair and hobble in!) small was an understatement! It was a shock after the hotel. From the bed to the balcony was one step! The bathroom was the smallest I had ever seen on a cruise ship! You could only squeeze one person at a time in which when it came to helping me have a shower was like a comedy sketch!
The ship it's self was like a tardis! There was a good amount of lifts and our room was right next to a lift. We had a table in the main restaurant right close to the door. The theatre was a let down no special allocated disabled section. The buffet restaurant was only open in the morning & lunchtime but was very good as it had reserved seats for disabled guests. The ship was well set out on deck with good room to move about with the sunbeds. Only let down was amount of public toilets for disabled guests. We both agreed we wouldn't go on this ship again.
Dubai
We both loved Dubai, it's a modern and still growing. We went up the Burj Khalifa, it's the tallest building in the world and it's the building Tom Cruise was outside of in the film 'Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol' The public who go on the tour are taken as far as the 124th floor. But the hotel kindly arranged a V.I.P tour for myself & Hubby and we where taken to the 144th floor! We had a special welcome when we got there with drinks and nibbles! We felt like someone important. The views are amazing you are literally in the clouds! (Will add photo's when sorted!). We also did a helicopter tour of the palm again kindly arranged by the hotel which we will never forget, we saw the palm in all it's glory and the world islands that are still being built on and the Burj Al Arab the 6* hotel shaped like a sail. Dubai is a modern growing city and is for the most disabled friendly. My Husband and I have both agreed we will go back to see it in a few years. The whole place is breath taking and at night the view from our hotel balcony blew us away, we both agreed we couldn't get bored of that view. I would recommend going there. I can't wait to share the photo's with you all.
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