JA Palm Tree Court is part of the Jebel Ali Resort, an oasis in the truest sense of the word. Located in the southern region of Dubai, near the base of the undeveloped Palm Jebel Ali and next to the Jebel Ali Free Zone and port area, it’s a lush green space set on the coast between sand and sea. It’s not a pretty car trip to get here but once you are, you’ll never want to leave.
We booked this weekend for my husband’s birthday extravaganza. A weekend of golf, dinners, swimming and lazing all within the beautiful JA Palm Tree Court hotel grounds. It’s like something out of a comedy movie when I roll up in the car, two small children fighting in their car seats, and our weekends’ worth of luggage spills out onto the unsuspecting porters, birthday cake and all. They take it in their stride as I rush inside for an emergency toilet break with the youngest and I return to no visible luggage and park the car close, dragging the other one in to check in in the airy reception area.
The boys are excited and can see the pool area as we wait for our concierge who eventually whisks us away in a golf cart, past the peacocks and to our home away from home – a spacious ground floor hotel room that spills out onto the grass with the beach not much further on.
My husband is already here, playing a birthday inspired round of golf with work colleagues. The children and I change and head to the pool. It’s hot and the water is inviting. We happily splash away the afternoon before it’s time to head back to the room and order them some room service before letting the babysitter take over.
I dress and make my way up to The White Orchid restaurant and wait at the bar for our guests to arrive. We meet for a drink and await the men to finish golf, my husband makes a late entrance after going back to the room and being delayed by the boys.
Dinner is delightful as is the company. We’re only a small group of six and while four elect for a la carte, two of us select the sushi buffet that we walked past on the way in.
The next day starts early with presents and two very excited boys. Golf is the general theme as I have gifted a new golf bag and the family has pitched in for a summer membership to The Address, Montgomerie which includes lessons and rounds of golf, plus a few extras. He’s happy!
We dress and go for a little walk and to breakfast, this time at La Fontana for a relaxed birthday buffet. I can’t fit much in after last night. After breakfast we change again and head to the pool. There isn’t just one but five pools to choose from as well as another pool, further beach area and several more restaurants next door at the JA Jebel Ali Beach Hotel. We start down near the beach and later move up to the signature pool area where we enjoy some cool drinks and refreshments as a late lunch. The boys play computer games for a bit in the air conditioning, Jason catches up on the news and I relax with a cup of tea and a magazine.
After the break – from the heat, not the pool – we take a walk next door to check out the beach hotel and see where we might go for dinner. Fortuitously we stumble upon the kids’ club where the boys beg to stay and play, mostly because there is a movie playing when we walk in. We sign them in and head out to the pool, happy to grab a cocktail from the swim up bar and laze around for the afternoon.
After picking up the boys from the kids’ club at the end of the afternoon session, we head back to the room for showers and to change. Our baby sitter arrives on time and room service is ordered as we head back to the Signature Lounge for a pre dinner cocktail and try to decide where to have dinner.
In the end we settle for Ibn Majed, an Arabic & Indian themed buffet. It’s delicious but having not done much all day, I feel somewhat indulgent heading to fill my plate at the buffet and don’t approach it with as much gusto as I usually would.
We’re back in the room to relieve the babysitter at a reasonable time, knowing there’s no chance of a sleep in tomorrow morning.
The boys are up early again and I round them up and we leave daddy to sleep in while we explore the grounds. It’s much bigger than I realised and we walk around several hotel buildings containing the ocean view suites of the JA Palm Tree Court accommodations. There is a pond with a turtle in it that we visit and I make a mental note to bring some bread back after breakfast. The real draw card of the grounds are the peacocks that live here. We happily entertain ourselves in the first rays of the sun seeking out as many as a dozen of these magnificent creatures including an albino. I silently curse myself on this rare occasion that I haven’t brought my camera out with me and vow to come back later to snap a few shots.
We come full circle and run down along the sand. It’s already too hot and I have to carry the little one to the water to paddle our feet. Daddy appears to be up and has done a beach swim and we wait for him to come back in before heading back to the room and then up to breakfast.
After another nice morning, my husband packs the kids up and takes them home. It’s only a half hour away and we have organised to spend the last night here, just the two of us. I laze by the pool for a bit and then shower and change, just in time to head over to the shooting range to try out my aim. I take a bit of warming up but turns out I’ve got a pretty good eye. Pity about how sore my shoulder is though.
We’ve just enough time to head back and change for our transfer to dinner on the Batteaux Dubai. This is located up at Dubai Creek, an hour away, and we almost decide to give it a miss given that we’re going to travel past home to get there. Still, it’s included and we don’t have anything else on our agenda for the evening so we decide to give it a go.
Our transfer arrives a bit early and we have time to take a stroll and enjoy the views before we are seated for dinner and the cruise which takes us up to the mouth of the Creek and back again, over the next few hours. Dinner is first class, as is the boat and the service and in the end we’re very happy with the decision to come out for the night. There is enough time to get up and walk around between courses, taking in the sights of the river and the lively atmosphere of the dhow wharves and the locals out for the evening around the Al Fahidi historic district. Tired but happy, we arrive back at the hotel around midnight and are happy to have a very comfortable bed to jump into.
The next morning my husband has to be up early. It’s a work day and the weekend extravaganza finishes with one last breakfast buffet. I join him but I’m fortunate enough to be able to extend the extravaganza for just a few more hours as I’m working ‘from home’ today and take my laptop poolside for another coffee to go with my contract reviews, interspersed with a swim or two before I have to head home as well. It’s a shame, I could definitely do this for a bit longer.
Would I Return?
Yes, I hope so. JA also has resorts in the Maldives and Seychelles. I hope to work my way through them one day.