Golden Tulip Seeb

Sometimes our family likes to check into local hotels for a “weekend getaway” or on National holidays to relax and unwind.  Mommy deserves any pampering she can get as looking after 2 little ones at home is no easy task! 😉  Golden Tulip Seeb was one of our latest weekend getaways.  The only other time we had been here was during a buffet dinner 2 years ago which was satisfactory, but nothing extraordinary.

Our deluxe room was quite comfortable. Overall, a very pleasant weekend was spent here!

Our simple but nice patio

Our room was right behind the “EMOCLEW” sign.  Must mean something in Arabic. 😉

The patio served as a pleasant spot to enjoy room service. The Browns sure do appreciate good room service! 🙂

Of course it’s always nice to have coffee and tea making facilities.  You would expect this from any 4 or 5 star hotel, right?  In all our hotel and resort stays, Duqm “Floating Hotel” Veronica was the only hotel that didn’t have anything whatsoever (and yet the most expensive of them all!).

My wife was so looking forward to a Thai massage…but when she called for an appointment, they informed her that the only masseuse was on a 2-month vacation in Thailand.  They didn’t feel it was necessary to get a replacement during her vacation?! Bizarre!

The whole family had a great time, especially at the pool…

Daddy was the only one who enjoyed the main pool.  The rest of the family splashed around the kiddies pool:

All that swimming around sure can work up an appetite! Good thing they got poolside service! 😉

The dinner buffet at Le Jardin has changed very little in 2 years. Not bad, but nothing to write home to Mom about either.  Some of the hotel packages they offer (occasionally) may include dinner which was included with our room rate.  I’m pretty sure the room rate always includes breakfast buffet which we really enjoyed both mornings.

This dish, Um Ali, is something I distinctly remember from our dinner 2 years ago and also our recent visit.  Um Ali is a Middle-Eastern Arabic dish (many websites say that it’s Egyptian) that is a delicious bread pudding.  It may not look like much, but this is one fine dish, folks! Mm! Getting hungry just thinking about it!

The Muscat Airport (formerly known as Seeb International Airport) has a lot of construction going on.  The new airport being constructed is supposed to be completed by April of 2014 but I’m not sure if that’s realistic with quite a few delays in the past year including striking workers.  When completed, it’s supposed to be able to handle 12 million passengers a year!

I wonder if that is the tower that is set to be the tallest building in Oman once the airport is complete.  An air-traffic tower is set to be almost 100 meters high which would make it the tallest occupied building in the Sultanate.

Sunset over Muscat International Airport from our room while at the Golden Tulip.  Why all this talk about the airport?  For anyone who might not be familiar with Muscat and Oman, it’s common knowledge for most living here that Golden Tulip Seeb is the closest hotel to the airport.  I believe that is why they never have to worry too much about guests filling their rooms!  Well after experiencing the Golden Tulip for ourselves, we’ve learned that it may not be the only reason.  The staff were great (especially with our kids) and the service was quite good. For expats in Oman, you may want to keep your eye open for special promos at Golden Tulip Seeb every now and then…like the one currently on through the Bank Muscat Shopping Festival until Dec. 31st where rooms are only 55 OR/night including tax and buffet breakfast (+20% off food at Le Jardin restaurant).  www.goldentulipseeb.com  (Tel:+968-2451-4444)