Atlantis, The Palm Hotel – How My View Has Completely Changed

When I found out that I had won a trip to Dubai and found out that we were staying in the Atlantis Hotel on Palm Island I had 2 initial thoughts. The first was that it’s a 5 star luxury hotel – yipee! The second thought was that it’s good that we are being paid to stay there as I would NEVER book to stay there on my own holiday. Well…I have to say that my opinion has completely changed.  My pre-conceptions were that it’s too big, too busy and would be full of kids and whilst I can’t deny that the place is huge, very busy and caters for lots of kids I have discovered that you can enjoy the hotel just as much as a couple or friends with no kids as a family can. Plus if you make the right choice when booking and do some research before you go you can enjoy a peaceful relaxing holiday.

This blog is a little longer than my usual ones as there is so much to cover in just one hotel. Let’s face it the place feels more like a small town than a hotel.

So if you’re looking for a more relaxed experience I would definitely recommend upgrading to the Imperial Club. This gives you the use of a lounge and beach club area exclusively reserved for Imperial club guests. The lounge is open from 7am until 11pm when you can get soft drinks and snacks throughout the day. A delicious breakfast is served from 7am – 11am (where you can help yourself to a glass or 2 of fizz to kick the day off), afternoon tea is served between 2pm and 4pm (complete with yummy scones and clotted cream) and there is a happy hour between 5pm and 7pm where you get complimentary drinks including cocktails, spirits, wines etc. With prices for alcoholic drinks in Dubai being pretty high this is a great bonus. The lounge itself has a  fantastically welcoming air-conditioned inside area as well as a spacious terrace which looks over the sea – perfect for watching the beautiful sunset with a G&T during happy hour. The lounge and terrace are not exclusive to adults, but has a much more relaxed ambiance than the main restaurants.

Periodically the hotel offers a free upgrade to half board which is a great deal as you don’t just get the same old buffet restaurant every night. Here’s what you can choose from:

Breakfast

Kaleidoscope
Saffron

Dinner

Asia Republic (Asian Restaurant)
Ayamna (Arabic Restaurant)
Kaleidoscope (International Buffet Restaurant)
Plato’s (Arabian Coffee House)
Saffron (Asian Buffet Restaurant)
Shawafel (Arabic Restaurant)
The Burger Joint (Burger Restaurant)
The Edge (Beach Restaurant with Italian twist)
The Shore (Beach Restaurant with Mexican twist)

You can also pay a supplement to dine at one of the below restaurants.

Nobu (Japanese Fusion Cuisine)

Ossiano (Underwater Fine Dining Seafood Restaurant)

Seafire Steakhouse & Bar (Streakhouse and Bar)

Ronda Locatelli (Italian Restaurant)

Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen & Bar (European Cuisine)

Hakkasan

The food in the buffet restaurants is very high quality and an unbelievable choice of local dishes as well as cuisines from around the world. I can highly recommend Nobu, the Japanese fusion restaurant. Food, atmosphere and service was amazing. Here are some of the dishes…

All the rooms in the hotel are large and you can choose to have a view over Palm Island or the hotel & Dubai Skyline and Marina (which I had). We had robes, flip flops, a beach bag, slippers and the hotel’s own spa toiletries provided as well as bottled water. The decor was contemporary and of a high standard and daily room cleaning very thorough. There was a lovely roll top bath and you could open the shutters from the bathroom to the bedroom which gave you a sea view whilst in the bath.

Everyone staying at the hotel gets unlimited access to the Aquaventure Waterpark. It’s great fun for people of all ages from the very scary Leap of Faith to the more gentile Lazy River. There are plenty of sunbeds around the pools in the waterpark as well as private cabanas  to hire, so it doesn’t have to be all thrills & spills.

The main pool area is massive and really clean with lots of umbrellas and a table with little button to press which makes a server appear so that if you want a drink you don’t have to move a muscle. The pool water in early May was warm so not as cooling and refreshing as you might want in 40 degree heat. We didn’t struggle to get a sunbed on any of the occasions we went for a laze around.

We spent a whole afternoon at the hotel’s exclusive adult-only beach club, Nasimi beach. You do have to pay for this facility, but it’s stunning as you can see from the pictures below. For those that like the chilled out Ibiza vibe it’s perfect. We had lunch delivered to our cabanas and it was superb.

The Aquatrek is an experience we were offered as part of our trip by Royal Caribbean and although I had a little trepidation I thought this is a once in a lifetime thing and so I bit the bullet. You basically have a huge helmet and breathing apparatus plonked on your shoulders and are let loose to walk in the aquarium with the fish, rays and sharks! A truly special experience.

And finally on to what I think was my favourite part of the hotel, the newly opened Wavehouse. This area is great for people of all ages, especially as somewhere to go in the evening. It’s a little hard to describe as it houses a bowling alley, an arcade, a sports bar, a surf simulator and outdoor bar with live music and DJ’s. Kids are allowed to use the Wavehouse up until 10pm. It had a great vibe about the place and we went in there every night for drinks and entertainment.

So my stay at the Atlantis was absolutely perfect. I would go back for a longer holiday in a heartbeat. I am so glad that this trip has enabled me to see what an amazing property this is for childless holidaymakers as well as being awesome for families. I have to thank the Atlantis for their generous hospitality and especially to Royal Caribbean for an utterly amazing trip to Dubai.

If you are interested in staying at Atlantis, the Palm and/or cruising from Dubai please contact me on 0330 303 8205 or e-mail me at [email protected].

TTFN 🙂