oh my god!! ive just been to the best place on earth and the best thing ever is its only gonna get better!! Dubai was fantastic, the people we,re friendly and the service second to non. i went for my 40th birthday and had the time of my life. The One and Only Royal mirage hotel is a must for the special occasion, a little pricey but worth it. if your on a budget there are plenty of hotels and restaurants that are not out of your price range and the "brunch" at JW Marriott hotel is great you can eat and drink, any alcohol including champers!! as much as you like from 12pm to 12am on any Friday for £42 and the food is fantastic, as much lobster, prawns and any other seafood you can imagine. also steaks, pork and chicken kebabs, try the emu its delicious. Just make sure you choose your time correctly i.e. not in Ramadan and also not too much into our summer or you will fry, march was good 32 degrees and a lovely breeze. i will break my travel rule of not going to the same place twice for Dubai i loved it, also plenty o opportunities to buy a property if you have the cash??!! although its a Muslim country and the law is no alcohol this readily available in the hotels, just make sure you take as much as you can carry from the duty free as there doesn't seem to be a limit, to stock up your hotel fridge. The dress code is much the same as here, although some religious place do have a dress code for women ie covered heads but i didnt come across any and spent most of the week in my bikini or shorts.

Me and my husband stayed here for 5 nights for our wedding anniversary and were truly blown away

When we arrived at 9am we were greeted with a big smile and warm welcome, as well as fresh orange juice and towels to freshen up (nice touch)

We were told the room would not be ready until 2pm (not unexpected) but were given a mobile phone which we would be called on if the room was ready any earlier. We were then advised of what we could do during this time and me and my husband decided to make use of the free shuttle bus which takes you daily to the Mall of Emirates.

Once we returned to the hotel, we were taken to our room and offered a tour of the hotel and room if we needed, but we declined. The room was brilliant, big and airy with an outstanding view of the Burj and the gulf.

The room was clean with some fresh fruit to eat (which my husband devoured in seconds). The bathroom was big and clean and just what was required.

The room was cleaned twice a day with a lovely turn down serivce, where they left little "godiva" chocolates on the pillow (which again my husband devoured in seconds). The daily newsletter was also a great source of information.

The pool area and beach was brilliant, a member of staff would come around several times of the day to provide ice cold towels and free ice lollies!!! The pool was big and clean. A JBH staff member is always in the pool offering to take pictures which you can later purchase (no obligation) at good prices. This is a great idea as some shots you just take alone esp in the pool.

The breakfast at the lattitude and beachcomb was great. Spoilt for choice and variety, this was a great way to start the day.

Other pluses staying here, was the free access to wild wadi, to the burj, and to the souk madinat.

Overall the hotel was superb, staff very helpful and friendly, facilities unbeatable, location spot on. Throughly recommend this hotel and itching to go back.

Me, my husband and 3 boys, (2, 12,and 17), stayed at this hotel over Easter for a week as Premium Leisure guests..
The hotel and surrounding resort is everything I would have expected from Dubai. Very clean, great facilities, nice staff who try their best,and the WOW, bling factor in terms of arcitecture and decor that Dubai is associated with The bedrooms and bathrooms are large and luxurious- again the WOW , bling factor. Food and drink was great, my personal favourites being Go West- amazing food and entertainment, and Villa Beach. The 360 Bar at the end of the Pier was very trendy and a must visit but very expensive.
BUT.... we won't be coming here again.
I don't want to run the place down as it would suit some people, so I will keep it factual. We had a lovely holiday, but this was not a resort for us. We stayed at the Royal Meridien at Christmas, and that really was an amazing experience and a place we will be returning to and I will explain why.

I wrote a review when I came back after Christmas dated 1st Jan 2008, entitled, "Simply the Best", and I still stand by that.

Firstly this hotel was so busy, that if I didn't go down to the executive pool at 8am every day to reserve beds and an umbrella, then we would never have got round it- you certainly couldn't get round there after 9am - which is pretty bad considering you have paid an extra premium for the privalige. And the place was swarming with young kids and babies and had the feel of an upmarket Butlins about it.

Food, drinks and laundry were much more expensive than at LRM. 4 times when we ordered a bottle of wine at dinner that cost around £30, we were told after about a 15 minute wait that they didn't have that particular wine, but could offer us a substitue at around £60 a bottle! Come on! What is that about?

The decor, to us anyway, though very luxurious, was really just expensive, tasteless, tacky, bling.
The place, as well as The Burj, (which I have to say is more impressive from the outside), and the Madinat including it's hotels have a feel of Disney about them. Walking theough The Mina a Salam, though it was very beautiful and I have to say has one of the most impressive lobbies I have ever seen, made me think of the filmset from Aladdin, and I expected Princess Jazmine to come flying through on her magic carpet any minute. Don't get me wrong, it is amazing, but not somewhere I would want to stay. It is so false, like a filmset, all perfect, not like arabian atcitecture as it describes itself, (you'd go to morroco for that anyway), but how you would expect it to be if you hadn't seen the real thing.
We had drinks at The Burj one night. Oh my goodness how pretentious! Firstly, you had to book! But being JBH guests we were allowed in after 11pm. As my husband put it, it is THE monument to bad taste! It made me feel a little sick and I could never stay there. You have to see it to believe it! It was like being trapped in a cartoon of a 70s disco! A rich mans toy. We got to the bar at the top and they still asked if we had a reservation??!!! Then made us wait while they checked if they had availabiliy- which they knew thay had! How pretentious! We spend a£100 on a couple of cocktails, then looked round and left. I will never go back. And as for service, 7*? You must be kidding- the 7* service is down the beach at Le Royal Meridien.

Some of the restaurants at JBH didn't take children and none of the bars, which didn't suit us. Book the child friendly restaurants on arrival or before you go as they do get booked up otherwise. We never had that problem and our children who were welcome everywhere at LRM. For a supposedly child friendly hotel, that isn't good.
The hotel is more for families with babies and young children who want to leave thier kids with a babysitter at night and go out alone- that's not for me, I'm on holiday with my kids
. There are lots of things for young children, (pools with slides, activities etc), so it was great for my baby, but my older 2 much preferred the personal service at LRM, and fould it easier to meet friends there. Yes, there is a teens club, but it doesn't open till 1pm, and is right over the other side in the sports centre, so they couldn't be bothered to go, where at LRM, staff went round getting the older kids togeter for games etc. Yes, there is the Wild Wadi- but if you go there after 11am, you could be queing 30 mins for a ride- and the place although great, really isn't that remarkable, so they only used it early moring bafore it opened to the public.
Although it was Easter, there was nothing in the form of entertainement put on and they gave nothing away- a real contrast to Christmas at LRM. There was a kids party with a couple of bouncy castles and a few games on the lawn, but it was hardly attended all day cos they laid nothing on food and drinks wise to keep the parents there. There was a chicken and chips and soft drinks and beers stall that you had to pay for!!!!!

Oh and if you like your spa treatments, the spa and gym is in the sports centre with the teens club in a seperate building to the main hotel, so if you've had a treatment, you have to walk back through the grounds in your dressing gown to get back to your room- nice!. And the spa was ok- not like the world class one at LRM.

Don't get me wrong, we had a great holiday and are glad we tried there, but it just wasn't the place for us. It is an amazing place though and they do try.
If you like Disney Orlando or Centre Parks, (but with a bit more luxury), then this is probably the right place for you. It's very new money and bling bling. The gounds and beach are nice, but not wonderful paradise like at LRM. It's not a romantic place, like LRM is.. And basically, we just prefer somewhere that has more class, elegance and relaxing ambience, with a personal service that frankly so far cannot be matched- LRM!

Had a fab time with the girlfriend at the jumeirah. We stayed for a week and absolutely loved it. I find it hard to see where these recent criticisms come from, the staff are very friendly, polite and helpful. The hotel is unbelievably clean especially when you consider the size of it including all the restaurants, bars and other facilities. The beach is immaculate and the sea and sand exceeded both our expectations. It was perfect as was the weather which was around 28 for the week we were there.
There's so much to do and places to eat but obviously that's where the money tots up. Admittedly we spent quite a lot as the food and drinks aren' cheap but i've spent more in other 5 star resorts and because the standard of food was so consistently excellent the prices were mostly justified. We actually were on half board which included breakfast which we would have at beachcombers on the beach where they served pretty much everything imaginable and all really nice. The evening meal included was at latitude which is basically a huge buffet but much better than your average hotel buffet. There is a big emphasis on fresh food and many things made in front of you so it's like a kind of freshly made buffet and things aren't just sitting about for hours on end. We ate in a few of the other restaurants, our favourite being the carnevale (italian). Also would highly recommend the pizzas at the gallerie for lunch. Awesome!!
My only dissapointment would be the water park but hey not many hotels have one of them in their backyard so can't really moan!
We would definitely go again but would like to go for 2 weeks but obviously that would be pretty expensive! Worth it though!