5 out of 5 from Ye Gads

What they say:

Atlantis is the majestic focal point of Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island that has captured the world’s imagination with its magnificent scale and ingenuity. From the moment of arrival, you’re immersed in a dazzling world of imagination, pleasure and luxury. The resort offers relaxation and thrills for couples and families alike, including a landmark hotel, unique marine habitats, an exhilarating water park, pristine white beaches, world-class cuisine, indulgent spa and cosmopolitan boutiques. To stay or visit is to live out your dreams amidst warm Arabian seas.

The Review:

Atlantis the Palm Dubai is, if nothing else, a lesson in how the other half live. As we pull up at the hotel, a Lamborghini Gallardo is pulling away and parked up in front of us are a McLaren SLR, Lamborghini Murcielago and a Ferrari 430.

You enter the hotel to be greeted with an impressive glass sculpture reaching upwards into a huge central atrium, the level of detail to the décor and sheer scale of the hotel is awe inspiring.

As soon as you approach the reception desk, you are made to feel special, as the level of service is second to none.

The hotel itself, as you would expect, is nautically themed throughout.  The center piece being the huge aquarium that holds a wide range of fish from shoals of small damsel fish to Sammy, the baby whale shark. Our boys spent hours peering into the tank, pointing out the various fish and sharks that caught their attention. I swear they could have spent the whole day there if we had not dragged them away.

The room that we stayed in was superb, with a balcony view over the top of the aquarium which, when lit up at night, again provided no end of fascination for my two boys!  The bathroom was cavernous with a walk in shower room and a bath with doors that opened on to the main bedroom itself.

On the food front, the hotel has several excellent restaurants that cater for all tastes, however because we had the two boys with us and no babysitter, we took room service. For me this was an experience in how it should be done, the waiter turned up with a table on wheels fully laid with hotboxes underneath to keep the food warm. My wife and I both ordered the rib-eye, and no word of a lie, it was the best steak I have ever had.

The hotel does have a Kids Club, but unfortunately it only caters for children, from 4 - 12 years old, so we were unable to try this.

Included in the price of the room is access to the “Lost Chambers” and to the “AquaVenture” waterpark.

Based on the ruins of Atlantis, the Lost Chambers is basically a set of smaller aquariums housing different fresh and saltwater fish from around the world. Although impressive, I felt that they could have given some information about the fish housed in the tanks rather than leaving it to the imagination.

The AquaVenture waterpark was the highlight of the visit for my boys, we spent our time at the park in “Splashers” a water playground for younger children of less than 48” in height and going around the “Rapids”. This is a vast 2.3km lazy river, which includes a set of rapids and a section with large waves.  Life jackets are available for the kids and the tyres you sit in are cleverly designed with the double one having one of the holes filled in so the kids can sit without fear of falling through.

Splashers itself has two huge tipping buckets (that fill and release torrents of water periodically), climbing frames and rope bridges that lead to several different water slides. As you can imagine my boys loved Dad unexpectedly being drowned by a deluge of water, because he was stood in the wrong place at the wrong time!

Unfortunately due to the over 48” height restriction all of the big boys flumes in the Ziggurat, such as  Shark Attack, Leap of Faith  and The Falls were off limits. However, we this did not distract from our enjoyment of the park.

If you are visiting Dubai, I would highly recommend a night or two at Atlantis, as it is a great experience and there is something for all of the family to enjoy!

For more information visit: http://www.atlantisthepalm.com/