We stayed at the Al Qasr (AQ) for 5 nights in the middle phase of a honeymoon trip that commenced with 10 nights in the magnificent but peaceful Reethi Rah in the Maldives.

The AQ is a first rate 5 star property. It is well located on the beach with great views of the Burj Al Arab and it has facilities that are probably unmatched by most hotels in the world.

We stayed there in the build up to the really hot summer period. Rarely did the day time temp drop below 40 and the humidlty hit 100% a number of times. It is energy sapping stuff. But the hotel copes well with this - great aircon everywhere, ice towels, ice creams by the pools, evian sprays - its all available.

We stayed in a premium level arabian superior room - large and very comfortable with access to the business lounge ( which serves an assortment of food and drinks for free during the day ). Our room was pool facing with fantastic views of the sea. The bathroom was nice, decorated in an arabian style, with a lovely walk in shower and double vanity sinks. It had a seperate toilet - which is a feature I am beginning to enjoy in 5 star hotels. The products were a madinat generic brand but were plentiful and seemed to be of high quality. The mini bar is very well stocked and wasnt too expensive. Each night the hotel turn the room down for bed we were left with little towel animals on the bed. It really is a fantastic touch and one that we looked forward to nightly.

We made good use of the airconned gym - its a brilliant gym. Better than most private health clubs in my opinion. The only negative is that its a bit of a travel to get to as its in the Mina Al Saalam - which is a sister hotel next door.

I suppose thats my only real negative about this hotel - you do walk a long way to get anywhere! Its huge - and in the heat of July thats not the nicest!

One other thing - we had dinner at the Al Mahara in the Burj. Not worth it at all. Food was nice - but service was so awful. The submarine trip is shamefully tacky. The restaurant is nice - the fish tank is interesting but the staff really make this place a flop. It is expensive to boot - but this is to be expected in a hotel that prides itself as the worlds most luxurious - but the restaurant service really pokes fun at this self imposed title!!

All in all I will probably return to dubai and would have no issue staying at the madinat AQ.

My husband and I arrived at Al Qasr on 7th June and were to check-out and depart on 9 June from Al Qasr at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai on an Emirates flight to Paris scheduled for 08:20hrs. In order to save time in the early morning before our scheduled departure from the hotel, we completed check-out formalities and settled our hotel bill just before midnight on 8 June 2008. We also requested a wake-up call at 05:00am the following morning as we had an Emirates limousine scheduled to pick us up from Al Qasr at 06:00am for our 08:20am flight (as we had already completed the online check-in procedure, we were required to arrive at the airport 90 mins before departure).

We promptly received our wake-up call from the hotel staff at 05:00am as requested and waited patiently in our room till 06:15am for a call from the hotel staff to announce the arrival of our pick-up and finally called Emirates to find out why the car had not yet arrived. We waited another 5 mins on the phone till the Emirates representative made inquiries about our scheduled pick-up and came back on the line to inform us that the limousine had in fact arrived at the hotel as scheduled at 06:00am and that the driver had also requested the concierge on duty to inform us of the arrival of our Emirates pick-up. Unfortunately, the concierge a gentleman by the name of Mr. Rauf refused to inform us about the arrival of the car and told the driver that he was not allowed to disturb his guests at that hour and therefore sent the driver away! The driver left the premises and reported the incident to Emirates airline, making sure to mention the name of Mr. Rauf for the record.

We immediately called Service One from our room to inform them of the incident and asked for Mr. Rauf to ask him why he had done such a ridiculous thing! As we were already late for our flight, I told Mr. Rauf to meet me downstairs. Upon meeting Mr. Rauf at the entrance of the hotel and demanding an explanation for his actions, we were treated with complete indifference and not even given an apology! We also asked how he could do such a thing when we had asked for a wake-up call from the hotel at 05:00am, to which he shrugged and mumbled something about not being able to trace the wake-up call. To make things worse, he did not even have the courtesy to arrange for a complementary airport transfer for us considering it was clearly his fault that the limousine had left without us. He asked the doorman to get us a taxi for the airport for which we ended up paying Dhs 95 upon reaching the airport.

Needless to say, the experience has been shocking and pathetic coming from a hotel of it's repute and will prevent us from ever returning at any of the Jumeirah properties. The unprofessional behavior of Mr. Rauf indicates a serious deficiency in the training of the hotel personnel and even a lack of common-sense amongst it's employees. I believe that if a prestigious hotel like Al Qasr is unable to meet such basic expectations of it's guests (that even a 3-star property would definitely see to) it is simply not worthy of it's reputation and definitely not worth paying big buck for!

The hotel was great, and it works so well being such a huge resort. You will not need to go out any where, as there is so much to do.

We had to wait about 45 minutes for our room as we were slightly early. They sent us to a waiting area…… More like a health spa! It was relaxing, with big leather chairs, a huge shower area and light refreshments.

The rooms are very big with great comfy beds. We got a room with sea view which looked out on to the gulf sea, however we were not in the room that much so would say that a normal room would be just as good. The bathroom had more toiletries then Boots and Superdrug put together! Fantastic.

Breakfast time could be a tad buys but there is everything you could wish for to eat at breakfast.

The private beach is like something out of a dream. So clean, comfortable beds, chairs, staff bringing you fresh fruit and ice lollypops, towels before you can even think of it.

Getting around the resort is so much fun. You have a choice of golf carts or boats via the internal canals. They are always there waiting.

The Spa were the sauna and steam rooms are could be bigger I thought, but equally beautiful as the rest of the hotel.

There are many restaurants in the resort but I found them extremely expensive and only ate in 2 or 3 of them. We usually went to Emirates Mall were there was food just as good but at a fraction of the price.

The staff are very polite and will get anything you ask for, but I think a bit more of a personal touch would make the experience even better.

We stayed at Al Qasr in May 2007 for our 10th wedding anniversary.It was fantastic.

We arrived after a 7 hour flight at approx 8am,we were taken to a private check in area and given cool towels and arabian coffee (an aquired taste).We were lucky our room was ready to check and was amazing.

Huge bed, fab furniture loads of space.Bathroom was great sep shower,large bath and plenty of luxurious toiletries (replenished daily).Housekeeping and turndown service every day.Chocolates on pillows,bottled mineral water and towels in the shape of animals.Tea/fresh filter coffee making facilities.

We stayed half board and would definately recommend this although book your tables well in advance.Some restaurants were excluded but you could eat at lunchtime in lieu of this.

Breakfast is amazing, every food imaginable.Egg station, smoothie bar,sushi,cooked breakfasts,waffles,cereals,fresh yoghurt bar,fruit,cheeses,cooked meats.and much,much more...

One of our favourite restaurant was pierchic at the end of the wooden pier,jambase great funky atmosphere,chinese restaurant very good,our least favourite was Pisces in the souk area.A bit stuck up to be honest ordered 4 different bottles of wine non of which were available think this may have been deliberate to get the expensive ones sold.Great food but atmosphere lacking!

Pools great, towels laid out,fresh fruit lollipops and ices free of charge.

Took a golf buggy ride to the Burj Al Arab but best to go after 11pm free to residents of AQ.Went to the 360 bar which was great golf buggy will take you there also.

A good selection of shops in the Souk.

The staff throughout are amazing very attentative, but not too much so.Apparently they have a ratio of 2 members of staff to every guest which certainly seemed accurate.

Going back again later this year it is worth every penny,my favourite place on earth.