I m a uk international reviewer and well travelled...

I m a uk international reviewer and well travelled in many 5 star hotels across the world. I m reading some of these previous reviews and can tell they are more national reviewers so I hope that I can be helpful to the international traveler

Disappointed when we first got to the hotel as the room was not ready for us, other than that the check in was smooth. As the room was not ready, we were asked to have tea and coffee complementary at the sultan lounge.

The hotel decor is beautiful however so is the decor in other 5 star hotels in Dubai and on the palm. The pictures all showed a very light and airy feel to the hotel and it was quite the opposite. Very dark and even the bedrooms were dark and lighting limited in the evenings. And cupboard lighting was awful. The restaurant were also very dark and we saw some guests using the table lamps to read the menus.

We arrived mid to late afternoon and it was around 4pm when we got to the beach. The beach was oversubscribed and the length of the beach did not stretch far enough for the amount of guests.. hence the experience that you received was that guests were on top of each other with not great views. The beach attendees were extremely helpful to not only find a place , and you could be waiting 10-15 mins for one and also realigning the sun lounges to support more guest into the beach. This happened every day. In fact there was not a day in our 8 day stay that this did not happen. The outdoor pools are too packed to enjoy your exercise or experience!

The service, in the buffet restaurant for breakfast imperium was great and the colleagues were extremely attentive. However, on many days, this restaurant could not cope with the volume of visitors and there was large queuing outside which is not what you want to see or do when you have paid a premium price to stay. To release the queuing, they opened the other restaurant to take the pressure off and said that they had the same food as the imperium however, this was not the case.. and nor was the service the same when they opened the alternative restaurant a total disappointment.

We were sold this an a honeymoon hotel and I ll be honest, if you are looking for a quiet spot , this is not the honeymoon hotel for you.

The inside swimming facilities are great but segregated. I wanted to learn how to swim by my husband and I couldn t do this on my holiday here.

The spar facilities are good however you can t go with your partner as women s and men s area are segregated here too. There is one couples facility however, it s tiny and so small that any more than 2 couples would feel like a crowd!!

The hotel is on the palm which is beautiful in reality but practically getting off the palm is a nightmare.. the hotel shuttle service needs to be more regular particularly in the evenings and it needs to incorporate more of the Jumeira group hotels. One evening we went to Jumaira Mina as salaam and the shuttle on the way back was too full, it was embarrassing as the driver had to ask if a few of the other guests could take their children on their lap so that me and my husband could get in for a drive back to Zabeel. We had to venture off the palm as there is no evening entertainment provided by the hotel at all and not all of the restaurants in the hotel were great for food.