Dubai - Atlantis

[webwoman05]

Just wondered if anyone has been to The Atlantis in Dubai? We are going for my DH's 40th birthday in March for 4 nights with our 2 sons (10 and 5).

Any tips or advice?

We are flying with Emirates - a first for us - so not really sure what to expect as we normally fly to US with Virgin (who seem to have really put their prices up recently)

Emirates are fab, can't rate them high enough to be honest.

Not stayed at Atlantis but have looked round and been to the water park. As is usual for Dubai the hotel is very plush, the facilities are excellent and well maintained.

Watch out for the jelly fish in the sea though! The beach is lovely, but the sea is really an inlet with few tides and so the jelly fish accumulate. My DD got stung but the first aid at the hotel is good.

ooohh, I'm going there TOMORROW! Just finishing packing!
Flying Emirates who are really good, fly with them as much as possible (flew to UK with them last week and had a whole row to myself which was rather nice)

Will give a report on Atlantis in a few days

Thanks MrsJamesMartin - I shall keep an eye out for those pesky jellyfish!

Mumoverseas - Looking forward to flying with Emirates. It's a night flight so hopefully our boys will get a bit of sleep and then be ready to hit the water park in the morning! Hope you have a fab time. How long are you going for? Look forward to hearing all about it soon

morning, up very early as never sleep the night before a flight. Airport in 1 hour and I'm mumsnetting
We are staying for 5 nights. Two different groups of friends went there in November and had a fabulous time. Their kids ranged between 1 year and 12 years old so something for everyone.
I have been warned about the chocolate fountain for breakfast though. One friend put on 5lb in 4 days there

Will keep you posted

PS hope there are no jellyfish as DD1 and I are going diving there tomorrow

Mumoverseas: Hope you are having a fab time in Dubai.

Look forward to hearing all about it soon.

Hi Webwoman, don't want to put you off but I have to say we didn't have a particularly good time. My opinion of Atlantis was that it was a theme park (a very expensive one) with beds.
Don't get me wrong, the hotel looks amazing but in my opinion it is just too big and really lacks in customer service. Having been so excited about going we were really disappointed. I suppose that it is good that we did go but we feel it didn't live up to its expectations. We have travelled extensively in the Middle and Far East and have stayed in much nicer places.

I have to say it does look amazing and everything is all very clean and sparkly, it is just the customer service that really lets it down and I think its because it is so big. Another really annoying thing were the huge groups of tourists that pay to go and look round it. One day it was very hard to get back in the hotel and back to our room from the beach as there were hundreds of tourists following their guides around (holding huge wooden numbers on sticks) and it felt like being in a cattle market.

Food and drink is VERY expensive, around 5 to 6 pounds for a latte I think is taking the P*. I took lots of cartons of juice and long life milk for my youngest two and lots of cereal bars and snacks otherswise we'd have spent a lot more. We bumped into friends of ours there and they also felt the customer service was lacking so it wasn't just us.

I think if you are realistic about it (and the total cost) you may enjoy it and I'm sure your DC would love the waterpark. DD1 (14) absolutely loved it, particularly the fact that Peter Andre was there and she got her photo taken with him!

We have stayed at the Jumeirah Beach hotel a few times and next time we go back we will almost certainly stay there again.

There was a thread a month or so ago (where to go in February half term) and other people had visited Atlantis and gave a few reviews so maybe have a read and see what they thought.

Hope you have a lovely time wherever you go

Hi Mumoverseas Thanks for getting back to me. It's a shame your stay wasn't quite what you had hoped for.

Our sons love water parks so I expect we shall spend a lot of our time there! It did amuse me about your DD1 getting her photo taken with Peter Andre! That's something to tell all her friends about her half term!

My in laws stayed at The Atlantis when it first opened but I think it wasn't as busy as it is now and they said the service was excellent - sounds like things may have slipped a bit.

Don't worry you haven't put me off! Looking forward to a break away, some sunshine and celebrating DH's 40th. Can't believe the price of a latte! We have breakfast included and just about to investigate going half board as DS2 loves to eat....

I'll report back to let you know what we think. We go in about 3 weeks.

Hi, its not so bad if you have breakfast included as that is VERY expensive, around 24 pounds each adult. Problem we have is coming from elsewhere in the ME we tend pay a lot more and can't get the cheaper packages that we could probably get if booking and travelling from UK.
Prices in hotel are very expensive for meals so if you can get a good deal on HB it is probably a very good idea. Kids meals around 6 pounds which not too bad but some of the adult meals around 25 which I thought was a bit much and of course the drinks get very expensive.

We discovered a starbucks just outside the hotel (in Avenues, where there are a lot of shops) so coffee there much cheaper than in one of the many restaurants.
Italian restaurant was nice and not too bad value for kids meals and also the restaurant out by the royal swimming pool had a good kids menu and also had music in the evenings which the kids enjoyed.

Hope you have a lovely time

BEWARE! WARNING!
Just checked my credit card statement online and the bastards have overcharged me by around 2,200 pounds!
On check in they asked for pre-authorisation on my credit card for the room for AED13,000 (around 2,200 pounds) On check out, I paid the full bill which was almost double this but on checking just now they have charged both.

Phoned credit card company immediately (as they always tell you to!) and they were most unhelpful and to take it up with hotel. Just had 3 conversations with people at Atlantis who were very laid back and said they'd 'look into it'

I noticed that a lot of people were paying in cash when I left (up to around 20,000 AED) which I thought was odd but maybe they had the right idea!

Please be careful!

Mumoverseas: What a nightmare for you - hope you manage to get your money back.

Have read quite a few comments about overcharging - people advise you not to charge things to your room and to keep all records of any payments made so they don't charge you twice.

We have paid the travel agent so will probably just pay as we go - iykwim!

Thanks for the heads up.

Are you hoping to get to Florida this year at all? We normally go at Easter but due to DH's work this year we are unable to go - we've never been in the summer holidays before. Is it a nightmare with crowds and also the humidity? Thought we might get a last minute deal although we do prefer to organise things ourselves but flights are so expensive this year!

Hi Webwoman,
Hopefully you will be ok as the cost of your room has been paid via travel agents but I'm pretty sure they will make you leave a credit card for them to 'swipe' when you check in in case you do charge things to your room. They wanted to charge approximately the cost of one of our rooms (DH checked in a day after me with 2 of our children) and an addition sum of approximately 500 pounds. Whilst I was at check out (approximately 45 mins as they were, in their words 'having challenges with they system') several other people were checking out nearby and saying they had been charged for things they hadn't had. BEWARE ref the mini bar in room which has sweets and crisps in as there is an automated system whereby if things are removed you are automatically charged so don't let the kids near it!

Not going to Florida this year, went for 3 weeks in Oct/Nov and its such a long way for us to go from the Middle East.

We went in 2007 and 2008 in the summer and it was very very hot but not too bad. I've heard people say if you go later in August it is a bit quieter as think the american schools go back earlier than we do in the UK.

Are you thinking of hotel or villa? If villa, PM me to see if mine is available and I may be able to do you a good deal I think you will find that you don't get many last minute deals on flights so best to start looking into that.

March is a good time to come here (I'm in Dubai) - weather is great at the mo.

Tip when flying with Emirates - you can reserve your seats free of charge on line and it's a really good idea to do it asap after you book. Just go onto emirates.com, then manage a booking, input your booking ref and it's straightforward.

If you are coming out on the A380, it's a great plane - absolutely HUGE but there is really good leg room and entertainment in economy and loads of locker space.

Atlantis is fine, but the restaurants there can be expensive. If you take a taxi to the Madinat or JBR Walk, you'll have a big choice of resturants with a wider variety of prices.

Have a great hol.

Just thought I'd let you all know how we got on in Dubai! We had a fab time! Mumoverseas: My DH didn't hand over his credit card details when we checked in so we had no additional charges to pay on checking out. We paid for meals etc either by cash or credit card at the time.

Thanks for the tips re Florida. We are still undecided about going in the Summer holidays and it will certainly be strange not being in Florida at Easter this year but DH is too busy in his new job.

Had the breakfast included in our package and have to say that set us up for the day - my 10 year old rather enjoyed eating pizza for breakfast !! We had one evening meal included as well and our 5 year old loved the chocolate fountain! I couldn't believe how many desserts were available. We mainly had dinner at The Shore and DH and I took advantage of their Happy Hour for a cocktail or 3! Quite enjoyed the sofas on the beach at night time too.

Room was lovely (despite sharing with our 2 boys - don't think I would want to share a room for a longer trip though!). The hotel made a lovely chocolate cake for my DH actually on his 40th birthday with his name on it.

Loved the water park although think I prefer Aquatica and I even did the leap of faith! Boys went for a couple of hours to the kids club which they loved and seemed disappointed when we picked them up.

Visited the Burj Khalifa - it strangely didn't seem that high up IYKWIM but would really like to visit some of the Malls again without the kids!

Emirates as an airline were great too. Loads of leg room and planes lovely and modern. Would fly with them again happily.

All in all a lovely short trip and I look forward to visiting Dubai again. One thing I must mention was how lovely the staff were - was quite horrified about how rude some people can be to the staff - especially some rather spoiled brats who clearly had more money than manners!! And I'm talking about the children....!