Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa Hotel

5 readers found this review helpful

My husband and I visited Le Royal Meridien for our wedding anniversary. I was 5mths pregnant at that time. What a fantastic holiday we had! Walked in the door, knackered after our flight, and the heat which really does hit you when you are outside. We were given freshly squeezed orange juice, and cold flannels on arrival, whilst they were dealing with booking us into our room. One of the staff then called my husband over and said very quietly I understand it is your anniversary (The Tour Operator had told them) we will be upgrading you to a suite. We were shown to our room, which was a twin not double, but they said they could move us to another suite later that day with a double. However when we walked in the door and saw how fantastic it was we were just so over the moon and quite content to stay in twin beds! The best room I have ever stayed in! Massive living room area, massive bedroom, balcony which had direct view of sea and pool. Massive bathroom! (See pictures). With this room you have a 24 hr Butler Service - which we never used, apart from to deliver our complimentry wine,fruit and canape's everyday! - How fab is that! Obviously no wine for me, so my husband enjoyed his bottle a day! The staff couldn't do enough for you, but do be prepared to tip of course. Another great touch was chocolates on your pillow everynight with an Arabic Proverb. They always seemed to leave extra chocs on my pillow! My husband used to get 2 and I would get 6! Must have realised I was pregnant!
The food was great, breakfast was included in the deal we had, which was buffet style pretty much anything you can think of. The seating area does get busy, and it can be too hot to sit outside depending on the time of year you go. We ate at a couple of the resturants in the hotel, steak resturant, which was very nice but the staff drive you mad asking if everything is ok and trying to top your glass up every 2mins, my husband had to tell them to stop in the end. Also went to the Arabic resturant which was fab, great food, lovely smell of shisha which you can sit and smoke. In terms of lunch as it was 40c most days and I was feeling the heat being pregnant we often ordered our lunch to have at the poolside on the sunbeds. Not a vast menu, I lived on club sandwhichs and chips, but you didn't have to move as you get waiter service right to your lounger! You do pay a premium for this, it's about the equivalent of £20-£25 for just a small lunch. You can of course go to the resturants which are cheaper and air conditioned. The other thing I loved was the staff bring round ice cold flannels through the day which smell of aromotherapy oils, also freezing cold bottles of water sprays, and litte kind of fruity slush puppy drinks for you - all to keep you cool - its wonderful!
The hotel has 3 pools all are great, we spent our time round a smaller quieter pool, always plenty of sunbeds , and if not the staff would get you one, they are very safety concious of the heat etc. The beach is lovely, although there seemed to be jelly fish in the sea which really put me off, especially in my condition. My husband didn't care and went in, and I even saw a little boy holding one. The lifeguard said they are not dangerous.
Staff cannot do enough for you, they will arrange anything you want! We got them to book afternoon tea at the Burj Al Arab for us, and a few other tables for dinner ar various hotels. Mina Al Salam is a good hotel to visit for dinner.
On our actual anniversary we returned to our room from a hard day of laying round the pool and shopping at the Emirates Mall, to discover a brilliant strawberry cake to say congratulations! Soooo coooollll! I would love to visit here again, most luxurious holiday I have had, would recommend to families, couples of any age, or singletons looking for a bit of relaxation and luxury. Lots of people had young babies there, the country is very geared up for children.