This was the first leg of a 2 centre holiday, and for this half, we were 2 families - 4 adults and 2 teenagers. This was UK October 'half term' week, so 1 family was returning to the UK the following week, whilst my partner and I went on to Thailand.
It was our first trip to Dubai, and it's probably a mix of what everyone says! Yes, a huge building site, but impressive by its own standard - so many buildings, and everything so...well, big and shiny!
From the airport, we got a taxi to the hotel at a cost of roughly £15, far cheaper than the equivalent journey in the UK. (We used taxi services on a number of occasions during the week, this time prebooking the minivan-type from the hotel to accommodate all 6 of us, and this worked out cheaper overall)
The Jebel Ali is about a 40 minute drive from the airport, but the journey does give you a view of Dubai before you experience it for yourself, including a distant view of the famous Burj.
Our flight had an early morning arrival, which meant that our room wasn't available straight away. This was what we expected, the hotel stored our luggage, and we were invited to have juice and fresh fruit in the breakfast restaurant.
Our room was a standard one in the main hotel and when we were eventually checked in, I could sort of see what some people meant about the rooms benefitting from some refurbishment, but in fact, it was comfortable, had everything we needed, bathroom was fine, everything worked and the view across the golf course was very peaceful, so no complaints.
So, the hotel amenities....
Our first call was, of all things, the Sports bar (sports enthusiasts present, needing satellite TV!!). For a drink, and maybe a snack, fine, but the one evening meal we had here was dire, so can't recommend based on our experience.
All other evening dining experiences were great, hard to choose a winner amongst the Jebel Ali's restaurants, although the Wild Orchid's Teppanyaki table was most fun!
Our favourite bar was the terrace with the Bedouin-type tents and seating (I think it was the Plantation Bar, but not sure). Only open in the evening but what a great place to chill, have a drink and a chat, loved it!
There are some lovely pool areas, but we preferred the garden area just by the beach. The palm trees give some pleasant shade, and the breezes are cooling, there's no problem with sunbeds, and food and drink are nearby.
The service was good thoughout the resort, everyone was very helpful and courteous, as you would expect.
In Dubai itself, we shopped at the Mall of the Emirates, checked out the Burj, and 'did' the Wild Wadi water park, but we actually liked the fact that we were staying outside of the hustle and bustle of the centre of Dubai, and the Jebel Ali seemed like an oasis to us.
The golf at the Jebel Ali was good, reasonably priced and enjoyable, but hot, so pick your time carefully!
Didn't use the SPA.
From here we moved on to the Hyatt Regency, Hua Hin, Thailand and I have reviewed this separately, as this review is too long already!

Just come back from Jebel Ali and it is perfect for what we wanted, which was a little February half term sunshine. We figured it was the nearest place with the nicest weather at this time of year.

The hotel was lovely, clean and spacious. The beach and sea are very beautiful. The rooms were fine, ok size, clean and comfy beds. The staff all over the place are very friendly and helpful. Nothing about the hotel is drop dead amazing, but it does not cost drop dead amazing money.

The only thing to advise is that do not go this hotel if you want to experience Dubai as it is too far out of town. If you want to go somewhere to sit by the pool and relax at the beach and the surroundings are not that important then this is perfect.

Also, we had dinner in the restaurants around the hotel and it was about the same price as upgrading to half board.

All in all I would have no heistation in going back in the future.

I took my Mother to this hotel as a 50th birthday surprise. Having both travelled quite a lot our expectations of staying in this 5 star hotel in a place like Dubai - renowned for its opulence and splendour, were quite high! Unfortunately we were bought back down to earth with a bang. The room was more a 3-4 star rating, it was small, shabby and in dire need of a spruce up.

We arrived at night so we both went to bed a bit let down. Morning broke and as we pulled back our thread bare curtains we were delighted to see the 5 star hotel we were expecting. The grounds are amazing and the beach is first class, ok its not the Caribbean, but it could be minus the crane on the horizon.

In short, as with most reviews it is totally down to expectations and a bit of realism. This is an established well run hotel on exquisite grounds and although the rooms let it down it does not necessarily detract from the rest of the resort. The buffet breakfast was great, the staff friendly and the pool/beach/garden areas splendid. I would certainly go back to this hotel, it was far enough out of town to relax and not feel like you were on a building site, yet near enough to hop in a taxi.

Horses for courses but Dubai as a holiday resort would not be for me, Its great as a stop over or a luxurious mini break to shop and catch the sun and if you have never been before it is a must for the experience.

I stayed here with my wife for out 1st anniversary! And we loved every minute of it, OK BA lost left our bags in London so we had stay in out rooms for 1.5 days, but that was not the hotels fault. If anything the room we had made the stay in there more pleasurable! We had and end room so had a view of the golf course and the beach!!!! The room was clean and at the end of each day the bed was turned down and a complimentary bottle of water left by our bedsides.

The hotel grounds are amazing and very well kept the hotel was fully booked but at no point did it ever feel like that....always space by the pool and room at the bar! With something like 4 pools to choose from; its own private beach there was always space to sunbath and swim! Some of the pools are salt and some fresh, and few had pool bars too.

The location of this place worried me slightly when we were heading there form the airport, it took about 45mins and is way out of the centre of Dubai - but this in my opinion is a good thing.

It is peaceful and tranquil out there, where as the town is busy and dirty! The hotel offers a free bus service to and from the all the main attractions in Dubai so you never feel standard! And if you do happen to miss the last bus as we did when went to Burj al Arab then a taxi only cost about £10 to get back!

We had an anniversary cake and bottle of wine bought to our room on our anniversary which was very nice of the hotel, great cake too!

Our favourite bar was the Captains bar on the beach front, fantastic place to drink and food was wonderful too. My only moan was the weather was too hot, I know pathetic eh, but we did book in August so that’s my fault.

All I can say is this place was FANTASTIC! I will be back and next time I will be hitting the golf course....