I 100% agree with the previous review - how this place got a 5 star rating is beyond me. It is 3 star at best.
We too were limited for a place to stay as we booked at short notice. We paid ax extremely high rate and thought, well it's 5 star so it must be worth it. WRONG. While the pool and beach areas are nice, the rooms are extremely basic. I have stayed in nicer 3 stars at a quarter of the price. Maintenence around the resort was poor, service in the breakfast room appaling and unfriendly, and food for breakfast terrible.
The location is also not the best, neither in Bur Dubai/Deira or Jumeirah Beach - in between.
We had booked to stay 2 nights and after 10 minutes in our room we rang around and were lucky to get a similar but lower rate in the Royal Meridien, so we stayed for 1 night and went there the next day. Now that is 5 star, from start to finish. Wonderful place.
Don't waste your money here, there are far nicer hotels in the same price bracket.
The only disappointing part of out wonderful trip to Dubai.

Really not 5 stars. 3 at best.
The reception staff was unfriendly and incompetent. The rooms were small and old. The beds were uncomfortable.
They have about 4 restaurants. Only the buffet type is open during the day. For a lousy buffet they charge $100.
They beach could be ok if it weren't for the oil tankers and the harbor 500m down the road.

There are so many nice hotels in Dubai. Don't waste your time and money in this one.

We booked our holiday at the very last minute (booked on 8th August and flew out on 14th August). We only went out for 5 days. Due to this we didn't have much choice in hotels to stay at. My sister had been to Dubai in May this year and twice last year, she actually recommened the Habtoor Grand and the Oasis (very good by the way). These were fully booked and we were only left with Dubai Marine Resort and Spa. My husband and I thought we'd risk it for a biscuit even though the last few reviews of the hotel had been quite bad (too be honest I don't know what planet these people lived on but their reviews of this hotel were unjust!!!!)

Ok from the start of the holiday we flew with Emirates (economy class). Compared to British Airways they were fantastic. We had great seats and food was fine. You have your own TV screen and hundreds of films to choose from. One more tip join Emirates Skywards loyalty scheme and make sure you opt for meet and greet service as you get through passport control with a click of a finger. We wished we had done this as we waited ages to get through, almost an hour (not something you want to do after travelling for 7hours).

We arrived in Dubai in the early hours of (15th August) Wednesday morning. (The Dubai airport duty free is great). A good tip buy some alcohol at the airport as Dubai is an alcohol free country, therefore it is very expensive to buy in any hotel or bar. The heat in August is unbelieveable (44oc upwards in the day and 35oc at night), it hit us like a slap in the face as soon as we stepped off the plane. We had no problems getting to hotel as we had arranged transfers, very advisable if you don't want to go looking for a taxi in the middle of the night.

The hotel is on Jumeriah road and on the city end of Jumeriah beach about 20mins taxi ride from the main hotels on Jumeriah beach. Don't let that put you off as it a goods place to be for the shopping and sand safari. On arrival at hotel, we checked in and the receptionist offered to upgrade us to one of their junior suites for about £28 extra per night. We actually said yes!! (Yes I know, we shouldn't have agreed without looking at the new room). Anyway we booked in without any problems and were driven to our room in a golf buggy. Good idea as we were shattered by then. Yes there is building works going on but only in the day when most guests are away from their rooms. In all honesty it is the same anywhere you stay in Dubai as we had made a few friends in differents hotels from the trips we had done and they thought the same.

The junior suite was big, new and very clean. The free toilettries were all Molton Brown (great for me as that's what I use). We were also left with 2 bottles of mineral water a basket of fruit and some other things. The bed in the suite was queen size. The bathroom had a jacuzzi and very powerful shower. The next day we felt a bit silly upgrading as we didn't feel the suite was worth the extra money. We down graded back to a standard room (no problems with the hotel for the change) , which to be honest was just fine as we hardly spent anytime in it. The differences between the rooms are no jacuzzi in the standard bathroom but same shower, just normal toilettries, king size bed instead of queen, no dining table and chairs in standard room, no free fruit or water (but that's for the first night only), both rooms have an electronic safe. Otherwise everything else is the same including fridge and mini bar but cheaper with the standard room. You don't need to take your own beach towels as you're given a towel card each and are allowed to take upto 2 towels each at any given time.

We had a good first nights rest, even though the hotel is near a mosque (which is pretty common where ever you stay in Dubai, bear in mind that you are visiting a muslim country). We missed the buffet breakfast on the first day, so had lunch instead (The breakfasts and lunches are served in the Taverna). I wasn't sure at first about the food as it look a bit yuckky, (I'm indian by the way and am very used to eating curries and odd foods.) My reservations about the food and restaurant was all wrong because of the previous bad reviews. The food was fine and caters for all. Lots of fruits and salad available as it's too hot to eat heavy meals in the day (however big meals are there if you want). Some foods are carried over to the next meal but to be honest that's expected in any hotel you stay in Dubai even the really expensive ones. Do not attempt to take any fruit or food outside the restaurant as you are not allowed. We saw some Russian bloke feel very stupid when the restaurant manager confiscated his full carrier bag, that he had been slyly filling throughout breakfast so unless you want to look an idiot in front of everyone don't do it as they class it as stealing!!!!!

The beach has nearly white sand and very clear warm water, it is small, pretty and private from locals and other hotels. I thought the beach was very clean and there are more than enough beds & umbrellas to go round. There is none of this business of germans and towels at dawn, whatever time of day we went onto the beach we found a good spot. There is a guy who will come round and put up an umbrella and bed where ever you want to park your butt. A bit of warning the sand gets very hot and you will need fip flops that won't melt in the sun to get from the beach to the sea (only a few steps but enough to burn your feet). There are also a couple of security guards patroling the beach, so you don't really need to worry about your valuables whilst you're in the water or away from your bed. There are 3 swimming pools and the sea, which all have fully qualified lifeguards at all times.

At lunch times we either ate at the beach bar or at our sun beds. The food is fresh and plentiful. The mocktails (cocktails without alcohol are fab). We ate out in Meena Bazaar most nights as it's cheap and lots to choose from (about 20mins taxi ride). Try everything, you only live once!!! We loved the Lebanise food.

Wherever you go in Dubai it's too hot to walk and you will need a car or taxi which are very cheap. For the women take a thin shawl or a cardigan as the temperature from the outside to the inside of any shop can vary up to 20oc, (it's like have hot & cold flushes). There is virtually no crime in Dubai because if anyone commits a crime they are kicked out of the country instantly and will never be allowed back in. Good idea I think!!!

We only had one evening meal in the hotel and that was at the Italian on our last night. To be honest we thought it was over priced, especially the wine but we didn't mind as we had saved so much money the other nights eating at local places. The food was ok considering we weren't in Italy. (For all the men make sure you take some closed toe shoes for the evenings as all hotels, clubs and restaurants will refuse entry to open toed shoes. Smart trainers are acceptable).

My only gripe with the hotel was that they lost my favourite dress which I had sent to be pressed on for our last evening. I actually lost the plot with the house keeping manager as this was unacceptable to me. My husband sorted it out for me and I did get my dress back, although I found out that the same thing had happened to another guest on the same day. I know it wasn't the hotel's fault as the dry cleaning was contracted out to a local firm and it was out of their hands. The hotel couldn't apologise enough and as compensation they didn't charge us for any of the other stuff we had cleaned as well, which I though was fair enough.

In whole we thought Dubai Marine Resort and Spa is a nice simple hotel and ideal for couples, friends and families to stay at. It shouldn't be classed a 5 star, more a high 3 or a low 4. The staff are very friendly and always keen to help. I have already recommened it to some friends who are going there in a couple of weeks. In your room you will find a Timeout magazine for Dubai, make sure you read it as it has good tips and recommendations on where to go for food, music and shopping and it always upto date.

Make sure you put aside a day for the Wild Wadi water park as it is just amazing. We have never had so much fun, we went in at 11:30am and didn't leave until 6pm. People were still coming in as we were leaving. Do try and do the Sand Safari as it's a once in a lifetime experience. It's definately not for the faint hearted. I get car sick quite quickly and was ill right on que through the trip but it was well worth it. I would do it again in a heart beat. We booked both of these trips with a company called Amazon Travel in Meena Bazaar (speak to a guy called Kishan Pattani). They are a honest company and cheaper than most. You will be able to que jump at Wild Wadi with tickets bought from them.

I hope that all that I have written will help you enjoy your trip to Dubai, whether you're just going for sun, sea and sand, shopping or adventure. We would go back in an instant.

I've stayed in many five-star hotels in Dubai and I have to say this is the worst. There is no way this hotel deserves the five star rating. For the price of a room here, you can stay in other hotels on Jumeirah beach that are much better quality.

I reserved a standard room for my girlfriend and I and when I got there I was shocked to see how small the room was. It was more like a motel room. I booked a King-size bed but the bed was smaller than a queen. It would have been so uncomfortable fitting two people on that bed. I complained to the front desk and they told me that standard rooms either had a queen bed (theres no way that bed was even queen-size) or two joinable beds (?) but the suites had a King-bed. I decided to upgrade to a Junior suite which was better but still not five-star quality that one would expect for the price. The carpet in the living room was dirty and full of cigarette burns. The couches looked old and even the towels in the bathroom didnt smell fresh. Even worse, when I got into bed I felt itchy all over. I thought I was being paranoid but my girlfriend felt the same thing. I dont even wanna think about what it was. I booked for 9 nights at this hotel but after two hours, I decided I had to check out as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the front desk wouldnt let me check out without paying a penalty and they told me to contact the travel agent I booked through (even though the travel agent had informed me beforehand that all cancellations were to be made with the hotel directly). Anyway, the travel agent contacted the hotel and they finally allowed me to check-out without a penalty, but unfortunately I had to waste two nights there.

The only thing good I can say about this hotel is that they have pretty good restaurants and nightclubs which are very popular. El Paso has got good food and Sho Cho and Boudoir are very happening. But you dont need to stay in the hotel to visit these establishments.

To sum it up: dont stay here if you want a five-star experience. Check out Grosvenor House, Royal Meridien, Hilton Jumeirah. They are all around the same price and much better than this badly managed, sorry excuse for a five-star resort.