We stayed here for free for 2 nights in December 2006. We live and work in Dubai and this was a thank you gift from a client. Upon check in we were upgraded to one of the suites.
I have lived in Dubai and stayed in many of the hotels (Jumeira Beach Hotel, Mina A Salam, Royal Mirage) and I have to say that this was by far the best. Standards in Dubai are exceptionally high anyway, but this place was awesome. The room was huge and beautiful. The staff were exceptional, as they are in so many places in Dubai.
I would recommend the villas over Al Qasr as you are right on the water and usually a short stroll from the beach and pool, plus it is lovely to catch the Abra to a restaurant and then virtually back to your own front door.
As we were here in December the Christmas Tree and decorations around the room and the hotel, really got us in the festive spirit (so much so that we put up our tree the afternoon that we went home).
This is an exceptional hotel, easily some of the best rooms in the whole of Dubai's exceptional hospitality sector!

Had previously visited Dubai 7 times and had always stayed at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, which is an outstanding resort hotel, which our 2 children aged 11 and 9 think is absolutely great. In May we decided to book a last minute week away and was really disappointed that the JBH was fully booked. We had already booked flights with BA who had a special June offer on flights to Dubai and managed to get a great bargain of 4 direct flights for £900 including taxes. We booked the only 5 star beach hotel that was available and ended up with a Gulf ocean view Summerhouse at Dar Al Masyaf for the week for £1500, which was far less than we usually pay at JBH and even had complimentary entrance to Wild Wadi thrown in. Considering we had paid a lot less than usual we expected it to be below the standard we had previously enjoyed and would have been ok with that. WOW how wrong could we have been. We arrived at reception at 9 am and expected to wait until mid-afternoon for our villa but was pleasantly surprised to be told that it was ready. When Steph (one of our 4 fantastic butlers, who, between them work around the clock) showed us our villa to say I was shocked was an understatement, it was so spacious with plenty of room for us 4, luxuriously furnished and the enormous bathroom and dressing area put the JBH to shame. From our patio we had a fantastic view of the ocean and the Burj al Arab, and was where we used to sit with our complimentry pre dinner Moet each evening. The location of our villa (no 4) was also perfect for us as we were close to Sinbads kids club, the main (enormous) pool and the retaurant where they served breakfast, and I would suggest that anyone who wants a more private secluded villa should request nos 11 to 29, whilst those with children would be best with nos 1 to 4. Our butlers could not have been more helpful and truly added to the whole experience and ambiance. We are already looking to go back later in the year and cant imagine staying in the JBH again after staying at Dar Al Masyaf and even the children agree with me - which is a first!!!!!

Okay so this was the final stage in a trip from Korea, japan and then onto dubai for 7 nights.

We arrived at 6am! we knew the check in was going to be 2pm (the hotel is pretty much full at this time of year!), the heat hit us like a spade at the airport! The transfer time took about 25mins (white lexus! nice!), and we arrived at the Al Qasar main entrance, the first thing that hits you is the sheer scale and opulence of it all, we were shown to a side reception room and checked in, told our room was not ready and we would be offered a lounge, refreshments and a shower whilst we waited, we were also able to use any of the resorts facilities until the rooms was ready.
We had a few oj's and some water and the room we sat in is basically a lounge area with reclinig chairs , its airconned to the max, they offer blankets etc massage all very nice!

We went for a look around (despite the searing heat!) had a few coffees a snooze and few smokes etc and eventually at about midday our villa (No 27 at the Dar Al Masyaf) was ready, we were shown to a golf buggy and taken through the grounds.

Am going to cut a long story shory here because this is the one place that lives up to and exceeds the brochures (in most ways), the villas are in a word, stunning, loads of room, ours overlooked the waterways with fishes, crabs, cuttlefish (sometimes!) etc, you have your own butler ours varied between Anton (whos grasp of english was poor (nearly as bad as my serbian) and had the sense of humour of a moth and a charisma bypass! (sorry mate but wet fish springs to mind!) and Caroline and Emo (sorry bad spelling) who couldnt do enough to help ( the only thing we ever really requested was to change some travellers cheques!!)

The whole complex is stunning, the weather was very kind to us, the sea was very choppy on a few days, price wise, we were half board and the buffet (although a maginificient selection) didnt get changed in the 7 nights we were there which was a bit boring to be honest( though there arer plenty of fabulous eateries on the resort including a fabulous costa coffee! (a must whilst waiting for your room to be ready!), plus the kids running about and people in beachwear and pushing prams etc tended to subtract from the ambience plus the charge of £5 for a bottle of evian with the meal was taking the michael a bit!

Breakfast was great, superb choice, we went to shimmers on the beach and also the Thai restaraunt for my birthday (had choc cake and red roses in room from villa staff!!!) which although fairly expensive (about £50 a head without drinks) was indeed a superb all round experience.

We ventured into the Mina A Salam and it to be honest was not our thing, felt more Menorca then Middle east and more Lanzarote than luxurious, it really needs a polish as its brining the other two properties down a bit! but again thats my own opinion!

So all in all............rooms great. expect to pay but then you pay for what you get, some prices are well over inflated (we have stayed in the shangri-la in borneo where they charged £4 for a water!) by anyones standards, service superb at times and very occasioanally a let down!

Attention to detail exceptional. Clientele variable!!!...............from D&G, to Leeds Chest Tatoos!

Have fun!

We did!

And yes we would go back!

Cj
x

Dubai was the second part of our honeymoon having flown from the Maldives. When we arrived at the resort entrance I was gob smacked, it is so grand with beautiful fountains! We were picked up by a buggy that drove us around the resort and to our summer house! We were upgraded to an ocean view summer suite! It was the most amazing accomodation you could wish for! You enter the main private courtyard and then you enter your luxurious summer house. It had the biggest bathroom you can imagine, a huge bedroom, dining room and kitchen area. The toiletries were amazing and they had seperate ones for men and women! We took so many back home as they replaced it twice daily! We had sparkling wine, chocolates & strawberries to greet us which was lovely! They leave gifts every night on your pillow, anything from massage oil to lip balm, chocolates etc
What can I say about the resort! It is incredible, it is like a mini Venice with gondolas to take you to each part or you can get a buggy to take you around. The Dar Al Maysaf is ment to be the nicest out of the 3 options in Madinat Jumeirah but to be fair they all looked amazing. The pool area is massive and there are so many sun loungers-we had 4 loungers, 2 in the sun and 2 under a beautiful shaded area. They come round and spray your face with Evian, give you ice lollies, cold flannels etc etc The service is second to none! Your butler cannot do enough for you and will book restaurants etc for you. Breakfast is buffet style and there are so many options it's silly! It filled us up until dinner time. We ate most nights in the complex as there are so many restaurants to choose from. The best place was the Pai Thai restaurant, it was expensive but well worth it and sit outside so you can see the abras going around! The Souk within the resort is really nice, with some lovely shops. You can negociate in some shops but not all. The beach is lovely but you may need to get up early to get sun loungers in a good position or the huge day beds on the beach. The sea is like a warm bath and beautiful for swimming in.
You can go into the Burj Al Arab and they provide a free buggy service to it but we didn't get around to going. Sun set looks amazing especially if the Burj and the background!
I compare every hotel to the Dar Al Maysaf and nothing has come close even if they are 5* luxury hotels, I will be returning for sure!!