Miramar Al Aqah Beach Resort

Be careful when you are booked 'Ultra all inclusive' at this hotel. It is truly not ... If you do not want to have lunch in the buffet restaurant then you have to pay for you meals in the other restaurants. Evenings you do not pay unless you book within 24 hrs then you pay 50%... No soft drinks in mini fridge. In fact it is completely empty ... We arrived at 1.00 in the morning with only room service available for which you have to pay for. Lovely restaurant on beach but again you must pay extra .. I would like to know what is ultra defined as?

This is a lovely hotel with great staff who were helpful, polite at all times and gave excellent service. Check in was smooth and efficient. We had booked a superior room and were given a side sea view. The room was large and well equipped with a generous bathroom including bath as well as shower. The grounds were beautifully kept and very clean as was the hotel. There were plenty of sun beds around the lovely pool. No need to get up early! However, the beach was a different matter. The sun beds were reserved very early by mainly Russian guests, who used them early then left them with towels on from approximately 11:30 am until approximately 4:30pm, when they would then reappear. This meant that the beds were unable to be used by other guests for the majority of the day. This was not a problem for us as we prefer the pool area and were able to enjoy it in a very peaceful setting. The food was very good and varied, with live cooking stations at breakfast for omelettes, fried or poached eggs. There were themed nights every night which ensured a variety of food from different areas around the world. The only slight niggle was the confusion about the All Inclusive package. All Inc. meant no drinks before 10:30 am, so no juice or soft drinks by the pool before then. No cocktails included. But spirits, mixers, tinned German beer, wine etc included. The wine was good. No problem if you just wanted a G&T. If you wanted cocktails etc. you could pay 50% of the menu price or alternatively you could opt to go Ultra All Inc. This enabled you to get drinks at the pool bar before 10:30am, a range of cocktails, and access to the other restaurants on site. On the standard All Inc package you were limited to the buffet restaurant. It would have been nice to have had the opportunity to sample one of the other on site restaurants and have waiter service. At least one visit if not more, is usually allowed at other All Inc resorts. Had we been staying longer we would have upgraded as the price was not excessive. Not many people were Ultra All Inc when we were there. Also, a slight language hiccup….. Ask for sparkling water and it is not available on All Inc. ask for soda water and it is. Ask for lemonade, not available on All Inc. Ask for 7Up and it is. As All Inc is relatively new in the UAE, I assume that it is a bit of a learning curve for the hotels which are offering it. These slight stumbling blocks were not an issue for us as soon as we understood the restrictions. It was great that the hotel was offering All Inclusive and hopefully more hotels in the UAE will do so. We traveled with Etihad Holidays. The organisation was good. All transfers were on time. Reps were helpful. All in all a lovely holiday and a great place to stay if you want some R&R after Dubai.