Originally Posted by
Raffles
I am in Zabeel Wotsit as I type. Interesting!
Will do a full report when back. Quick summary would be:
Ludicrously opulent (all corridors are gold leaf lined etc)
Service not up to it
Perfectly pleasant with kids
Family Deluxe rooms are very clever and should be picked up across the industry
Couples looking to go out and about should avoid - taxi is 13 minutes from hotel to start of the Palm
Will not comment on restaurants as kids means we won't get to them!
As long as bringing kids or happy not to leave hotel, would recommend if no more than 2/3rd of cost of equivalent Madinat room. Pointless otherwise.
Interesting you should say that, the impression I got when I visited earlier this year was that the staff at "Imperium", the main buffet restaurant, were still being trained and didn't really know what was going on, however the food was really top notch.
I was also glad we got a babysitter that night and didn't take Little Miss as the whole place might have been a bit much for her to handle and I would have spent the meal running around after her! Food was very nice but it was a little lacking in atmosphere. On the plus side, Imperium is probably the best use of Sirius points (apart from Noodle House) as you get about 850 DHS (425 per person) value for 500 points which is not bad at all! They also have a Seafood night on Thursdays which sounds quite good for 295 DHS per person. *
I liked Voda Bar which was a really relaxing atmosphere to enjoy a couple of cocktails after dinner at Imperium, again, not really child friendly so babysitter required!
I will be trying Amala, the Indian restaurant there when I visit in Jan.
A friend of mine who is actually Indian told me it was the best Indian she had ever been to!
Raffles: Did you get offered an upgrade?, also, how does the Amex resort credit work? Do you get a voucher or is it just deducted from your bill at the end?
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I'm currently working on an analysis of the Sirius 2013 redemption table to see which are the best value rewards you can get. I will post something here in a few days so Raffles can pillage it for his blog 
Surprisingly exchanging Amex MR points to Sirius is not as bad as you think, even at a 15:1 exchange rate.