Groombridge really captured my feeling about the resort. We've just spent two days there and I am very glad we went. However, the service is a level beneath luxury.

We flew in on Etihad, and used their chauffeur service for free delivery to the hotel. The drive took roughly 2 hours. There were some camels to be seen along the road, but overall, it is a very boring drive on an excellent highway thru the sand.

Public areas of the hotel are beautiful with great views over the sand. The lobby was busy as it was the end of the Eid holiday and many families with children were departing. We organized our excursions at check in, and this was handled very efficiently. If you go at the yearend holidays, get a copy of the excursions from the hotel and make your bookings in advance. We got what we wanted when we wanted, but there were some times that were booked out.

We were taken by golfcart to our room. We had booked a terrace room based on advice in this forum. Our escort was a lovely young lady who had been there one month as part of her hotel training course. When we entered the room, it was a suite with a minimal though comfortable outdoor area. I was confident that this was not our terrace room, but she thought it was. This was part of the small service issues we experienced several times. Interactions are with junior staff who want very much to please but sometimes get it wrong. I only met senior staff on checkout. She called and checked. Sure enough, we had been upgraded. Despite the expansive space and the comfort of two rooms, the view was poor as we were on a lower level. It took a bit for a terrace room to be prepared and we were moved to it. The terrace was massive, larger than our spacious room and bathroom. There were two loungers, a table with 4 chairs, a seating alcove with 2 chairs, and a seating area built along the back side that could comfortably seat a dozen people. About half of the terrace had protection from the punishing sun. It was remarkable space. Unfortunately, the summer heat hadn't broken, and temps were at 100 degrees F. There was no paddle fan outside, and it was too hot to enjoy the space other than early morning or late in the evening. Fortunately, our well air conditioned room had a wall of large windows with a wonderful view of the nearby sand dunes. The desk was set up to face the room not the view, and we took care of that in short order.

We ate at the buffet one night. Despite my dislike of buffets, it was quite good with an extensive Middle Eastern section. It had a broad rang of mezzes and Arabic sweets. The next day, we wanted to eat more lightly so headed to the restaurant by the pool. Their Middle Eastern dishes were very limited but tasty.

The highlight for us were the excursions.

Falcon and Saluki Show
This was a wonderful introduction to both. We were driven to the desert, where cushions had been set up along with 3 stands for falcons. Two salukis were nearby. We had 3 trainers along with our driver. We were given mint tea and dates. We learned about how significant the falcons are to Middle Easterners. They are typically from Germany and are migratory birds, but are captured in the Middle East. They must be kept in air conditioning when not being worked. They are valued up to 1MM dirhan, or $250K. All 3 flew for their dinners. Both salukis then raced for theirs. We were then allowed to hold the falcons for pictures. This took about 2 hours.

Desert ride
We were taken into the desert. We stopped by an enclosure of oryx while air was removed from the tires. We then drove onward. Most of the drive was gentle, but we also had some electrifying rides up and down steep dunes. We learned our driver began dune driving in 2006 and has been sent to school each year to be sure he has the necessary skills to continue. We had to stop on our way out to have our tires reinflated. This was done by where they stable the horses, a bit further than where their camels are stabled.

Dune bashing
The desert ride was so much fun that my husband signed up two hours of dune bashing, going out at 5:30am to see the sun rise. He absolutely loved it.

Fat tire bike riding
My husband rides bikes regularly, and planned to do this. They use bikes made in California for beach riding. He decided not to do so as our driver really made the bike riding sound difficult. He spoke of professional bikers having poor success at keeping their bikes upright when going down the dunes. Do your own evaluation.

As we checked out, a Bollywood movie was filming a scene in the lobby. Sadly, there was no dancing.

I met the GM on departure. He was graciously greeting every guest and asking after their experience. I suggested:

1) They hand out a map of the property. There is a small map on the key card, but more detail would be helpful. For example, it took us a day to realize how close our room was to the main building. The golf cart had a much longer path it needed to follow to get us to our room.

2) Paddle fans for the terrace rooms during their next refresh of the hotel.

This is the 6th Amantara hotel where this GM has worked in 6 years, so they really move them along quickly.