We booked a themed room at Dalhousie for 2 nights to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. I was somewhat concerned after reading some of the reviews but decided to take the risk and it paid off! We've returned from a beautiful relaxing break.

From our arrival at the castle we were met with extremely friendly and efficient service. The receptionist was very welcoming and they had made a note of our special occasion and surprised us with a chilled bottle of Pommery on our arrival. Our room (Alexander) was lovely and the view over the lawn and woods was excellent. We woke early one morning to watch a buzzard riding the thermals outside our window. It really is a bird watchers paradise!

Unfortunately Alexander room is above the spa and there is a buzzing noise 24/7 but we got used to it! Reception did offer to move us if it affected our stay.....

We booked into the Dungeon restaurant for the night of our anniversary and the meal was lovely. Very small portions but after 5 courses of excellently cooked food, we were full and staggered round the grounds to walk it off. The second night we ate in the Orangery which serves much larger portions and of similar standard to the Dungeon.

Whilst we were at Dalhousie there were 2 weddings but they didnt cause concern to us and the evening entertainment was a long way from our room, hence we achieved a peaceful night. Only small complaint was that due to the smoking ban in Scotland, all the wedding guests were allowed to congregate at the front door to smoke and guests had to walk through this to reception.

All in all, it was a beautiful setting and made our 10th anniversary as special as our wedding was 10 years ago at Durham Castle.

Booked a dining and 'themed' room package for my husband's 50th.

Alarm bells began to ring when we were taken to a very ordinary room. After looking around for a while and consulting the brochure again, we definitely decided that this could not be described as a themed room. We were put in a room which obviously doubled as a small meeting room hence the large plasma screen and PC point built into the floor. The walls were made up of fake panelling (paint & grain effect). The bed was a pull down metal framed thing that could be pushed back behind the paneeling when not in use .
We went to reception and asked to see the duty manager. He said that it was not on the computer that we had been promised the 'Edward' room and that due to a wedding party the hotel was full and we could not be moved.
He offered various compensations includeing a move to a sister hotel. We refused this because we only had the one evening. We accepted some compensation and were able to salvage a good stay.

The spa area was pleasant and we enjoyed a massage therapy each. Dinner in the dungeon was great and the library bar is very comfortable for pre/after dinner drinks.

As we didn't get to see any of the themed rooms, I can't make any comment on them.

I am upset that the hotel tried to pass off an inferior room as the fabulous experience described in the brochure. I think that the hotel was very busy but they should have been honest with me from the start.

Booked August bank holiday - needed a break from work - so spent quality time in the afternoon in the spa.

Stayed in the Mary Queen of Scots suite - very nice & even has it's own gun shot hole.

Restaraunt was fantastic served in the dungeon, 3 course meal but the waiter came out & offered us 2 more course to sample - which we were felt obliged to - would have been rude not too !!

Surroundings fantastic - hotel has it own walks & falconery.

Do not stay here under any circumstances! We were married at Dalhousie in 2001 and returned for our 5th anniversary. Our first stay was lovely with the day spa nice and new and we were fawned over by staff as it was our wedding day at the castle and we were staying in their premier suite (de Ramsea). We were so looking forward to our return for our 5th anniversary but were utterly shocked and dissapointed when the following occured:

We checked in about 40 mins after the check in time and were told there was no key to our room (in the lodge). We said we would go for a drink in the library and return when they suggested. We returned about 40 mins later and were told there was still not a key but could follow one of the staff down to our room with a masterkey. The staff members key didnt fit so we waited until he returned to reception and came back with the right key. We were let into the room which had a very dilapidated bedspread, peeling ceiling paint, was so miniscule you couldnt even lay out your luggage so as to access it and didnt smell too pleasant (dampness or similar). Also in the corridors of the lodge there were house-keeping trolleys, vacuum cleaners, rubbish bags, linen in piles etc. which was there blocking the halls until we finally made a run for it at around 8.30pm!!) We were however in our room (albeit we didnt have a key) and had booked in for the complimentary day spa use (rain shower, steam room) and decided to head down.

After the use of the day spa (which had been seriously let go since it was first built back in early 2000 and was quite grimy) we headed back to reception and asked for our key. We were told they didnt have it and we would need to wait (it was about 5.30pm at this stage and well after check in). Finally after waiting in reception and waiting for the duty manager for about 25mins we were given a key and made our way back to the room. Upon reaching the lodge the key didnt work, so we tracked down one of the house-keeping staff responsible for the numerous items blocking the halls and had them contact reception for us. Someone came down (after about 15mins) and told us they still didnt have a key but could let us in for the time being.

We stayed in the room all of about 40 mins and heard the people upstairs walking back and forth and making a bit of a racket. We phoned reception and asked if we could change rooms, however they said they were full (a fact we dissproved by phoning the hotel from our mobile and asking for a room). To make matters worse, on our booking card it appeared we had been allocated one of the top floor lodge rooms with an attic window when we had made the booking months earlier, but it was crossed out with pen and our room changed to the level below) We then made an executive decision to leave the hotel and seek better accommodation. The afternoons activities had so distressed us given the service we had received on our wedding day we didnt want to pay the 135 pounds it costs to stay in one of these rooms which could only be described as less than b&b standard. We ended up moving to the Radisson SAS Edinburgh on the Royal Mile and had a tremendous time.

To anyone who is considering staying here....dont. Unless you can shell our for one of their 400 pound suites. Even then, I can only say the standard back in 2001 was great, what it is now I can only imagine. The hotel appears to have been taken over by a chain who has spent nothing on the place and the service is just incomprehensible. We are frequent travelllers and do not make a habit of bagging hotels or travel as inconvenience comes with travelling but this level of incompetance deserved mentioning.