I'm writing this review from our apartment at the resort, having spent six nights here out of the fourteen that we have booked.

Firstly, the positive: The apartment itself is very nice, which is obviously very important. Its spacious, clean, well appointed and has just about everything you'd need for a comfortable stay. I have been travelling to Dubai since 1988, and I've stayed in just about every type of hotel and apartment the city has to offer, and as far as accommodation goes, Royal Club accommodation (certainly based on the apartment we have now) is above average.

But unfortunately, for me, the negatives outweigh the positives.

If you're coming to Dubai for a relaxing holiday, so that you can chill out by the pool, relax, and get de-stressed, I dont believe the Royal Club is the place for those things to happen, unless you're very fortunate.

As others have mentioned, the complex is built on either side of a very wide road, and unless your apartment is situated on the beach/pool side of the road, you're going to have to cross ten lanes (yes, ten lanes) of traffic just to get to the pool. Firstly, there's the actual road itself which is three lanes in either direction (ie, a motorway, or at best, a very wide dual carriageway), and before you even get to the motorway/dual carriageway, there's a two-lane service road on either side of the motorway/dual carriageway, equalling a total of ten lanes to cross, just to sit by the pool or to dunk your feet in the sea. Apparently, there's also a way to go under the road, via some sort of subway, but if there is, we've never found it, and nobody can seem to show us where it is.

When you get to the pool area, you will find several pools, however the water in the pools isnt heated, and despite the air temperature of Dubai, the water is absolutely freezing cold. You'll also need to take your own towels, because the complex doesnt lend towels out (which I found out to my peril on day one, having trekked across the ten lanes to get to the pool, only to find that I then had to trek back to the apartment to get a towel, and then back to the pool again. All of this on a day when the temperature was 42 degrees centigrade.

The pool area is still massively under construction (as is much of the complex and surrounding areas), and some of the pools were closed, and those that were open had building work taking place all around them.

There are also childrens pools located next to the main pools, but for some reason, children (and their parents) seemed to ignore the childrens pools and used the main pools instead, or at least those that like swimming in ice-cold water did.

Service at the complex is poor (at best). Although the UAE is a country full of ex-pats from the Indian subcontinent and eastern Europe, I've never once encountered such a language barrier in Dubai before. I dont know if its because the staff cant speak English or because they're poorly trained, or because they simply couldnt care less, but getting anyone to understand anything is pretty hard. Obviously, I dont believe that the entire population of the planet should speak English, but in Dubai, its a necessity!

I think the biggest problem this place has is that it was never intented for holiday/vacation use. These are regular apartments that simply didnt sell, so to recoup some money, the builders (Nakheel) are renting them out to holidaymakers. Thats all well and good, but regular apartments like these rarely fit the needs of well-heeled travellers, especially when the staff very clearly have no hotel or timeshare experience.

In my experience, and if you want a relaxing holiday in the sunshine, maybe sitting by the pool with a drink in your hand, this isnt the place. Dubai has changed beyond belief in the last few years. Its not the place it once was, although its still incredible. However, there are better places in Dubai to relax and unwind. The Royal Club just feels like an apartment on a building site, nothing more, nothing less. If you do plan on staying here, here are some tips:

1. If you go to the pool/beach, remember to take absolutely everything you might possibly need, because unless you happen to be staying on that side of the road, you really wont want to nip back to your apartment (via the motorway) to get something you forgot to take with you.

2. When you check in, be sure to have plenty of cash/credit available with you, because they expect you to pay for everything up front.

3. Some of the apartments have internet access, but most dont. If you specifically want/need internet access in your apartment, you need to let them know in advance so that they can reserve one of the WIFI-enabled apartments for you. Again, they expect you to pay for the internet when you check in, for your entire stay, no matter whether you plan on using it every day or not.

4. There are a couple of mini-markets on site, but they're horribly expensive. Try to buy your groceries in a major supermarket like Choitrham or even Carrefour, or for Brits who like a taste of home, Waitrose has opened a (horribly overpriced) supermarket at the amazing Dubai Mall.

5. Take extra care of the card they give you to open the front door of your apartment block. If you lose it, you have to pay Dhs500 which is around £100. I have no idea why. Its just a card. Its not made of 18kt gold.

6. Taxis are very easy to find outside of each building, and they're not expensive. The 15 minute ride to Mall of the Emirates costs around £6.00, and the 30 minute ride to Dubai Mall costs around £10.00. You'll find a wealth of eating and shopping choices at both locations. Ibn Battuta Mall (which is around 20 minutes away) is also excellent and the apartment complex (apparently) runs a complimentary shuttle service to it, although I've never used it.

I've always loved Dubai, and always look forward to coming back. But if you need a stress-free relaxing vacation, bear in mind that Royal Club Palm Jumeirah (which is actually called The Shoreline Apartments) isnt built for stress-free vacations. Its basically a big block of flats (multiplied many times over), and most of the buildings arent even finished. Its not my idea of relaxing or stress free. If you want those things, check out the Ritz-Carlton or the Hilton Jumeirah Beach or the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach, or even the Grand Hyatt.

However, if you dont mind staying in a very nice apartment with lousy service from the staff and dont mind crossing ten lanes of traffic with your children in VERY high temperatures to get to pools that are unfinished and offer very little shade (ie, no pool umbrellas) and you dont mind carrying all of your posessions to the pool with you (including towels), just on the off chance that you might need something and wont want to traverse the ten lanes of traffic just to go and get the one thing you forgot to take to the pool with you, the Royal Club is the place for you.

They tried to put us in Block 13 at least 1 mile from reception and the pool, which was acroos a 6 lane road which over here we call a motorway. We did get moved to Block 1 which was much better apart from the swimming pool being out of service for the duration of our 9 day stay. The kids did manage to find another one 500 yards away. We could not swim in the sea because of an algae bloom which the notices in the lifts said could give you skin irritation (not the hotels fault) The showers did not work at the poolarea and the toilets were disgutingly smelly with no handles on the taps to use them.
The apartment was comfortable, not 5 star. The dishwasher didn't work and did'nt get fixed during our stay. We were woken one day by a group of workman entering our apartment to plaster cracks in the wall which was inconvenient. We got quite friendly with one workman as he passed on his digger every 15 minutes!!! (see Picture)
This is basically apartments which have not sold and B&G resorts have taken over en- block whilst the economy improves. Do yourself a favour, don't try and do Dubai on the cheap although at £231 a night it wasn't that cheap