Rixos Premium Saadiyat Island

Overall, we had a very nice family holiday at Rixos Saadiyat Island. This was our second stay at the hotel. We especially liked the kids club and all the staff there along with the many great kids activities offered, including various sports, crafts, cooking classes, mini disco and shows. It’s a very family friendly resort with many small children, which in turn makes it easier for the parents and even more fun for the kids, as they can make friends and play with other kids. One point for improvement would be to add 1 native English speaker to the kids club & animations team. A large proportion of the staff was still the same as during our first stay. We saw so many familiar faces among the staff and most of us remembered us from the previous year. At the Turquoise Restaurant Sonu again did an excellent job at looking after us during our second stay, and always made sure we had everything we needed and more. Nothing was too much trouble for him and he knew exactly what we needed and when, especially, since we were busy with our two little kids who are both pretty lively and can be a bit of a handful at times. Sonu is truly a master of providing top class service. We also want to mention a few of the waiting staff who provided great service and are an asset to the company including, Tristan, Romell, Monica, Tin, Kim, Richelle and Elfalbera. Another thing that we liked about the resort were various sports classes and trainings on offer at the Exclusive Sports Club every day. The trainers were good and well qualified. Here too, there was a familiar face from last year. Trainer Amro, whom we already met the previous year and trained with, was still around and encouraged us to join several classes. Thanks to him, I took part in Kangoo Jump classes, which were great fun and helped me stay in shape and feel good during our holiday. These professional sports activites and classes are definitely great added value for the guests. The service on the beach however, wasn’t great and was better the year before. Nobody would proactively acknowledge us when we got to the beach or bring us towels and water. Moreover, the fact that they serve no food, just fruits and drinks, both at the beach and by the pool on the sunbeds, is a real shame and not 5-Star-like or luxurious. What also bothered us is that on the beach they used paper plates and plastic cutlery to serve fruits. This didn’t look or feel luxurious at all. I could have maybe turned a blind eye on the fact that one can’t order any food on the beach or on the sunbeds by the pool, if the food at the Peoples restaurant by the pool had been really great, but this was not the case. They have a fairly small, limited menu and the food is ok, but nothing special. The beef burger patties are average quality at best and the caesar salad had way too much dressing on. Moreover, the steak wrap could have had nicer, better tasting entrecote. So we were missing that 5-star-hotel food experience that one typically gets at top luxury hotels, especially in the UAE. At the main Turquoise restaurant the food is good and there are a few very nice dishes, such us the Turkish and Arabic starters and a few mains, but many other dishes are average. One thing that we were missing was eggs Benedict or eggs Florentine done fresh and on the spot. What they had instead were pre-prepared poached eggs in a pot and next to it a pot of sause Hollandaise. The sauce didn’t look appetizing, because it had thick skin on the top, which had developed. Also, there were no Bircher Müsli. We enjoyed drinking Turkish tea, but not so much their other black tea, as we found that the tea was not strong and fragrant enough (e.g. Earl Grey) and lacked flavour. On the positive note, the beds in the rooms are super comfortable. We stayed in a one bedroom suite this time and it was great to have the extra space and a proper sofa bed, since there was four of us (2 adults + 2 kids). Finally, the a la carte restaurants, included in the all inclusive package, are great and make the resort feel more exclusive and special. They make up for some of the shortcomings I mentioned above. Read less

I had super high expectations for this hotel as had seen so many amazing reviews and it did not disappoint we had a really fun stay. We don’t tend to do all inclusive in the UAE so I was intrigued as to what this would be like. The hotel was absolutely stunning, every corner you turn was architecturally amazing. We stayed in the entry level room which is a Deluxe King room, Seaview. Ideally these rooms are designed for three but they provided an extra bed in the room and it comfortably fitted all four of us in. The room was super clean with a huge balcony with a fantastic sea view, this was on the third floor above the main buffet area. L’octaine toiletries in the bathroom and a mini fridge stocked with crisps, snack bars and soft drinks. Saadiyat island is beautiful, the beach is my favourite and the beach facilities here were spot on. So what did we love: 🇦🇪 The design of the hotel 🇦🇪 The children’s area which included water slides, wave pool, kids club, teens club and kids aqua bar 🇦🇪 The beach with a lovely chilled beach bar, a fruit bar, hammocks, loungers and beach volleyball 🇦🇪The pool service around the main pool is so quick. The pool staff are all on roller blades and they are fantastic. You have a service button on your lounger and they appear very quickly to take your drinks orders. There is also a swim up bar in the main pool. Was really impressed with the speed of the service especially in the school holidays. 🇦🇪 There is a choice of 4 a al carte restaurants and the main buffet. Depending on how long you stay you are allocated a certain amount of visits to the restaurants. We were there for 8 nights and could book 4. We tried all of them apart from Mermaid which was the fish/mediteranian restaurant. You could also pay a supplement to have the Teppanyaki live cooking show in the Asian. We opted for this and this was our best meal of the holiday, would highly recommend. Couldn’t fault any of the food in any of the restaurants but if you are looking to be blown away on a gastronomical experience then it’s not quite that. For lunch you can pick the People’s restaurant which is by the main pool, the main buffet and the kids area serve kids light lunches also. 🇦🇪 The alcoholic drinks are all very premium and so much choice, you won’t have any watered down cocktails or cheaper brands here. Michael the mixologist was fantastic and made a show out of each cocktail he made. 🇦🇪 It really is all inclusive there were no hidden charges or surprises. The only things you can opt to pay for are the Teppanyaki show, Spa treatments and weirdly the coconuts on the beach! 🇦🇪 The spa is beautiful, you can use the spa free of charge and it’s really impressive. 🇦🇪 The amount of children’s activities! The list was absolutely jam packed every day, the kids club looked really well run. Although my kids didn’t go to the kids club they did participate in activities where we could be there too. It was nice that they offered these type of activities also. 🇦🇪 So many sporting activities for the adults, lots of water activities, bikes, paddle boarding, yoga and fun fitness classes. You absolutely can’t get bored here. 🇦🇪Children’s fitness activities such as yoga, Tennis, jumping classes all looked amazing. 🇦🇪 A really well equipped gym with a vitality bar next to it with lots of fresh smoothies and juices. 🇦🇪 The lobby for coffee and cake, they have an amazing selection if you fancy a little treat with a coffee. And the Arabic tea served by Muhammad on the golden trolley was a lovely touch and he was fantastic to chat to and my eldest son loved trying the tea each day (no caffeine). 🇦🇪There was always live music playing somewhere, chilled beach DJ, flute in the lobby and a musical show in the evening. This was the first time we had seen so much evening entertainment in a UAE hotel. The kids club area also always had a mini disco and some sort of show or activity on after dinner. Again not something typical in the UAE and it was really nice to go to the kids area after dinner for a quick last burst of energy before bed. So what could be improved… 🇦🇪I really felt like the hotel could do with an app to use. You need to book your restaurants when you arrive at a separate restaurant booking desk, you need to scan a QR code for the activities and kids club schedule. Having everything in one place on an app would be fantastic. 🇦🇪The food was lovely but not quite on par with other non all inclusive 5 star UAE hotels. But then I guess you can’t really compare all inclusive and non all inclusive. 🇦🇪There were two evening booking slots when we visited. 7.30 and 8.30pm, we opted for 8.30pm but felt like the restaurants were rushing us at the end to pick desserts etc as they wanted to close. Maybe we were really slow 🤣. 🇦🇪This might be due to our room category but we never received a turn down service. The housekeeping was excellent though in the day and the room was lovely and clean and lovely towel animals made for the children but it just didn’t have a turn down service. 🇦🇪The kids pool area has a great kids aqua bar with ice creams, soft drinks and light bites. However as parents you can’t have an afternoon alcoholic drink here as no alcohol is served and it’s not a lounger service set up. As the main pool and the kids pool area are quite far apart the kids pool area was always pretty quiet in relation to the main pool, and I think it’s because of this point. In some ways it’s good and others not so, personal preference I think. 🇦🇪The main buffet was really well run but you are not seated at a table, you have to find your own table. This sounds a bit silly, but usually in the UAE you are always greeted and then taken to a table. When it’s busy we did have to do a few laps to find a table. Saying that once we picked one they are very quick to come and take your morning drinks order. Overall I would not hesitate in recommending this hotel for a really fun luxury family holiday. We really did have such a fun holiday. The all inclusive is very generous and the amount of inclusive activities on offer is amazing. Go try it out. Please let me know if you have any questions and more info on this hotel is on my insta page. Read less

WOW what an amazing experience … we have done a lot of travelling as a couple and as a family of 3 and this hotel is up there at the top for sure! From the moment we arrived until we left we experienced pure luxury along with so many activities and lots of FUN! We travelled with our two year old and the staff were fantastic with him - they couldn’t do enough for us very attentive The kids programme is just fantastic - they have thought about everything for all ages! They have entertainment on through until 10pm for them… with a mini disco each evening and a show, we particularly loved the Madagascar and Frozen show! Also the Rixy Festival is insane!!! Once a week, bouncy castles, face painting, BBQ, chocolate fountain and more! For adults well…. You have 100000 activities everyday! It’s insane! We did pool boxing, cycling, weights, pole dancing (who knew you could do that in a pool!) we cycled the island, did ice baths, sound healing EVERYTHING! THE STAFF! WOW we made friends for life with these guys EXCLUSIVE SPORTS CLUB YOU ARE AMAZING! Special mention to AMRO who was super friendly, fun and a great instructor! Also to Guray the director of sports for making us feel welcome! We trained everyday in the gym too which is great - super cool and fresh water, towels along with a juice bar! The beach is beautiful! Golden white sands and turquoise waters! The hotel is stunning! Everything is spotless! Restaurants are amazing - we stayed for 10nights and dined in all of them - our favourite being Italian and Turkish We took a day out to sea world too which was amazing - great experience for kids! We can’t wait to re-book! Amy, Jess & Rocket xx Read less