Hotel Cartagena Dubai

The beachside location is the one good thing about this hotel. The keys didn’t work properly. There’s a hand basin outside the bathroom, and the safe is in the bathroom alongside what seems like a makeshift closet.

Breakfast came with our stay and was good, with a few changes each day. The rooms were clean, and housekeeping kept up with daily cleaning. The hotel was being renovated while we were there, though, and the rooftop and the stairs leading to the lobby were completely closed. 🤷🏼‍♂️ The pool stayed busy but never felt too crowded. There was only one bartender covering the whole pool area, so service was slow.

I booked a junior suite and had a great view from a clean room. There was a tiny leak in the bathroom, so I mentioned it to the front desk just in case. They surprised me by moving me to a better room at no extra cost.

The location puts you close to just about everything, including the beach, malls, shops, and restaurants. That’s a real plus. I’d read complaints about the food choices and figured people might be picky, but I tried the all-inclusive plan with three meals a day and ended up eating out more than I expected. As a vegetarian, I didn’t find much variety for myself. There were lots of breads and similar things, but I’d hoped for more options. Three included meals a day may be more than makes sense here. A dinner-only or smaller plan could work better, with breakfast or lunch picked up while you’re out. I still enjoyed the stay. I only wish the top floor had been open, since the photos had us looking forward to the view. It was under construction when I wrote this.