Palm Jumeirah · Dubai · Opened 10 February 2023
Atlantis The Royal is Kerzner's ultra-luxury sibling to the original Atlantis: 43 floors of staggered blocks, 760 rooms, a rooftop pool 96 metres above the Gulf and a line-up of chefs that reads like a world tour. This guide collects what to know before you go.
Architecture
Kohn Pedersen Fox designed The Royal as a row of towers whose floors are offset and bridged, so every few levels a terrace, a pool or a garden pokes out of the façade. The gaps are deliberate: they let sea breeze through to the beach side and give the sky villas open air on three sides.
Besix built it over seven years. Outdoor spaces are cooled for most of the year with shade, planting and moving water rather than air conditioning, which is why the podium is laced with fountains and the Skyblaze water-and-fire show runs every evening.
The opening weekend in February 2023 was marked by a private Beyoncé concert, reportedly the most expensive one-off performance ever staged.
Schematic section, not to scale. Offsets create terraces (copper) and sky bridges between cores.
Suites
Standard rooms face the Gulf or the Palm. The categories below are where The Royal differs from the first Atlantis: private pools in the air and a handful of penthouses with their own staff.
Floor-to-ceiling glass, deep soaking tubs, terraces on the higher category. Most of the 760 rooms sit here.
One of 44 suites with its own infinity pool cantilevered from the façade, cooled in summer and heated in winter.
Two- and three-bedroom penthouses on the upper floors with a dedicated butler and a 24-hour car service.
Wraparound terraces across a full tower width; the Panoramic has a private cinema and gym.
Four bedrooms, a 7-metre-long indoor-outdoor pool, a 24-seat dining room and a reported rate above US$100,000 a night.
Privately owned apartments in the same towers with hotel services; a separate entrance on the Palm side.
Areas are approximate and vary by floor; check the current room list before booking.
Dining
Reservations open about a month ahead and the celebrity rooms sell out first. Dress codes are smart; swimwear is fine only at the pool venues.
Pools and beach
Counting the private suite pools, the resort claims more than ninety. The three that matter for most guests: Cloud 22, the 90-metre infinity pool on the 22nd floor sky bridge; The Royal Pool, a long adults-leaning pool at podium level with cabanas; and the beach pool near Malibu 90265, which takes children.
The private beach runs along the Crescent, facing the open Gulf rather than the Palm's inner lagoon, so the water is clearer and slightly cooler. Guests of The Royal also get access to Aquaventure and the Lost Chambers at the neighbouring Atlantis, The Palm.
The lobby aquarium holds thousands of moon jellyfish and is described by the resort as the largest jellyfish tank in the world.
Pool heights above beach level, approximate.
Plan a visit
The original is a 1,500-room family resort with a water park and a themed pink façade. The Royal is smaller, adults-leaning in tone, more expensive and architecturally contemporary. They share a beach and guests of The Royal can use the water park.
Yes, through paid day passes and sunset slots that are limited in number. Prices and availability change by season; book online in advance.
Higher floors facing the Gulf see sunset over open water; Palm-facing rooms see the Dubai skyline and the Burj Al Arab at night. Sky Pool Villas on the bridge levels have both.
Yes, in all licensed venues on the property, as at other Dubai hotels. Consumption is limited to licensed premises.
The fountain show runs on the podium every evening and is visible from the restaurant terraces and the public approach road.