We were two families - with one child each. We arrived at the reception at 3 pm. They received us with welcome drinks and smiles. At reception we waited for about 30 minutes - standing, so eventually we suggested that we would go and have high tea until they sort out the problem. We were not informed what the problem is, we assumed that the room was not ready. We had the keys to the rooms at 4:30pm. Check in time is at 2. The rooms were beautiful as expected. Later that evening we had dinner at the grill restaurant. The service was very friendly but slow. The food was excellent with the exception of the mushroom sause which had no mushrooms in it. The next day we went to the valley of the waves. It was crowded, they ran out of umbrellas so we had to sit in the hot sun until we managed to squeeze under one of the few square shades provided, which fit may be 20 people. we felt like sardines in a can. You would ask - why did you stay there and not by the pool at the palace - the kids of course wanted to go on the slides.
in the evening we went to the Plume restaurant. The write up on the restaurant was that it is a must. We had reservation for 8pm. We were there on time. We got our starters at about 9:45pm and the main course at 10;40pm. They placed the wine in the corner of the restaurant but were never around to pour, so we had to get up and pour it our selves. In overall friendly but bad service with a smile! The other problem was at breakfast - every morning there were long queues to get a table. The food was exceptional, absolutely outstanding. The hotel is magnificent. Must admit we did spend some time by the pool where the service was fantastic.I would not go there again. The money spent was not worth it.