Hotels Maskat

My husband and I stayed at this hotel resort for 2 nights, 3 days - July 2009. Staff were very friendly and helpful. The atmosphere of this hotel was wonderful. Beautiful location and setting. The lagoon access room we reserved was wonderful. One of 3 infinity pools was right off of our balcony - perfect! Room was well stocked, clean and comfortable - definitely 5 star.The outdoor facilities (swimming pools, pool side service, water sports) were great! Many complimentary water sports to take part in - water aerobic class, kayaking and snorkelling to name a few . The sea was a bit rough the first and third day but the water temps were perfect! Gardens were in immaculate shape! While at the beach free towels were offered to use and also a small cooler with water, mister and cold facecloths! However not all the restaurants were open and the ones that were open were not all that exceptional which is what you would expect from a 5 star hotel which is as expensive as the Al Bustan.. The 2 restaurants that we ate at - Al Khiran (sp?) Restaurant and China Mood Restaurant were not exceptional - they were expensive and did not offer high quality food although the service was good. We had breakfast included in our room rate and there was a good variety of foods at breakfast and overall the breakfast was very good. China Mood restaurant was expensive and the portions were small and the food wasn't all that good. My husband was not impressed! Al Khiran (spelling?) had an Italian theme on Thursday night but there was no buffet only a la carte or set menu...again not terribly Italian nor tasty! This was also expensive.

I stayed in this hotel in August 2012. It was the hot off season for Muscat, so the hotel gave me an excepionally low rate. This was the best deal I have revieved from a Ritz Carleton ever. Great pool and beach area. Hotel lobby very nice. However, the food was only average.