Early last week, mum and I booked ourselves into a massage date at Shine Spa in the Sheraton Grand Hotel, on Sheikh Zayed Road, giving daddy the chance to babysit (and Little S slept right through the afternoon.. 🙂 ). If you didn’t know ( I didn’t..), all the spas under the Sheraton are called Shine Spa. So do check before you send them an email to make sure you’re contacting the right one.

Whilst mum and I had a really nice afternoon together, we both had a few reservations about ..this and that.

Thoughts –

Massage – Mum went for the 90-minute balinese massage, and I was advised not to go for that due to my current ‘situation’ i.e post-baby / still-nursing / not-going-to-go-into-too-many-details. That was a good thing that they knew I should not do the balinese i.e professional? And had advised for me to go for the swedish, so I did. To be honest after so many massages I really don’t know what the difference is – I just tell the therapist to put extra pressure on where I want and less on where I don’t.  Mum and I both thought the massages were alright. Not as good as my usual go-to at Kalm in the Palm (click here for my previous review) – but it does the job.

Facilities : Changing room / Amenities – Standard deal from a 5-star hotel – jacuzzi, spa and steam room. To compare facilities based on massage prices with  ( a 90-min massage around 600aed++ ), the Waldorf Astoria in The Palm (click here for for my previous review) is much more luxurious (sorry Sheraton!). This is not to say that I thorougly enjoyed being in the jacuzzi and steam room 🙂

We weren’t all too impressed that the lights above grooming area was flickering the entire time. Kinda reminded me of horror movies (shudders.)  Good thing it was in the afternoon and I was with mum 🙂

When I went in to take a shower, the shampoo/body bath little bottles were all half empty as they had not cleared it (in time?) either. Boo.

Robes were nice and fluffy, however disposable undies were not given until you go into the treatment room. Maybe just a different way of doing things.

Facilities : Relaxation Room – Here’s the big boo boo for mum and I. I don’t know about you but relaxation rooms are for… relaxing. And when you think about relaxing, you think dim lights, maybe some music, hot tea, some magazines. The relaxation room for the Shine Spa in the Sheraton is facing a clear glass full-height window, which overlooks Dubai i.e full sunlight at 3:30pm in the summer. I was in a trance (a good one) when I walked out of the treatment room all relaxed, and was shown into a brightly lit area. Goodness me my pupils must have gone into shock. Aww c’mon Sheraton, who designed these relaxation rooms. Maybe they forgot to close the curtains from the night before?

So that’s my two-cents. Actually thoughts from mum and I. Four cents? Regardless of the lil criticisms above, we were both very well taken care of and left happy, with less pain in my shoulders and back, ready to take care of the little girl again 🙂

Have you been to Shine Spa? Is there another that you would recommend for a similar price (with a voucher, maybe?) 🙂

• Shine Spa
• Sheraton Grand Dubai
• +971 4 503 4100
• Liloneoftheashes tip : If you are keen to check out the spa, they do have a 50% discount for all ladies every Wednesdays between 9am-1pm this summer. Do contact the outlet to check how long this is going on for.

Disclaimer : Mum had won a massage for two from an online competition (lucky her!), so our treatments were complimentary. I would have probably been a lot more upset had we paid full price for the entire thing…1000aed++