Atlantis, The Palm is also known as the culinary destination in the region where guests can take their pick from a collection of 35 world-renowned restaurants including Bread Street Kitchen & Bar, Street Pizza, Hakkasan, Nobu, En Fuego, Seafire Steakhouse & Bar and the award-winning underwater restaurant, Ossiano.

Measuring 165 m2 (1,780 sq ft) in total, the upper, entrance floor is at ground level while the master bedroom and en-suite bathroom are submerged.

The almost floor to ceiling windows in both the bedroom and bathroom face out on to the resort's Ambassador Lagoon, home to a multitude of exotic sea creatures.

[9] The floor-to-ceiling windows includes 65,000 marine animal aquarium in Dubai and will be amazed as sharks, rays and fish glide right past your bed.

Custom-made shells shipped in from across the globe created a light spectacle taking off from the 716 firing locations around the island, including 400 balconies at the resort.

The move was decried by several environmental groups, particularly for the fact that the export of dolphins had earlier been banned by the Solomon Islands government (after a similar controversial shipment to Mexico).

[24][25] At the time, whale sharks were listed in appendix 2 of CITES, stipulating that they can "only be held for scientific purposes provided that it does not harm the survival of the species".

[23] Scepticism surrounding the release persisted afterwards due to a lack of images being circulated, with Steve Kaiser, vice president of Marine Science and Engineering at Atlantis, denying the claims of Sammy still being held in captivity.