On arrival at the hotel we were very impressed with the preparation made by the reception staff to ensure all of the arrivals were in their rooms with the minimum of delay. Our first room was a superior seaview room, but as soon as we entered we noticed a musty damp smell. We complained to the hotel reception and after 3 requests a cleaner was despatched to resolve the issue with we presume a bit of shake and vac! By the following day the smell was back and an engineer called and dismantled the air conditioning unit. Needless to say, the smell came back again. The hotel was virtually full so we decided to upgrade ourselves to a suite rather than have our holiday spoiled by the deflation we felt everytime we returned to our room to find the smell had returned.
Although it cost an additional 25CYP per night it was the best move we could have made as the room was fantastic and my wife was delighted with the toileteries that were provided. The only downside of the room was the quality of the bath towels. They really had seen better days and are in need of being replaced.
Like several other reviewers, as water was included in the package, we decided to upgrade to the drinks package for 10.75CYP per person. We worked out that we would have probably spent around 15CYP each per day on drinks...On arrival at the hotel we were very impressed with the preparation made by the reception staff to ensure all of the arrivals were in their rooms with the minimum of delay. Our first room was a superior seaview room, but as soon as we entered we noticed a musty damp smell. We complained to the hotel reception and after 3 requests a cleaner was despatched to resolve the issue with we presume a bit of shake and vac! By the following day the smell was back and an engineer called and dismantled the air conditioning unit. Needless to say, the smell came back again. The hotel was virtually full so we decided to upgrade ourselves to a suite rather than have our holiday spoiled by the deflation we felt everytime we returned to our room to find the smell had returned.
Although it cost an additional 25CYP per night it was the best move we could have made as the room was fantastic and my wife was delighted with the toileteries that were provided. The only downside of the room was the quality of the bath towels. They really had seen better days and are in need of being replaced.
Like several other reviewers, as water was included in the package, we decided to upgrade to the drinks package for 10.75CYP per person. We worked out that we would have probably spent around 15CYP each per day on drinks otherwise.
After initially being disappointed with what we perceived to be an unhelpful attitude of the staff in the restaurant on our first night, we were pleasantly surprised to find them very accommodating at breakfast and on every other occassion during our two weeks. Breakfast had a reasonable selection. We went for their porridge most days during the second week as there wasn't a huge selection or variation to the fruit on offer. Cooked breakfasts were okay but could have been hotter, but their pancakes and omlettes wer every good. Fruit juice left a lot to be desired as they were pretty tasteless. The only decent one was the orange juice but this tasted like it was made from concentrate. Evening meals were very nice with a big selection to meet all tastes. We never got tired of the food on offer for the two weeks. The al acarte restaurant is well worth visiting. We got a voucher for each of our two weeks and used both of them. You really were made to feel special in the room and the service and quality of food was exceptional.
We decided to walk into Old Limassol on our first day. Be warned; the map provided by Thomsons is not to scale as we thought we must have missed the Apollonia Hotel ( which is about halfway there) only to pass it after 90 minutes of walking. After stopping for a spot of lunch we carried on and arrived after 4 hours and according to the pedometer 16,500 steps or 7.5 miles. Needless to say we got the bus back.
The remoteness of the hotel is a major drawback as we like to walk on holiday but other than the marina or along the beachfront, there really wasn't many places you could walk to.
If you hire a car you have to get into the Troodos mountains and get off the beaten track. The lonely traveller guidebook is a great asset to have when you're up there as they recommend some delightful out of the way villages where you can get into the real Cyprus and mingle with the locals in their tavernas. We decided to hire an open top jeep through Eurocar in the hotel. They upgraded us to a Nissan 7 seater jeep, which really wasn't what we wanted but it turned out that the air conditioning was probably better than having the wind blowing through the jeep. It wasn't a particularly new car we got as it had almost 60,000 miles on the clock, but it got us from A to B. Speaking to other people in the hotel, we were told that we could have got a better deal outwith the hotel and we would investigate this if we were to go back.
The poolside entertainment during the day starts at 11am with something every hour and finishes around 16:30. If this isn't your thing the pool area is big enough to get away from the noise, which wasn't overbearing or prolonged. There were plenty of sunbeds, but the hotel suffers the same as most other hotels from people booking sunbeds with their towels and not appearing until late morning or afternoon. I woke one morning just as the sun was rising and there were 10 towels out already, which I presume were laid out the night before.
The evening entertainment was very good with a different cabaret act every night. Special mention has to be made for Jo who really kept things moving along and was the life and soul of the party every night.
Overall, I would recommend this hotel although it is unlikely we will be back as it is just too remote from the main areas in Limassol.
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