"This was our honeymoon, a once-in-a-lifetime holiday that we had saved for and were genuinely so excited about. Sadly, it turned into an experience that we would never want to repeat.
We arrived expecting a five-star experience and to be able to relax, enjoy ourselves and celebrate such an important occasion. Unfortunately, based on our experience, it felt much more like a three-star hotel. We were let down in several areas, and by the end of our stay, we were genuinely looking forward to coming home.
The biggest disappointment was the food. We ended up eating lunch and dinner outside of the hotel every single day because the food was making us feel unwell. For an all-inclusive five-star holiday, having to spend additional money eating elsewhere was extremely disappointing and completely different from the experience we expected when booking.
I also have a nut allergy, and I have never personally felt so unsafe eating somewhere. I am normally very relaxed about my allergy, but the way food was handled here left me extremely uncomfortable. Nuts were placed in various areas around the food, meaning I had to avoid not only the nuts themselves but also food nearby because of the potential risk of cross-contamination. I genuinely don't understand why allergens couldn't have been kept together in one clearly identified area.
When I raised my concerns with the hotel, I was told that I could pre-order my meals, but that they still couldn't guarantee they would be safe. Sorry, but who wants to pre-order every meal on their holiday, especially on their honeymoon? I came away to relax, not to spend my holiday planning every meal around an allergy while still being told that the food couldn't be guaranteed safe. I might as well have gone into the kitchen and cooked it myself.
What made this even more concerning was what I personally witnessed at the buffet. I saw shared serving spoons being used between dishes, and on one occasion, someone handling walnuts put their thumb into a bowl before using the same thumb to touch and move another dish. I actually stopped in my tracks, put my plate down and didn't eat for the rest of the day. After seeing that, I couldn't help but wonder what else had been touched and potentially cross-contaminated. As someone with a nut allergy, this made me feel extremely unsafe eating from the buffet.
I was also uncomfortable with the way some staff dealt with me when I raised these concerns. On multiple occasions, I was the person speaking to staff, yet they would turn to my husband and speak to him instead. I was the person with the allergy and the person raising the concern, but I felt as though I was being overlooked simply because my husband was standing beside me. It made me feel uncomfortable and, at times, almost as though I should stay quiet rather than expect to be listened to directly.
The food itself was nowhere near what we expected from a five-star hotel. Room service was particularly disappointing. The burger and what tasted like a basic frozen pizza were extremely underwhelming for the standard and price of the hotel.
The à la carte restaurants were another disappointment. In our experience, they felt more like the same buffet food presented slightly differently, with a little garnish added. One phrase that came to mind was "lipstick on a pig." We expected the à la carte restaurants to offer a genuine step up in quality and dining experience, but unfortunately, that wasn't what we experienced.
We also had a very uncomfortable experience with the car representative at the hotel. We simply asked about hiring a car and would have been perfectly happy to be told that they couldn't help us. Instead, we were offered a car without insurance, which we obviously declined, as we would never consider hiring a vehicle without appropriate insurance. When we said no, his attitude towards us changed noticeably and became very rude and dismissive. We were left feeling as though we had somehow done something wrong simply because we declined an option we weren't comfortable with.
Another disappointment was the use of the adults-only areas. We completely understand that this is not an adults-only hotel and that children are entitled to enjoy themselves. However, if a hotel provides adults-only pools and bars, we expect those areas to actually provide an adults-only environment. During our stay, we found ourselves looking at groups of children screaming, splashing and shouting in an area that was supposed to be adults-only. Instead of relaxing, I found myself trying to avoid being splashed or having an inflatable being thrown into me. If we wanted that atmosphere, we would have used the normal pool.
We also had a swim-up room, which we were particularly excited about for our honeymoon. Unfortunately, children staying just a couple of doors away made it difficult to relax. We completely understand that children will naturally be excited and want to have fun, but when we were sitting on our balcony beside the pool and being splashed and soaked, it became frustrating. It made us question why the allocation of rooms couldn't take into consideration guests who had specifically booked a swim-up room for a quieter honeymoon experience.
I called reception about this and was told someone would call us back, but nobody ever did.
By this point, the holiday had become very different from what we had imagined. We came away expecting to relax and make special memories, but instead found ourselves dealing with food issues, allergy concerns, disappointing service and problems that weren't properly followed up.
The hotel itself was clean and tidy, and there were some genuinely friendly staff members, so I don't want to take that away from them. However, cleanliness and friendly staff alone do not make a five-star experience. Based on our experience, the food, allergy handling, service and overall standard fell considerably short of what we expected.
We paid a significant amount of money for our honeymoon and genuinely feel that we did not receive the experience we paid for. What should have been one of the most special holidays of our lives became a holiday where, by the end, we were actually excited to come home.
That is incredibly sad to say about your honeymoon.
We would not recommend this hotel, particularly for a honeymoon or another important special occasion. If you are considering booking, I would strongly encourage you to carefully consider whether this is the level of food, service and guest experience you would expect from a five-star hotel.
This review is based entirely on our personal experience, and I genuinely hope the hotel takes the feedback seriously, particularly regarding food allergies, food quality, customer service and how guest concerns are handled."
