Estival Maramar

"We have just left this morning after staying here for a week all inclusive, two adults and our 8 week old baby. We had a lovely holiday and this is an honest and hopefully helpful review. Families are currently here and have complained about the staff who work really hard. The staff cannot speak great English and this is frowned upon with some families although they make no effort to speak Spanish or to help with conversations. Please do not listen to the negative reviews from people who look to find the negatives whilst on holiday. We watched families videoing staff whilst they cleaned broken glass up from the floor that they caused so they can add this to their reviews and report back to the Jet2 Rep. Transfers - We were expecting a Jet2 Coach for our airport transfer but when we approached the Jet2 rep at Reus Airport we were told our transfer was a private taxi which was amazing and took 25 minutes. We shared with another couple and this was due to our our hotel not being near others nearby. I think this is a regular thing from reading previous reviews. Rooms - We had a double room on the 5th floor with a balcony which had the sun in the afternoon until sunset. We didn't have a pool view but we didn't mind this as it was more private and the rooms facing the pool only had sun first thing until around 12pm. Our balcony looks out to a quiet road around the back of the Hotel and has chairs and a table. We have travelled with our 8 week old newborn and have a travel cot in our room, a kettle, fridge and air con which works perfectly and always available (even though previous reviews say no air con available in April). It has been lovely and warm everyday and we did use the air con at night with no issues but also some evenings had the door open with no air con (it switches off if the door is open) and we have had no problems with insects or external noise. Our room was cleaned every day with clean bedding and towels and tea / coffee etc replenished. Amazing shower with shower gel / shampoo and hand wash. USB ports on place at both sides of the bed. Staff - Friendly and hard working in all departments. Ang who works at the pool bar was lovely and the staff in the dining room polite and working hard. The only issue was with the premium drinks and bar staff which I explain further below. Thank you to Jose who works at the Lobby Bar, we saw him working really hard, being patient with rude customers and always smiling. Food - Option to sit inside or outside in the restaurant. Breakfast has been our favourite meal and has everything you want and think of - pastries, lots of breads, cheeses, fresh fruit and there's staff making fresh eggs. 4 toasters so never queued for toast which was good and staff continuously walking around making sure food is stocked up and the area clean and wiped down. Lunch and dinner not bad, salads are fresh and lots of different choices, some not to our taste (shark, snails etc) but we always found something different to eat every day and we were impressed to see a variety of food. I did notice gluten free option in an area in the restuarant and the chef walking around with a lady who has allergies showing her what foods etc she could eat safely. You self serve your drinks in the restaurant and can have soft drinks / water / wine / cava and sangria. Coffee machines available in the restuarant, lobby and pool bar area. Pool area - There are pizza, chips,salad available at the pool bar everyday if you don't fancy a sit down meal in the restaurant. There is an ice cream machine, water machine with ice option and sparkling water option too. We had two water bottles in our fridge on arrival and refilled these when needed, we did however bring our own bigger drinking bottles and used this through the day to refill when needed. There were lots of sunbeds and umbrellas available anytime of day. All inclusive - You get given a token per person on arrival and you hand this to staff at the pool bar who then give you your plastic cups. You keep this cup and pour your own lager which is Estrella or juice / pop / water. You ask the bar staff if you want a cocktail or gin / vodka and they use your plastic cup. You can ask them to swap your plastic cups if you want a clean one to use. If you are not all inclusive you are given drinks in a glass, this didn't bother us at all but have seen others complain about this. You do however get given your drinks in a glass when you order inside the lobby bar which we used in an evening. You use this bar when watching entertainment, its also an area for walk in reservations and locals were using it for coffee and meals. You swap your plastic cup back for the tokens and hand back to reception on check out but not sure what happens if you don't hand a token back? We did ask a couple of times for Smirmoff vodka and were ignored, even though premium spirits are included, not sure why and we found this really strange. Others noticed this also and a few people were complaining about it, Aperol not Aperol and being given house spirits. Entertainment - Started daily at 9.30pm in the lobby bar which was good, this included live singers/ magic show and tribute bands. There is an animation team and area for kids with game machines and they had entertainment for them through the day. There is a kids pool and normal pool which has a lifeguard working daily. Adult rooftop pool which we didn't use due to having a baby but we did use the bar as this was close to our room in the lift. Beach - The Hotel is directly across from a lovely beach. Beach beds available and beach bar which we didn't use whilst here. We did walk to the sea early morning and it was lovely, the sand and beach is clean. Area - We walked to a supermarket which took us 15 minutes each way and we saw a couple of cafes / bars / park and restaurants - turn left from the front of the Hotel and keep walking. The Jet2 rep was available and was at the hotel desk daily within the week of our stay. Areas for improvement - There are no baby changing facilities near the baby pool which would be helpful with families for both babies and children using both outside pools. We have had a lovely holiday and first holiday as a family of 3 and would definitely return."

"The hotel itself is beautiful but there is definitely room for improvement and that should begin with how it's advertised. On Jet2 holidays it's sold as a beach hotel however if you are not in a 'suite' you do not get access to the beach beds unless you're willing to pay €30 a day per umbrella. So for a family of four this would be €60 a day surcharge. Jet2 also stipulates that the All inclusive plus package includes branded alcohol. It does not. We were refused all week despite the menu stating that branded gin was included they out right refused multiple times. Despite it being all inclusive you are limited to one plastic cup at a time and cannot have two drinks ie. A beer and a water at the same time. You get a small water bottle in your room on arrival and after that you can refill it at machines but access to these machines is only available at certain times. If you have a bottle available, make sure you refill it for a cup of coffee or tea in your room at night or in the morning, but even then you better hope your cleaner has left you a tea bag or a coffee sachet because that's very hit and miss as well. Room cleaning was not great, despite it starting off as a very clean room, it was like they couldn't be bothered by the end of the week. One day the cleaner removed every towel from the room and didn't replace it. Reception did not answer the phone (tried four times) so we had to go on the hunt ourselves while our son was in the shower. Hot tip - the microwaves are there for a reason. Most of the food in the buffet is Luke warm so if you don't like tepid food make sure you blast all the nutrients from your food before you eat it! If you travel before May, do not expect Aircon. They will not turn it on until May 1st so we were torn between a stifling room at night or sleeping with the door open which when you have children is never a comforting situation. Bring insect repellant as with doors open to cool down at night you invite the outside in and this led to us being bitten badly including on the face. The reception staff are quite unfriendly and dismissive. They could take some tips from the buffet staff on how to be nice to guests. The buffet staff were lovely, if not a little too quick to clear your plates before you've taken your last bite of food! With a few tweaks and clearer advertising this holiday could go from feeling disappointing to rather fabulous for a nice chilled week."

"An amazing holiday for a family of 4, including a 1 and 3 year old. We flew with Jet2 who organised private transfers to and from the hotel, free of charge. They explained that this is usually the case as Coma Ruga is a quieter resort for their customers, especially at this time of year. They provided car seats for the little ones too, accurate on their age but I did ask the rep to request a more supportive seat for our smaller than average 3 year old which was sorted for our return trip. Staff- The hotel is spotless and staff are friendly and helpful. We didn’t have a problem with not all staff speaking fluent English- they know enough to do their jobs and staff at the reception desk speak fluent English. We needed a cupboard door fixing which was fixed within an hour of asking and asked for a travel cot instead of the sofa bed for our 3 year old which was also sorted very quickly. (The sofa bed had gaps between the mattress and the edge of the sofa bed base so we just felt more comfortable having our 3 year old in a travel cot which was more than big enough!) Room- We booked a standard double room. We had a pool view and could see the sea. Kettle included in the room and fridge which was handy. Food and drink- Buffet selection was excellent at all meals. We usually ate at the buffet for breakfast and dinner and then ate lunch at the pool bar which always seemed to be stocked well including burgers, hotdogs, pizza, chicken nuggets and chips. They also had salad, fresh fruit and pastries which were useful snacks to take out of the hotel for little ones. Self service drinks and ice cream were useful too! Food temperature wasn’t boiling meaning we didn’t have to spend the mealtimes cooling down the food for little ones. Never had a problem with food being undercooked either. We ate at the Spanish restaurant in the hotel once during our stay which was included. It was a nice change from the buffet and served huge starters before an amazing main of beef cheek with creamy rice. They have a children’s menu too, just make sure you reserve a table and it at least one day before by asking at the reception desk. They give you the menu to select your meals from when booking. Drinks were great! 6 (I think) cocktails included. Some staff made them themselves, others used a machine with the premix in it. Lady at the adult roof top bar made them herself and makes an excellent mojito! Hot drinks machine was useful to get our little one’s warm milk for night time and water machines were great for refilling water bottles! Entertainment- A big thank you to the entertainers who still ran the mini disco on the quieter nights when it was just our 2 little ones there- they loved it! A perfect balance of enough going on for kids without it being loud and in your face. Pools- Pools were cold but we didn’t expect anything else in April. The splash pool is perfect for little ones at 30cm deep and has a slide which our 3 year old enjoyed in our knee. It has sprinkles too and is sunny until about 5:30pm. The adults only rooftop pool is a real treat!! All pool areas had acoustic music on so was very relaxing unlike other bigger alinclusive hotels. Spa/gym- we didn’t use these but seemed popular! Resort- Coma Ruga has a beautiful beach, perhaps the prettiest we’ve ever seen, which was never crowded even on weekends, perfect for families. After reading some reviews we were expecting nothing in the resort at all which just isn’t true! 10 minute walk into the centre and you’ll find typical Spanish’s restaurants, a small entertainment park with trampolines, an inflatable slide and a small soft play for children up to 7/8, a weekend market along the gorgeous promenade and small supermarkets if you need them including Condis which was reasonably priced in the centre. The resort is perfect for anyone wanting a more chilled holiday and not Britain in the sun. A special thank you to the lady at the buffet restaurant desk who always made an effort to say hello to our little ones! We would definitely return to this hotel- thank you for a lovely family holiday!"