"We stayed at the Starlight from 16th October to 23rd October, we being a middle aged couple.
Upon arriving at Reception very early in the morning we were given the chance to visit the 24/7 ‘Bistro’ at the very bottom of the hotel (in the entertainment ‘Cave’ of which more later) for some very welcome food after a long trip, we also had the 24/7 lobby bar identified for us whilst check in was processed.
We booked a deluxe double with sea-view and we got exactly that, a very large room (which also had a single bed as well as the double), walk-in wardrobe and large bathroom. The views from the balcony were stunning. Yes, in some areas a refresh of the decor and fittings would improve things, however the room was perfectly appointed for us and the housekeeping function could not be faulted.
The site itself is enormous, so big it has a road-train running every half an hour around the complex, beginning at Fountain Square. The resort is very impressive in scale and amenities, in fact even at the end of the week we were still finding new places (the Patisserie is a hidden gem)! It should be noted that each of the days we stayed saw a closing of some of the facilities e.g. on our first day there was entertainment in the Sunrise amphitheatre (dancers) and a full bar service nearby, by the end of the stay the Sunrise was all but closed and with it their bar and restaurant choice. We thought that this was a great shame for a dance troupe on a subsequent evening as they had to perform on a smaller stage with restricted viewing for the audience as they were relocated to the ‘Cave’ in the Starlight.
The hotel was still busy from what we could tell, firstly with a large international football tournament and then with more family groups later in the week. We had no problem finding sunbeds and although we used the Adults Only pool one day (the 16+ rule was being actively enforced) we found the Elephant pool to be very peaceful all week. The water temperature of all of the pools was cold but not unbearably so and the sea a few degrees warmer. There is always an indoor pool to use.
The site, like the room, will need some further constant upkeep and some modernisation to keep pace with customer expectation of a 5 star resort.
In terms of entertainment, there was a full animation programme each day and our encounters with the staff showed them to be friendly and professional. The morning Aquafit in the main pool was fun and the early morning paddleboarding was also a nice experience (suitable only for strong/confident swimmers as most of this takes place in deep water).
Music choice is subjective but we enjoyed most of the nightly bands which played many internationally recognised tunes, some benefitted more than others from a sound-check but the ‘Cave’ is an excellent venue with a large seating area, bar facilities, aforementioned Bistro, a nightclub (!), shops and a gaming centre.
Not that it bothers us at all but others have commented on the lack of UK visitors and we found that to be true, most visitors seemed to come from Eastern Europe and beyond and we can see the points made by some families regarding groups of males and feelings of insecurity. That said the international vibe around the football tournaments added to our enjoyment when we went along to some of the matches. The language barrier with staff was certainly not insurmountable and I ask ‘Is my Turkish as good as their English? Probably not’ so no room to complain certainly, as we got by just fine. The amount of areas in which smoking is permitted, including in the ‘Cave’, may surprise British guests.
Finally, on to food and drink. We might agree with some comments that the food in the main restaurants is a little repetitive and quality was just above average, we saw no ‘theme’ evenings as we have experienced in other hotels. For the first couple of evenings we chose the Luna restaurant as it had many of the dishes from the main restaurant but was a little quieter. However as the hotel got busier with family groups, the food service systems fell apart. It was clear that the waiting staff struggled to cope to re-lay the tables in a timely fashion as well as cope with clearing down and taking drinks orders. We regularly had to hunt for our own cutlery. In the Luna restaurant one evening we found it to have stopped serving many of the main dishes by 8.20 pm when advertised hours were until 9.00 pm. We found this to be the same in the main restaurant on the day that we left as we had an early transfer and came down to breakfast at the 7.00 am advertised start time to find the restaurant still being set up and virtually nothing ready, even the orange juice machines were empty. In a hotel of this star-rating, this is unforgivable and the hotel management urgently need to address these failings.
In the later days of our holiday we resorted to eating at the outside snack bar and then using the 24/7 later rather than enter the maelstrom of the main rooms. We also booked a table at one of the ‘a la carte’ offerings although the choice had been cut to 2 as the others had closed, a Mexican (which was full when we wanted it) and an Indian, which was passable in terms of quality but marred by the volume of a football game being shown in the ‘Cave’, we were fortunate to be indoors which was still noisy but the din must have been unbearable for the diners outside on the mezzanine directly above the entertainment area.
Finally, the drinks service: on the upside many branded products were used and the Adults Only bar and veranda were very elegant places to spend time, with some interesting cocktails available. The general bar service was OK but the queues show that either a) more staff are needed or b) the system of service needs to change, as many times the bar staff were dealing with complex time-consuming cocktail orders when all some people were queuing for were soft drinks and beer. Either self service of beer/soft drinks could be an option or a dedicated cocktail bar function to cut the general queue. That beer is served in tiny measures in most cases does not help. The situation in the main restaurants is even more chaotic with waiters, as well as their general jobs, expected to dispense wine, whilst only selected other drinks seem to be dispensed from bars to customers direct. The chances of getting a drink at an appropriate time over dinner were slim and a real let-down.
Overall, we enjoyed most of what this hotel had to offer but we have experienced far better at the same level of accreditation in Turkey, so cannot really recommend highly."
