Narcissos Waterpark Resort

"I’ve deleted my old review as you’re unable to edit and my previous 3 stars was too generous after now experiencing the whole week… I’ve been visiting Cyprus since before I could walk, so I’ve stayed in a fair few hotels, mainly Protaras, this is the first time however I’ve felt compelled to write a review. Location - you’re a close walk to a small beach local to this area, but it’s not the main beaches in protaras which are around a 30-40 walk. Protaras is where everything happens in this area, shops, entertainment, beaches etc but there is a bus stop right outside which is around €2 each so cheap enough. You can also catch the bus to Ayia Napa if that’s more your scene (there are some beautiful beaches there) Atmosphere - nothing much happening in terms of an atmosphere, we came here in hope of night time entertainment for our eldest, however it was often changed last minute and has basically been singers performing their last jobs before the season ends, it’s nothing to hang around for in the nicest way possible. The kids disco is dire, it’s a member of staff with a laptop, skipping songs until they return back to baby shark, Hokey Cokey etc, they dance in front of the kids for 10 minutes then they’re off. My eldest wouldn’t even entertain it for a second and she loves a dance. The atmosphere with the staff is divided - most are polite but the manager looms over them with an intimidating glare and if you put your folk down for even a second, your plate is collected and gone. Cleanliness - the worst part for me, the hotel is minging. The bathrooms are grotty, the floors are unbelievably unclean despite being told they’re “mopped” our feet are covered in muck straight out of the shower. There have been several cockroaches, both in the room and in the dining/entertainment area. Beds are half made, left at the bottom of your bed for you to do the rest. I’ve Milton wiped everything I possibly can but I can’t wait to get home to my clean home and I never want to go home!! I’m scared the kids are gonna get ill, especially the baby. Food - food has been ok, nobody has gotten sick though NOTHING is labelled to let you know if it’s vegetarian which is a nightmare for me, one dish was “potatoes in a mushroom sauce” I thought this was a safe bet - had chicken in it, nightmare. Breakfast is probably the best meal of the day. We saw 4 huge bins get filled just after one day, it’s devastating how much waste there is on a daily basis. Over at the omelette stand, I let the worker know there was a huge cockroach running across their counter, they looked at me surprised, smashed is dead with their hand on the counter, put it in the bin and washed their hands with their gloves still ON, then didn’t change them to keep on serving. I never returned to eat from there. I’ve stuck with salad as the safest bet but even that may be debatable. I know what to expect at an all inclusive, it’s usually all the same so it wouldn’t have been an issue if it wasn’t for the cockroaches… utterly disgusting. Pool area - The pool is freezing, I think expected at this time of year? Maybe they could have helped with this if that’s a possibility. It was clean enough though. Sunbeds are the most uncomfortable sunbeds I’ve ever laid on, I can’t even lay on them they’re that bad. There are some big beds to sit in which we did for the baby to have shade, but they’re all stained and rock hard to sit on, some have blood stains on them, others just muck, they truly are disgusting and we rented 5 towels from reception just so no parts of our body touched the actual beds. The water park is good for older kids, eldest is just under 10 and she found them too scary but I think it’s just personal preference, we never went in after many years from the first time. The water you land in is also extremely shallow which is scary and I’m glad she doesn’t want to go back. Bar staff were friendly, attentive and clearly just trying to get through the season. There is a works man here that seems to work every minute of the day everyday, I hope he has 6 months off to recover. Reception staff were friendly but unhelpful when we asked if we could move rooms due to kids playing knock a door run every night due to being next to the lift, we got told to speak to the parents so no joy there. The kids were running around in the lobby at 11pm pressing all the lift buttons so no one could get in (infuriating when you have a pram) I ended up just telling them myself. It forced us to get on the bus and travel off to beaches for the day, which is nice but it was only to get away from the hotel. It’s not the staffs fault, they work incredibly hard but this hotel needs a serious refurb. They have a sister hotel at the other end of the strip, nearing penera, it’s new and also has a water park… so stay there!! I wouldn’t ever come back, even if it was a tenner to return. It’s not worth it in my opinion!"

"After reading a couple of reviews we had our mind set on that it would not match the 4 stars we usually stay at and at worst be not that good at all. As a summary it was better than we anticipated. Facilities: A typical 3-star hotel. Maybe the 4'th is from its prime days, but not any more. The hotel feels a bit runned down but not really "shabby". The rooms are ok, but lacks storage for stuff, only one chest of drawers for 4 people. The beds are very hard and both grown-ups woke up a couple of times per night with back aches, but the teenagers in their extra beds slept like logs. I contemplated bringing a "Themarest" but didn't, but with hind sight I probably should have. Cleaning, changing of towels etc. worked fine. We did have three small (max 1 cm) cockroaches in the bathroom at one occasion. They went down the toilet and that was the only time I saw cockroaches anywhere during our stay. (Living in an old house with lots of spiders that was no big deal for us). Food and drink: You can get drinking water from a tap in the reception area, but you need to have your own bottles. We had so that worked fined. The food was actually better than we had anticipated. They tried to have different themes every night and we could always find something to eat. The wines were drinkable and the beer was good. There is a coffee machine where you can get what you want yourself. There are a lot of cats around the tables if you sit outside. There are signs that you shall not feed the cats, which people happily ignore so that cats have become quite "pushy". The staff is service minded and friendly but with a mix of 90% cleaning the table/removing plates and 10% taking orders. We perceived that it was sometimes difficult to get more to drink after your first order. We usually ate a bit later when it was less crowded, however we learned that the "good food" (like meat) and desserts often were gone by then so by the end of the week we tended to eat earlier to not miss out. That was a pity I think. But again as mentioned it was overall better than we had anticipated. The bar had a selection of drinks that were ok. Served in plastic glasses without any extras and with tastes that at least where somewhat similar to the originals, but that worked fine for us. Pool area: The pool areas are good. The water park was fun, but be aware that the landing area is not really deep (enough). Both me and my spouse hit the bottom of the pool quite hard the first time until we learned how to land (I preferred staying parallel with the water). I saw other people also hitting the bottom (both of the pool and the body 😉 ) The children seemed to be fine. The slide that needed swim rings to be able to use only had three that had to be shared by all guests and there was a queue and sometimes some arguments. Here they need to do better. We had no issues finding pool chairs/sunbeds (but this was also towards the end of the season). Some sun loungers where past due date and should have been replaced. Again that adds to the overall perception. The pool towels were a disappointment. You pay a deposit for a towel and then you got one the size of a hand towel (ok a bit exaggerated but...) . We learned that the dark blue were bigger so we managed to "upgrade" during the week. With the light blue towels I don't even see the purpose. The white room towels had the same size. Do better! Don't miss a 10 min walk down to St Andreas Beach. We visited a couple of times and the sea was warmer than the pools and the kids liked it a lot. Entertainment: Don't know. We usually had a drink by the pool side after dinner and then went up to the room. We usually pick all-inclusive hotels based on food reviews. This time our child brought a friend and we wanted to find a place where we thought they would have a fun time. And for that this hotel worked very well for us. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others. The hotel should need to fix a couple of things such as pool towels, worn out sun chairs, worn out mattresses, cleaning the big sun beds, welcome bottles with water etc. etc. to get an overall better impression and this is what in my opinion don't make it 4 star hotel."

"Alena the Yoga teacher was amazing…wanted to get to know you and then matched a routine to your needs. Lena the wonderful bartender from Bergen Norway was full of joy while offering excellent hospitality…."