"Experience report: 14 days at the 5-star NissiBlu hotel in Cyprus
objective overall impression (without including the criteria that are personally decisive for me)
The NissiBlu is a modern, well-maintained five-star hotel with many positive amenities. The excellent cuisine and the beautiful, quiet pool area in particular deserve recognition.
The rooms are modern, clean, and generally well-maintained; due to their austerity, they are not to our personal taste. But that should not be evaluated objectively.
Housekeeping generally worked quite well. If you prefer a shower only, as we do, you should let the reception know in advance, as we were given a room where you have to step into a bathtub to shower, which we personally do not like.
It is a positive that a minibar was available in the room and included.
Operating the television is complicated. In addition, all German channels failed multiple times, of all things.
Although we had a room with a sea view, we received arguably one of the most unattractive views in the hotel. But I already know that from other hotels: Guests who visit a hotel for the first time always get the worst room imaginable. Requests are only taken into account starting from the second or third visit. Instead of looking at a beautiful beach or a well-maintained environment, we mainly looked at an extremely unsightly, barren area of land and run-down apartment buildings in the immediate vicinity.
This in no way meets the expectations one has for a room with a sea view in a high-priced five-star hotel, especially since the hotel was certainly not even 30% occupied for the entire two weeks - I cannot imagine that all other guests received exactly the nice rooms and then none were left for us.
The quality of the food in the main restaurant is to be explicitly highlighted as positive. The dinner buffet is excellent in quality and offers a large selection. The dishes are varied and taste great. However, the entire buffet repeats itself practically exactly after one week. Suggestion for improvement: Especially for guests who stay for two weeks, a two-week rotation of the buffet offerings would be desirable.
Also worth mentioning is that with a dining hall of an estimated 300 seats, there were always a maximum of 20 to 30 people present - nevertheless, the full, huge buffet was always set up even for so few people.
One could almost feel guilty when asking oneself what happens to the rest?
The breakfast buffet is also extremely rich and offers a large selection. However, we only saw it and did not eat from it a single time, but more on that later...
The selection of different bars is also very positive. Lobby bar with a large selection of drinks (also for all-inclusive guests) along with consistently nice, attentive service.
We found a type of café-bar by the pool particularly pleasant, where, among other things, freshly squeezed juices, shakes, and sandwiches are offered.
These products were excellent and could be consumed by us at any time as part of the all-inclusive package without additional payment. That was one of the few areas in which the all-inclusive package really paid off for us.
Now to the points that were unfortunately serious for us and subjectively greatly dampened the vacation:
One of our most important reasons for booking a hotel in a southern vacation country is the possibility of having both breakfast and dinner on a beautiful outdoor terrace.
Exactly this possibility practically did not exist at the NissiBlu during our stay.
The main restaurant does have a glass front that could be opened and would thereby offer an outdoor area. However, it always remained closed. The weather conditions were cited as the reason.
This is completely incomprehensible to us, as during our stay the weather was always wonderful and pleasantly warm in the mornings, and the temperatures in the evenings were also mostly still above 20 degrees.
It is particularly annoying that the hotel website explicitly advertises an "outdoor area of the main restaurant."
But if this area is actually only opened under certain weather conditions, that should be communicated clearly and unambiguously at the time of booking. Instead, you only find out about this restriction once you are on-site. For us, this is a serious deception, as the possibility of eating outdoors was a decisive booking criterion for us.
Since we want to enjoy breakfast exclusively outdoors, we did not use the otherwise excellent breakfast buffet at all. It was particularly incomprehensible to us that (during our only attempt to visit the buffet) we were even refused permission to take at least a bowl of cereal out of the restaurant to eat it outside by the pool in the wonderful morning air, even though we had promised to bring the dishes back.
Such an inflexible policy is absolutely incomprehensible to us in a five-star hotel (especially with all-inclusive).
In addition, all the employees, even in the restaurant, were very friendly and accommodating, but unfortunately the restaurant manager herself was uncompromising and unpleasant—a truly arrogant power-tripper who simply wanted to show the guests who was "in charge" here and was not interested in a mutually satisfactory solution. Motto: "House rules are house rules." -End of discussion!
An absolute no-go in dealing with guests!
So, not a single breakfast the entire vacation!
Especially in a country like Cyprus, it is an imposition for us not to be able to eat outside either at breakfast or in the evening.
We generally did not use the lunch service, as we only ever eat in the morning and evening.
Theoretically, we could have sat on a terrace at the bistro at lunchtime and eaten there as part of our all-inclusive package. However, this option was irrelevant to us for that reason.
It is all the more annoying that no terrace was available for the very meals that are important to us.
Although the hotel has several restaurants, as part of our all-inclusive package, basically only the main restaurant can be used for dinner at no additional cost.
For the Japanese restaurant and the steakhouse, you only receive a "generous" 50 percent discount voucher once per stay... they could have kept that! For an all-inclusive offer from a five-star hotel, we find this restriction disappointing.
It is particularly contradictory that the very restaurants with attractive terraces can only be used in the evening for an additional fee, even though hardly any guests actually use them. In the evenings, these restaurants were practically empty.
The beach was, in addition to the option of eating outdoors, another essential reason for our hotel booking.
The disappointment regarding the actual conditions was all the greater. No private beach area Although the NissiBlu is an expensive five-star hotel, it does not have its own beach area with lounge chairs and umbrellas.
The beach is public and is located a few minutes' walk from the hotel.
The existing lounge chairs and umbrellas are managed by the neighboring four-star Nissi Beach hotel, or are assigned to it.
While guests of that hotel can apparently use the lounge chairs for free, we as guests of the significantly more expensive NissiBlu have to pay ten euros per day for them. Just like strangers who are not staying at any hotel at all and want to use the public beach.
The fact that a high-priced five-star hotel does not even provide its guests with its own beach area with included lounge chairs is absolutely incomprehensible to us. And if it is because all beaches in Cyprus are public, then one has to ask why it works for the four-star Nissi Beach hotel. This circumstance was also not sufficiently apparent to the customer at the time of booking.
The beach is advertised as one of the most beautiful beaches in the region. Visually, it is certainly attractive.
Our actual experiences, however, were sobering. By about 9:30 a.m., there is practically no chance of getting an available lounge chair anymore.
The entire beach is completely overcrowded. People are lying every which way on their towels, between the umbrellas that have to be paid for, in some places right up to the water's edge.
The crowds of people are more reminiscent of Lignano in mid-August – although conditions could hardly be worse even there.
Under these circumstances, there can be no talk of a relaxing beach vacation on a beautiful beach. And all this at the end of October… I don't want to know what it's like in July and August.
The cleanliness is also correspondingly problematic. Leftover trash remains, and the impression arises that no one is taking sufficient care of cleaning the beach. It is actually unbelievable, if you already have to pay beach chair fees, that there isn't even any cleaning provided.
For our ideas of a well-maintained, quiet, and high-quality beach vacation, this is an absolute no-go.
The sea itself is visually extremely beautiful. During our stay, it was predominantly very calm, with hardly any noteworthy waves.
Only on two days with worse weather did the sea become somewhat rougher.
In summary, it can be said: The beach and sea do offer a beautiful picture, but the actual conditions in no way correspond to our ideas of a pleasant beach vacation.
The pool area of the hotel is extremely beautifully designed, well-maintained, and pleasantly quiet. Here you can actually relax.
The various bars around the pool are also attractive and sometimes offer an excellent selection, if you take care of it yourself. The service at the pool, however, is a major disappointment.
Although waiters are constantly walking around, no one seems to feel responsible for approaching guests who are lying a bit further back.
During our entire 14-day stay, we were not asked a single time if we would like something to drink. We always had to get all our drinks ourselves.
It was particularly irritating that certain guests (regulars?) were apparently served preferentially, while other areas were consistently ignored. All the more reason we would like to explicitly highlight two employees.
A young Greek employee at the café bar by the pool was extremely friendly, attentive, and accommodating.
We also noticed a young Asian employee at the towel counter just as positively.
Both were especially nice and conveyed the hospitality for which Cyprus is actually known.
In addition, we have always found a pool in most hotels in this price range that was heated when temperatures were too cool—we learned that this pool does not even have this capability—at the end of October, when it really gets cooler in the evenings, this is something that is incomprehensible for hotels of this star rating.
Another significant point of criticism is the lack of evening entertainment.
Practically no evening program is offered at the hotel. Only in the cigar bar does a lone saxophonist or guitarist play occasionally.
Otherwise, there is no entertainment or a lively evening atmosphere. Presumably, this is also why it is noticeable that hardly any hotel guests spend time on the terrace in the evenings. My assumption is that most guests can drink something much cheaper in one of the many bars and restaurants across from the hotel.
As a result, the entire hotel seems extremely quiet, almost deserted on some days, and simply boring for our taste.
We by no means expect a big show every evening, like in a club, but we do expect a pleasant, lively atmosphere with at least a little more (musical) entertainment.
Especially in a five-star hotel, that should be a given.
The fitness center was basically sufficient for me personally. For my wife, however, it was absolutely unacceptable.
In particular, a usable elliptical trainer and a good, conventional treadmill were missing.
Instead, there were unusual treadmills where the speed is controlled by your own movement.
These machines were practically useless for her workout habits.
In addition, there were significant maintenance deficiencies with various stationary bikes and other training equipment.
Among other things, there were missing everywhere (!!) straps on the pedals, adjustment levers were broken, etc.
In a five-star hotel, a fully functional and appropriately equipped fitness center should be a given.
The wellness area, including the indoor pool, is nice and basically fine.
We used it a few times due to the sometimes unfavorable weather conditions. Just like the steam room and the sauna.
It represents a viable alternative when the weather is too cool for the outdoor pool or the sea and the outdoor pool.
However, it is not a special attraction of the hotel for us.
All in all:
After a few days of getting used to it, we came to terms with the conditions—but that required many more compromises than we are used to, especially at these high prices.
To return to the beginning once more: presumably a hotel where many other guests can feel comfortable—unfortunately, the things that are important to us just didn't fit here."
