"We recently returned from a 12-night stay at the Baia Azul in Madeira with Jet2 Holidays. This was our second visit, having stayed last summer, so we had a previous experience to compare it with. Unfortunately, while there are still some positives, we felt this year’s holiday was noticeably poorer than our stay last year.
The hotel and location
The Baia Azul is in a good position for accessing the Forum shopping centre, and there are a number of restaurants within easy reach. However, we found the local area quite limited in terms of things to see and do. It also feels somewhat run down in places, although there is clearly more development taking place this year.
After four or five nights, we were starting to struggle to find different places to eat in the evenings, and there isn’t a huge amount to explore locally. This isn’t necessarily a criticism of the hotel itself, but it’s something worth considering if you like having lots of restaurants, activities and places to explore within walking distance.
The hotel also seemed considerably busier than last year, particularly around the pool.
Noise and getting a good night’s sleep
One of our biggest issues was the amount of noise throughout the hotel. We experienced noise both late at night and from relatively early in the morning.
Other guests frequently slammed their bedroom doors and wardrobe doors, and there was shouting in the corridors. Children also ran up and down the corridors at various times of the day and night. On top of this, from around 9am onwards there was often considerable noise from cleaners moving furniture in neighbouring and rooms above us. That’s not particularly early by normal standards, but when you’re on holiday and not an early riser, it was disruptive.
The evening entertainment was another problem. It was extremely loud and, if you have a room at the front of the hotel, you should be prepared for the possibility of being kept awake until quite late. We thought the dancers were the best part of the entertainment, but generally didn’t rate the musical acts.
The curtains in our room also made sleeping difficult. They didn’t fully close across the windows, leaving a gap of around an inch or two at both sides. This allowed a lot of light into the room at night and meant we were woken as soon as the morning light started coming through. This happened every morning and is something that could surely be fixed relatively easily.
The pool
The pool was a particularly noticeable difference compared with our stay last year. We had previously been able to enjoy swimming and had chosen the hotel partly because there was clear signage stating that inflatables and ball games weren’t allowed.
This year, however, there were lots of ball and frisbee games taking place in the pool, along with numerous inflatables. It became very difficult to swim, and we were regularly being hit by things being thrown around the pool or soaked by the resulting splashing. The inflatables also took up a considerable amount of space.
We mentioned this to reception one evening, but unfortunately felt that our concerns were largely shrugged off. We were told to raise it with the staff at the bar next to the pool during the day. We didn’t feel that reception were particularly interested in dealing with the issue.
The pool area also felt extremely crowded this year. At times it was like sardines, with loungers packed closely together and very little room to move them or comfortably access the pool.
Pool attendant
We also had issues with the way the pool area was being closed down.
The pool is advertised as being open until 8pm, but from around 6pm onwards, and sometimes earlier, the pool attendant would start taking down umbrellas, moving loungers and generally tidying the area. This made it feel as though guests were expected to leave before the advertised closing time.
More concerning was that he would move guests’ personal belongings. On a couple of occasions he moved our belongings off the loungers and placed them on the floor. On one occasion, a bag containing electronic devices was left on the wet poolside and became completely soaked. Thankfully the devices weren’t damaged, but we don’t think staff should be moving or handling people’s personal possessions in this way.
The pool attendant also came across as quite grumpy and didn’t engage with guests. If the pool is open until 8pm, we feel guests should be able to use it until then without the area being effectively packed away around them.
Room, beds and pillows
The third bed provided for our nine-year-old daughter was incredibly uncomfortable. It didn’t feel like a proper bed, and we had to ask for a mattress topper to make it more usable. We had to chase reception several times for this, and unfortunately the topper made very little difference.
The pillows were possibly even worse. They were extremely lumpy and uncomfortable, with the consistency of what felt like cotton wool balls stuffed into a pillowcase. We repeatedly asked for them to be replaced, but kept being given the same type of pillow. Eventually we gave up.
We also requested additional pillows and had missing items in our room during the stay, but again had to chase reception repeatedly before these requests were dealt with.
Sleep is a pretty fundamental part of a holiday, particularly over a 12-night stay, so the quality of the beds and pillows really needs attention.
Housekeeping
We also found the room cleaning noticeably less thorough than last year.
The floors were dirty, and on a couple of occasions when we specifically requested that the bedding be changed, it wasn’t actually changed. We knew this because the same existing stains were still visible.
Overall, housekeeping didn’t feel to be at the same standard as during our previous stay.
Breakfast
We stayed half board last year but weren’t impressed with the quality or choice of the evening buffet, so this time we opted for bed and breakfast.
Breakfast itself was okay, but there were still several issues.
We tended to go down around 9:30–9:45am, as breakfast runs until 10:30am and we wanted to avoid the initial rush. Unfortunately, by that point some items weren’t being replenished, drinks machines were sometimes being switched off early and there were often lots of dirty tables that hadn’t been cleared.
Last year we felt welcomed into breakfast and were generally shown to a table. This year we frequently had to find our own table, sometimes move dirty items ourselves and collect our own crockery, placemats and other things.
The food selection was also very repetitive. Over a 12-night stay, there was very little variation from one day to the next.
We also witnessed an uncomfortable incident at breakfast where a senior-looking male member of staff, who appeared to be in charge of the breakfast service and sometimes stood at the entrance checking guest room numbers, was loudly berating a younger female member of staff. We found this uncomfortable to witness.
Staff and customer service
Sadly, this was probably the biggest difference between this year’s stay and last year’s.
We found the staff generally much less friendly and helpful than previously, from reception through to breakfast and housekeeping and the bar areas. There was very little warmth or interaction, even with simple things such as saying good morning or hello.
Reception in particular wasn’t particularly efficient. We had to repeatedly chase several requests, including the mattress topper, replacement pillows, additional pillows and missing room items. We shouldn’t have needed to ask multiple times for relatively straightforward requests to be dealt with.
We also witnessed staff arguing loudly on several occasions – not only at breakfast, but also at the bar area by the pool and in the spa area. In the spa, we saw two members of staff arguing loudly, including an older female member of staff. At the pool bar we also witnessed staff arguing. Seeing staff openly arguing with each other on several occasions wasn’t particularly pleasant and contributed to our overall impression that the atmosphere among the staff wasn’t as positive as we remembered.
Poolside camera incident
There was also one incident during our stay which we found particularly concerning.
An older male guest had set up what appeared to be a small action camera, possibly a GoPro, on a tripod between some sunbeds near the entrance/exit steps to the pool, close to the bar area. He was in the deep end of the pool while the camera was positioned at the opposite end and it appeared to us that it was recording.
There were obviously lots of adults and children in swimwear around the pool, so we found this extremely worrying and immediately reported it to hotel staff.
To their credit, the hotel did challenge the guest. However, as far as we were aware, they didn’t ask him to show what had been recorded, and he left the poolside shortly afterwards.
We appreciate that staff responded when we reported the situation, but it was nevertheless a very uncomfortable and worrying experience, particularly as there were so many children around the pool.
Drinks
We found the drinks at the hotel disappointing, particularly given the prices.
The cocktails were poor and didn’t seem to be mixed properly. On several occasions, you could barely taste any alcohol, and overall we didn’t think they were worth the money.
We also noticed an issue when ordering beers from the pool bar. The beers were routinely served with a huge head of foam, meaning that once the head had settled, the glass was often only around 75–80% full. This happened often enough that it felt as though we weren’t getting a full measure of what we’d paid for.
Wine servings also seemed to vary considerably depending on who was pouring and where in the hotel the wine was being served.
Overall, we found the drinks expensive for the quality and quantity provided. We found it much better value to go outside the hotel, where the drinks were generally cheaper and, in our opinion, better quality.
Guests and atmosphere
The hotel appears to be particularly popular with German guests, with relatively few English families staying there. This is absolutely not a criticism of German guests or the hotel – it’s simply something that families may want to be aware of.
We travelled with our nine-year-old daughter, and she struggled at times to find other children to play with because of the language barrier. For some families this won’t matter at all, but it did have an impact on our daughter’s experience.
Overall verdict
We really wanted to enjoy our return to the Baia Azul because we had a good experience last summer. Unfortunately, this year’s stay was a significant disappointment by comparison.
The hotel has a good location and there are undoubtedly people who will enjoy it, but for us the combination of excessive noise, overcrowding around the pool, poor-quality sleep, inconsistent housekeeping, repetitive breakfast, lack of enforcement of the pool rules, poor customer service and a general decline in staff friendliness made this holiday considerably less enjoyable than our previous visit.
The hotel also seemed much busier this year and that may have contributed to some of the problems. Nevertheless, when you’ve stayed somewhere before and returned expecting a similar experience, the difference is quite noticeable.
We left feeling that the Baia Azul has lost some of the appeal it had for us last year. There are certainly positives, but based on our experience this time, we wouldn’t currently choose to return."
