Enorme Santanna Island

"Beautiful location overlooking the sea. Very quiet and relaxing atmosphere just what we like , although I am sure some others would say boring and lacks atmosphere. We booked a swim up room the room was lovely spacious and clean the pool was shared by approx 8 rooms was no issues at all but it was quite cold and not in the sun very much we went to the main pools in the morning and headed back to the room later afternoon around 2ish to enjoy the sun there, I can understand why some people would be disappointed with the swim up rooms as they are expensive given they are not in the sun all day . We enjoyed the room though and it didn’t spoil the holiday or detract from the 5* feel. Bottle of fizz in fridge when we arrived nice touch a fresh bottle of water every day , we did have to keep asking the cleaners for coffee sachets and pods though every day nearly the cleaning staff obviously didn’t pay that much attention to what was used . Check in was a bit dis jointed one staff member saying don’t scan the QR and then another saying please do , be easier for the 4 staff that where all messing about helping with self check in to just be on reception and do it I don’t see the point really of scanning . Booking restaurants was a negative for me . Scanned the code in the room as soon as we got there as advised and it said we hadn’t checked in so couldn’t book went to reception and they said give it a little longer approx 4 hrs and it recognised us as checked in, so I could book , we arrived Thursday no availability in any restaurants until Monday and only 9pm available so we had to book all 3 restaurant experiences at 9pm on the last 3 days of stay would of been nice to spread them out over the week ,not sure how this would be if the place was full in height of season , the biggest frustration was the restaurants never ever looked fully booked when we walked past on the other days lots of empty tables very frustrating . Food absolutely could not be faulted , breakfast , snacks ,buffet, and all al carte restaurant’s fantastic loads of choice and really good quality . All drinks we had where nice if I was being really picky they have Pepsi which I really dislike they have no Coke cola any where , but that’s very personal preference. The staff are all very strict , there is no give in the menus at all they don’t want to swap things or be accommodating of any tweaks to what’s printed on the menu that does let it down a little from a customer service perspective also really strict on timings and different places doing different things , for instance we stayed up by the Italian restaurant walking back one night it was open so we popped in to get a drink to take back to the room , they refused wouldn’t give us a drink said it was dining only no take out and no we couldn’t sit in for just a drink , again a little disappointed really . Sunbeds well yea people go earlier and earlier to reserve them it’s a bit of a nightmare really because it’s hard not to get sucked in or you literally won’t get anything . the first day we booked breakfast on the rooftop so we where very lucky to have booked at 9am when the pool opened so we put towels down had breakfast and when straight out , this pool is manned and so people can’t go up early and get beds . But they do cue from 9am Second day I got up ealryish 820 and went for a wonder literally 3/4 beds where taken , so it’s really hard not to then get up and do the same otherwise you end up with no where . I would say by 930 lots of people are out on said reserved beds but I did see quite a few reserved and then not used till gone 11 sometimes later that’s is a bit of a nightmare . I guess the swim up rooms are not used as the hotel at hoped because of them not being in the sun so there is not enough beds nor enough space I would be worried about coming in the height of the season when the hotel is fully booked .. I can imagine it could be very hard to get a sunbed and the wars could start earlier and earlier in the morning not my idea of holiday having to get up at 6am to get a bed , as a hotel I’m really not sure how they stop this other than closing off the pool and opening it at 9am but for me that would detract from the 5* feel and vibe and would see people cueing and running for beds . If you physically work out how many people you had on site when full allowed for a small minority going on trips and days out ( which in all fairness a lot of people won’t do because your paying for the AI resort) you need to provide in excess of 400 beds so everyone can get one I would at a rough guess say there are about 100 on main pool 20 on the small middle pool and 80to 100 on the top pool so basically there isn’t enough .loads to love about this place I would come back but probably not risk it in peak season"

"Really enjoyed the whole stay! The staff were really friendly (especially Mary, Mohammed and Demitri) who made us feel so comfortable and made sure we had everything we needed. Being in a wheelchair for only a year so far, I was very nervous to go on holiday in a new atmosphere. However, all the staff accommodated to my needs and challenges. The room was very ideal for us as we had our own pool and sunbeds, and had the sun all day. However, be aware that a lot of swim up rooms don’t get the sun all day/ at all. Food was great; both the buffet and the al le carte restaurants and service was amazing. Only downside was that you couldnt take away food, only option was room services that were extra charges. Despite this, would definitely recommend."

"From first meeting the reception staff, to being taken to our rooms, walking round the whole development to orientate ourselves to the facilities, dining areas, pools, everything was so well laid out. The rooms and en-suite bathrooms were well laid out and spacious, beds very comfortable too. The food on offer was of the greatest spread imaginable with quality and freshness absolutely first class. All the dining area staff were so friendly and helpful, as were all other staff including the cleaners. We must however make special mention of the Hospitality hostess, Maria, who took extra care of not only Kira and myself, Mike, but of every holiday maker that ate in the dining area, she is a diamond to be treasured, thank you. Only criticism- please change your method of cooking the scrambled egg, not sure how it is prepared but definitely needs looking into."