Reviews of Golden Soviva Hotel, Port El Kantaoui

Rubbish!

Food awful, queueing for tickets to again queue to get a drink. The staff at the bars were ignorant and rude, totally ignoring you and snatching at tickets. My wife and I caught some bug and although we returned home on 07 Sept we are still seeing a doctor 4 weeks later!

The sign on the outside of the hotel caught fire and started to creep down the wall, no fire alarms, no evacuation and a security guard on top of the roof with a blanket trying to put out the fire, then he thought thats not working i'll get a fire extinguisher, he eventually put the fire out after two of the fire extinguishers he attempted to use did'nt work.

DO NOT GO TO THIS HOTEL.

Hi. Me and my boyfriend booked this holiday as our 1st holiday away together after nearly 2 yrs. We found it at the cost of £545 all inclusive for 2 weeks, not bad. When we arrived we thought it looked amazin.... the hotel is extremley clean and tidy. However the food is always the same, day in day out mostly; Pasta, Rice, Bread and potatoes, with a few veg and stuff, but then we didnt realise there was actually pizzzas, burgers and hotdogs available between the hours of 3:00 - and 5:00 (snack time).

The entertainment on a night time was crap, but the Changing ladies were soooo amazing, you have to go and see them. they made our holiday up.

I think this would b a good holiday for 1st timers who aren't fussed about what they eat. If you're loooking for an amazing all inclusive, Tunisia is not the place, but it is cheap, a lot of sun and heat and great shopping for the ladies.

I enjoyed it but i don't think my boyfriend enjoyed his 1st all inclusive. The best part was the sun.

Sorry if this disappionts anyone.

On arrival to this hotel in the middle of the night i thought it looked quite nice (how wrong i was) in the light of day this place is absolutely disgusting the place is filthy and smelly and overrun with ants. The room we were given was dirty, full of ants, damp, broken toilet, shower hanging off the wall, damp beds and dirty sheets on complaining to reception we would have to wait a couple of days to be moved which i agreed to thinking they would at least give us clean sheets but no we just had to sleep on top of the bed and suffer. The next room we got was lovely and clean on the day but it never got cleaned anymore after that we never had the beds changed the whole 2 weeks we were there and we only ever got 2 towels and there were 3 of us it did not matter how many times we told reception we still got the same they were not interested in anything we had to say.



The food was terrible unless you like omelettes or pancakes the options were the same everyday for the 14 days we were there and then it was of very poor quality we ended up eating out most of the time. The food at the Beach Bar was a bit better but had to walk 10 minutes to get it as this is how far the beach is away from the hotel when we went to the beach the free sports equipment were broken but you could pay for other activites (how convenient).



DONT TOUCH THE WATER OUT OF THE WATER COOLERS SERVED FROM BEHIND THE BARS AS THEY REFILL THEM WITH TAP WATER WHEN THEY BECOME EMPTY UNFORTUNATLY WE ONLY FOUND THIS OUT AFTER MY HUSBAND WAS SERVED SOME OF THIS WATER AND WAS SEVERELY ILL THROUGH IT WE HAD TO GET THE DOCTOR IN AND HE HAD TABLETS - REHYDRATION DRINKS AND 6 INJECTION TO GET BEFORE HE FELT ANY BETTER WE HAD TO PAY FOR ALL OF THIS EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A FAULT OF THE HOTEL ON INFORMING THE REP OF THIS SHE DIDNT SEEM BOTHERED NEITHER DID THE HOTEL MANAGEMENT AFTER SPENDING 2 WEEKS IN THIS HELL HOLE I CAME TO RELIASE THAT THEY KNOW FULL WELL WHAT IS GOING ON AND THEY DONT CARE.

1 WEEK OF OUR HOLIDAY WAS SPENT MAINLY IN THE ROOM AS MY HUSBAND WAS TOO ILL TO COME OUT OF IT.



The staff are not very helpful but i dont blame them as all they seemed to do was argue amongst themselves all the time even in front of the holiday makers which in my opinion was a bit scary. The entertainment team and bar staff are very sleazy and are only interested in the young girls. There is a bit entertainment for the kids during the day and on the night but there was nothing for the adults unless you paid for it.



The drinks system was terrible you had to queue for a ticket for your drink then you had to go to another queue to get them the glasses were all chipped and cracked and the drinks were always warm.



The pool wasnt very clean and the area around it was never swept of washed down,.



The locals were also allowed into the hotel to use the facilities which i think is totally wrong when you have paid for this and if you leave your sunbed when you come back it has been taken by one of the pool attendants and he has given it to the local for money.



If you wanted a sunbed you had to get up at the crack of dawn.



THIS HOTEL CATERERS MORE FOR THE EASTERN EUROPEANS THAN THE BRITISH AND THEY THINK ITS GREAT IN MY OPINION THEY ARE EASILY PLEASED.



I WOULD NEVER RETURN TO THIS HOTEL AND I WOULD RECOMEND THAT NOBODY ELSE DOES UNLESS THEY WANT THERE HOLIDAY RUINED LIKE OURS WAS ALONG WITH MANY OTHER PEOPLE WHO WERE ILL AT THE TIME WE WERE THERE.



THIS HOTEL NEEDS A GOOD OVERALL AND NEEDS TO BE TAKEN OUT OF BRITISH HOLIDAY BROCHURES.

If i could have i would have given this hotel 0/10.

we arrived back at home about an hour ago and felt the need to tell people to stay away from this hotel.

it is infested in ants which we found in our wardrobe all over the childrens clothes in our bathroom and in our beds. it is disgraceful they let people book there in the state it is in.

as for the food it is vile the same stuff every night and one night a holidaymaker found ants in their cake dessert, one of our party got food poisoning which resulted in a week of the holiday being missed for 4 of them.



its a mad rush to get your food aswell as other holidaymakers take it upon themselves to practically climb over you to get their food pushing infront of you and trampling all over the younger children. a restaraunt which was suppose to hold 700 was holding 1500 people so you can imagine the pushing and shoving.

you also had queues of upto 30-45 mins to get a drink from the bar at night too, resulting in the last 2 weeks we didnt not get the full all inclusive basis as it was easier to go out for dinner and buy drinks from outside of the hotel.

we spoke to the rep and management but they didnt care. the staff were just as bad, arguing with you and talking back.



you couldnt get a sunbed because people were going at night time at around 11-30pm the night before to put towels on the beds to save them, at 5-30am all the sun beds were already gone.

the enetertainment team were disgusting only wanting money from you, and if you didnt give them money they would not aknowledge you.

i went through £25 worth of ant killer (10 cans) to clear up my problem myself i would not want anyone else to go through the hell we have been through for the past 2 weeks.







i advise you not to go as it is disgusting and unclean.





if you do decide to go brace yourself and goodluck.

My partner and myself were really looked forward to a nice 2 week break in the sun, and upon arriving to the hotel were fairly pleased.

On a all inclusive holiday we were looking forweard to tasting different food each day/night. However, we (along with the majority of other british families) found the food was the same every single night and wasn't of a high quality. This was proved when to my shock after a week i found the pull opener off a tin can in a dessert. This is not acceptable by any standard. All the staff in the hotel just calmly said " its not my fault" !!!! When mentioned to our rep and head of reception i still had no apology.

To the standard of other all inclusive holidays i have had the entertainment was of a poor standard as well, not starting untill 11pm.

This hotel is not worhty of being named in a british brochure! i would recommed people to NOT go anywhere near this hotel!!!!!

Just returned from our Holiday in Hotel Soviva. We booked it last year before we looked at the reviews. Glad we did because if i had read the reviews i wouldnt have booked and we would have missed out on a good holiday. When we arrived the hotel was not fully booked so we got a sunbed most days of our first week. The food is what you would expect for tunisia. The food hall was a bit busy but not too bad. The waiters were very helpful and friendly. We discovered that they did beefburgers and chips, pizza etc at the beach bar which is only a 10 minute walk and also in the restaurant at 10.30 - 12.00 at night. By our second week the hotel was filling up. The food hall was very busy and some days we didnt bother to go as there were no seats or you were pushed and shoved around by rude holidaymakers that could wait. You had to be up very early for a sunbed but the young boy working by the pool was very helpful. The slides are a must and the entertainment was ok some nights.



Overall the holiday was good and what you would expect for a cheap holiday to Tunisia.

I have been twice to this hotel, and loved it!



It is a very nice hotel, family friendly.



The best feature of the hotel is the swimming pool, a very large pool, with a massive slide and 2 flumes.



I would also recommend if you are going away for a special occasion you go to the Mediterranean Restaurant in the Marina of Port el Kantaoui, the service is very high standard and has great food!



The evening entertainment is also great!



Have recommended this hotel to many!

We booked to go to the Golden Soviva in January as an "implulse buy" for my boyfriends Birthday, Me, him, my friend and her boyfriend. Only after paying our deposit did we read the reviews! We were worried but there wasnt much we could do about it! But from when we got on the plane in gatwick the holiday was Brilliant from beginning to end. My biggest complaint was that there wasnt any pens to fill in the form for passport control when you landed at Monastir! (So...take a pen with you, problem solved!)



When we got to the hotel we went into reception which was immaculate and the reception staff were brilliant. The first thing you see as you enter reception is the slide at the back of the hotel and the MASSIVE pool! We got taken straight to our rooms, which again were really big. The rooms were absolutely fine, adjoining which we had asked for and had a TV, fridge, hairdryer and a balcony with table and chairs! Yes they were basic but there was nothing wrong with them! The maids were really sweet and we sometimes found our clothes made into flowers or birds on our beds!



The hotel was really quiet when we were there, prob only about 30 people around the pool at one time at its busiest (Season officially started the day we left : 30/04). The pool really was the best part of the hotel, even though the slide only came on for about an hour a day. But to be fair there wasnt hardly anybody around to go on it! And when it was open, they would only close it after making sure everyone had had enough of it!



You did get the animation team coming round alot asking you if you wanted to play mini golf, ping pong, aerobics etc but if you just said no they would joke you were lazy and move on. If you actually take the time to talk with them you will realise thay are all very nice, most working 6 days a week, 14 hour days, whilst studying for their degrees!! Medhi, Nej and Sovien (?) were absolutely fantastic!! In the night the animation team always put on a show but to be honest we rarely caught it. We were constantly in the Baroca bar downing cocktails and beer, smoking hubbly bubblys (pipes with fruit flavoured tobacco, nothing else) or watching the football if it was on!



The meals were great, nothing to complain about at all. Something for everone! They people that complain that all they had to eat was chips or pancakes really only have themselves to blame because all the food was english stuff! Plenty of salad, spaghetti, chicken, beef, rice bread, soups, fresh vegetables etc etc.Again the restaurant was extremely quiet and they did well to note when our last dinner was and put rose petals on the table for it! Very nice touch!



You do get pestered to do things like camel rides, horse rides etc etc. The only thing we did was Quad biking and it was absolutely fantastic! I didnt last very long on my own quad bike but after 20 mins when i had to admit defeat the guide was brilliant, he took us somewhere i could leave the bike and let me get on the back of my boyfriends for the rest of the trip! It was 25 dinar (£10 each) for 2 hours and definately worth it!!!! But go through someone employed by the hotel when you book your trips! They walk roung with their little port folios!



I could keep going for ever about this holiday but ill stop now! Do not listen to the bad reviews! Go out there and enjoy! Its not 5 star gold plated luxury but it is one of the best holidays you will go on for the price you will pay!! Were booking to go back in Sept/Oct and we have only been back 1 day! Enough said!

Do not listen to all of the bad reviews about this hotel!!



After booking my holiday, my boyfriend and I decided to look at other peoples reviews on the internet, to get a rough idea of what we should expect. They made me very anxious about the hotel and made me want to cancel the holiday. I am so glad we didnt listen!



On arriving at the hotel we were met by a porter who imeadiatley took our luggage and showed us to reception. The man behind the desk was very pleasant and helpful and his use of english was to a very high standard. We were given our key and wristband and taken to our room by the porter and a maintenance man, who showed us how to work the air con and explained that if we had any problems to inform reception, and they would be dealt with promptly.

The room was pretty basic with t.v., fridge and hairdryer. However it was very clean and the maid service was excellent.

A wide variety of food was available with both brittish and tunisian dishes. There was something for everyone to enjoy.

The entertainment team were excellent and were very friendly. They provided lots of things for the children to do and were very patient even with the most difficult of children. They also put on shows and games for the adults which were great fun and a good laugh. All of the staff at the hotel were kind friendly and helpful and fluent in english (most could speak about 5 languages fluently). They try their hardest to provide the best service they possibly can.

The facilities in the hotel are also good with bars, resteraunts, shops, hairdresser, beatician, night club, indoor/ outdoor swimming pools and spa. I recomend the tunisian cure if you do visit the spa. 100 dinars which is about £42 and worth every penny.



Our rep Jamel was extreamly helpful and provided us with all the information we needed. If you do book a package holiday I advise you to go to your welcome meeting with your rep and go to them with any problems or queries that you have. Their help is ivaluable you will not be disapointed by their service.

My husband and I went on a last minute deal to the soviva resort/Golden Hotel ( now one hotel) and found the full inclusive deal to be a very nice week away. We had read very bad reviews before we went so arrived worrying about what to expect however was meet by very frirendly staff and holiday makers. If going do not expect a top of the range full inclusive deal as this is not a resort that is up to that standard yet( what do you expect for three star?). We paid less than 600.00 in total for a week away and this was a bargin when you take in the amount of times food is availble and the unlimited drinks( two per person per visit to the bar). As it was out of season the staff were aplenty to help. The down side was the night time entertainment was few and far between due to it being march but we were far to sun burnt and exhausted from the days relaxing and quad biking that this did not matter!.

must do

quad bikes

barter for everything even trips

take some money for tips and gift ( we took 100. and this was more than enough)

don'ts

drink the water

go on the captain jack boat trip very poor value of money we were told.

The Golden Hell Hole! I absolutely hated this place,this was the worst week of my life!Arrived and the reception looked quite impressive but female staff were rude to me.Went to our room this was shabby but clean.Bathroom was a bit mouldy in places. Went down to dinner pushy tunisian men at restaurant door wanted us to go on trips they would not leave us alone for the whole week.Food all week was very bland.My 2 small boys would only eat pancakes.

The weather for the week was [-],but i can't blame that on the hotel.Kids wanted to swim but the rep didn't advise it as they might go into thermic shock.Went to the indoor pool this was just freezing the heating didn't work and it was so dark ,nowhere to change and a creepy man who worked in the salon watched us the whole time.Did not swim there again used facilities at another hotel.

The entertainment staff were intimidating and lazy.

The bar looked sleazy and although my boys aged 7 & 4 were in there they were quiet and well behaved they were told off.

We asked to play minigolf they had 2 clubs and 1 ball for the 4 of us.

Many of the other guests were equally as miserable as us but they had to stay for up to 5 weeks.

I could go on forever about my dreadful holiday but i won't.It was so grim that we don't even have any photos.

Me and my boyfriend paid £600 each for our All Inclusive holiday to Tunisia, Hotel Soviva. I can only describe it as a holiday from hell. I would strongly recommend that you do not stay in this hotel!



When we arrived the hotel itself looked lovely and the rooms were nice. We arrived at 11pm and was told the snack bar was open until midnight. When we arrived at the restaurant where the snack bar was, all the lights were out and we could just about make out a couple sat in the dark eating. The lights were obviously out so that people thought they were closed! When we told the couple we had just arrived, the first thing they said was "God help you".



The food was dried up and only lukewarm. The drinks were out of bottles which I can only describe as cola gone wrong, flat and warm!



My boyfriend went to the bar on our second night, and the waiter made an inappropriate comment about me... "Is that your girlfriend? Does she want a bit??". My boyfriend was furious and would not let me out of his sight for the rest of the stay.



There was nothing to do all holiday, the weather was bad so the outdoor pool was out of bounds... the indoor pool was falling to bits and there was nothing to do apart from play pool. The entertainment at night was awful... shocking. It was a bunch of kids shouting on a stage, it was just racket!!! No planning!!!



When we got to our room - we noticed that the patio door wouldn't lock. We rang reception and someone came up to fix it well, wedge it shut should I say. We was not very happy about this as it wasn't very safe. The following night, I was too hot in the room as I got ready to go down for tea, so I pulled the patio door open to stand on the balcony. I called reception to get someone to come and fix it, "10 minutes" I was told. We called back several times and eventually, someone came 3 hours later, by which time we had missed tea (all in). He couldn't fix the door so we had to stay in. We asked to move rooms and was told that this was not possible right now and they would contact us tomorrow morning. We never got that phone call.



We had had enough, we called Thomas Cook and asked to move hotels... we were moved to one near the airport, called Sahara Beach and it was lovely, better service, good food, friendly staff, more to do. I put my hands down to Thomas Cook who moved us within an hour of complaining. We had to pay 144 dinas (which works out at about £60) but we are making a claim to get this back. We feel we lost 3 days of our holiday.... if anyone goes to this hotel... do not be afraid to complain!



Nina Jones, Bolton

We have just returned back from a week’s break in Tunisia. We stayed in the Golden Soviva. The second I arrived I knew I would hate it!



The locals are so pushy and rude, the best thing to do is say NO and walk off. By the end of the week we just didn't make eye contact with them. The hotel itself was OK; the room was lovely that's about it.



The food was very repetitive; we ended up eating out towards the end of the week. The weather was shocking, rained most of the time and was very cold, especially on a night time.



Entertainment was rubbish, just a few of the animation team messing around on stage. The only good part of the holiday was meeting a couple from Bromsgrove, if it wasn't for them I probably would have come home early. I can't say I hated it completely, but I can say I will not be coming back anytime soon.

We returned from this hotel 2 weeks ago and still not over the shambles of a hotel we stayed in.

The hotel was of very poor standards, every morning having to get up at 6.30am to get sun beds. But if you left your sunbed for too long the pool boys would come along and throw your towel off and take the beds for other people. How are we expected to go off for dinner and snacks if your bed will be gone when you return? People from the street can use pool facilities but there are not enough sunbeds for the hotel guests never mind anyone else. Sunbeds for over 16's only.



Glasses used for drinks around pool bar and not plastic ones, my partner had glass in his foot and I know a lot of other people did as well. Even though hotel rules states no glasses at side of pool, you cannot instate a rule if you offer no alternative and glass being left lying around is extremely dangerous as I am sure you can appreciate.



As for the staff, (especially on the pool bar), I have never met such an arrogant person, he obviously didn’t want to be there and didn’t speak to us the whole fortnight, we got a few grunts if we were lucky. The travel and tourism industry is also known as hospitality but this evidently passed him by.



There was no American bar, hairdryer or mini bar as stated in the brochure. To describe the television as satellite is a slight exaggeration given that the only channel was Sky News. The gym and sauna was payable after your first visit.



The entertainment most nights was just the daytime animation team messing around on the stage. If on the odd occasion there was a drag act this entertainment was payable (I thought all inclusive meant all inclusive). Most nights we went to bed before 9pm due to lack of anything else to do. The slides were only open for 2 hrs in the morning and 2 1/2 hrs in the afternoon (not stated before booking) and only 10 years and over could use the slides.



The hotel was infested with ants, in the rooms and even out by the pool. On our last day we even had them on our dinner table. Obviously this leads on to the question of hygiene, or indeed the lack of it. This standard is not acceptable.



As for the all-inclusive deal, this again was grossly exaggerated and again could be questioned against the trades description. There was a limit of 2 drinks per person. In heat such as we encountered and given the fact we had paid for all-inclusive this was not acceptable. To add insult to injury the drink glasses were what I describe a shot glasses (it took 6-8 of these glasses to make 1 of our pints).



In the day there was no bottled water (not even by the glass). All drinks were fizzy and this got to be a joke as the bottles were left out all the time so the drink was always warm. As anyone who travels abroad would be aware MEDICAL advice is to drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration, particularly when you are travelling in a party with children. You cannot give fizzy drinks to children all the time, especially if you do not want them bouncing off the walls until late at night.



In the evenings the queues for the bar were ridiculous. You had to queue 20 minutes to get a receipt for the drink then get in the next queue for shorts and then come out of that and get in the queue for beers. Add this in with the equation that the glasses were so small and you can surmise the result, we were constantly stuck in queues.



As for the restaurant there was only one we were allowed in the whole fortnight we were there, (as the al a carte could only be used once per stay). The food was basic we lived on chicken, potatoes and rice and the kids lived on pancakes alone.



There were even Tunisian men sat out by hotel entrance waiting for jobs making the women tourists in particular very uneasy.

Horrible. Horrible. Is all I need to say!



Ok, The first day we got there, it was late. Around 8PM, we had missed our evening meal and the Receptionist said, "go to Cafe pool bar and get a free meal" so we did, but we were charged! We were Fuming!



The selection for kids was Poor, for adults, not good if you’re a picky eater. I ate bread every meal. Ended up being constipated!



They had a theme night, so we thought, let’s go, and have some fun. The food was the Traditional Tunisian Dilite. Brick. Or at least that’s what they call it...



Ok enough with food!



Let’s get to the entertainment!



1. Poor! Boo!

The only 'real' entertainment was a singer / pianist who sang and played at the same time. Better then the kid’s performance. They were pulling every kid onto the stage! It was embarrassing!



The only plus side was the room, maids. They were super! If you ran out of towels, had a wet night, or whatever, they would clean it up!



I highly recommend you not going to the hotel Golden Soviva. There is a one near it which is a real 4/5 star! Out back! Rocked.



Even for All-inclusive, the cola, was cheap. Probably out dated and off the shelves. The coke you bought (like 10x more expensive from the super market) was Cola but African.



The Port, Port el Kantoui was poor, the streets stunk, the shops pulled you in and offering you stuff which was obviously fake!



WARNING:

If you are pulled into a shop, please attempt to scream and they back off, as you draw attention!



Also:

Taxis are a fixed rate. If you are charged more than xx amount of TD, they can be prosecuted and jailed.



Take my word. It Sucks. Don’t go there!



If you go to Africa, go to Port El Kantoui and to the Hotel to the back of Golden Soviva, Not the Golden Soviva!