Royal Park Hotel

I have just returned home today on 29 Aug 2006 from staying at the Royal Park Hotel in Elenite, Bulgaria. I have no grudges against the hotel and disn't fall out with anyone but feel people should know a few home truths about this hotel. This is a true report of the Royal Park Hotel in elenite, Bulgaria. Room - spacious, nice view and looked really nice until the dirty bedding was exposed. Food - tasteless, cold and ran out of food frequently. 75% of guests when I was there had food poison. Advised by hotel management that this was not the hotel but a virus was air bourne in Elenite ???? Lots of guests were actually on drips from the doctor because of this. Hmmmmmm !!!! Crockery - cups and plates were cracked and was regularly handed plastic plates to compensate this. All cutlery was dirty. Towels - 1 shared between 2 on several days. No hand towels. No bath mat at the shower. Bathroom - Not very clean but just ok. No plug for bath or wash hand basis and they didn't have any. Bed linen - changed once. Got a blood stained top sheet that day. Not like brochue says 3 times a week. Drinks - very long queues ( normally 20 - 30 mins wait )and frequently got the wrong order and they were constantly using dirty glasses. This is very nice building and in a good location. It has great potential so long as they can get the issues above sorted. I would never return and would not recommend this hotel to anyone. If you are already booked please believe me and take clean linen and crockery as this is not a 4* hotel as described in the First Choice brochure. Be prepared to lose losts of weight as the nearest restrurant is in Sunny Beach 8 miles away The First Choice rep said it never said it was a 4* hotel in the brochure but said it was a 4* complex. I've just checked the brochure and it says official rating is 4*.

Ok, everyone like to have a good moan but consider this; where else can you take a family of 6 (3 adults, 3 kids), all inclusive for 2 weeks during the first 2 weeks of August for £3200? Nowhere, thats where. In fact, you'd be hard pushed to stay in a static caravan in the uk for that long at that time for the same price when you've added on your food/drink and entertainment. This is a genuinely good deal, at a generally good resort in a generally good hotel. Please remember the 4 star rating is based against other hotels in Bulgaria, not Dubai, therefore don't expect Dudai luxury - think more 3 star uk. Its a big Hotel, catering for a lot of people, so its inevitable you will have to wait a few minutes at the bar and a moment in the queue for food; however, there is plenty of food, a good selection (you will always find something) and the salads are nothing to be scared of, everything is fresh. Meal times get busy and you may wait for a table; approach this sensibly, you will soon figure out the best times to eat and as long as you exercise a little patience you will get a table within several minutes. Everywhere is constantly cleaned, though I suspect the hotel has a shortage of towels as on occasion not enough are left in the room after servicing. Ask for more at reception, they will be waiting for you when you return to your room. Remember, even Bulgarians have a day off, so you may not get your room serviced one day per week; again, if you spot this mid afternoon, ask reception, it will then be done! (None of this is rocket science, just common sense!). You can use the facilities across the whole Village complex, including the Water/Slide Park behind the hotel - be aware drinks are not included in this Park and sunbeds are charged for as it is privately owned. Entrance is free however and if you are cheeky you can spend the day round the hotel pool and beach, then go to the Water Park for a couple of hours in the afternoon, put your clothes on a bar chair or the floor, don't buy a drink and you can have the whole thing for free! I'm not tight, however you will see that although Bulgaria has a reputation for being cheap the guests here are a captive audience for anything with a cost attached, therefore prices are jacked up accordingly (think Greek/Spanish prices) - Its no problem, but you've gone all inclusive so why incur the cost! Evening entertainment is provided by the First Choice team, consisting of a kids disco, 'challenge the entertainer', bingo and some form of show (panto, cabaret, etc - this season look out for the excellent Scottie Jackson) - all very standard stuff, but well produced and enjoyed by all who watch/take part. There is a kids club for various age ranges, though I have no experience of it, it runs many activities all day, every day. The pools (there are 5) are all excellent, they do get closed from time to time for cleaning, move to another, or visit the beach as its 20 metres away - blue flag rated and spotlessly sandy. Lifeguards are on duty during opening hours at all pools and on the beach. How shall I wrap this up? If you want Benidorm (burgers, arcades and discos) stay in Sunny Beach. If you prefer a quieter affair, and can live with the fact that its not the UK(!!) this hotel can't come with a better recommendation from me. To put reviews into perspective I spent my Honeymoon in the Maldives (Paradise Island), it was faultless, yet there were still negative reviews!

We traveled to Bulgaria as aparty of 7. four adults and 3 children agedked very between 3 and 11. Initally all looked very nice as do most things at 3 in the morning. The food you will soon find out is very very poor. The hot food is not to temprature and does prove a food hygiene risk I have been ill now for over a week. The outside restraunt is good and can be used for lunch. evening meals need to booked in the morning. You can also use the restraunts in the complex nect door these also have to be booked. Thank god for Paco's just outside the main gate ant three hundered yard to your left good and very cheap food. The water park just next door is very good value as it is free to guests. food and drinks have to be paid for. Be warned you will be frog marched out of the park is you try and take in your own food. The snak bars are a joke...... very long ques and no stock. Congratulations if you get your bed linnen changed during your stay. and you must have got the chambermaid on a good day if she leaves you an y towel. Over all the atten tion to detail is very poor. chipped plates and cups, glasses not washed properly. we would rather drink out of a plastic cup than uses the glasses. If you have a late flight. make sure you book a late check out in the uk with your agent. This was n ot explained to us. There is not enough secure place to leave your bagage on checkout.

I stayed at The Royal Park with my partner in July 2006. It is a lovely hotel and overall a good holiday. The actual hotel is beautiful and very impressive and the grounds and the beach are kept very clean and tidy. The rooms however were not cleaned very well and we did not always get clean towels and bedding. I would recommend this hotel to young families as it is perfect for children with lots for them to do and very safe. Myself and my partner are a young (ish) couple and we found there were far too many children for our liking. The hotel room walls are very thin and we were woken nearly every morning by a screaming baby in the next room. Also, don’t hold doors open for German children because you will not get a thank you. (also beware of the queue jumpers...) The evening entertainment is great for kids but the shows were not really my cup of tea. Even the 'Nightclub' is full of kids!!! However, we did make the most of the all inclusive bar and met quite a few nice people who we spent our evenings drinking with. The food was ok. There is a great salad bar. If you are a vegetarian you don’t have any choice apart from salad and chips. The meat was often very fatty and not cooked properly. After two weeks I was very bored of the food as there is not a lot of variety. We booked this last minute and it was very cheap for an all-inclusive but personally I would have preferred go self catering somewhere away from all the children and some of the beer swilling, tattoo bearing Brits on holiday..... Bulgaria is a lovely country and we met some great locals when we left the hotel complex. If you go into Sunny Beach try a club called Iceberg. They have a fantastic live band playing Chillies, Oasis, The Killers etc. If you go to eat out in Sunny Beach don’t go to the tourist side, go to the other side and look for a restaurant called Djannys. The taxi man can tell you where it is. Under £30 for 4 of us to eat a 3 course meal with drinks and the portions were huge and delicious and a menu too big to choose from. I also enjoyed the city of Bourgas. Its very cosmopolitan and has some nice shops and bars. Nessebar is worth a visit too. Some great history and pretty cobbled streets. So basically if you are a young couple I would not recommend The Royal Park but families with children will have a fantastic time!

For anyone who's booked to go soon, don't worry, you've made a fantastic choice.....wish I could be there right now!!!! Don't know about anyone else, but we go on holiday in the mindset that we've worked all year to enjoy ourselves, and just the novelty of someone else doing all the hard work, cooking, cleaning, etc, is enough to keep us happy, so, you can imagine, we were over the moon at this place. The hotel itself and the grounds are extremely impressive, there are maps in reception, but we found no need, 15 minutes walk between Royal Park and Royal Bay easily gets you your bearings. There are shops on site selling everything from lilos to watches - if you want to get a tattoo done try Nusho's, opposite the coffee shop, hubby and myself got one done each, excellent tattoist and very cheap. There's also an internet room and kindergarden. We didn't really find much difference in price between here and Sunny Beach to be honest, so did most of our shopping here. Our rooms were on the second floor, right above the upper floor of the lobby bar, and we had a wonderful sea view. Well equipped and very spacious, fridge, tv, two double beds pushed together, sofa bed, desk and chair. Bathroom well equiped with bath and power shower. Food seems to be a massive bone of contention, and I can honestly say that we had no problems at all - after reading these reviews I was a little apprehensive about this, and took all sorts of medicines, all of which came back unopened, neither of us had any problems with "dicky" tummys, nobody we spoke to had problems and we certainly didn't hear anyone in adjacent rooms being ill. One thing we did notice, that has been mentioned before, was children poking at food, or worse, sampling food, sticking their fingers into cakes and deciding they didn't like it, etc!!!!! Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all served in the main hall, excellent quality with lots of choice. Breakfast consisted of fresh omelettes, cereals, porridge, large selection of meats, salads and cheeses, mountains of fruit, three types of bread roll, two types of bread, two egg dishes, bacon, gammon, grilled luncheon meat and beans. Lunch and dinner: Two soups, three or four meat dishes, potatoes (usually chips), pasta and rice, as well as the mountains of fresh fruit, cold meats and cheese, salads, bread and cakes (you've got to try them, they're gorgeous!!!). There was also someone preparing fresh meals outside on the veranda. It would have been nice to have had tea and coffee in the main hall, but I guess I'm showing my age there, and having a nice glass of wine, or larger, certainly didn't kill us!!!!! There was a table set up especially for children, chicken nuggets, burgers, meat and cheese selection, etc, as well as an ice cream stand, which was right next to it. Snacks are available all around the resort, chicken kebabs, pizzas, chicken sandwiches, roast chicken and hot dogs, as well as chocolate and plain biscuits and turkish delight, these are available from mid morning - 5. Yes there is a two item limit, and thank heavens for that, I've never seen so much waste in my entire life, groups of five or six people would join a queue, get the maximum amount and leave most of what they'd just queued up for, complaining heartily the whole time, same in the canteen, good job the waiting staff and cleaners were so efficient. Remember, the main hall opens at 6.00 - 9.00, so that's only an hour to wait..there's nothing to stop you taking food back to your room, be it snacks or food from the main hall, which provided plastic plates for this purpose....or at least I hope it was!!!! Overheard a conversation at a nearby table, as us women do, a group of young people had got "absolutely blitzed" and gone out skinny dipping in the early hours of the morning (thanks for waking us up btw!), and they were complaining about the food at breakfast the following morning......no mention of the fact that they were all suffering from serious hangovers, due to the excessive amount of alcohol drunk the night before! There were some queues at peak times, but we adjusted our eating times accordingly, eat a little later, or earlier, and the place if practically empty. Few cups, plates etc with chips in, no big deal. Didn't once have a problem with cutlery. There were also two microwaves provided, just in case food wasn't quite hot enough, we didn't use either, found the food to be more than hot enough. There are several restaurants you have to book on the day of dining, we tried the Talyan and Sunshine, enjoyed both of them but only ate there once just to try them out. Drinks: Anything you could think of you could get there, vodka, whiskey, brandy, etc, as well as cordial, pops, water and tea and coffee, beware of the measures for spirits - all bar staff pour spirits exactly how you want them. Didn't find the lager to be watered down, but not being a big lager drinker it didn't take me much! Went for a massage at the Victoria Spa, there are also several massage huts along the beach - if you're not too keen on taking your clothes off stick to the beach huts!!!!!!! Lovely experience though, definately recommend the turkish bath and aromotherapy massage, and very cheap. Staff were extremely friendly and hard working, as in all cases you get back what you give, a smile and basic good manners go a long, long way....was shocked and dismayed at the complete lack of either, with people seemingly determined to complain about anything and everything, from morning to night, how the reception staff and First Choice rep kept a smile on their faces I'll never know....one lady, on our last day, spent nearly half an hour raging at the First Choice rep because there had been a power cut for a few hours, in the end she stormed off - what a waste of energy!!! Can't think of a single complaint about any of the staff, from cleaners to bar workers. There was always something going on, can't quite understand the previous review about entertainment being non existent, from 10 pm to midnight there, kids seemed to absolutely love it. Mornings started with aerobics, water gymnastics, etc, quizes, water polo, bowls, volley ball around dinner time and later on there were shows, mini disco, bingo (of course), beach parties.... There were also nightly shows in the Animation Hall, which had a bucking bronco thing outside for kids and adults alike. There were also inflatables on the beach for kids to play around on. There was a night club, Irish Bar, coffee shop and a sports bar, although the latter wasn't included in the AI package. We went into Sunny Beach a few times, didn't bother with buses, never seen so many people crammed into such a small space!, there's a bus stop and taxi stand right outside the hotel, standard price seems to be 20 lev from RP to SB, 25 lev return, couldn't work out why, but hell, what's 5 lev! Loads of places to eat and drink, shops selling fake, and genuine, clothing and accessories, photo shops (retro seems to be in there!), 3d cinemas, house of horrors, etc....good experience, but, as stated, didn't find much difference on prices. Did a visit to Nessebar, 20 lev each return from the pier, again, similar prices to resort, although the village itself is really worth a visit, can be very busy and there were quite a few gypsies about, either trying to sell stuff or begging. The only negative thing I could say about this resort isn't in relation to the resort itself, but about the people, not the Germans or Russians, who we had no problem with, but some of the Brits. From morning through to night people were whinging and complaining about anything and everything, literally shouting and screaming at staff for, what seemed to us, petty and silly reasons. Basic good manners seemed to have been left at the door, as stated earlier, the staff here worked unbelievably hard, for what, to us, is a pittance, one of the bar workers earned about £100 a month, working 12 hour days,7 days a week, without holidays or time off - I'd love to see half of the people complaining, shouting and screaming working those hours! While I have every sympathy for those people who were ill it annoyed me to hear people laughing and joking about how they were going to "bang in a claim" the minute they got home. There were also a couple of people bragging about how much they'd managed to get from their travel operator the previous year. Oh, and forget the old jokes about German's hogging the sunbeds, it's us Brits who are out at 7 am wedging our towels firmly over sunbeds.

we returned from the royal park early hours sat morning,wish we were still there.had a great time.hotel is very big compared to what we have stayed at before.the whole complex was cleaned day and night,beach and pool areas were also clean.couldnt fault the food plenty of choice for everyone,my son is 15 and he is a fussy eater but he found something every night toeat.the rooms were a nice size we had twin beds,sofa bed and a travel cot and still plenty of room,on the fourth floor with the views of the pool and beach which was lovely.entertainment was day and night if you wanted to join in.right now for the bad points,the lifts,four lifts for the whole of the hotel and half the time two were not working and carrying 18month old twins down four flights of stairs in there buggys was no joke.didnt attempt to try going up so had to wait for the lift.to get a sunbed you do have to get up early otherwise you wouldnt get one.all in all we had a brilliant holiday and will return in the future

My partner and I recently stayed at the Royal Park Hotel in Elenite. It was booked on price alone, although we had spoken about going to Bulgaria before. We had night flights there and back, so we arrived at about 6 in the morning. Reception worked quite efficiently, getting people through the queue at a reasonable speed and we were given a snack pack consisting of sandwich, bottle of water, piece of fruit and crisps. We were quite glad of this as we knew we weren't likely to see breakfast ! We were showed to our room and within 30 minutes were back at reception asking to be moved due to the large puddle just inside the doorway (also just outside the door to the bathroom), which was making the room smell of urine (my partner likened it to cat's urine). Although the door to the balcony had been open, the smell was overwhelming and I certainly didn't fancy ever venturing into the bathroom without shoes on !! As a result, we were moved to another room, but this still had a distinct odour. Still, we stayed in there for one night as we'd been up for most of the night (don't expect to sleep on the plane!). We had to change rooms again the following morning, but were told that there weren't any other rooms available. However, a new coach load of people were arriving, so where were they putting them ? We negotiated another room, but had to sacrifice a sea view room, with the promise of being moved (again) to a sea view room the following day. This meant four rooms in three days. In all the moving, a beach towel got left behind (one of the rooms had no towels in, so we had to use the beach towel) and when we tried to claim this back at reception, we were informed that the maid had taken it home ! We were promised the beach towel back the following day, but still had to chase it daily, eventually getting it back in time to pack ! Apart from these 'little niggles', the resort is very nice. There is quite a lot of French and German tourists there as well, and we didn't manage to sit by the pool at all during our stay, but the beach is spacious with ample loungers for the resort. The resort is made up of two hotels and a range of villas, so the restaurants can be filled quickly. We managed to try all of the restaurants during our stay (the buffet restaurants are only for guests of that hotel). However, if you want to stand any chance of getting into the restaurants, be prepared to queue from about 9.30 in the morning. Don't think you can roll up there at 10 and pick the time you want. They aren't big enough for the amount of people staying there. The buffet restaurant was stocked frequently, but there wasn't a great variety of choice. You would normally get a choice of three meat dishes (usually one pork, one lamb and one chicken) and then all the potato and veg sides. Don't go there expecting to get fried chicken and beefburgers. If you are a vegetarian, or fussy with your food, you will struggle. I was okay throughout the week, but my partner did suffer a bit with a stomach upset, which is rare for him. The entertainment was certainly comprehensive, with First Choice providing games and shows for the kids all day, and a stage had been put up by the pool for evenings (be warned if you have a sea view room - it's loud until 11 at night). For the adults, there is Sky Sports in the pay bar, a nightclub until 4am and a late night bar in the basement. There are amusement arcades, a shopping street by the late night bar, as well as various stalls throughout the complex. There is also a water park, but only the slides are free. Sun loungers, towels, drinks, etc are all requiring payment. My partner took a stroll but said that it didn't look finished but I didn't venture over to see for myself. There are various water sports (banana boat rides, wind surfing, etc). We didn't bother with the welcome meeting, or any of the excursions as we were only there to relax for a week. We did venture into Sunny Beach (quite like any other resort in Spain or the like) which has plenty of bars, a busy beach, lots of trinket stalls, plenty of hotels and even a McDonalds ! The resort does a shuttle bus that goes every two hours from the Elenite Village reception to both Sunny Beach and Nesebar, with a return costing about 15 lev. There is also a boat that goes from the jetty by the Royal Park to both Sunny Beach and Nesebar. This is a set time journey both ways once a day. A return to Nesebar was 20 lev each. Nesebar is a old town which we found far too busy and too many trinket shops and people standing outside restaurants trying to entice you into their establishment. Be careful about late checkout - we had to speak to a rep twice and still reception had no record of it (our receipt didn't have it specified but we paid for it in the UK). The late checkout is too early for the flight times, as we had to vacate the rooms at 6pm for a 1.30am pick up. The luggage room isn't big enough either, so take your valuables around with you in your hand luggage. All in all, it is a very nice resort, but it just needs to provide a better service at reception and provide a better variety of food at meal times (especially for veggies). There were plenty of reps around (four for the hotel and additional entertainments team) which were helpful but we still had problems with the late check out . It does have the potential to be an excellent resort, but I don't think we'll be going back there any time soon.

After reading mixed comments on this site I was rather worried about what kind of holiday we would get. On arriving at the airport I was impressed with the reps waiting for you and even though it was 3am in the morning they could not have been more friendly and welcoming. The hotel staff greeted us and provided us with a mini pack up. Which was most welcome as we were really hungry. Our room was spotless and had great sea views - we were on the 6th floor. The beds were lovely and comfy and most welcome after our long journey. Breakfast is ok. Toast in a bit of a none event and never seems to go any other colour than white even if we leave it under the grill for ages! There was plenty of bacon, eggs, beans, etc (although the bacon did look a bit like spam towards the end of the holiday)! There was lots of fruit and pastries to choose from and the canteen was always clean with more waiters than I think they actually need - no sooner had you finsihed, they cleaned your table. The staff seem to work all day and all night - this includes the first choice reps and the hotel staff. All of the cleaners where friendly and smiled - more so than some of the fellow tourists!! The first choice kids reps seemed to be brilliant at entertanining the kids from morning until night - just wait till you see them all do the Super Hero's dance and song! The reps all seemed to rember the childens names, which impressed me as there were a lot of kids! I think the resort is very much designed for a family beach holiday for people with little ones and teenagers. As we have no children, at times it could get quiet boring as you are literally at the end of the coast - not within walking distance of a town. The nearest place is sunny beach and the cheapest way to get the would be by bus (times are near reception). You can get a boat taxi from the beach to either Sunny Beach or Nessebar. We went to Nessebar which was worth the 40 minute boat ride by its self - the views of the bay are amazing and gives you a much better understanding of where you are in relation to the rest of the coast line. Nessebar is nice, with lovely old ruins and houses but is full of lucky lucky women and more fake stuff than you can shake a stick at! None the less we found a great resturant there and managed to sample some lovley Bulgarian food. The resturants for evening meals are faily good. Alot of people moaned they had food poisioning but I think to be honest a lot of people moan about nothing - we had lovely food all the time and were not ill once! We found the best restuarant was the beach BBQ, but you have to que from about 9.30 to get a table for the same evening. People seemed to love the Sun Resturant, which amazed us becuased we thought the food was totally boring - frozen veg like Asda value is not my idea of alacarte! The beer is good and is not strong and the only reason I would say be careful of the spirts is not bevcuase they are really stong but because they give you about half a pint of gin and a tiny dash of tonic! I think it is just common sence! We went on the romantic boat ride advertised by the reps. We asked Wez for detials on it but he appeared to have no idea about it at all - not impressed! We were told we would be collected in a mini bus but in the end got collected in the boat owners clapped out car! Which was rather nerve racking!! The boat tip was nice but rough on the way out and when it says snacks and drinks served all we got was one small bowl of peanuts to share and a glass of cheap fizz! All in all we had a laugh on this holiday, the food was good, the hotel was clean and the kids reps seems brilliant. The only down side was all the moaning English - if you go on holiday to another country, you should not expect chips, chips chips!!! Still it gave us a laugh - Billy Brits! PS the First Choice planes are very cramped! Enjoy!

Me an my husband stayed here for a week in May. It was the first time we had been all inclusive and I wouldn't do this again. I'm a pregnant vegetarian and there was very little I could eat- it was pizza slices during the day and chips with sweetcorn for dinner- not very healthy. I was advised to steer clear of pre-prepared salads etc so didn't want to eat any of this from the buffet. None of the a la carte restaurants had a veggie meal either. There were no diet drinks or fruit juices or anything- just really brightly coloured diluting juice, tea, coffe, wine or beer- which are all obviously no good for me. The hotel is in the middle of nowhere so it wasn't easy to go elsewhere for dinner. Sunny beach is a 15 minute taxi ride away. The spa and gym were closed while we were there. The hotel room was dirty- mould on my sheets, ?looked like spots of blood on the headboard and the 'clean' towels delivered daily had yellow stains on them. There were power cuts on the last day, which was well dodgy! There were no lights anywhere on elenite. One good thing was the weather- it was sunny and not too hot most days. It was quiet when we were there so at least we managed to find a quiet bit on the beach. Everyone smoked everywhere though and there were cigarette butts all over the beach! It was a real disappointment for our last holiday together before baby comes along. Very disappointing! Kirsty

When we first arrived at Royal Park, both me & my partner were both a bit cranky due to being at work on the friday and then the late arrival at Royal Park but the reception staff were very friendly and got the new arrivals checked in very quickly and they were very polite and friendly. It was good because they provided a goodie bag for each guest on arrival which consisted of a sandwhich an orange a croissant and a bottle of water, this came in handy on the Saturday Morning as the late arrival meant we over slept and missed breakfast. We also had a supply of water in our fridge which lasted a couple of days. We were amazed by the sea view we had. Our room was situated on the 2nd floor overlooking the pool and great view to the otherside of the bay and the sea. I would say that Royal Park was very much a resort for families with young children which quickly became apparant when the music cranked up at 10am by the pool with the first choice reps running competitions and kids games so we often went further along the beach to escape the noise. We were just after a quiet holiday relaxing by the pool or the beach so we were OK further along. We had storms on the saturday evening and when it rains here it rains!! Some of the lower level seating areas got flooded but the hotel staff did a great job of clearing up. We later found out that Sunny beach was knee deep in Water on the Sunday, but we went in to Sunny Beach on the Monday and it had cleared up. I could not fault the cleanliness of the hotel, there were constantly cleaners on site cleaning rooms and picking up rubbish around the resort. I also had no problem with any of the staff being "rude" as all of their name tags had it written on if they spoke English so if they seemed a little off we knew they just did not understand us. I did not have a problem with the Food within the restaurant except that it was a little bland and they had some strange combinations for example broccolli with fried mushrooms but I did not starve so it was fine. Lots of branded snacks and drinks available from the many shops on site for next to nothing. I never seemed to have a problem queuing for Food, drinks or snacks as other people did, I guess I was just lucky as the resort was full. Overall we enjoyed our stay. My partner has said he would go back and he has never said that about anywhere before......he must of enjoyed it!!!