Voyager Beach Resort Mombasa Hotel

5 readers found this review helpful

Our holiday to Kenya was the absolute best ever! So much better than expected and we had high expectations! The Voyager beach is a lovely friendly hotel. Meals were really varied, too much choice that sometimes you spoilt your dinner by putting too much and many different things on your plate. We checked out for a week long safari. The room pre safari was nice and comfortable over looking the gardens with a side sea view from the balcony. The room post safari was a large suite with a corner view that was amazing.
We didn't bother with the entertainment, prefering instead to sit at the look out bar then having early nights and early starts round the infinity pool. We hardly ever had to ask for a drink round the pool thanks to Margaret who kept us 'topped up'! Lovely, lovely friendly lady.
The beach boys sell lovely stuff. Don't be afraid of them. We took them all our clothes and toiletries at the end of the holiday. Apparently you can barter with these but we gave them as gifts and they were so pleased.
Our safari was just so amazing! We stayed at their sister 'hotel' Voyager Ziwani tented camp... an amazing experience and I really hope to go to again, and Ol Tukai lodge in the foothills of Kilimanjaro... another unmissable place! Really hope to go back to both. Ngutuni and Ngulia lodge also nice but rooms needs some upgrading. Our safari was booked with Thomas Cook before we left the UK and we on safari with Akorn Destination Management.... Fab, Fab, Fab. Jackson our driver / guide was amazing. His eyesight the best I ever known, he could spot anything from miles away. A lovely guy who not only knew, but taught us so much. Really hope we can book with him in the future for a Masai Mara safari.
So as the title of this reveiw says... you will not be disappointed.

10 readers found this review helpful

Stayed here in August 2010. I hope to be fair but truthful in this review and not be overwhelmed by the whole experience of going to Kenya - which was amazing.
Good points:
- Friendly organised check in.
- Very friendly staff who learn your name and greet you by it.
- Good children's club
- Food is good quality with great service
- Top class Smugglers resturant
- Good Italian Resturant
- Nice pools and gardens
- Short transfer from airport and nearer to Tsavo than South Mombasa.
- Nice beach, go down at low tide, dodge the beach vendors and turn left go around the corner and you get 2 miles of beach, sometimes all to yourself. If you carry on walking fast enough the beach vendors drop off.
Bad points:
- Took a standard garden view room as we did not intend to spend much time in it and would rather spend time and money on excursions. Big mistake - these rooms overlook the area where the nightly entertainment and disco occur, thus the glass on our windows shook for the first night until 11pm at night. Bad with young children and early safari starts.
- Management would not move us with out a charge and Thomas Cook could not help either. I felt blackmailed into upgrading and robbed as no-where on any brochure or site do they mention the noise.
- Room we were 'upgraded' too was the same size, just on the other side of the block so quieter. Very unhappy about this as the only reason they are more expensive is due to the TV (who goes to Kenya to watch TV??) and that there are quieter. I feel ths is dishonest.
- Rooms are tired and need maintainence badly. It is all okay saying this is Kenya and we must expect lower standards, but I say that they charge European prices so shuld give European standards and I have stayed in poorer countries in bette quality for cheaper. Manky toilets with water staines and dirty floors that made your feet dirty are not acceptable.
- Being told we had to move so they could set up tables on the beach for a holiday sales company dinner on the public beach, after we had been there for an hour and had cleared away the weed and beach boys.
- Being told we could only book the Italian after 8am when we were going out on safari at 6am?? Taking rules a bit too far.
Tips for Kenya -
The queues for immigration are long and hot, keep water available, but do not rush as the bus has to wait for everyone anyhow.
Take you excursion money in US dollars as they price eveything in dollars and if you want to pay in shillings they do the exchange rate which was around 80 shillings to the dollar - you could get better in the UK.
If you are an active type, skip the beach holiday part, fly in do longer on the safari and if needed do a couple of days at the beach. You can get the same experience if all you are after is a beach holiday in Europe for a lot cheaper.
It is not cheap in Kenya, besides that prices are pushed up if your are a tourist 100% even to the attactions. Prices for T-Shirts ect at the shops are UK prices.
Duty free is 100% more expensive than outside the airport!!!
Take old t-Shirts, shoes, stuff kids like for the orphans at one of the local care homes. Try not to go to the popular ones or give them to village kids who will generally have them taken off them and re-sold.
Take some food and water to the beach vendors.It is hot down there and they do not make much money.
Would I go back to Kenya - Yes, at this hotel, no.

16 readers found this review helpful

Wanted to do a safari and beach holiday - but found english operators much too expensive. decided to book flights with Virgin/Kenya airways and do it independantly. After reading reports on the internet, decided on an african company called First African Dreams safaris - who delat with the whole thing for me. Mike Musyoka was very helpful from the word go, and booked us 2 nights at The Voyager Beach Resort on Nyali beach, 3 nights on safari in Tsavo and 2 nights back at the beach. It was all fantastic! The Voyager is a great resort catering for couples and families alike, we paid a bit extra for sea view room which was lovely. Buffet style in the restaurant - lots to choose from, and all inclusive so drinks by the glass. 3 night safari was out of this world. We had the van to ourselves, and a great driver who catered to our every need - we basically said what we wanted and he sorted it out. The people in Kenya are the nicest in the world - so kind and cheerful. If you're thinking of going here - GO FOR IT! You won't be disappointed!

9 readers found this review helpful

This hotel is totaly unsuitable for people with mobility or walking difficulties.The hotel is on four (4)levels and no matter where your room is situated you have to negotate numerous badly lit rough shewed steps to get to the catering, bars and catering area.We had to climb 64 steps from our room to the plateau, housing the buffet catering area.
IT SHOULD BE AVIODED AT ALL COSTS IF YOU NOT ABLE BODIED.

17 readers found this review helpful

We had a great time at this hotel,staff could not do enough for us.The food was very good plenty of choice and if you want to book a safari ask for stanley who you can find on the beach you will save lots of money

71 readers found this review helpful

The resort has a ship theme and your room is a cabin and the various areas of the hotel are decks.
WELCOME
If you are on honeymoon, the resort will arrange for flowers to be put up all round your door and wine and fruit to be in your room for your arrival. Unfortunately, we didn't get this because Virgin had omitted to tell the resort that we were on our honeymoon. Other Virgin honeymooners also had the same problem. However, all of the other honeymooners with other tour operators received this welcome.
ROOMS
We had a Superior Garden Room and had two big double beds in the room. There was a fan and air conditioning and the rooms were clean and tidy. There was a mosquito net over the beds and also a blind over the balcony door (so you could have the door open all night but the blind kept the mosquitos out). There was a safe in our room and we paid a small amount per night to hire it for our valuables and this bill was settled when we checked out. We also had a TV in our room which showed various channels including sports, news (CNN) and movies. There was no extra charge for this. Our rooms were cleaned daily and we were given fresh linen etc.
FOOD
The food at the Voyager is wonderful. We ate each night in the main restaurant. The food is a buffet service where you go up and help yourselves and have as much or as little as you like.
For breakfast there is a huge varierty from "fry up" food, to cereals to continental breakfasts of breads, cheeses and hams, etc.
Each lunch/night is a different theme, depending on where the "ship" is "docked". During our stay we had Chinese, Indian, Italian, Portugese, Australian, etc and at least one night per week it is "high seas" - usually a changeover day and all sorts of cuisines are offered. It is also important to note that if you dont like a particular cuisine, there are still other options. Failing that, there is also the Sports Bar which serves food from 10am to 6pm.
ACTIVITIES
There isn't what you would call a "nightlife" at this resort. However, there is good and varied entertainment each night from acrobats, dancers, live bands, karaoke and disco.
They also have the Animation Team there who put on shows e.g Grease.
If you don't fancy the entertainment and want something a bit quieter, there are pool tables, ping pong tables, table football, darts, drafts etc round by the Sports Bar.
During the day, there are activities in the pool such as water aerobics, water polo, water volleyball, and games can also be played on the beach such as football etc. These games are organised by the Animation Team and are at set times during the day. There are also tennis and volleyball courts.
There is a fitness suite but it only consists of weights. My husband only did some free weights as he didnt trust the weight machine!!
There are 3 swimming pools.
SUNBATHING
Please, please, please be careful when sunbathing or swimming in the pools. It is so hot and hard to realise the strength of the sun. I never burn and decided to use factor 30 and I still got a very very good tan. My husband is fair and he used factor 50 and came back brown. However, there were some people using factors 8 - 15 (I would normally use these) and while that might be fine in Spain and other European destinations, you are on the equator here and the sun is stronger than you might think. There was a couple underneath our room who fell asleep in the sun on day 2 of their holiday. The lady was not as bad as her husband whose back blistered and will have to see a skin specialist. He was so badly burnt that he had to remain in his room for most of the time as it was too painful for him to wear a t-shirt and he couldnt go out in the sun. He ended up having his meals delivered to him and in short, their trip was ruined. It's so not worth it.
BEACH
The beach is beautiful and the tide goes right out during the day. Apparently you can walk out to the coral reef but unfortunately, we did not get the chance to do this. However, be warned that the tide comes back in pretty fast. There are lots of beach boys selling their wares but they are only trying to make a living. They are friendly enough and if you tell them no, firmly, they will leave you alone. Having said that, you can't really have a romantic walk along the beach because as soon as you get rid of one, you walk another hundred yards and another tries his luck. We found this a bit tedious in the end and headed back to the pool. You can't go on the beach at night as the tide comes right in, covering the whole beach.
SAFARI
We went on a 4 day/3 nights safari to Tsavo East/West/Saltlick with JuliusTSafaris(www.juliustsafaris.com.) We booked in advance before leaving the UK after reading rave reviews on this site. I can state that he is 100% trustworthy. We paid a deposit when we arrived. We arranged a meeting date and time and we were to meet him outside the gates. Whilst this might all seem a bit cloak and dagger and rather dodgy, it is because he is not allowed within the hotel grounds - no doubt because he takes the trade away from the tour operators and they dont get any commission. Julius sent a car for us which took us to his office. Whilst there, he explained the details of our trip, pick up times, and showed us where we would be going on a map.
The safari was amazing. My husband and I had a vehicle to ourselves and shared memories of a lifetime. We saw everything - Lions, Cheetah, Leopard, Elephants, Buffalo, Giraffe, Zebra, Antelope, all sorts of birds and other types of deer. The only thing we didnt see was a rhino - but they are rather elusive and alot of people missed out on seeing one. Our guide Joseph, spotted an eagle owl in the tree - we would never have seen it had it not been for his eagle eyes! Due to the fact that there hasn't been hardly any rain for the past 2 years, riverbeds are dry and the animals are suffering. There was a man-made waterhole with water pumped directly from Mombasa to help the animals out. We didnt see any dead animals but other people we spoke to had seen some.
We stayed for 3 nights at Ashnil Aruba lodge,Kilaguni serena lodge and Sentrim camp. The only thing we had to pay for was drinks and these were reasonably priced. We had fantastic food and the staff were ever so friendly and helpful - bending over backwards to do things for you. The rooms were spotless, worthy of 5 star and looked over the plains of Tsavo East,tsavo west with most hills and Amboseli facing Kilimanjaro where we saw an abundance of wildlife.
We would without a doubt recommend JuliusTSafaris. You will not be disappointed!
The only thing to warn you about is on route to Tsavo East, we stopped off for a toilet break about 20 mins from the main gate to the game reserve. At this stop was a souvenir shop where you have to haggle and barter. Be careful that you are not being ripped off. We were going to buy a couple of souvenirs but the guy wanted the equivalent of £60 for them. He tried to say that they had been made in the nearby village. However, we subsequently found out that the goods are made in a factory on the outskirts of Mombasa and are worth less than half of what he was trying to make. Fortunately, we did not buy anything from there and managed to get the exact same souvenirs in the Voyager Resort's souvenir shop for less than half the price and without haggling!
TOUR OPERATOR
I advise anyone reading this to book with Julius. We watched as the Thomson Rep welcomed guests to the hotel, showing them around and giving out lots of information. He looked to be fantastic!only the price is too high compared to local tour operators.

21 readers found this review helpful

Had a lovely time in Kenya and would recommend it. Voyager Hotel - staff very friendly and and clean rooms, food was good with a different variety each night. DO NOT book and pay for upgrade as this appears to be very much pot luck. .Other guests appeared to be getting upgrades with better views than we had for very little cost or no cost at all! The holiday was booked through pollsman's and the Reps could do very little to help us with our room problem. We found the non-management staff very helpful but once it went to management level, there seemed to be very little they were prepared to do. We were offered a free meal at the Cove on our last night as compensation - approx cost £16!
Definitely book a Safari with bruno for bruno safaris(kenya-brunosafaris.com) or [--] as you get a jeep with a maximum of 4 adults in it. We highly recommend Severin Camp and Galdessa Camp in Tsavo. The difference between the jeep and van is that the jeep goes more places and you don’t have 6/8 people to contend with looking out windows! Booked two trips with bruno (in red cap) on the Beach - no problems and we had the van to ourselves on both trips. Highly recommend Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary and if possible stay a night. Tents beautiful and lots of company at the water hole! BUT 4 WHEEL DRIVE ONLY! Haller park brilliant. Guides very good and informative. Don’t bother with Mamba Crocodile Village.
Worth visiting Bombolulu village. They make a lot items for Hotel shops etc but we preferred to buy there as it goes back into the community. We also bought from the Akamba Handicraft Company. You can wander around watching the carving happening without any hassle and at the end you buy from the shop. If you see someone’s carving you like, you look for their number attached to the items in the shop and again the money goes back into the community.
The people on the beach are okay. If you tell them you will come and look on your last day, as you walk along they will then leave you alone, but they do remember your face and your promise. As long as you are aware of the costs of items in other places you are okay.
What finished us against the Voyager was an emergency on the beach which we assisted. We found a lady distraught on the beach, her mother had collapsed and was going into a diabetic coma, we went back to the pool bar for some water but was told it was before the 10am all inclusive deal. We had to wait and sign for it, took it back and everything turned out okay. Spoke to Reception about it and they said that we should not have to pay as it was an emergency and all would be sorted. Paid the bill the last night and the water on the bill. Reception staff horrifed and spoke to management and crux was we were offered a free bottle of water. It was not the cost involved, it was the principle that someone was in distress and needed urgent help.
We know other people will not agree with us about the Voyager but this is our personal experience and we hope it makes you aware that things can and do go wrong.

10 readers found this review helpful

We actually holidayed in April 2006 (during the rainy season) and didn't we know it, I've never experienced rain like it but it was still very warm and it in no way ruined our holiday. The hotel was fantastic. The room was basic but clean and comfortable with a lovely balcony overlooking one of the pools and a small bar. We had monkeys on the balcony who stole things if you left anything unattended (they stole my daughters face wipes and deposited them on a balcony three rooms along, it was quite funny). The food was lovely and there certainly was plenty of it and lots of choice to suit all tastes. The staff were extremely friendly and obliging,and a lot of fun, we knew them all by their first names,nothing was too much trouble. They watched our glasses and as soon as it was empty another one was brought. Incredible! We did a 4 day 3 night safari and Peter our guide was amazing, very knowledgable and so kind, he couldn't do enough for us. At one point we had run out of money and asked him if he could take us to a bank. He did so and waited outside for 2 hours to take us back. (We gave him £40 tip at the end of the holiday and he cried saying it would really help his family as that was such a lot of money to him). We stayed in 3 different lodges and they were all clean and comfortable with good food and brilliant views of the animals of which we saw the big 5 and lots more besides.
On our last day it was our 30th wedding anniversary and one of the staff noticed the cards my daughter and her friend had sent us on our breakfast table and asked if we had told anyone. When we said no she said oh dear what a shame. When we went for our evening meal she met us at the entrance and led us to a table where they had put flower garlands round our chairs and after we had eaten all of the staff lined up and sung and danced to our table with a lovely cake along with candles, it was lovely. Then the captain came and ivited us to eat at the captains table the following evening (had he of known before, it would have been that evening!) unfortunately we were leaving for home in the morning so we couldn't go, but we were so thrilled at the way they looked after us it really didnt matter. Even my daughter and her friend at the age of 25 enjoyed this holiday and have said they would do it again.
This is such a lovely place I wish I could afford to go back one day. Who knows, maybe I will!

11 readers found this review helpful

me and my girlfriend stayed at the voyager beach resort at the end of April (24th April - 5th may)....which was suposed to be the raniny seasion, but, there wasnt a cloud in the sky all week long, it was very very hot, and lovelly.
The hotel & grounds are totally amazing. very well looked after, the gardens are beautiful, the rooms are very clean, although a little dated, but, as long as its clean it doesnt really matter i guess.
The staff are incredibly friendly, always smilling, always stop and say hello when you walk past them, always ready to go out of their way to help you when ever you need.
The pools are very very nice, as there is 3 different pools, me and my gf used to chop and change from day to day, if we wanted relaxation, we went to the infinity pool to chill out, if we wanted a bit of music and a laugh in the pool we would go to the fun pool, and for a good swim, the sports pool.
The food was nice, but one thing i would say is, the amount of flies that are constantly around the food when it is being prepared. The staff dont try to cover the food at all, while we was there, we both had bad stomachs, we thought it was the maleria tablets, but after we spoke to other guests, alot of people were the same, so i can only assume it was the food. (but it tasted nice) ...
We booked the safari while we was out there, theres loads of places to book it up, I wouldnt go with the tour operators, as its expensive and the money doesnt stay in kenya and go to the locals. We went with Kings safaris. 3 day tsarvo east and west. it was an amazing experince.
One piece of advice though, when you go on safari, you travel by mini bus with your own personal driver, and they never stop in the main towns, they will say to you,,,,'' ''when we get close to the park entrance we will stop for coffee and streach our legs''....they stop at souviner shops, and once you get out of the van, your driver seems to dissapear and your left outside and pressured to go into the shop, and you never walk out empty handed, you always walk out with some wooden animal or something that costs a fortune. they are very pushy. then once you have bought something, your driver seems to re-appear and your on your way!!! ... this happened a few times, and we spoke to a few other people on safari and they said the same... at one point, i saw one of the other drivers get handed a small amount of money from one of the shop keepers!.. so its obviously a scam, where the drivers take the english to the shops, on condition they get a cut of what they buy.... the advice is, dont bother getting out the van.
All in all amazing hotel, very friendly staff. If your in two minds about whether to go or not,,,,dont be...Just book it, you wont have any regrets. ive been loads of places over the years, but this was without doubt..the best holiday and hotel ever.
Its very safe over there, people are very friendly to the english.

13 readers found this review helpful

me and my family stayed at the voyager beach resort in august 2008. we stayed there for 2 weeks, spending four days on a safari which i will talk about at the end. we drove through the towns of mombassa to get to our hotel, the poverty was horrible and we thought to ourselves, this isnt going to be nice. but we were totally wrong, it was the best holiday of our lives. out of all of the hotels that we stopped at to drop people off, ours was the best by miles, we were the only people on the bsu left to stop at our hotel, we thought oh dear it musnt be a good hotel. but again, we were totally wrong. the flight was soo long but it was totally worth it. all of the staff greated us so caringly with glasses of juice and wet flannels (which i think is a tradition because all of the safari lodges did it aswell), as it is so hot there they give them to you to wipe and cool your self down. we arrived early in the morning so we got lead to our hotel rooms where the staff carried our bags. early in the morning we went downstairs to get our breakfast. the variety of food is amazing, you can have pancakes with watever topping, toast, cereal, theres a fruit bar where they cut you any type of fresh fruit, yoghurts, and all kinds of fruit juice. it gets lovely and warm there and the pools are lovely and refreshing, theres a mini waterslide that young children can go on, but it it just as nice for teenagers and any age, when we were there they had a cocktail party where we got free cocktails and they praised all the staff and had a little march, it was fantastic ! there are three pools and one overlooks the sea, you can just swim and watch the sea. its amazing. for lunch you can either eat there, where there is another type of buffet, or you can go to the other little bar, which i prefered, you can get chicken and chips, free ice cream, anything but it is sometimes hard to get a seat there. for your evening meal they do a different theme each night, chinese, indian, mexican, kenyan, all sorts. it is delicious, also there is an italian restraunt which you can book up, that is lovely aswell. the staff are so kind and every night there is different entertainment, the lion king show was the best i think. you can go on all different trips, i definately recommend going to the wood carving place, we went twice, you get to see everyone making wood carvings then go to the shop and buy all different wood carvings and ornaments which are very cheap. the hotel itself though is absoloutely brilliant, i would definately go again, especially when the jabs last for ages. beware though, they are trying to stop this happening but at the airport people take your bags, you think they are just being kind, carrying them to the bus for you but then they want tips, its not just one person , it was two or three with us, so just beware if you do not want to tip them lol. for safari, we went to three differnt places, tsavo east, tsavo west and amboseli. we stayed at three different lodges which were all very good with pools in. the food was not as good as the hotels one but when you see the location of some of them you dont expect them to get much food as they are up very high steep hills and in the middle of nowhere. they are very good though. we saw everything on safari apart from a rhino which was rare in that month. but it was excellent, definately go on safari. our driver on safari was called ali and he was lovely, took us everywhere and told us everything. definately go with F KING TOURS. they are the best !!!! DEFINATELY GO TO THIS HOTEL ! ITS AWESOME ! there is also a beach next door but be careful they will probably all crowd you, wanting you to buy things and might try and steal your things at night especially, its good though and when you are with your entertainment people on entertainemnt aerobics and sand walks going to other hotels its okay. :) BEST HOLIDAY sorry its so long, just so good !