Ocean Blue Hotel

1 reader found this review helpful

Video we made of the holiday and hotel - [...]
I've been to this hotel 3 times now. First time I went with a group of mates (boys). Second time I went with just one mate. Third time I went with my girlfriend. Every time I've been I've had a great time.
I think the place looks really good and it has been decorated very nicely with a nautical theme which isn't tacky at all. The pictures on the site of the hotel are totally accurate and give a fair representation of how it looks. I could have walked from our room to the pebble beach in under a minute. The hotel was always very clean and the rooms were cleaned to a good standard every day. The pool in the hotel is big and a good size for the number of guests. I thought the food was very nice - OK it's not 5* standard but what do you expect fot the price? There was always at least a few things that I liked and the soup was nice.
I always found that there were plenty of things to do. The Animation team was very active and there was a full plan of activities each day (except for their day off). I played volley ball and waterpolo most days and it was great. There is also a tennis court which no one seems to know about, but we used it and the hotel gave us equipment to use for free.
The rooms were very nice and had a CD player, TV with BBC World News and some other channels, a small fridge, a decent sized bathroom, nice comfy bed, very good air conditioning etc.
If you want to go out at night, there are some small clubs in Rhodes town which isn't far by taxi (and the taxi prices are reasonable) of you can go in to Faliraki. There is also a bowling alley about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. There is also a massive water park in Faliraki.
The bus service in Rhodes is very good with regular buses and reasonable prices.
Ok you can pick some faults with the hotel - the entertainment is a bit cheap and cheerful, the private pools might not live up to expectations and there is a bad smell in one small area of the grounds and some of the staff could be friendlier. But so what? For the money you pay, it is an excellent hotel. Fair enough it is on a flight path, but the planes didn't annoy anyone I spoke to - in fact it became really interesting watching them every so often. I've been three times now and everyone I've been with has had a great time. I will definitely be going back for a 4th time and hopefully more after that. Please don't be put off by the bad reviews, give it a chance and don't expect pure luxury and you will have a great time.

2 readers found this review helpful

we arrived at this hotel and had on several occasions contacted the hotel to renew our wedding vows as this is advertised, on checking in mentioned this and was told that they knew nothing about this, we booked the hotel especialy to do this so this was a big dissapiontment one of many. we never had anyone to help us with the luggage which i would expect from a 5 star hotel. we got to the room which had a our 'own pool' which was a share of what i would call a river. on the internet it looks like you get a power shower in the superior room but on asking at reception was told that there are no power showers in any of the rooms. we went to the resturant as it opened and the food was cold, we did complain but nothing was done. the pool side bar was serving food that was in the resturant and even the prawns were left out all day. we asked for extra pillows and it took reception two days and then we had to phone on two occasions, the shower in the room was hand held. we had a room which was overlooking the swimming pool and on one occasion sat having a drink in the evening and was surprised to see someone with a dog at the seating area and then they proceeded to take the dog to do its businees where children play in thd day time, we complained to one of the staff who told us that there are rooms within the hotel where you can take dogs, surely this is not a 5 star hotel. there is not a beech bar and the beech is very disappionting. the smell of sewrage is terrible and where we suppposed to renew our wedding vows was just beside the septict tank. the animation team did their best even they couldnt beleive it was rated a 5 star. linda the girl from holland did a good job. most of the staff were rude especially the resturant staff. the food was not 5 star. we booked this holiday to renew our wedding vows and it was my husbands birthday that we were to do this on, we were there for 10 days and after 7 would have come home. there were alot of people complaining about the rating of this hotel but only told by reception that they should have researched it better, we have and dont go by the photos and waste your money especially if you want to get married or renew your wedding vows.

1 reader found this review helpful

I have just returned from this hotel after a 2 week holiday. The hotel is sold as a 5 star....it is no more than 2.5 star at best!!
The write ups I saw about the hotel by tour operators were simply not true. Like, no money exchange at reception, no beach bar, the beach is dirty and all pebbles not sandy and clean. I also read on the hotel web site before I left that there was n new bar opened....this just was not the case!! The A La Carte restaurant looked very nice but was rarely used. Probably because they charged 20 Euros per person even thoug you were all inclusive, just for wine!!
The grounds were also smelly in places and it was not particularly clean and many of the staff were very rude.
The room itself was ok, and we had one with our own pool.....but it was kind of shared with the next rooms!!
We were delayed coming back and we had to be put up in The Rodos Palace hotel....now that really is 5 star!!
Below are the points I have raised with our tour operator:
1: First of all, there was no representative available for us to talk to at the hotel. There was also no information in English at the hotel regarding information about the hotel or Rhodes. I am not sure whether there should have been a Thomson or Thomas Cook Rep available to us as the flight was with Thomson but the tickets were issued by Thomas Cook. Either way, we had no welcome meeting and no contact numbers should we have needed them. This alone is very poor.
2: There was no return flight information displayed at all let alone in English.
3: In the various write ups on the hotel various facilities/information were shown which were simply not true:
a: There were supposed to be Bathrobes (for adults), slippers, body & hair shampoo, body lotion in the room, these were not there despite asking at reception several times.
b: Information was written about a beach bar which did not exist.
c: The beach is described clean and sandy. The beach is quite dirty and all pebbles ranging from small to very large!!
d: There is various information written about the bars. There was a snack bar near the pool and a main bar near the restaurant. The snack bar effectively had what was left over from breakfast. There was supposed to be a Deck bar and there was also mention of the ‘new’ Nautica Blue which is stated as new for 2009. Neither of these exist!! The Nautica Blue I have since found out is in fact another Hotel....yet to be completed.
4: Many of the staff were very rude.
5: I wanted to extend my room from the normal check out time of 12 noon until about 5.30. I asked a lady called Mary at reception about this the day before departure. She simply said it was not possible. I then returned to reception later in the day when there was a different lady working who arranged this immediately. There was a cost of 50 Euros to do this which is quite extortionate for a hotel of such poor standards. Either way, the experience of trying to extend the room just made us even more angry after the first lady was just not interested.
6: Various write ups show different cuisines being available, like Mexican, Chinese etc. At every other All Inclusive hotel I have been to each guest is allowed at least 2 visits per week to the A La Carte restaurants, included in the cost of the holiday. Not here!! There was one Ala Carte restaurant apart from the main restaurant but there was a cost of 20 Euros per person for a bottle of wine!! This restaurant was rarely open and each time it was there were only about 4 tables occupied.
7: In many areas of the grounds there was a terrible smell of sewerage. It is next to a working sewerage farm.
8: The room we were in appeared not to be finished properly. The bath leaked and also the sink leaked leaving the floor very slippery. Reception was informed but there was no evidence of it being resolved. There was also a whole in the ceiling with a wire curled around inside it. I can only assume this should have been for a smoke alarm. (I have photographic evidence of this)
9: We were in a room that had a private pool. This was not strictly private as it joined 2 other rooms. The private pool went under the balcony and under each balcony there were 2 nails protruding from the underside of the balcony. Also the wooden walk way from the balcony had screws protruding under the walkway to the pool area. Both of the above were potentially very dangerous. (I have photographic evidence of this)
10: There was supposed to be money exchange available at reception. This was not the case and the nearest bank was about 30 minutes walk away or a bus ride away into Rhodes town.
11: There was also supposed to be an indoor pool. The only indoor pool was in the reception building and the only time we saw it being used was by a father and his son who were ceremoniously kicked out of it saying it was not to be used.
12: The main pool area was often very dirty.
13: The main restaurant was not large enough to accommodate the amount of guests at the hotel. The staff in the restaurant who were clearing plates etc from the tables obviously just wanted to get people out as quickly as possible. There were many occasions when we had barely put our knives and forks down that the plates were sharply taken away from under our noses. There was no chance to have a relaxing meal. I have never been to a 5 star where you had to lay your own table, often on dirty table cloths.
14: This hotel is far from a 5 sun/star classification and as such I believe it has been mis-sold.
If anyone is looking at the Nautica Blue hotel be careful as it is owned by the same people who own this place!!

3 readers found this review helpful

I am not usually one to write reports on here as I believe that every has diferent views and you will always get someone complaining about a hotel BUT I really feel the need to on this occasion - If you haven't booked yet, Don't make the biggest mistake of your life by booking in this hotel, look somewhere else. if you have already booked, I would seriously look at seeing how much it will cost you to move. My partner and I have just returned from a week in this hotel and it wasn't good. If we had booked a 3 star hotel, then it would of been fine but we were expecting pure luxury as this is supposed to be 5-star. No way. There is absolutely nothing 5 star about this hotel. Don't be sucked into the whole "private pool" speech when you are asked to upgrade your room either. We paid £200 extra to upgrade to a superior room with Private Pool. There is nothing private about these rooms. You have to share the pool with 3 or 4 different rooms and if you are like us, we had 3 families with children sharing ours so by the time they were all in the pool, there was no room for us so we never even went into the pool. as for the bathroom with the Jucuzzi bath, this was a nightmare, you either had to sit or kneel and hold the shower head if you wanted to shower and the whole batheroom was saturated afterwards. Our room was so old. All the furniture was chipped and really old, there was a big whole in the ceiling and we had a couple of dressing gowns delivered one morning - DIRTY with stains all on them - Just not what you would expect a 5 star hotel to be like. The grass outside our room was so long you couldn't sit on your sun lounges if you wanted too... and the view we had was looking onto what looked like a dumping ground, there were matresses, used li-lows and all sorts of rubbish - Lovely view. There was also a dreadful smell of sewage all week, one morning it was coming through the vent in the bathroom and woke us up with the smell. As I said earlier, we are not usually ones to moan but we really did expect to have a relaxing holiday which is why we booked a 5 star hotel, so we were massiveely disappointed, we even looked into moving resort but this was costing too much. The food in the snack bar was disgusting as they used left over dinner/breakfast and it was there all day. The drinks were not even branded drinks, its was rola-cola etc. If you are all inclusive, be warned that after 11pm you have to pay for everything. They don't even have a very good selection of drinks, no local martini, malibu etc, only vodka, gin really. One night they even ran out of lemonade and beer so we had to go to the shop and buy our own. We met a few peopl on this holiday so we made the most of it and we did have a good time, but honestly, please do not be fooled by the pictures on the internet, its nothing like what you see and you will be very very disappointed if you go to this hotel with too high standards. if you go with the view to the hotel being 3 star, you will be fine. The hotel is VERY close to the airport so its very noisy but we couldn't complain about this as i knew this before i booked, i just wish id of looked into these reviews more before i booked the hotel, save us the disappointment.

2 readers found this review helpful

After seeing the hotel on the web site we were really excited about visiting. Champagne reception was non existent. We were just given our key and directed to our room. After looking at the official hotel web site I was expecting luxury. I'm no snob and have stayed in some pretty low budget hotels, but after looking at the web site I expected more than what we got. There were no dressing gowns and slippers awaiting us on the bed, and the decor of the room was the bog standard you get in any low budget hotel. There was no satellite tv in the room, nor a dvd player (both promised on the web site). Not that I go away to use these facilities, but it is false advertising. We paid extra to stay in the double superior garden suites. Thank goodness we did as the other rooms around the pool were tiny. A couple we spoke to had demanded to be moved from one of these pool side rooms because of the noise. Would you believe that after paying extra for a deluxe suite, we had a camp bed in the room??? See the pics. The hotel is directly under the flight path. The first day we were there it was a novelty, watching the planes fly so low. Trust me, the novelty soon wore off. After being woken every 15 minutes during the night, we weren't the happiest of travellers. All throughout the holiday we just kept thanking our lucky stars that we weren't around the pool area. For one, the stench of sewage was really, really bad. For two, it was just extremely busy and noisy. Even though the view from my room door was of wasteland, we were happy where we were. The food was ok, apart from the packed lunch which consisted of a dry cheese and ham sandwich, bottle of water and two bananas. It was rarely hot, but we didn't havea problem with this. What really annoyed us was that the kitchen staff moved your plates as soon as you put your cutlery down. This was annoying to say the least, especially if you were having to interrupt eating your dessert in order to pass your plates over to the waiting on staff. The staff were rude - simply saying 'Finished?' before snatching away your plates. A word of warning - don't use the soft drinks dispenser in the restaurant as it is infested with crawling bugs when you pour your drink out. When we told the waiting on staff that we had a glass full of bug infested lemonade they squirted the machine and said 'it's sorted.'. But every day when we tried to use it, the same thing happened. All inclusive only lasts until 11pm. Be aware....they have 1, or if you are lucky 2, barstaff on so you can imagine the queues for drinks. The bar staff were surly, ignorant and rude. I have been to Rhodes many times and have always found the Greek people the nicest in the world so this surprised me immensely. I later found out that the bar staff and kitchen staff were Polish and Albanian, so maybe weren't happy in their jobs perhaps? One evening they ran out of brandy. They just replied 'No brandy'. By this time, our party was feeling extremely fed up by the attitude of the staff and spoke to the manager who promptly went to the beer store and returned with brandy. The truth was, the bar staff just couldnt be bothered to fetch it. They were happier to serve guests who were paying for their drinks. They didn't seem to be bothered about serving children - one of my children was waiting 20minutes before we had to go to the bar to get a drink for her. There was no entertainment on the Friday we were there as it was the Animation Team's day off. In peak season?? And on a Friday??? We weren't allowed to use the toilet near the pool for 30minutes after the cleaners had been in, and were simply blocked physically from entering! We found the reception staff and the manager very helpful and pleasant however. The a la carte restaurant wasn't part of the all inclusive deal but we knew this before we went. The entertainment consisted of the same music being played all day. We were also mithered to buy Cds and t shirts at 15 euros each. They played bingo, which cost 5 euros a game, and the prize was a CD or a t shirt. The hotel was in the middle of nowhere, but this wasn't a problem because it is so cheap to use public transport in Rhodes. The hotel is directly on the beach - it's a small pebble beach, but the sea is beautiful. There was no beach bar, as stated on the hotel web site. The bus into Rhodes costs 2 euros for an adult and 1 euro for a child which is fabulous value for money. Also, if you caught the bus near the hotel you managed to get a seat, whereas if you were further towards Rhodes and got on then you would be standing along with about 30 other people. I love Rhodes, and will definitely visit again - but will definitely never go to this hotel ever again. After working hard to save up and go on this holiday, I expected a little more customer service than what I received. If staff in hotels in Britain were as unhelpful and as rude I am quite sure they would be out of a job.

I booked this hotel before reading the comments on review websites. I'm glad i did.
We paid £1700 for 2 weeks all inclusive for 2 adults and 2 children. I cannot believe the people moaning about how bad the place is! The hotel has recently been refurbished to a good standard. The rooms are good and the cleanliness is excellent. All the staff were brilliant, Greeks, Polisih, Czechs and Romanians, all friendly, helpful and a pleasure to talk to.
OK the hotel is on the flight path, no great problem. The location is not the best, a bit remote. All in all this place is very good for the money. If people want international 5* they will not get it for this money.
Dont be put off, go with an open mind and enjoy!!!!!!

Just came back from what I thought was going to be a relaxing holiday!! We were in the flight path of all incoming planes and the noise was horrendous, the planes were so low you could almost see the pilot!! As for the hotel, the staff were not at all friendly especially the bar staff because we were all inclusive they ignored you pretending to be busy cleaning glasses, there was only 1 girl who worked in the restaurant who we saw smile. We booked what was called a superior room with a plunge pool but with 2 single beds and 1 double there was no room to move. The air conditioning was not at all cold and the bathroom was like a sauna, you couldnt even get dried. The food was ok but chips for breakfast?? There was also 5 or 6 dogs running around the hotel which was scary when they all ran to you at once. This was meant to be a 5 star hotel which it will never be, if the staff had been pleasant or friendly it might have been a bit better. Now we are home and with the noise of the planes all night we are shattered and would need another holiday to recover from this one but im afraid we will pass on Greece it will probably be Egypt next year were the people are truly friendly and helpful.

2 readers found this review helpful

I booked the Ocean Blue Hotel back in January and then read all the reviews which were not all good and made me very nervous about the hotel, but I have just returned from a week there and I can say I think a lot of the reviews have been a bit harsh and I had a really good time.
It is a beautifully decorated, clean, light hotel, yes the are a few drawbacks but on the whole it was definately much better than I had expected after reading some of the reviews.
We arrived after midnight and were given a drink and a sandwich as the bar was closed which was very much appreciated. Our room was a standard room and it was a good size for 2. The bathroom was lovely, modern and clean. The only drawback is the jacuzzi bath is very small with a hand held shower attachment which is a bit annoying as you have to kneel or sit in the bath to shower. I think the hotel would have been better to put a stand up shower in, but the shower attachment worked fine so its not really a problem. There is a cd player in the room and a fridge and tv, I found 2 channels that showed English programmes.
The pool area is really nice, but I prefered to lie in the garden areas as found the pool a bit noisy, great for families though. There are plenty of sunbeds but not plenty of the comfy mats to put on them (to be found in a shed in the garden area by the pool). I would recommend getting up early to bag one as we waited until after breakfast one day and they had all gone. The beach that is part of the hotel does have some sunbeds on as well. It is quite small but very pretty, but if you walk just 2 minutes up the road there is a bigger section of beach where you can rent a sunbed for 3 euro's a day, do watersports etc which I preferred, although the beaches are stoney the sea is fantastic to swim in and turns to sand as soon as you get in.
The hotel is in the flight path but after the first day I got used to it and they did not bother me. Any resort that end of Rhodes is going to be in the flight path and it's the price you pay for only have to travel 5 mins to the airport in a taxi and not sit on a coach transfer for hours.
There was a good selection of food everyday, always soup, salads, pasta's, rice, fruit, cheese and bread selections with the hot food varing each day and at lunch and dinner there is a deserts selection and ice cream. I have been all inclusive before and for the price you pay the buffet is very good. The only downside is that the snack bar is not very good its fine for drinks or a coffee but not for any food - it is just leftovers that are kept hot all day.
The hotel is a bit isolated on first appearances but towards the end of the week we discovered its only a short walk to kremasti which is a small resort and there are bars and restaurants there. Also about 5 mins walk away if you head to the main road is a tarverna called pegasus which is a family run place with very good food.
Rhodes town is 11 - 13 euro's each way so it can be expensive going there all the time but worth it. The old town is amazing good to go in the daytime to get photos as it gets busy at night. We walked to the marina and there are lots of different boat trips you can take. We did a 3 hour one to Kalathia which is definately worth it and it only cost 15 euro's. They take you on the boat to Kalathia (a restored spa and springs) and you get off and stay there for a few hours, there is a cafe, bar and sunbeds or hammocks and or you can swim or snorkle.
Overall I would say that the hotel is not a 5 star hotel but for it is not a 5 star price either, I did get value for money from my week there, compared to how much it would have cost to go self catering and then to buy all your food as well. The main drawback is that the hotel lacks a greek atmosphere - it could be a hotel anywhere that was hot and sunny and there really is not much to do at night time if you stay in the hotel, but I would go there again.

The Ocean blue hotel is in first impressions a gorgeous, clean and weel maintained hotel. The rooms are as in any hotel very basic. You have a room with anything up to 4single beds in a row with a television with no british speaking channels and a bath/shower room where you require to kneel down to shower. There is no dvd as advertised and if you wish the mini fridge to be stocked, even though you are all inclusive you need to pay for all drinks wich you use. The food at the hotel is varied and not as previously reviewed elsewhere aways cold. Some items were look warm but on the whole the menu was varied and tasty. I suggest the people who complain are people who will not try different things while on holiday . The surrounding area of the hotel are well kept and always very clean and tidy. Our first week was soured by some sour faced Italians with very little or no manners within the dining room who seem to think they should be first for evrything and were very ignorant to waiting staff. The animation team were our highlight as they kept everyone happy rom 9am til 11pm every day of our 2 week break. On the whole a great holiday if you can put up with the ogmorance f other guests and also the bullying of staff from the manager who made their life hell and therefore they were quite miserable for the most time.

1 reader found this review helpful

Very disappointing holiday. This hotel is no where near the 5* rating it is being advertised as, it would struggle to recieve 3*.
The staff were rude and not interested in serving, everthing was too much effort. The food was ok but the same most of the week and we were concerned to find leftover lunch on the snack bar kept warm all afternoon {this included a large tray of cauliflower one day!} and then put back out for supper, the food was bland and only ever warm not hot. Really not much to do, evening entertainment was quite awful, they had a magician one night which was more comical than magical. I booked this as a luxury 5* holiday and expected to be well treated, this was not the case and we are very disappointed. The hotel is in the flight path but that is really the least of the hotels problems. It is in a very quiet area with very little to do and although only a 10 minute taxi ride to Rhodes town, if you want to ecape the hotel on a regular basis this can work out quite expensive. The hotel is near the beach but there is no sand only stones, the view on the beach is lovely though. We hired towels from the hotel only to be given towels other guests had left behind. If you are going to the hotel expecting a 5* hotel you will be very disappointed if you have not booked yet I stongly advise going elsewhere.