Reviews of Magic Life Africana Imperial, Hammamet

The hotel is lovely and Tunisia itself is beautiful, giving plenty of thigns to do. We travelled with Thomson, for our first and only time! In the past we have always travelled with the same tour operator, but decided as it was our honemoon to treat ourselves. Unfotunately Thomson let us down every step of the way. It started before we had even left home with out travel agent booking us into an airport lounge at the wrong terminal. We spent ther day of our flight (a Sunday!) phoning the Thomson helpline. They said there was nothing they could do but we had to wait till Monday for the shop to open! Useful as we were flying out that day! On eventually getting through to Holiday Extras we were then charged again to book the correct lounge! On arriving in Tunisia we were pleasantly surpise to find our hotel was as good as it was, although a little dissapointed that for our honeymoon we had 2 single beds!

When on holiday we love to go on excursions, as appose to staying in the hotel for 2 weeks. Unfortunately the day before one of our Thomson excursions was due to leave (Monday) we had a note under our door saying it was cancelled and we could get our money back on Wednesday. On Wednesday we waited in Recpetion for 2 hours with no sign of our Rep! A Polish Tui rep kindly offered to help us and rung the Tui local helpline on our behalf. After 20 more minutes of phone calls we eventually found out she was on airport duties! We were then told we would get our money back on the Friday night. Perfect, except we were due to leave a day later and would then have a load of money we could not spend!

The rep was only available a maximum of 3 hours a week in our hotel and 2 of those hours were subject to airport duties! On one of our excursions another Thomson traveller told us her holiday rep had been to her hotel every day (it turnedf out this was the same rep we were suppose to have!)

Anyway on a happier note Magic Life Africana is a beautiful and wonderful hotel, and all the staff are very friendly. I would just suggest if you stay there to book independently and not go with Thomson!

This hotel was superb and certainly matched our expectations.



We booked a double family room for me, my wife and 16 year old daughter. This consisted of a large bedroom, living room and ensuite bathroom. The living room was separated from the bedroom by double sliding doors. My daughter had a double bed in the living area. The beds are large; approx 6ft wide. The room was very clean and we had a double balcony. The air conditioning was in good working order and it was needed with the temperature in the early 30's, even in the evening. A fridge in the room was restocked daily with water, coca cola & orange fanta.



The food was excellent with plenty of choice; we did not tire of the choice throughout the two weeks. There are plenty of hot and cold dishes, salads, fruit, desserts etc. Outside on the terrace where there is also seating for the lunch and evening mealtimes there is always freshly cooked meat and fish from the BBQ and a chef cooking fresh pizzas. There are four other restaurants: fish, Italian, Lebanese & South American. They had to be booked in advance the day before; we had no problem here. The South American was disappointing but the others were excellent.



The staff are very friendly and helpful; nothing was too much trouble. The main nationalities were German, Austrian, Belgians and French with a few English, Russians, Poles and also some Tunisians. I noted a previous reviewer thought this was a negative aspect but we prefer that the British are in the minority because it usually means the hotel is of a much better standard. Definitely a plus point for us if there are not many British.



We had no problem at all communicating with the staff, most of whom spoke passable English and some who spoke very good English.



The gardens and pool area are extensive. There are two pools with the main pool being the hub of activity in the day; my daughter joined in the various activities and made several friends over the holiday. The gardens lead straight onto the beach which was clean although some days the currents brought in seaweed; this was usually cleaned up fairly quickly. This is truly an all inclusive holiday as the watersports are also included; kayaks, catamarans, windsurfing, water skiing and the "banana boat". There is also a beach bar so you can continue to enjoy the all inclusive drinks without returning to the bar by the pool.



There are several bars open at different times of the day and night. The main bar in the hotel is open 24 hours. They also have entertainment in the amphitheatre most nights and also in the Captains Bar. If you are an active person there are lots of activities to suit most people; mountain biking, archery, tennis, aerobics, Nordic walking to name a few.



The restaurant is open 7-11am for breakfast, 12-2.30pm for lunch, 7-9.30pm for dinner and 12 midnight for snacks. There is afternoon tea and cakes served on the terrace each day between 4.30 and 5.30pm and there are hot snacks available throughout the afternoon just outside the poolside entrance to the main hotel lobby. The South American and Italian restaurants are also open at lunchtimes (no need to book at lunchtime).



It is a good idea to tip the waiters in the main restaurant as this ensures a faster service when ordering drinks; just 1 dinar will do the trick.



We could not find any faults with our holiday and thought this hotel provided a first class holiday at a reasonable price. Thomson have certainly found a winner with this one!

Arrived mid-afternoon and was greeted with a nice cool complimentary drink! Very polite check in staff, broken English, but his English a lot better than my Arabic!



Slight confusion over the rooms; Me, Hubby and three kids (10, 9 and 3) having booked interconnecting rooms were told our rooms were 'very close' to each other after showing my Thomson booking confirmation stating this we had to wait approx an hour before rooms were available.



Please note on my booking ticket which you had to hand into reception it was not stated that we had requested interconnecting rooms, it was on my confirmation letter direct from Thomson! Take this with you.



Whilst we waited we were told to help ourselves to lunch, which was great! Upon getting the keys to the rooms upon entering was pleased to see they were very spacious with two adjoining single beds, bathroom, and sep W.C. The adjoining rooms was identical with an extra bed for our third child!



After getting our bearings we found the beach with was very clean and plenty of sunbeds with mattress'. The pool area was also kept immaculate again with plenty of beds and mattresses. Towels are included within this package and you can get clean ones every morning or evening.



The main buffet restaurant was really good plenty of choice and you will also see hotel staff eating in the exact same places and food as you, which for mine is proof that they take care in what they are doing.



You can even get a guided tour of the kitchen and food prep areas!!



Now for some negatives; Lots of Germans, lots, also, French, Dutch, Russians and Slovenians!!



Not an awful lot of English spoken by any of the staff, esp the kids clubs, they seem to be dominated by the German clients. Most staff understand the basic English, but not much more.



The speciality restaurants are very good BUT remember you have to book the 24 hours in advance in order to secure your table. They only take bookings for 50 people each evening.



The hotel all in all in very good, very clean and very well presented, however Thomson should as a matter of urgency get some English staff into the hotel.



On a side note some areas need some safety thing but into place i.e. in main reception, there is a nice seating area with some large rocks to the back however beyond there is a drop of approx 14ft!! Big concern for a 3 year old!!



Really needs to be addressed!



A nice holiday and relaxing break, not America - which is what we are use to!