Blue Bay Deluxe Complex

4 readers found this review helpful

I have been to blue bay many many times all the wonderful staff and entertainment team made me feel so welcome.I have over the years taken many children and friends with me because of the high standards.
This year i was sorely disappointed at all the changes I witnessed. New management implimented changes which were in my opinion detrimental to all inclusive guests and high standards set previously by managers and staff. No tea/coffee from beach bar..so you have to come from the pool, get dried and dressed take yourself to restaurant in main building. Drink your tea/coffee, (not allowed to take it out of restaurant)go back to the pool ..undress and go through the process all over again if you want another brew. its a farce! No table cloths at breakfast or lunch just cheap paper placemats with bare table showing. Looks like a transport cafe! Second thoughts.. even transport cafes have table cloths! No all inclusive drinks in the cocktal bar.. if u want a drink inside there you pay for it. Management cant make up thier mind if men with vest t-shirts are allowed entry to the restaurant at breakfast or lunch. First few days they were then one day they were turned away. So embarrassing for guests. Next day they were allowed again.. another farce!
All the staff are wonderful they dont make the rules.. management do yet staff are the first port of call for complaints. I urge anyone with any complaints to take them directly to the boss otherwise the lowering of high standards will never be changed back to where it once was. New management need to understand that all inclusive guests are not non-entities and dont get anything free..we have already paid up front! I complained to management when my wheelchair user friend couldnt get access to the entertainment. He did nothing! For days she had to be put at risk by getting out of her chair manouvering over a low wall and two steps. It was a disgrace to say the least. Eventually her feet were so swollen she couldnt get out of her chair so had to stay in her room. One manager had to be shown the problem about access for wheelchair users before he did anything about it. His arrogance knew no bounds.All he had to do was give permission for staff to open an access door which was kept locked. Eventually he did but not before my friend was humiliated and put at risk. I love Blue Bay hotel and all the staff. They work long hours and very hard to ensure all guests are happy. It is my opinion from the changes i have seen that New Management need to treat guests and staff with respect. If they want a dress code in the restaurant... Properly Dress the tables first!! If they want guests to enjoy their stay then stop treating them like second class people!!

3 readers found this review helpful

I booked the Blue Bay Hotel for myself and my four nearly five year old daughter and we arrived on 26/0/2010 at approx 2200 hours. We were actually placed in a Hotel next door called Matoula Beach but I didn't say anything because it was quite nice and I thought it might be a bit quieter anyway. I walked straight upto a swanky bar area, in keeping with a four star hotel, only to be told this was a pay bar. I was ushered out to the pool area for the all inclusive bar which smells all the time. I believe the only difference in the drinks was in the pay bar, you got umbrellas, an actual glass and a sparkly stick in your drink. My drink came in a beaker but hey ho.
The next day, we got to the pool area at approximately 0810 hours and there wasn't a sunbed in sight. I went to inform the reception that there were no sunbeds free and yet nobody was sitting on them and they told me "they would tell the manager". I said to the receptionist "it's fine, I'll tell him, where is he". Clearly I wasn't going to be allowed to speak with the manager and clearly they weren't going to do anything about the sunbed situation. Rather than lay on the floor for ten days, I proceeded to do what the Germans (and British I might add) do and set my alarm every day for 0700 hours. Fantastic. I found the reception staff and the restaurant managers rude and just generally pretty useless. They speak to you as though you are stupid and looked genuinely p*ssed off if you approached them about anything at all. The restaurant manager insisted there were tables available when clearly there was not. I think he was more upset about me trying to leave the restaurant with one of their glasses as I couldn't get a table to actually put the glass on.
Moving onto the entertainment. The animation staff are superb and they work just so hard for the guests. I didn't partake in activities by the pool but I appreciated the fact they provided the activities in the first place (I really should have got involved in the aqua aerobics) . My daughter loved going into the kids club in the morning and the afternoon and that side of the holiday I could not fault. The Greeks genuinely seem to love children but I always get the feeling when I've gone to Greece that I'm "roughing it" as it were.
I have to say I found some of the food inedible. I tried really hard to find something from the buffet which I could eat and apart from the Greek salad, I struggled enormously. To try and get my four year old to eat anything was a nightmare. It was hard to tempt her with any of it when I struggled to eat it myself. It didn't stop scores of people piling their plates sky though. Uggg! I feel sick just thinking about it. The hotel seemed to be inhabited mainly by Germans and Dutch with a few French and British thrown in.
I realise with all inclusive it can be hit and miss and on the whole, I think this holiday was a bit of a miss for me apart from the animation team.

3 readers found this review helpful

I booked this as a late deal and then read the reviews!! Dont take any notice of some of the bad reviews. I was fully expecting a nightmare holiday with bad accommodation and bad food. I must say that the holiday far exceeded our expectations. We travelled with our 2 daughters aged 11 and 15, who both enjoyed the holiday. The food was excellent with a good variety for all inclusive. The alcoholic drinks are served up to midnight round the pool bar. They may be in plastic cups, which didn't bother us as there are a lot of children about, so glass could be dangerous. The main bar is payable. The entertainment team made our holiday, they were brilliant, both for kids and adults!!
The greek night is a must!
The only negative part of the holiday is that the hotel is a bit isolated, but if you walk about half an hour to the next village there are a few bars, Tommies bar being the one we frequented a few times. Tommie and Helen and also Tommy (dad) were lovely. You can also get a bus to Rhodes town which was 6 euros for four of us.
You do get used to the planes overhead!
overall it was an excellent holiday and we met some great people in the hotel. The staff are all friendly and the place is really clean.

1 reader found this review helpful

We went to the blue bay at the end of May this year, and I had booked it last minuite. Once I booked it I read some reviews which really put me off the place. How wrong could I have been. We arived in the middle of the night, and me being me left the passports on the bus transfer. The staff did all they could to retrieve the passports and got them back to me the next day at no cost.
The reason we booked the hotel is so my daughter could play in the water park. In the whole week there she only went once as she liked it better around the other pool with the animation team. The animation team were fantastic, Billy, Babou, Dex and the rest of the gang made the holiday and what a laugh they were.
The food was not the best but it was fine. I wouldnt say it was 5 star and that would be my only critisim. But then they have a BBQ which you have to pay for on the Sunday night and that is superb.
Best holiday I have been on and met some nice people also who we have managed to stay in touch with.
Ben Casanova from Darlington

10 readers found this review helpful

stayed at the blue bay for 2 weeks with 2 children aged 16 an 11 , firstly i would just like 2 say ignore all the negative comments this hotel is lovely we ate hot food there fa 2 weeks the rooms was cleaned every day clean towels and sheets every day !! water park free 6 times a week closes on a wednesday , 2mins walk 2 beach and water park.staff nice and very helpful.fridge in room air con ,hair dryer ,would definatly go back there lovely hotel

13 readers found this review helpful

I've just spent a week at the Blue Bay with my family and we had a lovely time.
I always make the mistake of booking holidays then reading the reviews, and if I based my holiday choices on reviews I would probably never go away. I really don't know what the people who criticise the Blue Bay expected from their holidays.
Okay, the nightly cabaret would draw some sharp comments from Simon Cowell, but the entertainment team were on hand from 10 in the morning till 11 at night. There was always something going on. We didn't have any problems finding sun beds, the food was good and lots of variety. There is an international clientel, but they all seemed friendly enough.
The staff were exceptionally helpful and approachable. and the hotel was clean.
The only real criticisms I have are that the hotel is on the main flight path from Rhodes airport, so a jet passes overhead every 10 minutes or so during the day. You get used to it, and our son is of an age where that is about as exciting as life gets. Although the hotel is generally pretty secure there were groups of children, the ones I saw were English, running around unsupervised. I don't think either problem is anything the Blue Bay can be held responsible for.

Overall, my family and I had a great time, and I would recommend the Blue Bay to anyone who fancies a visit to Rhodes.

13 readers found this review helpful

After reading the reviews regarding this hotel I wasn’t 100% about booking at this hotel but after staying two weeks my partner and I had a fabulous time.
The hotel was clean and bright. The maids was always cleaning rooms and changing towels everyday no matter what time you came out of your room in the morning. The food was quite good though I’m a fussy eater there was always something for me. My partner enjoyed it all. There was food available from 7 in the morning to midnight. There was always something to eat even if it was snacks, like cobs and pizza. The only downside, most of the food wasn’t labelled up so you ended up asking the staff what it was and we also found it wasn't hot enough or sometimes not quite cooked. The drinks were plentiful!!!
The staff where pleasant and helpful.
Entertainment for the hotel was brilliant for both adults and children; we hadn’t laughed so much in ages. Everybody was friendly and not pushy.
My partner and I decided to hire a scooter for three days which was also brilliant. It cost 45 Euros for 3days including insurance and was great as we explored the west cost. This we would recommend. We didn’t have to pay for sun beds by the pool or air conditioning as some people mentioned in the reviews. We never got round to the water park.
Overall opinion brilliant and would go back again.
Liz & John

10 readers found this review helpful

I had a great time in the blue bay hotel,lots to do around the complex plenty of activities and the waterpark and beach right on your doorstep.
food was good,and the people were very freindly.
The entertainment at night was more based around the children,but it was fun.
the weather was exellent,we also had a great family room with a great veiw.
We would deffeinitly be back there in the future.

3 readers found this review helpful

We, 2 adults and 2 children, stayed at this hotel booked thru www.youtravel.com for two weeks. Hotel is rated as 5 star and we went for all inclusive. I support all other negative feedback on this site. I would classify the hotel as most as 3 stars.
The food is disgusting, boring, bad quality and little variation. Breakfast and dinner was worst. Breakfast had verry little variation with more or less exactly the same every day; bread, eggs in different forms (scrambled, boiled and what looks like deep fried), tomato beans, pukable sasauges and almost boiled bacon, cheese and bad ham plus cereals. Not once we ate a dinner at the buffet that was really good. I would classify the food as far below Norwegian Cafeteria standard...and that is bad. We talked a lot to numerous other customers from Britain, Belgium, Scandinavia, France, Netherlands and Germanu at the hotel and all had the same oppinion as us: disgusting, boring and very little inviting food.
We tried to get in contact with the manager many times but he or her was never available.
The rooms were really small even we got a "Familiy room". Rooms were dirty and we never got refill of soaps etc.
Overall this hotel stay made our holiday a failure and we feel fooled paying for this hotel. Don't stay at this hotel at no cost. We should have been payed wanting to stay at the hotel. It should be a free hotel because it is crap.

2 readers found this review helpful

We arrived to a very small family room with the main room sandwiched between the bathroom and second room with no fresh air and no air conditioning working. We tried to speak to the night man about it but he didn't want to know - so we left it and dealt with it in the morning.
The reception staff were really helpful and friendly soon moving us to another more comfortable room.
At the end of the day with this hotel you 'gets what you pays for'. It clearly isn't a 5* for UK standards - but it probably is for Greek standards.
The food left a little to be desired - very rubbery pasta and tastless. And as others have said it's like school canteens to have to queue up for the food. I notice that a lot of people were complaining that the food was luke warm - we read in our little Rhodes Guide that the Greeks tend to eat their food at a tepid tempreture as they think that it digests better.
We booked through a company called Qwerty and they booked the hotel through youtravel.com. We didn't have to pay for the sunbeds on the beach right outside the hotel - but we did pay 3 Euro a day for the sun beds just up from the hotel - they were much more comfortable and totally worth the money. Plus they were slightly away from the hotel so there wasn't much noise.
If you stayed around the pool then there was music constantly played - I personally didn't want that so chose to find another location to read my book and bask in the sun.
At no point do any of the tour operators tell you that the hotel is right in the flight path. I found it hard with the noise at first....but after a couple of days failed to notice it too much. I even slept with the balcony door open and the noise didn't wake me....and I'm a light sleeper!
Although it was an AI resort we didn't like the food much so spent a couple of nights out in Rhodes Old Town dining at a fantastic Indian and Chinese restaurant and would definitely recommend the floating restaurant at the harbour (but be careful as it is fairly pricey - but the food is exquisit!).
All in all an enjoyable holiday - wouldn't return to that hotel again but we made the most of what we had available to us.