Duni Royal Resort

We stayed at the Marina Beach Hotel for one week from 25th September to 2nd October and overall we had a wonderful time. We arrived at the hotel at 2.30am and had a fairly swift check in although the girl didn't speak excellent English, we still managed to get a safety deposit box (6 lev a day) and check in quickly, we were shown to our room by the bell boy. Our room was on the fourth floor, not a problem as there are 4 lifts. Our room was a very spacious twin with a chair that could be turned into a third bed, we had a good sized balcony with a wonderful view of the Greenery and Trees. The room was very clean and the bathroom had an amazing shower and really big bath. It also had air con which gave heat too.(essential as it was cold and rainy for us for the first half of the week!) The weather was awful for the first 3 days of our holiday so I really would avoid going at this time of year, there was really heavy rain and gayle force winds which did put a dampener on things. The restaurant was good, plenty of variety and the cakes were to die for, honestly soooo delicicous as was the bread selection. Downside would be, the staff in the restaurant were not particularly quick at re-setting the tables so we had to sit at a table with no cutlery or napkins on more than one occasion. The beach is beautiful (dolphins, swam right into the cove!) and the pool was lovely too although far to cold for anything more than a little paddle for us, i am sure it would be fantasitc come warmer weather. The bar in the Marina Beach is nice, with lots of comfortable chairs and an excellent selection of drinks and cocktails available AI untill 2am. The entertainment team led by Marcin work so so hard, we didn't really participate with the day time activities although they did seem to be plentiful, however the night time shows in the ampitheater were amazing, the best entertainment I have ever had in a all inclusive resort. I was disappointed we couldn't have seen more but they couldn't put on the shows on the rainy evenings due to it being an outdoor theatre.(They did put on small snippets of entertainment in the lobby bar on wet days) Zoli, Doni and Petiya are fantastic dancers and Marcin is quite possibly the funniest guy I have ever met! The team are so friendly too and will join you at the bar and wunder bar disco after show time and dance with you. One evening we played cards with Geri from the mini club for 2 hours and had a whale of a time! The concept of Duni resort is excellent, we felt safe the entire time and I imagine in high season, when all the hotels and amenities are open it is a really magical place to be. The resort and communal areas are very clean and on the whole well maintained. The nearby town of Sozopol is worth a visit (its about 8km away), we went on an organised trip but a return taxi to Sozopol Old Town is 28levs (about £13) so not too bad and once there, the cobbled streets and traditional street market are very bulgarian and give you a real sense of where you are as opposed to the comerical luxury of Duni Royal Resort. Bourgas Airport is well...... we queued for nearly 2 hours at check in and once through security there was 2 duty free shops and a costa coffee, that is it. Ther aren't even enough seats, we had to stand and that is out of the main season so goodness knows how it would be in August! Overall, we had a wonderful holiday and would go back to Duni but maybe earlier in the season as the weather did spoil the first half of the week, it really is a sunshine place. However, for the price we paid and the quality we got- we can't complain about a little rain! (ok, a lot!lol) Oh also, wanted to add that if your staying at the Marina Beach or the Pelican/Belville/Holiday village you cannot use the facilities at the Marina Palace but you can use the facilities at all the other hotels. Also, you can only eat at the a la carte restaurants once a week, we chose the Italian and it was really nice and made a lovely change to the buffet restaurant, I recommend the seafood risotto for starters!