Holiday Reviews > Africa > Tunisia > Port El Kantaoui > Port El Kantaoui Hotels > Diar El Andalous Hotel > Read Reviews
Diar El Andalous Hotel Reviews
| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
May 2006 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Airtours |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr R Kelly |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
Although the hotel looks nice on arrival. It isn't, Both my wife and I had food poisoning and spent the last 4 days of our holiday in bed.
The food. As much as it is plentiful is rubbish! Fried banana with onions, Spam with onions, processed meats, uncooked potatoes with onions, bad salad, bad pasta sauces. The same chicken off cuts for 14 days in a row. ‘Gala Dinner’ they had lobster. Fantastic. Second time around. First time around was truly awful.
As for the a’la carte restaurants? What a joke. The Mexican served us gristle fajitas that were luke warm. We could have gone there twice, we didn't. Likewise the Italian and Grill restaurants. Which we didn’t try after hearing numerous complaints from people around the pool.
The rooms are very basic and smell very damp and foisty. Obviously in such a humid country this is to be expected. But the smell of foisty corridors and a repugnant cooked garlic smell mixed together aren’t nice even when you aren’t vomiting constantly.
The rooms are cleaned daily and the maids are the shining light in this hotel.
The constant selling every 2 minutes on the beach is a real pain, and even a very pushy 'No!' doesn’t seem to put them off. What is worse is that the Occidental group have people who harass you constantly to upgrade to their timeshare scam. Although they tell you it isn't that’s basically what they are doing. 'Free bottle of rum and a T-shirt' a welcome gift from the most friendly man in the Dominican who the minute you say no, doesn’t speak to you again for the rest of your holiday. Which is fantastic ! But they swap hotels every other day so there's always new blood.
The pools are good and well maintained. But the entertainers who keep asking you to play table tennis or do 'aeroby' Aerobics to dance music at 1.000.0000 decibels in the scorching sun really do annoy after the first couples of days.
These same people do the evenings entertainment. Which is a lot like a butlins resort/family entertainment show with bad English with worse music from that wouldn‘t have been out of place in 1973. It is terrible. Seriously. Unless you're from a mancunian council estate and you have 10 kids you will hate it.
Excursions from reps are very expensive and buying them from the plaza is a great way to save money. You are on the same tours bus’s, boats as the people who paid more from the hotel. So look into it. The highlights of the holiday funnily enough were getting out! Catamaran to Sosua was excellent (freestyle 1) and also Ocean world. The waterfalls are well worth seeing but that depends on whether you’re guide is the Dominican Derek Trotter. Ours was.
On departure the idiot behind the counter misplaced our room key. So I had to walk back to the room and to the towel shack only for it not to be there. Waiting 30 mins for him to piss me about and tell me he didn’t have it and he definitely remembers me taking it. 40 mins later a girl finds me and shows me the key she found which he filed in the wrong place. Thank God! Now we can check out, for a minute there I thought we wouldn’t be allowed to leave! I made a point of seeking out this imbecile and just suggested that next time he was so adamant that a customer had made a mistake he did his job properly in the first place and didn’t delay me again. No apology. Although by now I am wet with sweat and at boiling point with this farce of a 4* hotel. Ridiculous. DO NOT GO HERE. I never will again. I just wanted to get home.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Apr 2006 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomas Cook |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss E Satchell |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
Just returned for an excellent holiday in Tunisia - the only problem was we chose one week and really I could have stayed for a month!
The Abou Sofiane was great. I'd never been all inclusive before and really enjoyed the experience! The food was lovely with a really wide choice at breakfast, lunch and evening. There is also the snack bar by the pool, open 12-4pm which serves crepes, salads, hot food and fresh pizzas, burgers hot dogs etc made to order.
The pool area was lovely and a real sun trap. if it gets too hot here, take a one minute stroll through the hotel gardens to the beach where the sea breeze is really refreshing. There were plenty of sun loungers round the pool and on the beach so you have no problem finding somewhere to relax.
The animations team were really good fun. Lots of games and activities all day and the evening shows were good too. Whe they do the group dance with the beep, beep song make sure you join in. The beep, beep song will get stuck in your head but its a real holiday tune! If anyone knows where I can get hold of it PLEASE let me know, its really good!
All the hotel staff are friendly and very helpful. Language is not a problem as they all speak Arabic, French, English and German! They all seem very hard working. The hotel was very clean. Our maid was lovely. The bar and restaurant waiters kept things very clean and tidy, collecting empties and dirty plates very quickly.
We went with Thomas Cook and they were great. Our rep had only been in Tunisia for two weeks but she was excellent. She really knew her stuff and if she didn't have an answer for your question she would go and find out. The excursions were fun. We went to Friguia Animal Park which is a lovely zoo/gardens. The park keepers here were great and would go right into the enclosures to get photos for you for a small tip (1 dinar can get you almost anything! That’s around 50p). We had a short camel ride here which was AMAZING!
We also went on the Arabian Feast evening. Well worth it to see the entertainment and try the food - but it’s more of a 'taste' of the food than a feast!
We wish we could have done the Sahara Explorer trip but it takes 2 days so is not really practical if you are only there for a week.
The resort itself is lovely. Kantaoui is a very modern resort, purpose built for tourists. If you want a taste of real Tunisia head down to Sousse and make your way into the Medina to try some bartering! Really good fun but make your mind up how much you want to pay before you start. We found that if you stick at your price then if they don't agree just walk away, they often called us back and sold it to us for our price! If you don't want to barter get your souvenirs from the Soula Centre, a fixed price shop on the edge of the Medina, it has everything and is very reasonable.
Overall this was an absolutely awesome holiday. We went just at the right time - late April, temps reaching 30 so hot but breatheable!
Only warning - Tunisia is a closed currency so you can’t take Dinars out of the country. The hotels have cashiers to change your money but they can't change it back so only change a little at a time. The only place you can change it back to sterling is in the airport and they charge 30%! There are a few little shops in the airport to get rid of your money but you can't spend it in duty free as this is beyond passport control.
I hope you have as great a holiday in Tunisia as I did - I'll certainly be going back!
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| Board Basis: |
Half Board |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Feb 2006 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Panorama |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs M Scott |
| Overall
Rating: |
9/10 |
| Comments: |
Fabulous food - high quality and extensive choice. Good, friendly service. Large clean rooms. Excellent heated indoor pool. Guests of several different nationalities (majority, elderly Germans) very quiet and well behaved.
Weather 16C and some rain in Feb - very cold wind at times. Next to beach - miles of sand, mostly unspoiled and lovely views. Tourist centered with nearest 'real' Tunisian experience in Sousse.
Cheap taxis to local towns. Local people informal, helpful and friendly - might need to be assertive when shopping though, if you want a bargain. Train service to Tunis from Sousse (2 hours) is very similar to UK experience. Museums worth visiting.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Sep 2005 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Airtours |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs S Darwell |
| Overall
Rating: |
8/10 |
| Comments: |
I travelled to the Occidental Abou Sofiane Hotel on the 31st August 2005 for one week with my husband and 14 year old daughter.
Having read all of the reviews I could find before I went, I thought it only fair to share my experiences with anyone thinking of holidaying there!
Hotel/Rooms: The hotel was full during the week we were there and after the first few days we joined in with getting up early to reserve a sun bed - or more importantly a parasol – the temperatures were still in the early to mid thirties.
The rooms were clean and quite adequate (the maids came in every day to change towels, make beds, sweep floors etc) and fairly represented a 3* hotel. We were on the ground floor overlooking the gardens near to the outside bar but had no problems with noise. The air conditioning was very welcome although I think it was turned down the day before we left as the room and reception areas became quite warm all of a sudden.
There were no smoking areas in the restaurants but not in the rest of the hotel and any signs were ignored!
Food: We found the food to be quite good. It is obviously not British (so don’t expect it to be!) and once you have got over that, try to enjoy the difference. They do try to cater for different nationalities, and there was always something even the fussiest person could eat. We tended to favour the omelette chef during breakfast and the yoghurt / honey was also good as were the croissants and pastries.
There was always someone preparing fresh pasta each evening and the flavours of the fruit and vegetables were fantastic – again, they probably won’t look good as you have come to expect (they are all naturally produced without pesticides etc) but the peaches and carrots were exceptional. There was also a chef grilling meat or fish each evening if you didn’t want to eat the prepared food.
The pizzas at the poolside bar were ok but we generally ate the sliced chicken from the spit roast grill with salad and fresh bread (no problems with upset stomachs at all). The beach bar gives welcome shade at lunchtime too with hotdogs and burgers and plenty of freshly sliced watermelon.
The food in the restaurant on the ‘Tunisian Night’ was really good and they tried to make it authentic with a woman sitting in front of a tent making flat breads. The entertainment team (I think) also dressed in traditional costume and played/danced in the restaurant for about 20 minutes. Try not to miss it, it was really good.
We also went to the Italian a la carte restaurant on our last night. The food was very good and the wine free flowing (and quite strong compared to the wine/alcohol from the bars). A really enjoyable evening but would advise against the cappuccino!!
Beach/Pool area: Again, quite crowded as the hotel was full. The sea was clear and warm and the beach was beautiful but had lots of cigarette ends buried in the sand and would have benefited from a clean. After a storm, there were quite a few Jelly fish present (I assume the stronger waves had washed them in) but we didn’t really have a problem with them until then. The sting is like a nettle rash and is eased by rubbing wet sand onto the area.
We didn’t venture into the indoor pool but it looked ok. The outdoor pool was adequate but, as some others have commented, was a little small for the amount of people using it. This probably wouldn’t be an issue during low season.
Water Sports: The windsurfers are a little old but quite ok to learn on. The small boat had seen better days but the staff will only let you take it out on your own if you can already sail, obviously for safety reasons. If you are an accomplished sailor then you may be a little disappointed and it takes quite a lot of nagging to make the water sports staff rig the boat. All of that said, my husband and daughter took it out most days and didn’t complain too much!!
The kayaks and pedaloes were fine and were easy to get hold of if you wanted to use them. There were also motorised water sports available (jet skis, motor boat etc.) for quite a reasonable price.
General Comments: The entertainment team were very enthusiastic and very much favoured the young female guests, if you don’t really like to join in too much then head for the beach rather that the pool area. There seemed to be lots of activities on offer at the hotel including archery, French boules and volleyball (watch out for stray balls as you are walking to the beach!!).
The hotel staff and the general people we met in Tunisia were very kind and friendly. We really only ventured into the marina and although we had a few requests to go into shops most of the others at the marina were fixed prices so it wasn’t really a problem. We did visit a fantastic restaurant there called La Mediteranee which overlooked the yachts.
The guests at the sister hotel ‘Riviera’ used the facilities/beach/bar/food areas etc at the Abu Sofiane but we were unable to use their facilities, this obviously made it much busier around the hotel.
I would definitely return to Tunisia and to Port El Kantoui. Although I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the Abou Sofiane I think we would like to perhaps try a half board option in future.
Enjoy your holiday!!
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