Aqua Fantasy Resort Hotel

This is our honest experience of the Aqua Fantasy.... First of all the main page of the brochure only shows a very small fraction of the total resort, this is very misleading. For example the main pool is not pictured, it is very large and almost always full unless you put a towel on a sunbed at the crack of dawn. The Turkish staff were fantastic under very trying circumstances.... The staff in the lobby bar( particularly the girls) were fantastic as was Mr Mehmet and his staff in the Oasis restaurant. We had previously been to Gumbet and Icemeler and love Turkey and the Turks. We still do, the Turkish people are not the problem with the Aqua Fantasy, the problem is the Dutch,.They cannot seem to be bothered to with the simplest courtesies, for example they never said "Please" and "Thank You"(even in Dutch) to the hotel staff that I ever heard, preferring instead to point off-handedly or totally ignore them. Also, queues meant nothing to them. The resort is split into a world resort and a club resort. When we were there there the world resort had a larger percentage of British than the club resort which was mainly Belgian and Dutch. After a few days we spent almost all of our time in the world resort . The Oasis restaurant is in the world resort and the Tropicana restaurant is in the club resort. We visited the Tropicana restaurant once on our third day there and the vision as I walked up to the double-doors will never leave me, it was a vision of Hell. No order anywhere, first come, first served. Once inside things were worse. Any semblence of courtesy vanished. For example, while waiting at the bar a queue developed from one room in the restaurant to the next, about twelve of fifteen people long. This did not stop many of the foreign (ie Dutch) diners jumping straight to the front of the queue. When challenged, their much vaunted multi-lingual skills deserted them!!! We were advised to go here by the First Choice staff as it was quieter but this was not our experience. The entairtenmant is truly awful. If you want to sit through sub-Butlins fair in four different languages this is the place for you. (Please don't tell me this is for the children as my four year old wouldn't take part in it!) We were even subjected to song after song in Dutch before being challenged by the "entertainer" in English about not giving the songs and children enough "applawse". The entertainment after the children's mini-disco seemed to disappear into total absurdity. The "highlights" were "men against women", "Miss Aqua Fantasy" and "Shrek 2" (we could not even sit through this!). In the second week of our stay most people we became acquainted with were going to Kusadasi for food and entertainment, especially the Yucca and Red Wood restaurants. The All Inclusive is a con. It finishes at 11:00 and then the only alternative is the mini-bar or Karaoke bar which cost an absolute fortune.Five minutes after the entertainment finished in the Amphitheatre we were subjected to being jet-cleaned around our feet to get us out. Don't bother with the Italian a la carte restaurant, it is much worse than the main restaurants !! The First Choice reps are fine, especially the Scottish and Irish girls, We heard how they were spoken to while waiting to book a trip and cannot believe you didn't give the idiot a Glasgow Kiss. "Roxy's" was the best night out we had by a mile. Thanks reps, Roxy and all at the restaurant. Everyone in my family had the trots and I had full-blown food poisoning so beware of the following......the diluted drinks are filled up with tap water, the Dutch load up chips onto their plates with their bare hands, the buffet is sitting uncovered for hours with flies going around..... Don't get me wrong there are many good bits, Izmir shouldn't be missed and neither should Sirince. Ask for Fezullah Bey (Bull Shark) for your guide at the Tour Operators at the bottom of "Shoe Street". The staff at the Aqua Fantasy were always excellent, (be very careful of being ripped off in the shops in the world resort however). Kusadasi is a bit boring compared to the other bits of Turkey we have seen although they did put on the best Turkish night we have seen at the Karavanseray hotel. Samos is charming and well worth a visit. The aqua park is no great shakes unfortunately, especially as you are there for the week/fortnight. All in all Kusadasi wasn't too bad but it was spoiled somewhat by going all-inclusive to the Aqua Fantasy.

We just returned from our holiday in this resort and as I expected it is a hotel for families with kids, not for couples in our age (30).But after searching 4,5 star hotels in this area ,aqua fantasy looked best out of all -with sandy beach.Be aware - sea is very shallow there though,definetely not for swimmers. We stayed in junior suite which was very nice -nice modern design which by the way runs through the whole hotel. There are some lousy jobs done,like plumbing, through our stay we had poor water pressure in the shower, so we complained at reception.,but nothing changed!!! Last 3 days I used spa showers in club side ,where I could actually wash my hair!!! Food was average ,pretty much same every day. (Last year we went to turkish riviera -Sunrise resort -great again for families and children,it was only 4 star ,but much better services,food,then in aqua fantasy) Waiters in my opinion works crazy hours, you can spot same waiter in the morning shift and then later at night still working- so of course they get very tired,-and therefore service is not as you would expect.:-( water park -is good fun -it breaks a long day on the beach, or by pools.even it's not the greatest waterpark ... One positive thing is the location of resort, as you can hire a car (we hired ours in the hotel -dinamic cars-girl by the desk was very helpful and nice ,like a majority of turks people), and drive on coastline for hours towards Cesme ,there are plenty of beautifull beaches,with clear and deeper water.then you can drive other side towards Kusadasi -and take it to Milli national park - which is excellent (they are closing at 7p.m) Ephes- not worth to hire a car (or taxi) for visit ,as by a local bus it's cheap and it's only behind a first curve -takes approx.20min to a main gate.It's a great experience and worth to see.

stayed at aqua fantasy from the 24th june to the 6th july. found this hotel to be great for all ages. we had three boys with us and they were all delighted with the hotel. the food for one of the boys was not to his liking as he is a very fussy eater. The entertainment at night was not great for the youngest who sat in the room playing his psp for all of the second week but we enjoyed most of the shows. the two guys at the beach bar did their best but struggled with a lot of the english lyrics but played nice music. The staff were nice and friendly some were a little bit too friendly. food was sometimes a little cold but there were a lot of people there especially the second week where the queues were quite long and a shortage of cutlery was a bit of a problem. we were very lucky as there were a nice bunch of people in the hotel at this time and everything seems to be very safe and the teenagers whom our lads were with were a lovely group, all well behaved. The diving staff were lovely and gave my husband and son a great time. they both did courses there and they looked after them really well. thanks mamos and tom and all that worked there. hope to see them again next year. hope sam the new entertainer is getting on ok now. the splash card is a good idea. The cleaners or maids are brilliant especially the maid who cleaned rooms no.s 2762 and 2764 thanks for the lovely presentation of the towels in the shape of swans and the rose petals it was fabulous i didnt want to take it off the bed it was so nice. the rooms were always kept spotless and we had clean towels every day and clean sheets about 3 times a week if not more thanks again for everything. hopefully if the price is right we will return next year. it is a pity that they dont fly to these apartments from southern ireland as they used to a few years ago. also if you could fly to izmir airport it is only 30 mins away whereas bodrum airport is two hours + to get to aqua fantasy on top of 4 and a half hours travelling and then 2 hours to belfast but

i have just arrived back from aqua fantasy 2 days ago and have to rate it highly. excellent food, imaculately clean and everything a 5 star hotel should be. facilities are brilliant for the kids and a few tears were shed from my 8 yr old when leaving! the water park is fascinating and has an excellent toddler area. cant wait to go back next year............i hoghly recommend this hotel for families , please check it out before booking elsewhere!

My friend and I (both female aged 27) have just returned from this hotel, we stayed here for 2 weeks in june.we had a fantastic time, so much so that we are looking at going back in sept/oct. We are both suffering from a bad case of post holiday blues at the mo too!!! Beware that you will need to pay a £10 visa when u get off the plane at bodrum, we were totally unaware of this. Transfer to the hotel was just over 2 hours, when we got to the hotel, check in was quick, bell boys will take ure cases to ure room, but they will expect a tip. ROOMS Our room was nice and spacious, plenty of room for just the 2 of us. Our room was on the top floor (there were lifts) and over looked one of the pools and the sea. The room consisted of 1 double, 1 single and 1 sofa bed. TV, telephone, mini fridge (NOT all inclusive) dressing table, wardrobe, hairdryer, bath with shower over it. The hotel itself is huge, it’s in 2 parts ‘World’ and ‘club’, we were on the club side. We found the hotel to be clean at all times, we had a daily maid service. FOOD Food was great, plenty of choice and always hot, im a really fussy eater but I never went hungry!!! I never had any stomach problems the whole time we were there.. buffet for brekkie, lunch and dinner, snacks also available at lunch time…pizza, burgers, chips etc. We never ate in any of the a la carte restaurants (these are NOT included in the ALL inclusive) as we had plenty to choose from on the main buffets. The only downside to food and drink was that the drinks are served in small tumblers, we were using a bottle from the mini bar and filling that up, u weren’t supposed to, but we did!!! BEACH not the greatest beach ive ever seen!!! We spent one morning on the beach, then returned to the pool and that was where we stayed for the rest of the holiday!!! The water wasn’t as clear as we had expected, so we didn’t go in it!! They do have water sports…pedaloes, kayaks, jet skis, parasailing, ENTERTAINMENT was fantastic, the ents guys do a great job and they are lovely ppl. There is a wide choice of activities…darts, water polo, beach/water volley, pool games, archery, water aerobics, step aerobics plus more. The evening entertainment was good too, they do a mixture of audience participation games…which are really funny and also do proper shows, while we were there they did CATS, grease, shrek 2, Moulin rouge, all of which were really good. After the show they have karaoke parties and a couple of nights a week they have a beach party, which is good fun. WATERPARK was good, but would have been disappointed if id paid and come from an outside hotel. We spent a couple of hours there a couple of times through out the holiday. Not sure what else I can write really. But overall we had a totally memorable holiday, met a lot of great English people, if you have any questions, please email me vicherbert07@gmail.com

Spent 2 weeks here from 09-23 June 2007,the first week was spoilt by drunken rowdy Brits mainly Scousers& Cockney types.Have these people never seen alcohol before,just because it is free(All Inclusive)does not mean you have to get drunk all the time. Didn't get much sleep so had a winge to the rep(Elaine Logue) First choice,she is the one to sort things out ,within hours got upgraded to a family room,the reps were excellent and always on hand to sort out any problems,unfortunately the things they can't sort out are the lazy bar staff and waiters,I had to wait constantly to be served at the bars day and night,forever running out of glasses and cups,the only time the staff sparked was when a supervisor appeared. The entertainment was at best amateurish,the entertainment team seem to be only interested in the 18-30 type of guests,the First choice kids club is great for the kids,pity there wasn;t one for the adults! Food was ok (you get what you pay for) I have obviously been spoiled as we normally go to the Belek area of Turkey,where the standard is considerably higher. The water park was good not brilliant,(didn't do what it said on the can,)29 slides consisted of 13 in the kiddy pool,4 on the mat slide,3 on another small set of slides,so did not leave too many to explore,the kids will enjoy this resort but adults should go elsewhere,I recommend the Med area of Turkey. I have been to Turkey 5 times & this is the worst i have seen. The Turkish people are great,the food is excellent,and entertainment is normally second to none.this resort is not a good advert for Turkish holidays,First Choice should sort it out or delete it from its destinations. Once again the Reps can't do enough for you,especially Elaine.

My 18 year old daughter and I have just got back from Aqua Fantasy and we loved every minute of it! We stayed in a select room with a jacuzzi, a bit strange that it was actually in the room rather than in the bathroom, but perhaps this is more aimed at couples than a mother and daughter. The room itself was spacious and spotlessly clean, we had clean towels every day and clean sheets at least twice during our two week stay. After reading some negative reviews we were a bit worried about the hotel staff not speaking English, but we didn't find this to be the case at all, they were all very friendly and spoke really good English, something that put me to shame at times, as they were all very young, and most hadn't learned English at school, they had just picked it up as they worked. Some of the waiters were very friendly towards my young daughter, but none of them overstepped the mark, something else I had been worried about from other reports. The First Choice reps were excellent, very friendly and helpful in recommending places to visit. The entertainment staff were fantastic, specially Sema, a young woman from Belgium, she started work at 10 each morning with the club dance at the pool (something you will find yourself joining in with even if your not normally that sort of person!) and didn't finish till 1am, with only one day off a week. Despite being obviously very tired at times, she always had a smile on her face, and was always ready to come and chat. The weather was very hot while we were there, the hottest for over 10 years according to the locals, so the pools got full use for people to cool down. The water park was brilliant, I loved the slides and I am 50! The only time we had to queue for a slide was when we went early one morning, they open at 10.30, and then it was only for about 5 people in front of us. The beach wasn't the best I have seen, the sand is very dark but it was cleaned every morning with men taking away truck loads of seaweed to try to keep it looking ok. There were lots of fish swimming close to shore, something I take as a sign it can't be too bad. The watersports staff were really good, very friendly and trusting, I wanted to go on a jetski one day but hadn't taken enough money with me, they insisted I didn't return to the room for the money, just to have a go and bring it later. It cost me 140 lira for my daughter and I to have jetskis, which is a lot cheaper than I paid in Majorca. The canoes and pedalos are free, again a better deal than in a lot of places. One thing not to be missed is the amazing sunsets, the photo shop staff will take some fantastic photos of you, you go view them the next day and just buy what you want, they don't seem to mind if you don't have any and again are very friendly and speak really good English. If I could change one thing, it would be to have the adult entertainment starting earlier in the evening, the kids disco was 9-9.45, then the show after that, and then either Karaoke or a disco (or both) going on till about 2am. The beach party is a night not to be missed, with dancing round a fire and a firework display. I could go on for ever about what a wonderful holiday it was, I can't think what the bad reviews on here were on about, although I did hear some people moaning while I was there, I suppose you can't please some people!

We stayed at Aqua Fantasy in June 2007. We travelled as a group of 6 adults. We rate this hotel 3 out of 5 for the reasons listed below: On the GOOD side: This hotel is immaculately clean inside and out. Its very spacious and the staff are hardworking and friendly. The standard room we booked was massive, well equipped and again, very clean. It also had a lovely view of the sea and pool. There are many pools to choose from within the hotel complex as well as the waterpark itself. We were never stuck without a sun bed, whatever time of day it was. The entertainment is varied and there are sports faciities and kids club facilities so always something to do, day or night. There are plenty of lounges/bars/quiet areas for sitting and chatting. There are 10 pin bowling alleys, pool tables and dart boards in the sports bar. A film is on show on a big screen every night. There is also a show every evening and the beach bar carries on into the early hours with bands, karaoke or beach parties. We enjoyed the food, lots of different salads, meats, desserts etc to try and very nicley presented. The location will suit people who prefer to be away from the busy resort centres as it is a taxi ride away from the town. On the DOWN side: The cups, glasses, plates and bowls were rarely washed up properly and often had dirty marks on them, we all had an upset stomach at some point and this could be part of the reason. I can see that some people may find the food repetative, but for us it wasn't a big deal. None of the drinks were served with ice unless you asked (and then only if they had not run out) your drinks were only ever filled to just over half way so repeat trips to the bar were common and more frequent than usual. Beer was served in a small coke glass, or water glass. You are not permitted to take drinks ino the waterpark EVEN WATER! so this could become expensive as the all inclusive does not carry accross to the waterpark. some of the bar areas were not air conditioned and got very hot indeed. If you are a beach lover (we are not) then you maybe disappointed, due to the location of the beach, it attracts lots and lots of sea weed meaning the water is discoloured and the sand hard and unattractive. We paddled in the water and many were swimming but if crystal waters is what your after, look elswhere. Overall we were happy with our stay at the hotel because a holiday is what you make it and the negative points didn't bother us enough to spoil things. One final thing is this is a Turkish 5 Star Hotel and so falls short ot what 5 Star means home here in England. I would put this hotel at 3-4 stars. The things listed above are things to bear in mind and based on that we would recommend this hotel to our friends and to you.

We are a family of four - two adults, a 3 year old and a 1 year old and we paid £850 for a week all inclusive at the Aqua Fantasy Hotel. I thought this was great value for money, as there was plenty for us to do in this time. There were enough pools (some with their own slides and chutes) within the dual hotel complex for us to try a new one each day that we stayed there and that's not to mention the fabulous water park which both of our kids loved. If you are a family with young children, as we are, this would be a great holiday for you. There was an organised kids club but we only used this once...so can't really make a great judgement on this, only that our daughter came back with her creative impression of a strawberry and she seemed to like the keyworkers there (which is the real test!). This hotel is great for families like us. However, although it has an official rating of 5 star, I would say that this hotel is a decent 4 star hotel. Added to this, the all inclusive concept is misleading...its things like other reviewers have mentioned that cause this, such as the lack of variety of food and drinks available (no cocktails!), having to pay for fresh orange juice, limited snacks during the day etc.. This is why we have rated this as an average holdiay rather than above average. Having said all this, for what we paid, the hotel itself had lots on offer, it was lovely and clean and some of the staff were really friendly (most of the staff are really young, spoke little or no English and were probably paid very little so weren't very customer focused - don't expect to be treated like royalty - which is what you would expect from a proper 5 star hotel). Other reviewers mentioned the poor location, but we felt that it was ideal as it was nice and secluded and we got to experience a bit of the 'real' Turkey by using the Dolmus (local minibus) to go into Kusadasi (about 10 mins) and Ephesus (about 10 mins). It really depends on what you are looking for in a holiday. If you want to be in the heart of all the hustle and bustle with shops and restaurants on your doorstep then it wont be for you. If however, you like a holiday where you can make use of local transport (very regular) or taxis to get out and about and experience the town life when you choose to, then this will be for you. All in all we enjoyed our time at the Aqua Fantasy. We probably wouldn't go back (but we tend not to visit the same place twice anyway). We would recommend it to families with children of all ages, but no so much couples wanting peace and quiet or a romantic getaway, but there is something for all... If you are going to book this holiday, just bear in mind all the downsides that have been mentioned and then you wont be disappointed.

Hi, a group of 6 us aged from 22-30 travelled to Aqua Fantasy 4th Jun- 12th June 2007. For me and my b/f it was a late deal so we did get a really good price but im so glad we did'nt pay any more. We had previously travelled to Kusadasi in 2001. We stayed in Hotel Imbat which i really recommend. The Hotel itself is very modern and the water park is really fun. But the beach at this hotel is awful it must be man made we didnt get in once its black the water almost and really doesnt do turkey justice. The beach in the centre Ladies beach is really nice i wld recommed staying in one of the hotels or apartments there!! The food is awful and my b/f and myself are not normally fussy! We ate out 3 times at Planet Yucca which you have to go to its in Kusadasi centre. They are the most friendliest people i have ever met the food is great there and they pick you up from your hotel & drop you back at what ever time you want (once 4am). We did three trips one to Ephesus an ancient ruin which was really interesting & a day trip to Samos a greek island which was so pretty i would love to stay there one day! and another to pigeon island a old fort in the centre. So would i recommend booking Aqua Fantasy NO!!! Go self catering to Kusadasi theres so many places to eat and its cheap! Or just go to Plant Yucca everynite!! If you have any questions feel free to email me at laura_barrett_1984@yahoo.co.uk