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Holiday Reviews > Africa > Tunisia > Hammamet > Hammamet Hotels > Riu Park El Kebir Hotel > Read Reviews
Riu Park El Kebir Hotel ReviewsPage 1 2 3
| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
First Choice |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr J Knight |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
This resort is excellent could not fault it in any way, all the staff are very friendly and helpful. There are a couple shops right outside the resort for buying gifts and a "supermarket" more what we would call a corner shop. If you are brave enough to go into Hammamet or any of the other towns / citys beware, you will get alot of hassle from people trying to get you to go in there shops, once your inside its very hard to walk out with out buying something.. The weather was fantanstic, sunny and hot ( about 38 all week). I cannot understand people that have marked this resort down. It really is an excellent holiday.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jun 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Portland Direct |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs S Micklewright |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
We have just got back from a lovely holiday at the Riu El Kebir. The staff were very helpful and friendly, everyone at the hotel works very hard to ensure that you have a good time. The hotel was spotlessly clean and the food was very good. The weather was mostly good, but it was a bit stormy the first day, plus we had a shower of rain one afternoon.
We didn't go on any of the scheduled trips, mostly stayed on the beach or by the pool. The only downside is that if you wanted to walk out of the hotel, there didn't seem to be anything nearby to walk to.
If you want a relaxing break, then we would recommend this hotel.
D, S and G (Aged 9)
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
May 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Portland Direct |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs J Moore |
| Overall
Rating: |
7/10 |
| Comments: |
We spent a week at the Riu Park El Kebir Hotel in May.
We found it spotlessly clean and the staff very friendly. The animation team worked very hard.
Our one disappointment was the sea view, we paid extra for this as we assumed we would be looking out over the pool, beach and sea like so many of the rooms do. Our view was an old scruffy building with the sea in the distant background. So beware when booking a sea view!
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Oct 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
cltetsill |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
We literally came back from here yesterday and we have loved every minute! Me, my fiancé and my 18 month old daughter stayed here plus a few other family members and although we only arrived back yesterday we are now looking at booking again for next year.
The hotel is beautiful, the garden, pool and beach areas are constantly being cleaned and there is always a member of staff on hand no matter what time of day it is. The pools are great and there's a lovely sized children's pool. There's a large park for the children and its situated away from the pool so you don't get noise whilst relaxing.
The rooms are spotless with great sized beds, balconies and very clean and well maintained bathrooms. There's plenty of wardrobe and drawer space and a lovely dressing table. There's a TV in the room which has mainly Arab/German channels but there's BBC World and Eurosport in English. Channel 18 is a German children's channel and although my daughter didn't understand a word of it, still liked watching the programmes.
The cleaners came in every morning and swept, polished and brought fresh towels/linen (On arrival there are flower petals scattered on sheets made to look like Swans and in the sink, its a great welcome).
The Hotel lobby/bars/balconies etc are all lovely areas to sit and relax and the Theatre (although its more of a large conference room) is great. Air conditioning throughout the hotel including every room. I liked the free beach towels... it saved us taking ours and we had clean ones every day.
The hotel restaurant was great, plenty of choice every day from Beef Goulash to Pizza, Pasta to Couscous and the puddings were to die for. The waiters were so helpful and made such a fuss of my little girl, every evening her high-chair was scattered with rose petals and her napkin was made into a different shape every night (Swan, Lotus Flower etc).
The afternoon snacks included Pancakes which were delicious and I will miss and the Bistro cafe served beautiful cappuccinos/lattes all day which were a lovely treat. The selection of alcohol was fair, Whiskey, Brandy, Gin, Vodka, Pernod, Rum, White Rum, a few Liqueurs, a couple of Cocktails and plenty of beer and soft drinks. Even in the evening, the main bar had a hot water urn so you could help yourselves to warm drinks to take to your room etc. Drinking water was available all day on tap but in the evening they gave you bottled water if you asked... I heard a couple of people were charged 2 DT's for the bottled water but they had purchased it in the day when it was readily available at the self serve areas but in the evening no one paid, so grab it on a night. On arrival a bottle was in your room anyway and the fridge in the room kept it lovely and cool.
The Entertainment was on from 9am - 11pm, in the day, music was played around the pool but not loud and obtrusive and the team got everyone playing shuffleboard, french boules, darts, archery, waterball, volleyball and every morning offered a yoga and aqua aerobics sessions, they tried to get everyone involved but didn't pester, a 'no' sufficiently worked if you don't fancy a go.
On an evening in the Theatre there was a show on most nights and it was ok, nothing too fancy but baring in mind it was the same staff who had been keeping you entertained all day so you don't expect too much, but a good laugh and very entertaining and on the other nights there was a band playing music to have a dance to. If you prefer a quiet night, there's plenty of comfy areas to just sit and relax and enjoy the lovely views.
I cannot express enough how great it is. Its a good all rounder and age range varied from couples, families like us, and older customers too and everyone had a good time.
The areas outside the hotel including Hammamet are typically Tunisian and although the shop keepers do try to get your business, they are not too pushy and will take 'NO' as an answer, but saying that there's some great bargains to be had especially leather and clothing. Hammamet has a couple of cafes/restaurants but not much due to most of the hotels in the surrounding areas been all inclusive.
The hotel beach is wonderful and has plenty of bed/parasols to keep everyone happy and a lifeguard on duty at all times.
After reading some of the reviews on here before I went I did have my reservations but there was no need. One person mentioned the staff touching there baby all the time and yes they do give them lots of fuss, cuddles and kisses but only after asking your permission first and if obviously the baby is happy with it and its lovely, they are all so pleasant and friendly, no one expected a tip but on the last night we did give a few dt's to the staff who had made our holiday as after seeing the surrounding areas it is a very poor country in general and the staff work from 7.30am till late so they deserve a few treats BUT as I said it isn't expected of you.
At the Airport, people come to carry your cases to the coaches and they expect money so just say no if your not prepared to tip as they can turn nasty I hear but we just said 'no thanks' and they left us alone.
Cant wait for next year and I'm so depressed that we're back at home. Weather was ok, a couple of showers on the odd days but enough to do if its not beach weather. There's a hotel spa and although you pay for the treatments... its definitely cheaper than the Uk and well worth a treat whilst your their.
Flies were a nuisance around the pool but not on the beach/in the hotel and apparently they are worse in the Winter season but I never saw any on the food/inside so just pack some anti bite lotion and you'll be fine.
The cats on the complex are stray but the hotel staff look after them and are very friendly, obviously we didn't touch them but they were very pleasant and lovely to watch.
The hotel had a wide range of customers, French/German/Dutch etc and everyone seemed to have a great time.
WELL WORTH A VISIT......WE HAD SUCH A GOOD TIME!
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Sep 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
tashca |
| Overall
Rating: |
5/10 |
| Comments: |
Hotel was ok for all inclusive in this area. It did not live up to the Thomsons Platinum standard of hotels in my opinion
The hotel was not far from the centre of Hammamet (20 min walk) but not much in between.
The rooms where of fair size with TV- the only English Channel being BBC world and CNN.
The food was ok for all inclusive - it didn’t vary much but was edible. The pancakes at 4 pm where delicious! There was a Tunisian restaurant that you need to pre book that was nice for a change and was a really enjoyable meal.
The all inclusive drinks where as expected.
The average age when we were here was 60+ - I would not recommend for younger people.
The animation team made the hotel - they where fantastic. The nightly entertainment was provided by the animation staff - they did their best, the number of dances etc that they know was amazing.
One drawback in choosing Hammamet as a resort is that it has long transfer times, on average 2 hrs.
I personally would not go back to this hotel but there where customers who come back to this hotel year on year.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Portland Direct |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss Powell |
| Overall
Rating: |
9/10 |
| Comments: |
Went to tunisia last august on a girlie break with my cousin, never been before but very glad we stayed at this holel. Loved the chilled lemonade on arrival and were made to feel very welcome throughout our stay.
Our room was lovely, not sea view but still...enjoyed the pool and beach but if your not up early your not likely to get a good bed.
The entertainment group were amazing, lovely people with a great sence of humour, amazing how many different languages they can speak ( as they do get alot of french and italian).
Choices of food was good, different style everynight but unless your willing to try new things you could end up eating the same 'english' thing.
The only thing we were disapointed about was the fact we were adviced not to go wondering out of the hotel unless on an excursion, but if your looking to do nothing like we were then its very suitable!
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr D Evans |
| Overall
Rating: |
5/10 |
| Comments: |
The good things about this hotel are as follows.
The beachfront location is superb, the beach is very clean and the water warm.
The rooms are spacious and cleaned everyday.
The staff are friendly and there is nothing that is to much trouble.
Now in my opinion the bad things.
this hotel has the worse evening entertainment that I have come across there are no outside bars after 18.00 hrs and nothing to do until the show at 22.00 which is inside and smoking is allowed.
the first show was billed as Russian dancers but in fact turned out to be a cross between lap dancing and a Ann summers party, so we didn’t bother to go to anymore.
All drinks are served in plastic tumblers so small that two swigs and its gone,
If you are British do not go here, its caters for every other nationality but ours.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jun 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr JP Allsop |
| Overall
Rating: |
7/10 |
| Comments: |
We booked this holiday having previously stayed in other RIU hotels and it being in the "Platinum" class at Thomson.
Hotel and Room
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The hotel itself is spotless, it is constantly being cleaned, and it shows. We asked for sea view and we did have one, albeit overlooking the roof of the bar but still a good view. The room was possibly the largest we have had, this includes 5* RIU hotels. The room was also spotless and cleaned daily by the very friendly maids. It looks 4*
There are three pools, one indoor. The pool is quite shallow all the way around. The other is by the apartments and hidden away well but is worth using as it's much quieter.
The hotel is right on the beach front and the beach is nice, there is a man who will get your sun beds for you, that's nice.
The hotel caters for all nationalities, there were German, French, Spanish, and Russian etc...
The Food
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There is one buffet and one a la carte restaurants. We did not eat in the a la carte restaurant as were told that is wasn't very good by a number of guests. Breakfast is a little disappointing, although I always found something. The bacon is just a load of gristle and no sausages to speak of. You can get smoothies. It can be a bit difficult to find a clean table at times at breakfast.
Lunch is quite good, but a little too much pizza for me. We preferred to have lunch in the snack bar most of the time.
Dinner is hit and miss, sometimes there was a lot of nice things, if you like fish you would love it. There are two sittings and you are allocated a table for your entire stay, this works quite well, although you can't seem to change your sitting. The very tall man who cuts your meat for you is ultra stingy.
The restaurant at night is a free for all with everyone rushing in and barging people out of the way, we started to go later to let things calm down. They seem to start setting up for breakfast then though and don't seem to like you doing it.
The self drink machines in the hotel are rubbish, if they work at all then it comes out as a dribble. There is a self service beer pump in the restaurant and by the pool bar, the beer is quite nice, especially when cold.
There is a snack bar that serves a continental breakfast until 12, pizza and burgers, salad etc. After three it's all cleared away and you can only get pancakes until 6.
The ice cream is delicious.
The Bar
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My main gripe is with the all inclusive bar service. The bar itself is very nice, relaxed and rarely busy. They usually only allow you to get a maximum of two drinks at a time, even though if you want a beer you get them in a tall glass with half a glass of foam.
The rule for two drink seemed to apply from our second week, other times it was fine to get more (this from the same barman). So I ended up going twice to the bar to get drinks for everyone. If you are a spirit drinker make sure you ask for doubles or you might as well not bother.
The bar staff could do with smiling a bit more, they would get more tips that way I'm sure. On our the last night they became extra friendly and said without prompting "you go home tomorrow, I've been good to you". "Have you", I thought. If they'd been so friendly all the other days and given me the drinks I asked for I would have given them the good tip they were so obviously after.
Strangely you have to pay for bottles of water until after 11.00PM when they become free for the last hour, not exactly all inclusive.
Basically they are pretty stingy with the all inclusive drinks.
Entertainment
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I don't usually bother with the entertainment in hotels as it's usually pretty bad, the entertainment here in the large theatre looked a bit better than usual but still not worth watching for me, most of it is by the animation team. They had a quiz one night and a dancing competition that seemed to go down well.
There are a number of water sports on the beach, such as Para sending and jet-ski, banana boat etc. However, you do have to pay for kayaks and pedelo’s which are usually freed with all inclusive, again a little stingy.
Conclusion
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I would not say that this hotel deserves to be classed as platinum as Thompson claim, we have stayed in other 4* hotels that are much better. It is a shame as a few quite small improvements would bring it up to standard. It seems after speaking to guests who have stayed before that standards have slipped. RIU is now owned by Thomson,
That is probably the reason for the drop in quality, profit over quality.
The all inclusive just feels too stingy, especially for a so called platinum hotel, and we're certainly not greedy people.
Having said that we did enjoy our holiday, however I would probably not stay here again.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jun 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss J Smith |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
This hotel without a doubt deserves an overall rating of 10. The temperature was in the 30s. The hotel was lovely. The food was fab. The staff went out of their way to welcome you and look after your every need.
The entertainment team were excellent - they encouraged you to join in with the numerous activities put on and at times gave you no choice and just threw you in the pool - that's one way of ensuring you participate! They worked very hard to ensure you had fun - Dario was the most amusing!
I enjoyed it so much I shall be returning next year - Roll on next year!
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jun 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr MG Burrows |
| Overall
Rating: |
8/10 |
| Comments: |
Very pleasant hotel indeed.
I can understand some of these reviews that have been wrote about this hotel. I did get a bit fed up with the food after 7 days (But I do in most hotels anyway, can't beat home cooking!) but it was certainly better than some Spanish hotels I’ve been too.
Weather was fantastic. I would say that if you don't like it too hot best stay away Jul/Aug, it was 30c-32c everyday when I was there.
Great for families with young children and couples. Defo not for groups looking to party, go to Spain or Greece for that.
People will ask you to look in their shops, this is their culture over there, and they only want your business. Simply be polite and say no if you do not want to look or buy and they may mutter a few words under their breath but hey! Can't please them all!
When you do buy be careful - They will overprice things so offer a low price and be firm with it. You may here 'You will bankrupt me'. I heard a few like that.
Taxis are cheap - Fix your price before you get in - Again they all want you business.
Take a camel ride - Great fun and you will see real Tunisia.
All in all the Tunisian people are very friendly and really do welcome you. Tourism is 60% of all business over there.
This is a good hotel and a nice country. I will visit again.
Have a great holiday!
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
May 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss B J Smith |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
Hi, I visited the El Kebir in Hammamet in May 2007, we had a slight delay, and arrived 1am. On arrival the reception had drinks waiting for us and a meal.
My 1st impressions of the hotel were excellent. I only stayed a week and wished I'd booked for longer.
The food was great and plentiful, the staff were excellent and couldn’t do enough for you, and the beach which is a few steps away was paradise.
When you step onto the beach people are packed like sardines, however if you look to your left the beach is empty and breathtaking I don’t understand why people packed themselves so close together, I guess it’s because their closer to the food and drink as its all inclusive.
The alcohol is ok although it’s difficult to get drunk (if that’s what you like) as the locally produced alcohol is quite weak, although I enjoy a drink this didn’t spoil my hols as I didn’t go to Tunisia for that. Anyone who expects that kind of hol should stick to places like Spain.
I went quad biking which was fantastic you get your monies worth and more. The trip cost £38 for 2 of us and we were out for the whole morning, the sights were breathtaking and you also see a lot of the real Tunisia, however the poverty was quite upsetting.
As I was all-inclusive I gave a lot of tips to the locals, it’s a tipping culture in Tunisia however they don’t beg or bother you much for tips so I was more inclined to give.
I would definitely come back to Tunisia and the El Kebir but only one downfall to the hotel was the television in your room is only equipped for German tourists apart from 1 channel so don’t expect to relax and watch TV.
Last but not least the weather was great 26 to 34 degrees every day.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Feb 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs K Allison |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
I and my husband booked this holiday as a late deal in February.
We went for a week All Inclusive from the 25th February to the 4th March. The first 2 days there was a little rain and wind but after that the weather was very good.
The hotel was immaculately clean, and the features of it were very impressive. The hotel lead straight on to the beach which was very clean and quiet. Also the view from the hotel provided some beautiful sunrises.
The range of food was very good, you could choose from chips to traditional Tunisian dishes.
The Staff were most friendly and helpful. The entertainment team worked very hard to make everybody feel included and to satisfy everyone’s individual needs and make sure they enjoyed their stay.
I must say that this is one of the most impressive hotels I have stayed in and this was down to the excellent service provided by the staff, from the chamber maid to the hotel manager.
All of the staff including the management were always eager to chat and ensure you were as happy as possible during your stay.
We came back from this holiday feeling refreshed, relaxed, and pampered, after a thoroughly enjoyable stay.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Feb 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr D Varney |
| Overall
Rating: |
6/10 |
| Comments: |
Visiting Tunisia was a bit of an eye opener, I have since found out that as most of the houses you see along the way appear to be half built, this is in fact the way that most of the residents avoid paying taxes on their property. As if it is un finished, it is exempt. So most of the residential areas look a mess.
The country is poor and there were children collecting berries along the side of the motorway, to earn money, there are also many donkeys and carts, using the same roads, also some frightfully old vehicles which would long have seen a scrap yard in the UK.
We were greeted with the disgusting stench of cigarette smoke in reception, which was apparent all over the hotel in fact, even in the restaurant there was no fresh air.
As a race we are so hypocritical and a smoke filled hotel for a week followed by a luxurious hot stone massage on the last day seems so crass.
I can't wait for some legislation relating to smoking; one night’s entertainment was ruined by 3 smokers who filled the room all night which ruined 100+ peoples night of entertainment, not mentioning spoiling our little baby's lungs and increasing his risk of cot death. Our clothes stunk of smoke for a week.
I was violently sick during the first 24 hours. I was unable to leave the hotel room for 24 hours. To call a doctor is around £40, so my partner went to the local chemists in a taxi and got me some medicines.
The medicines did not seem to help at all but fortunately I felt much better the following day. The taxi was filthy and my partner and children had to change their clothes when they got back.
My partner also saved the day by buying 12 litres of water for drinking and for baby, which just lasted our week. She is my hero.
I blamed my sickness and diarrhoea on the hotel food, but the manager said this was not possible. I told him it was the squid.
I spent most of the week looking at the food suspiciously and eating cautiously so as to avoid more illness. There was little in the way of meat to speak of, but I avoided anything fishy, and all seafood. And I avoided the wine, which was put back into plastic buckets at the end of each night.
The range of fruit was poor; I didn’t see a pineapple, melon, apple or pear. Bananas were on offer one day as a special treat, but otherwise it was just oranges and plums, both of which I hate. Half dozen plums fell on the floor one day and I kicked one across the floor and they still picked it up and put it back onto the food display.
On one day one of the chefs was ripping a chicken apart with his hands, and some guests each had a quarter of a chicken plonked onto their greedy plates, the man handling the meat like that put me off chicken for the rest of the week. Although the restaurant is clean and modern, some of the food was horrible.
Ironically one night was 'Tunisian' night and the food was lovely! But generally is was fairly poor and boring, sometimes difficult to find anything less than stodgy. I eat much better and healthier at home.
MOST fortunately the rest of my party were not ill at all, as this was my biggest fear it hampered my ability to enjoy the next few days, with two children the youngest at 4 months old it was a little worrying, but fortunately they were all fine.
We took baby milk in cartons which we had to drink-test at UK airport security. We took a travel kettle to heat up and boil babies water and sterilising tablets.
Our baby feeding programme was a military effort in order not to risk any germs. However during the week all of the hotel staff insisted on touching our baby's hands all the time, this annoyed me as he puts them straight into his mouth! And we were worried about this and trying to stop him from becoming ill as I had been, because the hospitals are not as well supplied as our own.
The Thomson rep was fairly useless and had only been there 4 days. I had an argument with her about the way the eggs were served up half raw, I marched one up to reception and explained salmonella poisoning to them.
There was no rep on our coach, just the driver who spoke no English, when we had to change coaches part way through the journey because the coach door would not shut properly, fortunately went fairly smoothly and we were not ambushed.
I felt sorry for him and gave him all my remaining money as gratitude for returning us to the airport.
The manager is a French man and is very nice and easy to talk to, and believe me we talked in depth! His office is lovely with a huge picture of someone important from Tunisian government presumably.
All of the hotel staff are very polite and make you feel special they knew me by name and we were treated like 'kings'.
They were concerned when I was ill and offered to send food up to our room. Our room was cleaned at 10pm as I had been in bed all day and didn't want to be disturbed during that time.
Walking about around the 'resort' was a little daunting we were constantly harassed by taxi drivers and cigarette and jewellery salespersons.
Their products are total rubbish but and their technique for emptying your pockets is uncanny. They even took all of the coins from my little boy and he got nothing!
They are swindlers and offer free gifts, and follow you for 200+ yards along the beach with aggressive sales pitches.
One fruit salesman had a 5 inch knife and perused us along the beach cutting up fruits, trying to give our baby. They were some dirty looking fruits he had sliced up; I still have no idea what fruit it was at all.
In fact it was similar in the Hotel, there seems to be no such thing as change, they just want all of the contents of your pockets all the time.
There was a very annoying hotel photographer who on several occasions tried to sell us and indeed did sell us photos of ourselves even though I had taken 100 pictures on my own camera I was still removed from the coach and at the end of our holiday made to pay for unsolicited photographs I neither asked for or wanted.
They even had the cheek to give them to my 11 year old to bring up to the room, later asking for 12dinar, £6 for 3 photos, ordinary pictures of us walking down a hotel corridor. The reception staff are all in on it and call you over to tell you that there are yet more pictures waiting there for you.
The shops within the hotel are over priced; £1 for kids mars bars or a kit kat, as examples. They sell leather goods and more jewellery. Nothing in the shops is priced up and all they want is whatever you have on you.
Also the internet cafe in the hotel is no different, whereby you are constantly charged random amounts of money for un-timed sessions online.
The shops in hotel sold a load of overpriced junk really.
The shop opposite the hotel was full of stuffed camels, and it is the same situation where you end up buying a load of items you don't want, like five camels and a leather covered bongo drum, and nothing is priced up.
Other things that let this hotel down are the 15 or so cats who copulate in areas around the pool and such like. I love cats, but these were not all friendly.
I saw a woman get a 4 inch scratch on her leg for walking past. Not nice where there are youngsters, they are just fighting for scraps of food all the time; where as a programme of neutering would be helpful there.
Good aspects of the hotel, it’s right on the beach, it's clean and bright and big and well designed and easy to find your way around.
The indoor pool is lovely and clean and warm and great for baby and child.
The pool table room is smokey and the carpet is dirty in there, but it's useable if you want to risk cancer you can have a few games of pool and a drink too.
There is a lovely crepérie down by the pool, and this was the best food we ate all week, we unanimously consider.
It was not a bad holiday really, I have highlighted the worst aspects, but we won’t go back again! See you at, Estival Park.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jan 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss V H Hodgson |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
I can't work out why there seem to be some rather negative reviews about the hotel here. My fiancé and I have just returned from a week here and really enjoyed it.
The hotel is beautiful - bedrooms very nice with good views, reception is very impressive, dining room bright and airy, many nice areas to sit and relax.
Out side the pool area was lovely (although the outdoor pool was closed for maintenance), and the situation right next to the beach is great.
I can't criticise the facilities in the hotel - the indoor pool was nice, and always very clean, usually very quiet too, bars and lounges really comfortable, there is also an adequate games room with a couple of pool tables and games machines which is good fun.
We didn't go on any excursions or join many organized activities as we primarily went to relax and be very lazy! The place is great for this purpose - we have come home feeling really relaxed.
Apparently there are some great trips, and there seemed to be plenty of sports activities going on around the place for those wishing to be a bit more active. We were happy to lie on the beach or by the pool in the sun (which was always out).
The food and drink was great. There was lots of choice from simple things like pizza and chips, suitable for kids, to interesting Tunisian traditional foods. There was always plenty, and was replenished throughout sittings - it always looked and tasted fresh and at a good temperature.
Most of all I want to compliment all the staff of the hotel, who were fantastic. They all served us or went about their work with a smile on their faces and went out of their way to make sure everything was to our liking.
They seem very happy in their work and take pride in what they do - and rightly so as they all work hard - there are always cleaners tending to various parts of the hotel, and the 'animation team' after playing various sports with guests during the day proceeded to dance with the children at the 7.30 'mini-disco' then put on shows in the theatre room later in the evenings - and I never once saw any of them yawn.
The waiters and bar tenders were very attentive and always so friendly. The management team were always milling about the hotel checking things and chatting politely with guests.
Most of the staff speaks very good English, and I think German too, but appreciated the odd word of French I could muster.
The only tiny downside I can mention, and it is a small point, is that the hotel allowed people selling trips and tours into the hotel to bother the guests by trying to ply them with trips we didn't want.
We had been told to expect this sort of unwanted attention in markets and towns etc, but were caught unawares on the Monday morning, by a guy calling himself the owner of the hotel and organising a trip for all the Thomson customers, giving the impression it was free - of course it wasn't.
Overall though, a great and very relaxing holiday.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Dec 2006 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr J & Mrs T Rees |
| Overall
Rating: |
3/10 |
| Comments: |
On arriving at the hotel we were greeted by warm and friendly staff, with a smile and a complimentary drink, ushered to the reception desk, whilst a bus-boy took care of our luggage.
Immediately directed to the restaurant, where the chef had prepared us a hot meal.
Reception area clean and modern. Restaurant clean and modern.
Food a real let down. Not enough of a selection and very 'samey' each day. There were 5 of us on this trip who all felt the same about the food.
Rooms clean, spacious and comfortable.
Entertainment (and I use this word loosely!) Very much below average and the Theatre where the entertainment occurred was like a fridge.
On one evening, we had to endure freezing cold temperatures whilst a man paraded around the room swinging snakes, lizards and spiders above his head and between his legs - cruel and horrible! Left early that night!
Pool area clean and spacious, plenty of sun beds on pool area and lovely private beach.
Whatever you do, no matter what the Reps tell you, don’t do the reps entertainment night. It is seriously rubbish - and so said all of us!
All the staff at the hotel were helpful, friendly and went out of their way to keep you happy.
Nothing to do outside the hotel unless you take a 30 minute walk (or short taxi ride) into the nearest town. Hustle and bustle and constantly being approached to "look in my shop".
Hired a car for the day and headed South down the coast - some weird and wonderful sights. The market at Sousse was incredible - again, weird and wonderful sights and sounds.
Enjoyed most of the experience of being amongst the locals - until one of the shop owners took offence to me not wishing to "look in his shop" (I smiled politely and said no thank you).
A little further into the market and the smell of dead meat hits you - it took me weeks to get the smell of death from my nose - shocking sights - barbaric treatment of animals.
During our stay they were 'celebrating' the festival of Ede and sacrificing sheep left right and centre.
Went on a camel ride, sold by a Muslim Arthur Daley - couldn’t believe my eyes when saw these sad creatures being whipped into order by the 'staff' at the stables.
To top it off, we were told that the humps had been cut off to make it more comfortable for tourists to ride on - you can guess that I gave this one a miss and travelled by horse and cart instead!
On returning to the stables, we were offered fresh oranges and mint tea and allowed to see the other horses in the stables - shocking and upsetting are the two words that come to mind.
In Summary; if you want a holiday where you are going to stay in the hotel and not venture out, this is the place for you, unless you like tasty, varied food and can accept barbaric treatment of animals.
However, where else will you see a sheep on the back of a motorbike, tied to a bar on the back of a moving truck or over someone’s shoulders?
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Riu Park El Kebir Hotel ReviewsPage 1 2 3
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