The Royal Blue Resort

My husband and I stayed here for a week. We had a suite with private pool, a lovely treat. Positives: Fantastically designed hotel and beach area. Very clean, fantastic staff and good buffet food at breakfast and dinner. Special mention to the night manager. We woke at 5am to a flooded room. My husband had to go to reception as the phones weren’t working. The night manager came with mop & bucket to clean up himself. It took a while but he saw it through with good humour! Negatives: Very little allergen advice on the buffet options, sometimes no labelling at all. The garden/pool is not secluded from a busy path/staff entrance at all. A privacy screen of some description should be erected until the hedging has grown. Although we were told there were “courtesy rooms” for use after checking out we discovered this is untrue. You literally have to use the sauna/steam room locker area!! No towels, changing cubicles or privacy. A sour end to our fabulous holiday.

We had a pleasant stay overall, although our experience was somewhat mixed.

The resort itself is beautiful, particularly the sea views and sunsets, and having a complimentary drink at the bar while watching the sunset was a lovely touch.

There were, however, several areas where the experience initially fell short of our expectations. Our first room was on the ground floor with a fairly obstructed view, which was disappointing given the setting of the hotel. The hotel later moved us one floor up to a much nicer room, which we appreciated, although the change only happened quite late in our stay.

Food was probably the weakest part of the experience for us. I had contacted the hotel in advance to explain that we were vegan, but at the half-board restaurant the vegan options were often more a collection of side dishes than a proper composed meal, and there were no vegan desserts during most of our stay. On our final evening, however, the chef clearly made an effort to provide more variety, which was very much appreciated.

We had also requested a vegan packed breakfast for an early excursion. Unfortunately, what we received was extremely basic and included honey, which is not vegan, so we ended up having to buy additional food ourselves.

Restaurant seating also seemed somewhat inconsistent. Some tables had wonderful sea views while others were in the middle of the dining area, and it was not clear how tables were allocated. After raising the issue, though, we were given a lovely table and on our final evening everything worked very smoothly.

The thalassotherapy experience was pleasant but did not particularly stand out, and unfortunately the sauna was out of order during our visit.

Where the hotel really deserves praise is the staff’s response when I became unwell. They were extremely helpful in contacting a doctor, calling a pharmacy and arranging a taxi for us. At a stressful moment, that assistance was genuinely valuable and left a very positive impression.

So overall, there were some clear shortcomings, particularly around the vegan food offering and attention to advance requests, but there were also several examples of staff trying to resolve problems once they were raised.

Our favorite hotel in Mediterranean… with incredible privet beach , with a bay - you can swim even if anywhere else on the island the sea is turbulent… fantastic food, rich bufet , and excellent service. Our room had direct and open sea view, and was almost 4 m high… couldn’t be happier. There is no noise, tranquil surroundings , quiet beach , pure heaven.