Caretta Beach Resort and Waterpark

Arrived early in the morning and was met by a male on reception (not very helpful or friendly) given our wrist bands and keys, not told which direction to go in for our rooms and no help offered (we where a party of 13 with 6 children), not given any information on meal times, map of resort or anything.

Room very basic and in need of modernising, in room one (duplex apartment) door in bedroom downstairs did not shut (was too big for the frame) so had to put something up against it to keep it shut, stairs very steep and slippery (one of the adults fell down them). Room two should have been a ground floor room as had a 3 month old baby in it but instead where put on the 2nd floor, no Microwave in the room even though requested before our arrival, nowhere to hang clothes up so family had to live out of suitcases for the week and electricity went off for 2 hours one night and was told by staff if it didn't come back on they had no other rooms to move the family to so they would have to stay in the room which is not good as they had a 3 month old baby with them. Room three again had nowhere to hang clothes up, shower drain overfilled when someone was in it and the stuff coming back up smelt of sewerage, called maintenance who did nothing at all about the issue. Was quite noisy of a night once in bed with people being loud on balconies and in rooms.

Towels where changed most days but had lots of stains on them when swapped out and did not smell very nice either.

Food very disappointing the same everyday for breakfast, lunch and evening meal. Food for children was very bland, food at snack bar same everyday too and had to queue for a while most days for food from there (staff serving are very slow). We had to purchase some food from the supermarket to keep in the rooms for the children to eat as they would not eat the food from the restaurant. Drinks are locally sourced cheap drinks not your Coca cola, fanta or sprite. Drinks are served in very small plastic tumblers so have to go to the bar very frequently. Staff in the restaurant where very friendly but the reception staff where not.

Lots of pools but not all of them have bars by them so you have to walk back to the main building most times to get a drink. Lots of sunbeds by each pool but most people put towels on them early to reserve apart from in the water park which doesn't open until 10.30 am. Plastic around the edges of some of pools was not secure and one of our 5 year old children got her toe caught on one of them and split it open, we took her to the medic cabin in the waterpark and where told they had no one to look at this for her and to take her to the pharmacy down the road (they did not even ask how she had split it open).

Entertainment was very poor, junior disco for the children every night followed by a show which was not the best (need to look at getting some more interesting groups/tribute acts).

Grounds of the hotel nice and kept clean.

The bookable Italian restaurant was very nice as where the staff and it was probably the best food that we had all week at the resort, we also booked the burger restaurant but again this was not very nice the onion rings and fries where cold.

We booked this resort as a family for some special birthday celebrations but we where very disappointed with the hotel and it was not what we thought it would be, overall the whole family were very disappointed with the holiday.

There are lots of shops and restaurants on the main strip out of the hotel which was just as well as we had to eat out at these quite a few days/nights as the food was so bad at the hotel. Food at the Rose N Crown very nice and also at the Sizzle bar.

Hotel has an arcade but most of the games do not work so again not much for the children to do especially the older children.

I would rate the hotel as a 3 star certainly not a 4 star, needles to say that we would not travel to this hotel again so disappointed.

We stayed at this hotel for 7 days – 2 adults and a nearly five-year-old child. Overall, I would rate it 3.75/5. There are quite a few things that could be improved to bring the hotel to a higher standard.

Accommodation: We arrived at around 9:00 a.m. and were given our wristbands straight away, so we could start using the hotel facilities immediately. Our room was ready at around 2:00 p.m.

We stayed in room A311, in the main building with the reception, right under the roof. The room was probably the biggest disappointment for me and, in my opinion, it barely meets a 3-star standard.

The entrance door did not close properly. If you only turned the key once when locking it, you could still easily open the door. The glass bathroom door, with a 1 cm gap all around it, does not provide much privacy. The bathroom fan was connected to the light, so at night you could not ventilate the bathroom without having the light on in both “rooms”.

There were also no toiletries in the bathroom apart from a bar of hand soap.

The room was long and narrow, with several steps. In the first section there was a single bed, a fridge and an electric kettle. The second section, separated by a door, had a double bed, wardrobe, TV and access to the balcony.

The beds were incredibly hard. If you opened the door to the second section, it hit the TV, which was mounted directly behind the door.

The air conditioning was only in the room with the double bed and was located above the wardrobe, so most of the air was blowing towards the wardrobe. The first section could not be cooled down at all and was unbearably hot. The air conditioning in the second section had to run all night, otherwise we would have melted. Unfortunately, we ended up getting sick during our holiday.

The outdoor AC unit was located on the balcony. This meant that clothes dried very quickly because of the hot air coming from it, but it was impossible to sit comfortably on the balcony.

Luckily, we spent very little time in the room.

Food and drinks: The food was typical all-inclusive fare. Breakfast was the same every day, and lunch and dinner were also largely the same, with only a few dishes changing from day to day. Even so, there was enough choice to find something to eat every day during our 7-day stay.

We had no complaints about the taste of the food. The selection included the usual options: pasta (carbonara, Napoli and Bolognese sauce), rice, potatoes, the same fish every day (probably cod?), grilled chicken, pork, vegetable salads, cheese, cold cuts, bread, soups and French fries. The fried options rotated between things like chicken nuggets, fish fingers and onion rings.

The desserts were the same every day and seemed to be commercially bought frozen desserts – a couple of times I was actually served a piece that was still frozen inside.

The fruit selection included apples, oranges, watermelon, grapes and nectarines.

Soft drinks came from a post-mix machine, so the quality was nothing special. They definitely didn't hold back when it came to the alcohol at the bars, though! 😁

The snack bar was disappointing, with a very limited selection of food. The only thing that tasted as it should were the French fries. The pizza was honestly awful.

Waterpark: The waterpark was great entertainment for children, especially the shallow pool. A lazy river ran around the large slides, and there was a wave pool at the back of the complex.

Our son was allowed to use the large slides even though he is under 120 cm tall. He wore arm bands and there was no problem. We always went down before him and waited for him at the bottom, where we collected him.

Be careful with the flooring – it gets extremely hot.

It is a shame that not all of the slides operate at the same time. Usually, only two slides plus the ring slides are open. You either get two slides where you ride on inflatable rings, or the U-shaped slide.

I also have to mention the lifeguards, who were absolutely fantastic – very friendly and kind. Our son loved them, especially Nikol. 🙂

Overall, all the staff were friendly, helpful and smiling.

It was a shame that there was no snack/drinks station directly in the waterpark. You had to walk almost all the way back to the main restaurant. Since drinks are served in very small cups with ice, you end up walking back and forth quite a lot.

I also missed having freely available bottled water throughout the resort as part of the all-inclusive service.

Beach: The walk to the beach took around 10–15 minutes. Sun loungers were available for an extra charge.

The sea was refreshing and the beach was sandy, with just a small amount of pebbles and shells near the edge. If you're lucky, you can even see baby turtles hatching.

We didn't use the hotel's minibus, but I saw a very long queue for it several times.

Entertainment: There was a mini disco for children with the animation team every evening.

The amusement park had lots of different little cars and similar attractions that move for €1. The inflatable castles cost €10 for one evening.

Unfortunately, most of the arcade games in the games room were out of order, which was a shame.

The evening entertainment for adults was rather below average.

We had an amazing time! Our little one absolutely loved the water park, and the room was spotless and very well taken care of.

The all-inclusive package was excellent, with unbelievably good food at every meal. A special shoutout to the Dolce Piato restaurant inside the hotel, which truly impressed us.

We will definitely be back!