Elenite, Royal Park Hotel Review

Overall Rating

Having been basically terrified by previous reviews about the Royal Park and after numerous emails back and forth to First Choice, it was with great trepidation that myself, my wife and three boys (along with another party of 5 family members) traveled to this hotel on August 4th.

Firstly let me reassure those who are still to travel. The adverse reports which create the pre-holiday misery, whilst not entirely inaccurate, are greatly exaggerated. I can hopefully provide a fair and balanced review of this accommodation and leave those reading it with a sense of reassurance rather than of dread. I'll split my review into sectors which I think will cover all aspects that those still yet to travel will wish to know about. So; let ' s get started' ..

The Hotel. Part of the Bulgarian owned 'Victoria Group' and one of three hotels within the vast Elenite complex. Your all inclusive wrist band won't work in any of the other 2 hotels. Situated on a beautiful white sandy beach. The hotel is spotless and is cleaned 24/7. There are 8 floors, although guests are not normally allocated top floor rooms these seem to be staff accommodation. Smoking is permitted in public areas indoor and out. We had one power cut whilst there which lasted about 2 minutes. The queue for the lifts is exasperating at busy times and as we were only on the 3rd floor we didn't use them much.
Tip The hotel provides a currency exchange at their reception desk. Straight £notes incur no commission but Maestro/Visa/MasterCard incur a whopping 10% service charge; so if you need to withdraw cash then try and tie it in to a visit to Sunny Beach and use one of the may cash points situated there.

Rooms. We had a family suite which was essentially 2 rooms within one. Extremely spacious and come with an unstocked mini fridge. Only one wardrobe with 4 hangers was provided (not even a chest of drawers were in the room) for the storage of 2 weeks worth of clothes for 5 people. The air conditioning worked but was pretty much ineffective and needs to be on for a good half hour before you noticed any drop in room temperature. The bathroom is spacious if a little worn around the edges and the shower is incredibly powerful. The rooms are cleaned daily and the sheets and towels changed twice a week. We had 2 balconies with wonderful sea views. Each balcony is kitted with a table a 2 chairs. Due to a pump breakdown we endured our last 2 days at the hotel without hot water. We didn't suffer from the towel scam, nor did we hear any reports from others being 'victims'
Hint :- I gave our maid a 20 lev tip on day 3 and we seemed to receive a much better service after that' ..
Tip: - Your air conditioning is operated by a credit card sized key fob which you need to take with you when you leave the room. To keep your air-con operating whist you're out of the room take something like a Tesco clubcard and leave that in the slot when you're out "you'll then come back to a nicely refreshed room' ..

The Restaurant and the Food. Before traveling this was my greatest concern and no doubt will be a major concern to those about to travel as many reviews totally slate the food and the restaurant.
The restaurant itself leaves a lot to be desired. It is presented like a large self service canteen, something like you would find in Woolworths, Debenhams or BHS' . Soft drinks are from machine dispensers and there is a staffed bar for alcohol. Avoid going at opening times if you dislike queuing as you'll be waiting for a table, crockery, condiments and your food. Don't leave your table unattended if you're in between courses as you'll go back to find it's been cleared and somebody else sat there'

So " on to the food itself. Initially we had no problems and throughout the entire two weeks none of out party of ten was ill from the food. The quality of the food was definitely not four star and only just acceptable. The choice of food was good. The breakfasts had cereals, freshly baked bread, fried food, fruits, cheeses, etc. The lunches and evening meals had excellent salad bars and a good selection of fresh veg such as garden peas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweetcorn " no issues there. However, the main issue we had was the total lack of variety in the menu. Very little changed on the menu from lunchtime to evening meal and very little changed on the menu from Sunday to Saturday. Essentially after three days you're fed up of seeing and eating the same food. I questioned Alan the First Choice rep about this on a complaint form and his parrot fashion reply was that the food met four star standards'My comment was that the food may well be cooked by Gordon Ramsay and meet seven star standards, but nobody wants to be presented with the same food day in " day out for a full two weeks. My wife and sister in law enjoy fish'. Over the fortnight they had a choice of greasy mackerel or fish fingers'not exactly four star? So to summarise on the food ' . It won't make you ill, the choice is good, the quality is just about acceptable but the variety is boring, boring, BORING''

We ate out on 7 occasions, and it was a needed and welcome change to taste freshly prepared good food at extremely reasonable prices. Pakos bar is ideal for an evening out or try The Jupiter restaurant in Sunny Beach for a real blowout meal.

If you're not hungry enough for a full meal then throughout the day there are pizzas, paninis, kebabs and hot dogs available along with unlimited (really good) ice cream.

There are also two restaurants which you need to book for. The open air BBQ and the a-la-carte restaurant. The quality of the food served in these eateries is only marginally better than the main restaurant but comes with waiter service. You have to book the same day for these and they don't open for bookings until 10am. As they are so popular people actually start queuing as early as 8.30am to secure their places'so get there early and take a book if you want to join the queue ' ..


The Pool.
Yes, it's cold " but swim around for a minute or two and you'll soon warm up. Get your towels on your beds by 7.30 latest or you won't get one ' . The pool is cleaned every morning and is a constant 1m40cm in depth. There's also a children's splash pool attached. Having a drink or food around the pool area or any other outside area can be a problem due to the large number of wasps. They are evident in their hundreds around the pool bar area and they'll be hovering around you continually when you are in possession of food or drink. Between us we were stung six times throughout the holiday. The water park on site is good for a few hours over the course of the holiday but avoid the orange tube slide " the sections on this are mis-aligned and rip the skin off your back if you're not careful.


The Beach.
Lovely white sand which gently shelves into the sea. Pedalo's cost 20 lev for 30 mins, Jet skis cost 60 lev for 12 minutes.


The Booze.
The beer and local spirits were perfectly ok, we didn't suspect anything was watered down. The local spirits cost about £2 a bottle anyway and are opened in front of you. Expect to queue for up to 15 minutes at the bar in reception at busier times. Ice is a rarity most times and an impossibility at busy times. When they run out of normal glasses expect to receive your gin and tonic (or whatever short you order) in a pint pot " half pint spirit / half pint mixer ' .. warm and without ice' . Yummy' .
The Morris bar is where the part of the evening entertainment (Bingo / Mr. and Mrs.) takes place and is always heaving ' . Didn't try it much as it was far too hot in there and not our scene.

Entertainment.
Basic stuff really " the reps do loads for the kids throughout the day and there's a show on at the animation theatre each night at 8pm. The queue to get in starts building up around 6.30pm'After the show it turns into a nightclub until 1am.


Other stuff.
Bulgaria is now in the E.U. so you won't be able to buy any duty free on your way out. The shop keepers and airport staff at Burgas will tell you there is no limit to what you can take back to the U.K. but this is not the case. As Bulgaria is not yet a 'full' E.U. member, you can still only bring back 200 cigarettes which work out @ £14/carton in the shops. Return with more than 200 and if you're stopped by customs you will either have to pay duty on them or forfeit them.
Don't change money with street traders " most things in Bulgaria are fake or replicas and this includes currency. Change only at banks or change shops, or even better withdraw from cash points.
The shopping centre at the hotel although small provides a pretty good selection of what's generally available throughout the area. There's even a tattooist. If you have a PSP there's a shop that will modify the firmware in it for you and give you a set of 25 dvds with 100 PSP games on it for around £40 ' . (and yes, they do all work ok ' .) ' .
There ' s a 24 hour medical centre on site which liases directly with all UK insurance companies so if you do need medical attention then your bill will be paid directly by your insurers.
Internet is available at 6 lev/hour.
Go to Nessabar for more relaxed shopping and a more authentic experience of Bulgaria.
Go to Sunny Beach for all your football kits, designer belts, handbags, jeans and good quality replica high end watches.


Conclusion.
Hopefully this review has given you an accurate picture of what to expect at the Royal Park. The overall experience there still left a lot to be desired but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I was anticipating it to be. First Choice are well aware of the repeated issues customers have and will reply parrot fashion with their well versed responses. If there is anything there serious enough to warrant your complaint then ensure it's submitted on a comment form, keep a copy and follow it up on your return. Above all, please don't worry about this accommodation - it's nowhere near as bad as it has been portrayed in so many other reviews