Posted my review in the correct place last night - but here it is for anyone who wants to read it on here.
There's probably already a review posted on this site by me, about the same hotel. And, most likely, it will say how we were back only two days before we had booked to go again. After this years visit, it was less than 30 hours (only 4 hours after arriving home, we had already visited travel agents and brought brochures home).
Before going on holiday, we had decided that we were just going to stay in the UK next year. Well, that's not going to happen, and we will be back at the Arum next July!
The Journey to The Hotel
After quite a difficult flight, we arrived at Antalya at around 23.30. The flight attendants had clearly worked hard, as they were extremely irritable on our flight - including telling us off for not listening to the safety demonstration (despite us commenting that the fastening to the life jackets had changed - it's a buckle now instead of a double bow).
The Thomas Cook reps were also disappointing. Many people were put on incorrect coaches, and the drivers seemed to be the only ones concerned by this. However, the drive to the resort was quick, and the driving was excellent (no travel sickness complaints from either of my daughters).
If you find children are bored on this journey, suggest they count petrol stations (we have never seen so many on a single road).
Antalya Airport
On the plane, you need to fill in a health form for ALL passengers. On arrival, you walk past a heat-sensitive camera. Despite some reports, this is not at all nerve-wracking, and we only noticed it as we had read about it.
We found the security to be excellent. Personally, we think that scanning the bags/people on entering the terminal is an excellent idea.
The Duty-free is extremely expensive, with prices double what they are at home. An example is the DKNY double box of perfumes, that are available to buy on Thomas Cook flights.
Liquids can be taken to the first departure lounge (where all the shops are), but not through to the second (just a room with seats in). Don't make the mistake some did and go straight through to the second, as you are not allowed out, and it will get very boring.
The staff were very pleasant. When leaving, our plane landed early, so we boarded and took off early. Within 10 minutes, there had been 8 announcements of this, and the whole process was very quick and professional.
The Hotel Welcome
Despite it being early morning, the man on reception was very helpful. He started to explain everything, before noticing that we were returning customers. He then asked very politely if we needed this explanation - we didn't and he seemed very relieved! We were offered food, but declined this. Our cases were taken up to our room by a porter, who showed us the new card-entry system, and how to operate the safe.
The next morning, when entering the dining room, we saw one of our favourite waiters from last year, Osmon. He saw us, and immediately recognised us - the look of delight on his face was wonderful. Every day, he made the effort to come and chat to us, and was wonderful with our youngest daughter.
The Hotel
Like last year, the hotel is extremely comfortable, and absolutely spotless. There is constantly someone cleaning. An example is the kids club - we watched it being cleaned 5 times in less than 4 hours.
Although the hotel feels quite luxurious, you can definitely relax.
There are a few cats around the hotel. They tend not to come near guests - although at the moment there is a litter of kittens under the spare sunbeds that are just starting to venture out - very sweet watching them chase the crickets, and other insects.
The Rooms
Since last year, the rooms have been completely re-decorated. We were in a family suite - the only difference between this and a family room is that is contains hot and cold air conditioning, and a kettle.
The rooms are modern, and cool. The colours make them extremely stylish, and the fabrics seem very expensive. There is a large flat-screen TV, although this was never used. The beds are hard, but comfortable. There was plenty of wardrobe space, and even excess clothes hangers! A bonus with a teenage daughter, there was plenty of mirrors.
The bathroom was very spacious, with a huge shower area - and the shower was wonderfully powerful.
The balcony was very large, with a lovely sea and pool view.
The only slight problem with the rooms was that the wardrobe doors had no gap between them and the floor. Basically, be careful when opening them as it hurts when they are stuck over your foot!
Sea Views
Recently, some reviews have stated that there are very few sea views, and that only the rooms on the top floor of the hotel can see the sea. This is incorrect. Last year we had a room on the 5th floor; despite being almost round a corner, we could see the sea. This year our room was on the 4th floor; we had an absolutely amazing sea view.
The Food
The food on offer was, generally, better than last year. It seemed to be cooked better, and there was a wider choice. However, it was clear that Tuesday's was the chefs' day off!
Everyone will find something they like, even if it is pizza and chips.
Breakfasts were surprising - there was always something to eat. The coffee is delicious, and the tea is best we have drank abroad (you need 3 of the blue teabags in the teapots to make a decent one).
The fish is very, very good, as are the ‘meatballs' (which are basically like good quality, really meaty burgers). Translations are a little dubious - don't go on the labels, go on what the food looks like. ‘Rice with gruel' is actually bulghar wheat cooked in tomatoes, with a very small amount of chopped up onions and pepper - my eldest daughters favourite. However, we found ‘lamb in curry sauce' to contain no lamb, and huge chunks of pineapple. We would all urge you to try the daily flatbread. It is completely out of this world, and we quickly became addicted.
The main seasoning used is clearly mint. Although nice at first, we did get sick of it. It is also seriously inappropriate in some things. An example is the ‘china pastry rolls' (spring rolls) - mint in those was seriously off-putting.
The food ‘displays' and carvings are out of this world - although its rather annoying when guests photograph every single one as you're trying to get your dinner.
The English are very good at queuing, the rest of the guests don't appear to have mastered this. Children were often the worse, as some parents let their children run around constantly whilst they sat eating.
We received a free meal at an al-carte restaurant of our choice. There are two at the Arum - a meat one and a fish one. Having eaten at the meat one last year (with no complaints), we opted for the fish. It was one of the best meals we have eaten for a long time - perfectly cooked and seasoned, as well as wonderfully fresh. Children's options were very limited though. Other guests commented that they were slightly disappointed with the meat restaurant this year.
Recently, and whilst we were there, people have been complaining of quite severe stomach problems (with some hospitalisation). However, from speaking to these people, many have admitted drinking the tap water. A lot of the people who were ill whilst we were there were constantly drinking ice cold drinks from the bar, and eating the ice. We have found on previous holidays that cold drinks can cause upset stomachs. Basically, what we are trying to say is please do not blame the hotel when you hear these reports; we found the food to be fresh, well prepared, and well cooked.
The Staff
Again, all the member of staff was very friendly. Almost all those from last year remembered us, and almost every single one was very attentive. Despite the fact that some were very busy, they were always smiling, and offering to help with anything.
A special mention is needed to Osmon - our favourite waiter. Seeing two of our family party walking home on their own one night (2 females, around 1am), he even stopped to make sure they were all right.
The Pools
Since last year, another small pool has been added, with two waterslides. These are very gentle and tame, and are operational for 4 hours each day. Despite a ‘lifeguard' being present, I would recommend supervising children on these (if anything, the floor is slippy, and glasses were often broken around the pool area).
All of the pools were a nice temperature; not too cold or hotel. They were very, very clean. When someone had an accident, it was cleared up quickly.
The Sea/Beach
As in previous reviews, the Arum section of sea is very rocky - do not try and swim.
The beach is very clean, but extremely hot. We went for a walk along the beach every afternoon, and only found it bearable if we had a cold shower beforehand.
The whole stretch of beach is very clean. There is a small amount of hassle from watersports/boat trip companies, as well as a few traders.
The watersports people are generally very safety conscious - I haven't seen people being made to wear lifejackets on pedal-boats before!
Cleanliness
This seems to be a speciality of the Turks - almost everywhere we went, we found clean and spotless. The hotel is cleaned from top to bottom every day. One of my daughters often ended up interrupting the maid cleaning our room, and noted she did an absolutely wonderful job.
However, a word of advice - any cups/glasses in the room that still contain liquid (even a small amount) will not be cleaned. Also, any empty bottles (we attempted to keep smaller bottles for transporting soft drinks) will be thrown away.
We did find that, on the day the regular maid wasn't working, the cleaning was not of such a high standard, although it was still very clean.
Animation Team & Entertainment
The Animation team work extremely hard, but are always very friendly. And, unlike most hotels, they are not too pushy when it comes to joining in.
The Water Aerobics is very good, as is the archery. From what we saw, there is also volleyball, boules, darts etc.
The children's kids club seemed to have a variety of activities going on - there is also an unsupervised playground behind this.
We did not see any of the evening entertainment, as we prefer to walk to the bars near the hotel. From what we heard, the majority of the shows were awful, although some were excellent.
Other Hotel Services
The snack bar sells chips at a very reasonable price - these worked out cheaper than ice creams. You can eat at the snack bar, or bring to the pool side. And as a bonus, we even found they had salt and vinegar (didn't find any vinegar at all elsewhere).
There is a mini-market (not used), small shop (bought the inflatables from there - probably could get cheaper, but saved the bother of carrying them back, and they were blown up for us), jewellers (no purchases this year, but a diamond ring and necklace last year - this place is very, very cheap and reasonable, with valuations four times higher than paid price), silver shop (youngest daughter took dislike to the man), spa (not used), leather shop (not used), other shops (not used), library (guests donate books - didn't go this year, and found last year that they were predominately german, however we did leave 4 books though!).
Pool towels can be changed as often as you wish - its available at the beginning and end of every day, close to the spa entrance.
There is a disco (not for young children) with runs until 2am. My eldest daughter considered going, but decided against it as it was not open to non-guests (she made friends outside the hotel).
As I mentioned above, there is a well equipped playground behind the kids club. As this is right next to the hotel boundary, I would suggest ensuring children are supervised at all times.
Finally, there are a couple of table tennis tables, as well as a crazy golf course. These activities are both free and great fun.
Shops Outside The Hotel
For water, I would recommend walking the short distance to the shop next to Brothers bar. The water sold in the hotel (Erekili, or similar) is not to our taste at all. This shop is also very reasonable for things like crisps and biscuits.
The souvenir shop next to the supermarket described above is good for children to buy presents for friends - those little bracelets are 20 for 2 lira. However, the older (probably later thirties) man that works there at night is more than a little creepy, and we avoided it then (he followed my 15-year-old daughter up the road, touching her inappropriately - she didn't mind the attention from Turkish men, but this one seemed to really upset her, and she was threatening to lash out at him).
The Turkish shaves are very good and cheap - men we recommend leaving the razors at home. The one next to Yusefs was the best.
Bars & Restaurants (Outside the Hotel)
We visited three bars during our stay. One was the Baron, in Side. It was very pleasant, although we only stayed for one drink. Another was Yusef's. We went for one drink, as this place was the worse for hassling us, and we wrongly assumed that they might leave us alone. The Spite my daughter ordered was definitely not Sprite - if it was is had something very dubious in it. Even worse, all four of us were ill the next morning. We had not eaten the same things the day before, so are convinced it was a result of drinking there.
A word of warning, avoid the Golden Fizz. They became aggressive to us (again) when we refused to drink there. They do a similar show Linda Bar (see below) - but its not the same, and really quite off putting. This bar also have a couple of ‘dancers' after 11, who wear very skimpy clothes, and wiggle on platforms - it looked very cheap and tacky. Bob (with the hair!) is now working at Queens, by the way.
The bar we went to the most (every night) was Linda Bar (opposite the Hemera, Melas and Sunrise). We went there last year, and they recognised us immediately this year. The drinks definitely weren't expensive, and the boys were fabulous again (we will be back in July - the daughter is planning to run down as soon as the coach arrives at about 1.30am). Don't miss their ‘Sexbomb' show - it's not just for the girls. You can find it on YouTube, from last year (not my video). Savos (I think that's his name, anyway, he's the one that shouts ey-ey-ey) is wonderful, and whoever he marries/is married to will never have a dull moment! The barman is also lovely, with his trumpet. Then there's ‘Jack' and ‘the tall one' also deserve a mention. Finally, there's Ali (the daughter said he needed a special mention). The boys are all absolutely amazing, we will see you either next year, or in 2011 (the ones who go into the aemy this year/beginning of next year! Hope you stay safe!). Oh yes, and hi to Toffee the dog.
Right, I think everything is just about covered in this review! I know its long, but we had an absolutely fabulous time, and are counting down the days until July!
This hotel is wonderful, and we recommend it to everyone. If you go there, you will almost definitely not be disappointed.
The resort is also wonderful - we think it would be great for people visiting Turkey for the first time.
Brilliant review thanks ever so much
Yes, excellent, thank you. It did bring back a few memories although we haven't been there for 4 years. It must have been a surprise to find that the pools were heated. Only the little, indoor pool was warm on our last two visits.
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