Hi Jill,

If you Google 'Robinson Apartments Elenite', you'll find lots of references - mainly from developers/estate agents, though.

Baldur

Who are you booking them through Jill?

I saw the apartment on e bay, the lady has sent me extra pictures, it looks lovely. She also offered me a smaller studio apartment which also looks nice. £200 for 9 days & £150 for the studio.
I looked on google & like you say there all estate agents/developers etc

What's spam??

I'd avoid it and go for apartments which already are up and running and have reviews.

Ive just found out some more info, its next door but one to Privilege Fort Beach

meant to say- in your answer to your question- spam is where someone comes on with the sole purpose of promoting something-in our case its usually accomodation.
To avoid disappointment I'd stick with something that already has reviews.

Take Fiona's advice, go for somewhere that was up and running last year.
Bulgarian builders have a record of not being ready on time.
Before booking anywhere make sure you can get flights to fit.

Patka

Am i confusing you or what

apartments are called

messambria fort noks

You still only get developers websites with no evidence anyone has ever stayed at a finished one. Therefore, the above answers still apply.

If you book an apartment on ebay, what guarantee or security have you got?

Peter

Found this for you. It looks a bit too new for my liking.Also, have you looked into things like cost of flights over there and compared the total price with a package deal? If you are finding DIY cheaper then I would go for accomodation you can find a few reviews for. You may well get some deals as there is a real glut of accomodation in the beach resorts now.

Found flights for £351 for 2 of us for 9 days which i thought was good.
Apartment owner has said they have been up & running 4 years!!!

I know Peter, theres no guarantee!!!!
Im gonna try again to see if i can find anymore info
thanks for your help you 2

looking at that site I see the apartments are number 3 of 13 so they may well have been up for years. I just find it strange that no-one has reviewed it in that time. they may well be great apartments but you just don't know.

Thread title changed to contain correct name of apartment

Has anyone been to these apartments or seen them?
They look lovely but im dubious

Googling the apartments brought up one hit which led to the developer's forum for owners of the Messambria properties.

The main discussions appear to relate to harmonizing rentals, issues with agents, food deliveries, pets, etc., but the impression is that at least some of the apartments have been running for quite some time and at least one couple reported (in January 2007) spending three weeks in their apartment over the Christmas/New Year period (Dec 2006-Jan 2007).

The same couple reported, in October 2007, that they had permanently moved to Bulgaria & were living in their apartment, a link to their carpentry business's website indicates that this is the case - photos & comments on that website indicate that there are building works next door and that 'Robinsons' is still very much under construction (at least, whenever the website was last updated).

Baldur

We passed them last October (2007) when we were at Elenite Village, and yes they are very much up and running.
Like so many areas in Bulgaria there is building work going on and Fortnoks the developers are still building more apartments in this area with names that are .... Fort .... ?

I am not overly surprised that there are no reviews, these apartments are owner occupied and have only been completed a couple of years, so I won't imagine that there will have been that many tourists (especially from the UK) that have stayed in them let alone left a review on any website.

This is to be even more expected when you consider that Elenite is just starting to become more touristy with the advance of building work out from Sunny Beach where the majority of building work has been for the last few years.

Remember also that it is still mainly Germans who are going to Bulgaria, it was about 90% German just a couple of years ago although it might be slightly less now ? so finding a review on an English language website will be more difficult.

I know they are classed a being in Elenite, but to be honest I wouldn't know if they are in Elenite or the town of Sveti Vlas as they are located midway. The areas tend to just sort of merge in to each other with only a slight gap between them.
One day soon the whole area from Elenite to Sunny Beach will join up and become one huge resort.

As we were staying at the far end in Elenite we only passed a few times on the bus and all I can say about the Fortnoks developments are that they looked nice (and large) from the road.
They slope down from the main road behind at the top down to the Black sea with some gardens and pools.
I would imagine that as they are owner occupied each apartment will be individually furnished so you should ask for some pictures of the actual interior of the apartment so you can see the quality of the furnishing.

I don't know how much there would be in the way of on site entertainment (if any) or eating places, this isn't a holiday complex as such but a residential area, so there will be a mix of guests and owners.

I don't know what there is in the vicinity of the apartments in the way of eateries or supermarkets ( I would imagine there might be a small shop on site for the basics) but Sunny Beach is about 10 min's at most from the apartments and you can get a local bus outside the complex.
The busses are very full and not that regular so you would be best to get a taxi to Sunny Beach, remember to agree a price before you set off

Messambria Fort Beach is fully sold as far as the developer is concerned so all the apartments that you can see for sale on the internet here are by companies / individuals who purchased them and are now trying to re sell to make money out of the property boom.

I found this owners forum so you could ask for info on there -
http://fortnoks.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=10&sid=90507bcff40be007119a8c92d7bc8c4d

Hope this helps a bit
Graham

Thanks Graham

That sounds a lot more positive. How u described the apartments, sloping down towards the sea, pools,gardens is exactly whats in the pictures the lady has sent me. The balcony overlooks the sea, the pictures of the apartment itself look lovely.
On the actual site she described, jacuzzi, sauna, 2 pools, Irish pub, restaurant, pool cafe plus lots more.
There's just me & my husband, we dont want anything too busy.
Ive found cheap flights £351 for both of us & £200 for the apartment for 9 days.

I really appreciate your help. Thanks

Hi Jill,

I own an apartment on Mesambria Fort Beach. It is right on the beach front The apartments have been built for 5 years now and the Privilege next door for 4 years. There are a few more Fort Noks complexes in the area with restaurants and bars that you can use Also in the area is the Zornitza Hotel, Caesars Palace Hotel, Paradise Beach (all inclusive) Royal Park (AI) and water Park which you can visit for 20 lev a day but discounted if you are at the Mesambria, there is also the famous Paco's Bar plus a couple of beach bars.

It depends on what you like personally. I know I have a vested interest but I would recommend it. It certainly is the more exclusive and quieter part of the resort, a beutiful spot looking out over Robinsons Bay. Just returned from 16 Glorious days. There is a regular local bus service to Sveti Vlas (My Favourite) S.B. and Nessebar and you can catch a boat across the bay to Nessebar and S.B. However it is quiet particularly compared to S.B. It gives you time to relax, read, chill out, and recuperate, but the night life and cosmopolitan bustle of S.B. is only a short Taxi/Bus Ride away if that's what you want. Generally there is plenty to do (Crazy golf, Jet Ski's, Horse Riding, Tennis) as long as you don't want to be partying 24/7.

IMO S.B. is very commercial, and I think overcooked now far too busy, only visited it twice in the last 16 days. Obviously I would reccomend Mesambria, as I have an interest, but I am not a Salesman I am not trying to sell anything, I only like people to get the same pleasure as we do from the complex and the area. There are some Brits that like it so much that they now live there all year round. They are building next door at the moment but that won't efect you as it has been stopped for the summer. We don't rent out our apartment except to people that we know (protects the exclusivity) and we can guarantee we get the right clientelle, therefore as I say I have nothing to gain from promoting the place. Over the past 5 years we have had about 25 groups of families and friends go out to the complex and we have had to sub let apartments from other friends to meet the demand as ours has not been available. All of our visitors have been either repeat or word of mouth from satisfied friends. Of all the visitors we have never had one adverse comment only positives.

I know this post is late as I have only just joined and read your e.mail. But if you are considering going then I will gladly supply more info. If you do decide to go then I would appreciate your thoughts and comments.As we will ensure that any comments for improvement are returned to Fort Noks directly as we always like to keep up the standards. We do have a personal web site for the apartment and to help anyone who is visiting for the first time. If you get back to me I will supply you with details.

P.S. I forgot to mention if the apartment looks out over the Black Sea (which mostof them do) then don't forget to look out for the Dolphins swimming through the bay usually at about 08.00 a.m. and at 06.00 p.m. whilst you sit on the balvcony with your Coffee and Toast.

Hi There

Thanks for taking the time to reply, We just got back yesterday from our holiday.
After the initial disappointment of the original owner messing us about with our apartment when we got there & sticking us in another one with not as nice view we began our holiday......
What a beautiful place, the views, the upkeep is brilliant, the pool with hunky lifeguard, lots of friendly British people who are generally owners & who,like you say, initially say they dont rent their apartments out but once they got to know us 3 of them offered to.
Me & my husband actually looked at 3 apartments that were for sale on the complex, if we bought we would need to rent ours out & we feel a little dubious in case we cant but from what you say you have no problems?
I loved it at Paco's, the food was excellent, The dog's are friendly & enjoyed our leftovers. I think the little super market on the complex is very expensive but Hey, where isn't. We payed 10 Lev for a bottle of wine but once we got settled in we bought things from St Vlas supermarkets & brought it back on the bus. We loved St Vlas too.
We only visited S.Beach twice, its very Blackpoolish although still cleaner & less rough then Benidorm!!!
The building work was still going on but no big noisy machines etc Where the hell is the Health & Safety out there ??? My husband was amazed.
Sean & Diane who live there (im sure you must know them) said he could get my husband weeks of work welding railings etc straight away.
The Royal Park was a No, No when we were there, people who were staying there had food poisoning, we were gonna go too.
We went to The Zornitza for a meal which to say it is so posh & expensive was poor & the cheeky bloody waiter never gave us any change. You live & learn.
I think the road where Paco's is will within the next couple of years be full of little eating places, small shops etc it's on the up but lets hope not so much so that it gets like S.beach TOO commercialised.
The complaint we talked to people about was that there wasn't enough British Papers delivered on site.
We only went for a week because i get really homesick & because we'd never been before but neither of us wanted to come home, 2 weeks next year for certain & if we can manage it, in our own apartment.

Speak Soon Jill