We travelled in August 2004.

We arrived at the hotel at midnight so we couldn't really wonder around. The next morning we tried out the breakfast but it was very poor e.g. scrambled egg mixed with hot dogs, fried chopped pork imitating bacon and just 2 cerials to choose from for the kids.

The kids went in the pool once or twice as it was too cold so we all ended up sitting on the beach all day. The beach was fine and was many watersports.

The cleanliness was excellent and we always saw the cleaners everywhere sweeping the floors.

During the day there were many things for the kids such as battery powered scooters and watersports on the beach.

The hotel staff were very nice and could speak very good English so if you walked past they would say hi.

The rooms were excellent and always clean and tidy.

Although the food was poor we would definitely go again in the near future.

FANTASTIC!!! That's how we describe our holiday.

This hotel is positioned at one end of the resort, well away from the hustle and bustle and queues of the Royal Park at the other end. However if you are looking for hustle and bustle it only takes 10 minutes at a steady amble to walk along the sea front to get there and plenty to look at along the way.

There is a guarded security gate at the entrace to the resort, no-one other than guests, staff and delivery people can get in. There is a doctors surgery on site but we didn't have to use it.

Nearly all the rooms have a sea view and balcony. Our room was clean and comfortable, cleaner in every day but we did find we had to ASK for clean towels/bed linen, otherwise it only got changed twice a week. We had a small problem with the balcony door but that was fixed within 24 hours. Take your own hairdryer ... the one in the bathroom is not very good. Take a travel kettle if like us you like a cup of tea sitting on the balcony before going down to breakfast.

I am very picky when it comes to food but didn't by any means go hungry. It's mostly Bulgarian, we did get chips once a week, but then we didn't go all that way just to eat English food, thats all part of the holiday experience. Every evening there was a choice of salads, two soups, three vegetables and three meats/fish, cakes, fresh fruits, icecream. Don't expect piping hot food, it IS properly cooked but allowed to cool a little before serving as Bulgarians believe this aids digestion.

Queues ... very rarely for drinks at the bars or at the restaurant.

The staff were all very pleasant. On our first night I thanked the barman in Bulgarian, after that he (jokingly) would only serve us if we ordered in Bulgarian so we learnt loads of the language as we went along. The Bulgarians everywhere loved it if you tried. We always managed to have the same waiter (he makes roses out of paper serviettes, even has little thorns on it).

The pool was FREEZING, only the kids seemed brave enough. However step out of the hotel door, across the path and you are on the beach. The sea was much warmer, very safe, no undercurrents and slopes out gently. The beach is sandy, lots of sunbeds and parasols. However, the Germans are there at 7am putting their towels on the sunbeds and their new trick is to take the pin from the parasol so it won't stay up ... the easy answer is to do the same, keep hold of a pin and not let them get to you.

We had two power cuts, one lasted 10 minutes and the other 20 minutes, hardly a disaster and not surprising when they only have one power plant that's only running at 30% capacity.

There is no other entertainment at the Royal Bay, but as I said it doesn't take long to walk to the Village or Royal Park and you CAN use those facilities.

If you have any problems deal with them through your rep. The Bulgarians are very laid back ... later ... tomorrow ... but the reps get things moving quicker because they go straight to the manager ... saves you the hassle.

Our rep was brilliant, as were the other reps.

We booked four excursions. Be sure to go to the The Khans Tent, nice food and drink, good entertainment suitable for all ages. The Jeep Safari is only available to over 16's because of insurance but its a really fun day out for the adults. The Full Monty is a 15 hour day so I wouldn't advise it for little ones but great for the older kids and adults. The trip to Varna and the Dolphinarium is good for any age.

Get a taxi to the AquaPark, not worth booking this through the rep. Boat from the pier down by the Royal Park or taxi to Nessebar, great for shopping for souvenirs, cobbled streets, roman ruins.

Ask questions. They love it if you take an interest in their lifestyle and customs, we learnt so much I could write a book.

We were there for our Silver Wedding Anniversary, we will never forget that evening. Our rep arranged a special treat for us. We had a table reserved on the terrace, flowers, proper table linen, a bottle of champagne, our waiter, a nice meal, the restaurant manager and customer relations manager made a point of coming to our table to congratulate us, and the finishing touch was a HUGE cake made for us by the Chef ... very yummy but wouldn't keep long in the heat so we shared it with some fellow Brits and the hotel staff. While we were eating we were watching the dolphins not far from the shore. PERFECT!

Remember Bulgaria is a very poor country, still recovering from the days of Communism. Take things as they come, make problems part of the adventure and you will have a great time. We didn't want to come home and will definately go back to Elenites as it is so much safer than the other resorts, especially for the kids.

Have a great time ... we most certainly did.

We stayed in the Royal Bay hotel and it was really really and ill say it again really lovely, after reading so many shocking stories before going i must admit i was a little concerned, i knew what Bulgaria *was* lke as i had been there 7 years ago, but had it changed? Was Elenite a nice place? One word.. Lovely!

The Royal Bay was the last hotel on the whole bay and seemed more exclusive then the other elenite places *Royal Park and the Holiday Village* Ok, the Royal Park does and ill stress the does look the business!!! Really posh looking place, but the Royal Bay is a fully established hotel, been there for a few years longer and is a really nice place to stay in. Being all inclusive and in the Royal Bay we were allowed access to ALL the areas of Elenite, whereas staying in the other places there weere some restrictions.

The food was nice *just remember that you are in someone else's country, it ISNT going to be the same as English food!* Quite varied yet you still had the same thing a lot of the time. Always PLENTY of food though and the waiters/waitresses were only too happy to help 100% of the time.

The Hotel was cleaned what seemed like constantly, i even built up a small kind of rappor with the cleaners, they were jolly and we used to leave 10 lev on the pillow every morning for them.. *approx

we booked this hotel last year (the royal park) unfortunatly they were still buillding it when we got there so f/c put us in the royal bay.

i had no complaints with our room only the welcome we had of the staff . (i thought we were staying in a consentration camp)at least thats what it felt like.there were birds nesting on our balcony wich was full of poo and not cleaned away for the 2 weeks that we were there.

also the food was undercooked and the food that you could eat all tasted the same so i couldent tell you wether we were eating meat or fish cos it all tasted the same.

as for the beach full of seaweed and raw sewage was coming from the holel onto the beach a little further down from the beach bar.when you sat out side the hotel you could not have a drink or eat any food i think the birds had been practising their aim (and were very good at this)that it if you could get a table cos there were about 12 tables for about 2000 guests. only 1 bar man serving drinks. only 1 bar you can imagine how long you had to wait to get served.

There was only 2 pedal boats 2 canoes 1 ski jet used to pull the bannanna boat not much acctivites for an all inclusive hotel.these were for the guests staying in the village as well (not much hope off getting 1 of them.

as for the entertainment (what entertainment) ho sorry there was a man playing the organ for about 2hrs in the dinning room every night (the blue danube) it was like being on the titanic just waiting for the iceberg to hit .

So much for our 4* all inclusive hotel

This report covers the royal bay hotel that we stayed in as our original hotel, the royal park, was not finished on our arrival. it also covers the holiday village in elenite as the two hotels and the village are one complex.

All inc. thats a laugh,food was cold,undercooked and what was left from lunch was often served up at dinner,you had a choice, meat or fish,for main mealshad to tell whch was which, if you wanted toast for breakfast you had to make it yourself, there were 2 toasters available one you could put 2 slices of bread in the other took four, not bad for the whole hotel.

there was one snack bar open from 10am to 5pm there you could have a hot dog or pitsa only 1 serving and aprox. 3000 guests. there was a beach bar where you could get a beer,coffee,or squash and that was it.

Our room was clean apart from all the bird poo that was running down the walls on the balcony from their nests.

The "bar" area was not so good 12 tables in all 1 serving again long long queues tables sticky with spilt drinks just not enough staff to cope.

As there was not enough room to sit inside most people had to sit outside on the veranda that runs the length of the hotel, great i hear you say,warm evening looking out to sea, with either a drink when you could get one, or even perhaps a warm meal watching the sea, yea right, In reality you were prime targets for the hundreds of swallows who had nested in the hotel plip plop plip you never knew where it was going to land in your drink in your food, on you seat or on you. The staff had rigged up a bright yellow tarpoline over the veranda which if you were lucky you could sit under.Add to this the sweet smell of rotting seaweed that had built up on the beach and you have your perfect romantic evening.

Ok lets try the entertainment,by day you had free non motorised water sports this consisted of 1 paddle boat,and 3 canoes between 3000 guests. well my name is still down for the paddle boat and i have been home for 2 weeks.

In the evening while you tried to find something edible to eat in the dining room our main entertainment was on in the same room, this was an elderly gent playing an organ and singing. In the village there was a hall which wasn't big enough to hold even half the guests and was in a bad state of repair,there was a disco there in the evening for the children with a caberet show later for the adults,not enough staff again,and words can't describe the show lol.

One more word of warning, there are plenty of sunbeds but beware if you sit on the beach by the royal bay or royal park make sure you stay under your umberella otherwise you will get splattered by the dreaded bomb squad lol

Elenite is 10 klm from Sunny Beach you can get a taxi or you can catch a bus but be warned there are queues,and everyone just barges on which can be daunting for young children.

I have tried to look on the funny side of this holiday but after struggling to save for 2 years to pay for this stay in a 4* a/i luxury hotel i am disgusted with F.Choice who knew about the problems and refused to do anything about it

stayed at the royal bay for 2 weeks , had great holiday
. found the hotel very clean ,most of the staff pleasant one or two seemed to be more pleasant to the german guests though,the hotel is right on the beach which is great for the kids and very safe ,food very repetative but we always found something we enjoyed ,the cakes and pastries are delicouse , entertainment not brilliant but sunny beach only twenty minutes by taxi with loads to do there.we read some horror stories about the royal bay before we left and nearly cancelled ,it is not perfect you could pick out some problems but for us not enough to spoil our holiday. just go take it as you find it if you do have problems speak to the rep ,we found her very helpful.

It was a switch from Rulushka ellite which has not been built, as they claim. It was on an all inclusive basis, but they catered for the germans only. The food was revolting as most of the time it was not cooked enough eg chicken still raw in the middle. The only way you got your towels changed frquently was to soak them the morning before the maid was due. You could not get off the complex and not enough to do during the day. We counted from the reception to the beach was 60 steps, everywhere you went was steps which either were broken or in a very bad state of repair. If you had a walking disability or a wheelchair you have no chance do not cater for them. Hotel staff never cracked a smile at any time. In some instances were very unhelpful. Entertainment at night was in a animation hall which needs some drastic repairs. Def would not go again

We found the Royal Bay Hotel very clean, food good, staff quite accommodating. One of our party has walking difficulties and there were no problems as there are ramps at all entrances and down to the beach.If you walked around the adjoining holiday village then yes there were a lot of steps and totally unsuitable for mobility problems. We did not find that we were stuck there the taxis were really good only 15 levs(about

Royal Bay Hotel.Always seem to find someone cleaning.Good selection of food but chicken was a little under cook for my taste.Staff very helpful.Would stay here again no problem(but not in Elenite Village,to many steps).