Overall I would say the hoilday was good as soon as we realised that Bulgaria is cheaper than other places for good reason. I found the place too big, too many people for far too few amenities.I would travel to Bulgaria again but NOT to the Royal Park.

On arriving at the Hotel Royal Park I admit it looked very impressive.
Checkin went smoothly and was soon shown to our room. We had booked a room with two bedrooms which was meant to have a connecting door. There was no connecting door just a archway with a curtain, which seemed to be the norm.
The hotel appeared very clean and I always saw cleaners everywhere we went.
The room was cleaned on a daily basis so no complaints there.
The hotel location was poor as you seemed to be a long way from anything to go to outside the resort.
The staff on a whole I found friendly. Though the staff in the food hall had double standards on dress allowed. It seemed that guests were not allowed in unless properly dressed which is okay but when you see the staff going in to eat half dressed and nothing said it got on your nerves.
If you are expecting much from the entertainment then this is not the place for you. This took place most nights in the Ampitheatre which had one tiny bar and no toilets, you had to traipse all the way back to the hotel.
The First Choice team did their best for the kids but that was about it.
The daily kids club was very good with the kids going into it for a couple of hours. The times my children went they had a good time.

Make sure you get get up early to get a sun lounger around the pool. It has signs up to not put out your towels until after 0830am (Only in English, even though the place is filled with Germans), but no-one takes any notice. Get your towels out by 0730am.

Try to get your meals early because the food hall gets so crowded and manic it puts you off your food.
The food on offer is pretty poor, hardly any variety and the chicken is definately undercooked. I'm still suffering now and I've been back in the UK for two days.
Same kids food day after day.

A plus was being on top of the beach which was lovely (Though watch out for jellyfish). The beach was clean and certainly felt peaceful compared to being around the pool. Yet again get to the beach fairly early to avoid disappointment on getting a sun lounger.

A big problem with the place are the queues. You queue for everything unless you are really early. The ice cream parlour which is one person serving the same ice cream you get in the food hall has particularly large queues. I gave up on the snack bar, the queues were terrible.
I found out that the two other hotels were also allowed to use these as they didn't have their own resulting in this madness.
Yes, there were queues for the bars but they were never to bad.
If you want to book for one of the A La Carte restaurants get there really early. The booking time is between 10 and 11am but for three days in a row I got to the BBQ restraurant earlier and earlier but no chance. On speaking to someone who ate there they told me they started queuing at 9am. I don't know about you but I don't want to queue up for an hour just book a meal, it shouldn't be the case.
We gave up on going to the Animation Bar for the kids entertainment, just too crowded and dark, both mywife and myself slipped on the stairs. I found out later that the place is mainly filled with Germans.

I would not recommend this hotel and it just doesn't seem ready for people to stay there. But on the other hand you have to think that Bulgaria is a few years behind other places in their tourism and in a few years time should be better.

well waht can i say this was the worst hotel i have ever been to the food was cold the entertament was rubbish first choice staff incopertent paid !96 extra for a sea view room never got it had a view of the bins great smell was lovley reps no help food was cleaned up when you were getting it with a dust pan and brush rooms ok apart from electric sockets falling of the walls and shower curtain always falling down

If you save all year for your holiday you do not expect to be ill !
we have have been back 4 days 4 out of our 6 are still ill. I did not expect English food but the food in this hotel is unhealthy. they have no food safty laws. On my last night I watched warm chichen being poured into the cold chicken trays which had been out for 1/2 hr..
the staff never smile !!!! not sure why
they also use the same tolets & lifts
the location is ok but you have to travel by crowded bus or taxi's to go anywhere outside the complex.
power cuts happen all the time.
and be prepared to queue for just about every thing...
the kids clubs 3-9 yrs are ok
but waVe lenghts does not really happen ! we saw Mel the rep about 3 times in 2weeks.
The rooms, we had a den and it was very good size but it stank of wee, !!!!!
entertainment was ok first choice reps try hard but not our cup of tea . never saw any shows by hotel staff as you had to pay or queue.
if you have not booked yet don't go in Aug/July

We arrived here at 2am and were booked in an in our room by 2.15. The hotel is very clean and the cleaners are working all the time, can't fault it on the cleanliness.

The bar staff and cleaners are friendly but the restaurant staff are completely ignorant.

Our room was cleaned daily so no problems there.

The entertainment is good if you have little children but otherwise I'd recommend taking a pack of cards like half of the hotel seemed to do as there is nothing else to do and the decent entertainment brought in you have to pay for, unless your balcony overlooks the ampitheatre as our did!!

The first choice entertainment girls never smiled once in 2 weeks, but the guys worked hard.

The location is quite out of the way and there is only one road in and one road out and with all the building going on, I can see this becomming a grid lock once it has all been built.

There was always plenty of food to choose from, fresh salads, fruit, toaster, microwave and hot selection but the meat was not cooked properly and even without eating the meat all 5 of us had a poorly tummy and it was not because of drink or hotdogs etc as some have already said. My husband had a poorly tummy for a week and we took 12 immodium away with us and bought home 3. The second week we eat out and we were all fine, although we did not pay to go all inclusive and then have to pay to eat elsewhere just to escape a poorly tummy. Alot of parents were letting their small children help themselves to food and most of them were using their fingers to touch everything.
I did see a restaurant manager once, a cleaner knocked a pair of tongs on the floor, the restaurant manager picked them up and put them back on the croissants!!!! That was a manager!! I believe there must be a virus in the hotel restaurant as most of the people we talked to had the same illness as we did.

Unfortunately, you do have to get up early and put your towels on the sunbeds but this happens everywhere. There is a notice on the pool bar asking guests not to leave towels out before 8.30 but this is only in English and there were alot of other nationalities there as well!

The waterpark is good for children and you can always get a sunbed there as they are 5 levs each for the day and they have a payable bar there as well.

You do have to wait ages for a lift if you are on a high floor.

There is an italian restaurant you can book but you have to queue an hour beforehand in the mornings to get anywhere, which shows what people obviously think of the restaurant. Also you have to queue 45 minutes for 2 slices of pizza in the afternoon.

Overall the hotel is nice and looks very impressive day and night but I wouldn't say it was worthy of all the stars it has been given.

We used a guy called Stan as our taxi driver, (he waits outside the hotel gates)he speaks really good English and will give you a talk about the places on the way to Sunny Beach.

If we did go back to Bulgaria, we would probably choose Sunny Beach, purely because there is more going on, otherwise you only have the hotel and nothing surrounding it.

They are still putting the finishing touches to some parts of this hotel and if they sort the food and entertainment out, this will be a nice place to stay in a couple of years but we won't be returning.

the hotel reception area, in my opinion, is spectacular. Extremely spacious and evn a first floor to sit either inside or out and have drinks. The decor is nice too.

The lifts are in short supply here, there are 4 for the hotel which has 11 floors. It was not too bad for us as obly on 4th floor so used the stairs, which did not do us any harm!
The whole of the complex is really nice and extemely spacious. Beyond the pool is a promenade which leads to shops, the nightclub and cafe and various hotels which are part of the chain. Going the other way is the waterpark which is great for the whole family and beyond there is the Sunshine restraunt. You can book for this in the Solzipol Restraunt above the cafe. There are 3 pre bookable restraunts in total.
We managed to eat in the Talyana 3 times(and only qued from 9.30) and the other two once each.
got checked in swiftly and we were escorted to our room and our luggage was carried. All staff throught the holiday were friendly and pleasant. I did witness one or two english people arguing with a member of staff, but we certainly expereienced no problems.
Quite a few people we spoke to had experienced stomach pains etc, but fortunately this did not happen to any one of us.
There are so many staff emplyed to work here and the place is kept very clean, the toilets near the pool and dining room get a bit pongy but there is always at least one cleaner around.
as far as the food goes well yes, it could have been better, but it is adequate and you come here you will not starve.
I did not need to speak with the First Choice Reps, but they were there every day.

The entertainments team were really good - Nathan inparticular. He really does give it his all. My 6 year old daughter took a shine to him especially. She and my 4 year old son though the little dance he does after a bingo win was great and loved to join in.

We have just returned from a fantastic week at Royal Park!!

We arrived in the early hours of the morning with a prompt check-in by hotel staff with a fair understanding of English. The bell-boy immediately took our suitcases to the room and did not hover expecting a tip (a welcome change from other countries we have visited)!! We had booked a suite and were pleasantly surprised. Our room was immaculate. We had a large bathroom with both a bath and a shower. Both bedrooms had a balcony. It took a while to get used to the fact that there were no doors on the bedrooms (only arches) but due to the way the rooms are angled, you soon adapt to this lack of privacy.

Throughout the week the suite was cleaned daily with clean towels provided as neccessary.

We could not fault the restaurant. OK, the food got a bit repetitive after a week, (as in lots of All-Inclusive hotels) but there was always a great choice. The hot food was always hot and when trays were empty they were promptly refilled. You did have to queue at times, but only for about five minutes at most. There were always plenty of plates, bowls and cutlery avaiable. Some of the mugs were chipped, but it was possible to find a non-chipped one easily enough.

We did try to book into one of the A-La-Carte resataurant but they were fully booked. Apparently, you have to queue up at Reception by 10.00 a.m. to book so we didn't bother in the end.

We spent most of the week by the pool. It got busy, obviously, but provided you got down to the pool before 9.30 a.m. it was easy to get a sunbed (unlike other resorts we have visited where you need to set up camp the night before)!! Bearing in mind that the temperatures were in the 90's during the day, it was good to see that there was one parasol to two sunbeds (again - not the same in other countries where you have to fight to find a bit of shade). There were some wasps around the pool but usually they were hanging around holidaymakers who had empty drink cups under their sunbeds. Compared to English wasps, the Bulgarian ones aren't at all aggresive!! We didn't see or hear a mosquito all week!! The poolside area was cleaned regularly during the day by cleaners who worked continuously throughout the entire hotel complex.

We spent a couple of days on the beach which is directly adjacent to the hotel. There were always sunbeds available at no charge. The beach was clean and it was great to watch the little fish in the sea swimming round your feet.

The staff at the hotel were great. If you smiled and said hello to them they always responded positively. We had no problem getting served at the lobby bar, although again we did have to queue at busy times. There was no restriction on the number of drinks that you could get at any one time. They could do with another couple of bar staff working during the evening.

For the energetic amongst us there were always activities to take part in. The First Choice Entertainment Team of Erin, Carrie, Steph, Kirsty, Leanne, Luke and Nathan worked so hard to keep us entertained thoughout our stay both daytime and evening. The cabaret shows that they performed in the Amphitheatre were great - the team are so versatile. A holiday just has to include a British game of Bingo. Some of the audience participation game shows the Entertainers put on were so funny!!

The Amphitheatre had only opened the week before we got there and our main criticism was that the bar facilities and toilets were not finished, meaning everyone had to trek to the lobby bar for drinks and toilets. By the time we left, they had almost finished building the bar at the Amphitheatre, so this situation will probably improve in the next week or two. Quick tip - make sure you take a jacket with you if you are going to watch a show as it can get pretty chilly in the evenings!!

Another criticism was the external show provided by the hotel. The First Choice team had to vacate the Amphitheatre and decamp to the Irish Bar for the night (which got pretty cramped) as the hotel owners had arranged for an external show to use the Ampitheatre for a show called 'Dance of the Wind'. Guests were charged 25Lev to watch the show (needless to say we didn't watch - not sure how many people actually did).

We found Pacos bar which is just up the road from the hotel and ate there. The atmosphere in Pacos is great and laid-back.

On several occasions we also went into Sunny Beach which is the nearest resort. We used the taxis outside the hotel every time. You can get a bus if you'd rather travel cheaper. At no time did we feel intimidated whilst out and about. There was no pressure on you to go into shops and if you did go in and you said you were "just looking" the shop owner left you in peace. This is so different to some countries and resorts we have visited.

All-in-all we had a great time in Bulgaria and would recommend the country to anyone.

I cannot believe what I am reading from the other reviews - what are these people used to eating.

The food is absolutely atrocious, unless you love veal, raw chicken or grilled fish every lunch and dinner time. Every person I spoke to complained about the choice and quality.

If you don't want a dodgy stomach for your entire holiday eat somewhere else!!. Although there is only one "shack" within walking distance where you can buy a limited meal. So get used to the idea of going out to Sunny Beach ALOT - take plenty of cash.

There is no kids pool. If you have children under about 8-9 years who are not strong swimmers, they will not be able to play freely and safely.

On a plus the hotel is very clean and spacious set in nice surroundings.

What can I say! I must say I was very concerned about going here after paying

Having just returned this hotel is not 4star the food is diablolical. The breakfast never changed in 11 days and was cold,Dinner was under cooked Chicken, Veal and Pork with chips and Pasta.

Drinks Local Brew Only pourded from dodgy green bottles only and wine poured out from old sunflower bottles and dodgy beer on draught.

You have to queue for everythings get up at 7am for a sunbed and getting into the three so called alacarte restaurants forget the queues start at 8.30am and the bookings can only be taken from ten.

So yes you are left with the grotty buffet they have stopped you eating in the elenite village buffet as its full of Europeans .. Sunbeds you have to pay for in aqua park, Waterides have gone up on Beach and know charging 25levys to get into Sunny Beach as there is only one bus an hour being sent.

Beach Bar you have to pay for also pay for a decent drink. Irish Bar you ahve to pay for the other Irish Bar is in a dingy basement with no windows so with people smoking ist awful.

No tables at night for entertainment and yes guests are suffering usual stomach problems the reps are aware and apparently there is a viral Infection at the resort and Sunny Beach. Toilets are filthy and the rooms are okay beach is good but runs out on the one kind of pizza at 4pm and no kebabs..

Take extra money to eat out as you will need it after seeing the food.

On the drive up to the hotel, it looks very impressive, especially at night time. The place is kept very clean. The have a small army of cleaners working day and night. Occasionally the toilets were disgusting, but this was the fault of other guests, as soon as the staff were notified they were cleaned.

The rooms are a bit disappointing, given how lovely the grounds and reception are, but they are clean and comfortable. We had a suite so our room was really big, but there was no separate bedroom, so no privacy! The bathrooms are fairly small, they have only a shower and the sinks have no plug in them, you wouldn't be able to do any hand washing or bathe a baby. There is no launderette in the hotel so bring enough clothes.

The food is good quality for a buffet, however it is a bit repetitive. The hotel definitely needs to invest in new crockery though, everything is chipped! I have never gone on a fully inclusive holiday before, and won't again, it just wasn't for me! I found it too restrictive, e.g. If you decide to have a lie in, it's hotdogs for breakfast! If you fancy a snack after a few drinks in the night, tough! We only tried one of the a-la-carte restaurants, it wasn't great, very small portions and not always hot, you are probably better off sticking with the buffet. The waitresses were very nice though.

The bars have an adequate selection of spirits and be warned you get huge measures. The beer tastes OK but is not very strong, the wine tastes like water but is lethal. You can't get diet drinks in some of the bars. There are water dispensers all around the hotel.

The Hotel has beautiful gardens and is situated on a lovely beach. But that is all there is, you can't go for a walk around anywhere else because outside the hotel there are building sites and it is just too dangerous. Health and safety mean nothing in Bulgaria.

There are four pools in the hotel now, one was filled in. The pool at Royal park has a small kids pool and a bigger pool, most of the first choice activities go on here, and it is great for meeting other guests. There is a bar serving hot and cold drinks and hotdogs, a walkway onto the beach is where the hut serving pizza and chicken kebabs is - hygiene is non existent here- you will be shocked! The second pool is further along the promenade at the holiday village, it is quite deep so good for jumping in and swimming. It is very sheltered from the sea breeze so it gets very hot. The lifeguard here is great fun, she's not afraid to get involved! This is where most of the hotel run activities happen and where you get the ice creams, biscuits and drinks. Further along the promenade is the kids pool with hotel run kids club, and further along again is the royal bay hotel pool.

On the promenade there is a small shopping area. You can get hair braiding, sunglasses, game-boy games, portraits, hats and a few toys. There is also a shopping area in the basement of the hotel and in the entertainment area in the front of the hotel, selling clothes, bags and jewellery. Things are much cheaper in sunny beach.

There are a few games rooms around the hotels and a few pool tables, all are payable.

There is a great little water park in the grounds, this is where we spent most of our days. You have to pay for sunbeds, drinks and snacks but it is very cheap. The bar serve lovely cocktails and it doesn't get crowded, it is a perfect place to relax with a drink while the kids go mad on the slides. It looks like they are putting in more slides and a wave pool too. The toilets were kept locked for some reason - I couldn't get any answer from anyone when I asked about them. It was very frustrating having to keep going back to the hotel when kids needed no.2's!

To get the most out of this holiday you really need to get involved with the reps, they are very enthusiastic and seem to really enjoy their jobs. The usual holiday stuff is on offer. During the day you have beach football/volleyball, pool polo, water aerobics, pool and quizzes. At night there is kids disco, bingo, and adult themed game then two reps take it turn to put on a cabaret. They are excellent singers but it's all very amateurish -sorry! There was no professional show while we were there but there was a male strippers show for the night we came home, so maybe there are other things planned. Everything stops at 11, and you have to pay in the bars after 12.

We were there for 'the big wedding', and it did feel that most of the hotel's resources went into putting it on. Some of the restaurant was closed off for the wedding guests who were staying in the hotel and part was used for the wedding caterers, this made it quite difficult to get a table. There was a beach bar built for the wedding which is staying, they serve cocktails, but it is payable. The pool that was filled in is staying filled in. We were also restricted from walking around certain areas while the wedding was on. It was quite frustrating and I think guests should have been notified what was going to happen.

It was great to see the wedding though! It was like something out of hello magazine. The kids loved looking at all the wedding guest's cars. There were Ferrari's, Aston martins, porches, maserati's to name but a few. It was amazing to see how the other half live. and we got to see the gypsy kings -from a distance mind you but you could still hear them OK.

First choice have a good selection of organized trips on offer. They are expensive, if you consider how cheap things are in Bulgaria but we enjoyed the ones we took. Khan's tent, which is a dinner and a show-but not in a tent and not Bulgarian which we were led to believe, but it was good for a bit of a sing song. A lazy day family cruise, the kids loved fishing and diving in the sea. Off road day, an hour long drive up an extremely bumpy mountain road in a land rover, then rifle shooting, archery, quad biking and horse riding, and then a stop at a quiet beach.

On the whole, if you like going fully inclusive you will love this hotel and what it has to offer. If you prefer to go to different bars and restaurants and do different things during the day you will be disappointed here. We ended up getting taxi's into sunny beach most nights. I will definitely go back to Bulgaria but I would much rather stay in a self catering apartment in Sunny beach or Nessebar.