Like most people who arrived WOW, but is soon changed to oh my what have we done. The floor as you walked in the the Royal park was cracked and it was so slippy it was a night mere walking on it when it was wet.

We arrived at 03:00 when we were shown to our room we didnt have any pillows when we asked for the we were told we would have to wait until morning. I went back to reception in the moring with a list of things that need doing to the room and the things we needed like loo roll and towels.

We had mould growing on the loo and around the sink which we had to clean as the maid just left it , the sheets on the bed didnt look as if they had been changed from the people before. We had carpet on the floor it was not nice asthey dont hoover it I wouldnt like to be in there next year unless they get hoovers. The bathroom was so smelly with mould we had to keep the extractor fan no to get rid of the smell.

The food was a joke after 2 days I was ill and it lasted for 7 days my Daughter and husband also got the bug or at least that was what we were told it was.We ended up eating out more and more as the food was terrible, the kids lived on Pizza, I dont think the royalPark will be there in 2 years time if the rising damp is allowed to continue, whenit rained the ground floors next to the dining hall got flooded to the point that the water would pour out from under the door, the mould was so bad it was half way up the wall on the way to the Irish Bar, Dont be fooled by name not a drop of Guinness or fiddley dee music anywere.

the carpet at teh top of the landing had not bee fitted right and it had a moved and it was ruffled up and it was dangerouse as I tripped and so did lot of other people, I reported it on the 2nd day and it was like that the day we left.

Around the pool area was always blood as the pool edge was sharp, My son cut himself quite bad,I was told that part of the pool had collapsed the week before we got there, when you looked you could see that it had. Also when we were there builders had come to look at the building as it has moved on its foundations and that is why the tiles had all craked.

Most of the staff were great we only had a problem with the reception staff they were very rude. Also at our resort a child was taken by two Bulgarians thankfully he was back with his family quite quickly. The security needs to be tightened up so this terrible thing can not happen again.

the entertainment was ok The Reps would try there best to entertain you but it got to the point were we didnt even try to fight for a table and we would sit in the next door hotel and play cards. We had to dry the plates and cups that is if you could get a clean one. DONT GO! one last thing there was head lice going around all holiday too..

Can't understand why there are so many negative reports about this hotel and resort. We sayed at the Royal Park Hotel and found it more than met our expectations. We have been on many all inclusive holidays in the past and I have to say this resort offered the most choice , in terms of entertainment , places to eat and bars . We had two teenagers with us and they had a fantastic time and made more friends than on any other holiday . We found the hotel to be very clean and the rooms were well above average size with all the necessary amenities . The hotel is situated on a beautiful beach with mountains in the background - idillic .The bus to Sunny Beach stops right outside the hotel - if you are adventurous and don't mind being squashed it only costs 50p. For the wealthy among us a taxi can do the same journey for

We were very apprehensive about this holiday as reviews were dire, but went with an open mind. First impressions great location right on the beach and all new.
Decent room, though fold out double bed no good if you are taller than 5 foot or more than 5 stone! Also wet patch on mattress left by previous occupants. Towels changed everyday, though i don't think rooms were ever cleaned properly. Beds made were hit and miss, and bedding left a lot to be desired. Fowl plastic type quilt, with no cover..
Reception staff were fine, some of staff were surly, but Paval on outside bar was excellent as was Julia on reception bar. Restaurant staff could be abrupt, and preferred you to pass them the plates to clear, not what you would expect in a 4 star. Mealtimes were typical AI, pretty horrendous with long queues at times. Food edible, but nothing for kids at all, and defo not what you would pay for seperately in a 4 star or restaurant if not AI. Dreadful singing duo night after night, far too load and not necessary.
Drinks - tiny plastic cups day and night, if were lucky enough to steal a pint pot you could ask for this filling otherwise it was a case of you needing at least 4 cups to make a half a pint and during our visit they introduced a ruling limiting 2 drinks per person per bar visit.
Kids club - excellent, well run and varied, loads of time slots operating.
Entertainment - most of evening stuff, mini disco, bingo, shows etc all outside, freezing cold and always gale force wind blowing. Staff were good, worked hard but made no attempt to mix.
Toliets - not good at all, ladies ok, but gents were always flooded and not with water !
Location - Elenite is nice but very quiet and not enough in the hotels to stop you getting cabin fever. Trip to Sunny beach costs 50 p on bus and

like everyone else,the intial impression was wow.the hotel was clean.the toilets outside the irish bar(why they call it the irish bar,i just don't know)smelt of the sewers but were clean.the food was passable but you've got to remember they are not just catering for us brits,there's germans and bulgarians as well.the location was isolated,not much to do.most of the hotel staff were friendly.the only one's that weren't were the ones who didn't speak much english,so they always seemed stand offish.the entertainment was good if you're 8yrs and under.there was nothing for adults to do at all,thank god some-one invented playing cards.i wouldn't visit this hotel again.i would visit bulgaria again but it would be sunny beach or golden sands

As others have stated, the reception area of the Hotel is stunning.

The staff were very understanding,in that, we had all (15 of us) just arrived after a full day of travel, and supplied us with a packed lunch even though we arrived at 21:30, but none were vegetarian as some of us were.

The Hotel is clean in the main public areas and the cleaners do work very hard for very little wage. But one thing that needs to be addressed with regards to the rooms is, that at no time were the carpets hoovered before or during our stay. I know it's only a small thing, but when you have been on the beach all day, or been on a jeep safari and there is sand and dust everywhere, it does, after a while get a little grubby.

But on the other hand, the towels were changed whenever you wanted, and bed sheets were changed every couple of days. Our room was very spacious and tidy, the veiw was fantastic, looking all the way down the beach to the left.

The bathroom was very clean (no chipped or broken tiles, but do take your own bath plug) One thing that did happen is, that every time one of us had a shower, a lake appeared outside the bathroom door, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle.

The food was a little bland at times, and until I mentioned it to the manager of the dining hall all meals were based on meat eaters, but after this the menu changed and more vegetarian based food was supplied. This also had to be brought to the attention of the First Choice reps when we struggled to get veggie pizza from the pizza bar, but after a little chat with the pizza people this all changed, and for a resort that had been open since June, I was surprised that this wasn't sorted before today, but someone has to fight for us veggies.

As for the First Choice reps, this has been the first hotel I have ever visited were the reps rule the roost. If you have a problem whilst in the hotel do not hesitate to see the reps, they have a lot of power and will almost always resolve it.

Entertainment in this resort, whilst for the kids is fantastic, the adults will almost always have to make their own. The Irish Bar is about as Irish as my left foot, pounding out techno music from 10:30 till 01:00.
As for the Animation bar, if you like to sit around getting bladdered whilst your kids are entertained, then this place is for you, sorry F/C but this has to be sorted.

There is a gym, sauna, and massage area at a small price. There are one or two shops around for buying orange juice for your vodka, as the bars do not supply it unless you pay for it.

Do visit the DVD stall, whatever you want he has it.

Please bear in mind that this is a family resort, so if your looking for peace, don't go, because there are a lot of young kids and teens.

One other thing you will notice when by the pool, is the constant smell of sewage, yes sewage. This comes from the drains dotted all around the edge of the pool.

Hi all,

Back from the Royal Park on Monday/Tuesday am - about 1.40am we landed back in Manchester.

Just a quick note to say we all had a good time (me, my wife, 2 x 1 year old twins and a 2 year old, and my 2 cousins (22 & 24).

None of us experienced any tummy upsets or diarrhoea, which was our main concern with babies.

The food was of an average quality but edible not what you'd expect from a restaurant back home but OK. We all ate from the main restaurant most days for breakfast and dinner and usually had lunch at Talyana or pizza (very good) or hotdogs or toasties.

The oblong bacon was disappointing and the quality of the fried eggs and scrambled eggs varied. The mushrooms and grilled tomatoes were quite good. For dinner you had soup, various salads, 3 main dishes (usually pork, chicken and fish) and 2 potatoes (wedges or chips plus one other type) and 2 vegs. Overall had no real complaints about food.

The local drink was fine, the beer was mainly good and cool, best pint in the pub downstairs or the reception bar (say hi to Julia). Obviously the coke/lemonade etc wasn't as good as bottled stuff but perfectly drinkable, similar to pub mixers made from syrup. You could buy 500ml bottles & cans of Bulgarian lager (Zagorka, Kamenitza and Astika) for 1 lev - less than 40p, I bought more than my limit of these quality beers home, so much better than the weak Carling/Carlsberg that we have over here.

Onto the room - this can be the make it or break it of your holiday. We had a good room, with the 2 cots as we requested, a partial sea view/partial shops view. The 2 wires in the bathroom are apparently for a phone thats not been installed! (didn't need a phone anyway). The TV had 3 english channels - BBCworld, Eurosport (good for the olympics) and CNBC business. We had to watch cartoons for the kids in German on rtl2 and rtl super, no great hardship for our youngsters who don't understand most of the English versions dialogue anyway - and I now know more German, for instance scwhammkopf is squarepants as in Spongebob schwammkopf!!

Our kids managed to wreck our room most days but after we returned from the pool, all was tidy again and the towels were changed and beds made. (Apart from 2 days when we had a differnet maid - we had to go looking for towels). If you get a good room and one of the good maids, you'll have no problems, a little tip to the maid may help here. (When we left one of the maids was tearfully thanking some of the other guests for their generous tip (about 20lev I think)).

The weather was mostly sunny, but it was sometimes cold and windy in the evening - all the locals/staff that worked outside wore jackets/cardigans. It was noticeably colder in the second week than the first, and the Monday we were leaving (and loads arriving) it was pretty miserable with not a single person sunbathing or on the beach. For those still to go, take some warm clothing!

We got along fine with all the barstaff (especially Julia at the reception bar with my 2 male cousins). Only one we found surly was the old witch behind reception, however Maya in reception was lovely, she sorted us another room for 6 hours when it became apparent our room was not available after the 12pm checkout time. We had a long wait on our leaving day, checkout 12pm, our hotel pickup was 8.15pm, thanks to Maya for getting us a room until 6pm (at 5levs per hour), best 30 levs we have spent.

Entertainment was good for kids and nothing for adults (unless you like bingo), lots of people playing cards including us, I managed to teach my cousins no limit Texas hold em poker and fleeced them both!

My 2 year old loved the minidisco and attempted to join in but he's still a bit young. He loved the kids pool and was in every day, not affected by how cold the water was.

The reps seemed to do a good job and dealt with complaints well. We never had any dealings with them because we didn't go any trips or in any kids clubs.

Nessebar is a must see, a lovely old town much nicer than Sunny Beach, but beware the conmen selling currency - you'll end up with fake lev or drachma in your money!

Sunny beach is the place to go for the 18-30 crowd looking for all night partying, it's still worth a visit though because of all the designer clothes and shoes at dirt cheap prices - some are fakes but bargains are still to be had. You could arrive in only your clothes, no luggage, buy cheap luggage in sunny beach and fill it with clothes to last you a year for about

We were a little scared before we left as we had read so many bad reports on this site. Im happy to say that this was not the case.

The hotel was lovely. It was obviously very new and there was "snagging" to be done, infact I even got stuck in the bathroom one evening, but thanks to a phone in the bathroom I managed to ring reception and got released very quickly and a new lock was fitted to the bathroom door the following day.

Every single member of staff was happy to serve you and even clean-up after you, they were courteous and polite and even tried to teach you their language (without success I must say).

The lady who cleaned our room every day even came back at 8.00pm on our leaving day to thank my nephew for the 10lev tip he had left for her.......how cool is that?

The beach was only spoilt by the mess that the British tourists left every night but the sea was wonderfully clear and although there were a few jelly-fish around we managed to swim in the sea every day.

Food was plentiful, hot and of good quality. There was plenty of choice and I must say that the pizza served by the surly red-haired lady at the beach side taverna was one of the best tasting pizzas Ive ever had. And Im sure she is surly because of the amount of pizzas she had to make every day without getting a word of thanks from most of her "customers".

The weather was beautiful and I can say that thanks to the air-conditioning in the hotel we never felt "sweaty" all week, but thanks to the wonderful power shower we were always "shiny".

If you want an all-inclusive "Sandals" resort for four hundred pounds, then this is not for you....but if you want a good, clean, happy and well served hotel for your four hundred pounds then this is for you!!

After the reviews I read before we visited The Hotel Royal Park, Elenite, I was filled with dread. Having invited another family to join us, who we have spent several holidays with I thought it could be the end of a beautiful friendship. Not so.

On arrival it was a little hectic but the receiption area was stunning and we were dealt with swiftly and efficiently despite the fact that we were a party of 11. We also received a welcome food pack which was more than adequate.

The reception staff were polite and happy, did any of us speak Bulgarian no! but they spoke enough English to assist us and we were in our rooms within 20 minutes of arrival, rooms on the 3rd floor and together.

The hotel was kept immaculately clean, there was always someone around picking up litter and washing down floors, the same applied to our room, it was cleaned on a daily basis and the sheets changed regularly. There was a system for changing towels, if you threw them all in the bath then you received clean ones. Not a problem. Toilets were cleaned regularly but it was difficult given the amount of people using them.

The hotel food was excellent, a good variety every meal and always hot. There were a lot of people complaining that it wasn't burgers and chips but then again do we serve traditional Bulgarian food in our hotels in England.

We had six adults and five children, the youngest being 8 and she had a try of most things, there was always plenty for her to eat. No complaints from any of our party.

The location is good, if you want to be in the thick of it then a 15 minute bus ride costing the equivalent of 50p brings you into a very touristy area if thats what you like. Personally I enjoyed the location as you had a choice to go elsewhere and return to something very quiet and safe.

Generally the hotel staff were very pleasant and polite.

The FC Reps were excellent, we had a problem and they spent a whole morning sorting it. Jason in particular couldn't have been more helpful and for the rest of the stay he never failed to strike up a conversation as to how things were.

The entertainment for kids was first class, the kids club was excellent and there were a variety of activities available daily, if you wished your child could go to the club for three 2 hour sessions every day. There was also a mini disco every night which was the highlight of my daughter's day!

Entertainment for the adults was fairly low key, I think this is probably the only area that needs addressing. However as a group we made our own entertainment and it certainly didn't spoil the holiday.

I would probably not visit this hotel again only because as our children get older we like more out of the way places. Having said that if we were to take children of a younger age, for instance our grandchildren, we would certainly revisit this hotel.

We all thought Bulgaria was a lovely place, we visited Varna, Bourgas (you could give this a miss), hired a car and went to Solzipol and surrounding villages. One place that is a must to visit is Nessebar.

Another tip, don't take U.S. dollars travellers cheques the rate of exhange is poor. Sterling is better. There are several holes in the wall
in Nessebar and Sunny Beach.

Also there is not a huge selection in the duty free shop at Bourgas, they do not accept credit cards but will accept cash even sterling.

This was my first taster of an all inclusive Holiday, and I wan't looking forward to it after reading several negative reviews here. If there were any problems, they seem to have sorted them out.

The hotel was adequately cleaned, probably not to the same standard as you'd expect in the UK, but bear in mind your in their country and not in the UK. We had plentiful supply of clean towels, and bedding was changed during the week. I would suggest that the hotel could put a few more rubbish bins along the beach (that way it might prompt a few more people to get off their bums and put their rubbish in them instead of leaving it on the beach).

Food was basic but plentiful (so long as your prepared for something other than burger and chips). Lots of Salads and fresh fruit, the water melon was the nicest that I've tasted. The pizza bar did really nice pizza's. If there is a queue for drinks then you are limited to 2 drinks at a time, but nothing to stop you going up with someone or going back again.

The Hotel was situated, overlooking the Black Sea, on a gently sloping bay. The beach was great the Sea was lovely and clear even if it did have Jellyfish in it (but hey! what do expect in the Sea? there'll be complaints of fish in the sea next). The pool was a little chilly, but once you'd adjusted it was great. Sunny beach was just a short bus ride away, but definately thought we had the nicer resort. Nessebur was a short boat ride away and is a definate must for a day out of the holiday complex.

The hotel staff were great, all the reception staff spoke excellent English. We had a slight leak from the bath into the bedroom, but was fixed within a couple of hours. We found that service improved and we always got a smile by trying to speak a few basic Bulgarian words. The First Choice reps always seemed to be hand, should you need them. The maid was nearly overcome with joy, at the humble tip at the end of the week.

The entertainment wasn't really our cup of tea, but other people did seem to enjoy it, didn't frequent the Irish bar as were on holiday. We spent the evenings enjoying the sunset over the Black Sea, playing cards and board games having a couple of drinks.

Overall was very impressed by the whole holiday, and was perfect if your a family with young kids or on a tight budget. Other than the poor monkey in the cage, being poked at by kids all day long (also a risk of Hepatitis).

My only complaint would be the behaviour of some of my fellow British tourists, there seemed to be a certain number of shell suited louts who just sit their day after day getting bladdered whilst their kids run riot and rampage through the hotel. Saw one family let their kids bouncing up and down breaking sun loungers with their parents consent so long as they didn't bother them.

A very good holiday overall, lovely climate, although was little cool at night but that meant a good nights sleep.

Remember you are a guest in their country, you will get better service if you treat the staff with respect, and learn a couple of Bulgarian words.

Will definately go to Bulgaria again, now looking at Ski Brochures.

Like most people travelling to this hotel, we were wary.

Upon arrival we were pleasantly surprised. Our room was on the first floor, it was spacious and clean. There were even coat hangers. The hotel was always being cleaned. The cleaners did their job brilliantly.

The food was ok, put it this way I managed to put weight on and I am fussy when it comes to food (I think it's because I work in catering).

I agree with the latest reviews if you want British standards stay in Britain. I picked Bulgaria because I didn't want to go to a mini Britain I wanted to sample the Bulgarian way of life. I wanted to eat Bulgarian food not Macdonalds, Chinese or Indian.

I found the hotel staff to be extremely friendly and helpful. Some of them did seem stand offish but that was only because they didn't speak much English. To be honest I think us British are arrogant because we go abroad and expect them to speak English and if they visit Britain we expect them to speak English. We don't go out of our way to speak their language.

The only down fall of this hotel was the entertainment. The kids entertainment was brilliant but there was nothing for adults. Thank god we brought cards