coming down the little hill on the coach, the hotel was all lit up and looked beautiful. couldnt wait until the morning, to get into that pool, which looked fab from out hotel room. i must admit the first few days were good, probably because there were 13 of us that actually went.

towels arrived in the morning, nice fresh clean ones. the sheets werent changed tho, had a word, and all they changed was the top sheet. my cousin whos 14 had the first episode of diorahea, up all night in bed all day, then quickly this moved all through the family, before we knew the whole hotel had it, young and old people were hostpitalised, we made complaints about towels not being changed for four days. when we didnt have any towels, it had to be the case of sharing our beach towels, (which could also spread infection) one day i unfolded a "clean" flannel to find there was a blood stain in the centre, which you could see hadnt been washed because it wasnt faded, looked rather fresh.

the food was disgusting, some days cold, the puddings were the same vile cakes every night, no-one liked them, the bacon was out of a tin, with the jelly still round the edge. once the hot dogs and pizzas run out that was it for the day.

my apartment was flooded after terrential rain, and it was the second floor up, my brother was walking down the stairs when the edge of the tile fell off, the tiles around the swimming pool collapsed.

i could go on for ever, the toilets never had no toilet roll, and were always flooded and smelt of urine. this hotel was definitly not a four star, maybe to them it was, but to me a definite 2. the image maybe a four, but thats all it is, is a show piece.

this holiday was theholiday from hell.food cold,meat raw totally lacked hygiene.queues for everything only ever one staff serving .staff unfriendly,plenty off power cuts.flooding on a regular basis in basement near irish bar also ceiling collasped,security also tried to stop people taking photos.flooded balconies above main pool caused havoc and the maids swept the dirty water into the pool(very nice!!!).quarter pint plastic cups for drinks after queing an hour.yuk.this hotel took six months to build,due to the poor workmanship i will be surprised if it lasts till 2005.pool area all uneven manhole covers left open,no sensors on lift doors as our daughter trapped her arm.all stairs and corridors dimmly lit.carpets very badly fitted as is most things.also exposed opening at side of lift shaft very dangerous .could go on for ever with complaints needless to say FC do not seem interested,and are not offering any compensation so will not be using FC again......

Despite assurances from Travel Agent and First Choice both by telephone and E mail that this hotel was finished we arrived on 15th June to total bedlam. The hotel was no where near finished and there were no rooms available for the two plane loads of people that arrived that night.

From the outside the hotel looked finished and quite impressive but as previously stated by other users the place was far from complete.

All comments added by previous update covers some of the atrocious safety aspects and poor amenites in this Hotel.

In addition to those, there is a 3 ft by 2 ft opening in the wall next to the lift on level five which drops six floors to the ground, there are exposed electrical wires on all floors, broken and uneven floor tiles on the stairs, forklift trucks moving around and near the pool area during the day. 3 ft by 3 ft hatch cover left open at various times at the pool without any barrier or signs in place,. This has a 10ft drop into pipework below.

After a heavy downfall of rain last night (18th June)
there is now water cascading through the electrical smoke alarm on level five flooding the carpet area.

There is mould and fungus now growing on the walls in our room and the couple next door's. The rooms smell strongly of dampness and there are missing roof tiles again exposing electrical wires.

The staff are all very rude and make no effort to assist you. Regarding safety issues, we have on numerous occasions contacted reception and reps and they have still not been addressed.

There are no phones at all in the hotel and you have to use the phones in Elenite Village closeby.

There are insufficient staff to cope with demands, with Bars being manned by one person and queues a mile long to get served for a drink ( Thats if they havent run out of what you want). The bars close at midnight and you cannot even purchase a drink after this time not unless you want to give the bartender a backhander!!

The food is disgusting, luke warm at best and a breeding ground for germs.

There has been no entertainment until Thursday evening when we were treated to the dulcet tones
of Bulgarias answer to Rene and Renate until 9.30pm (In the dining room).

The hotel is in an O.K. location although a fair distance from the resort of Sunny Beach. It will cost about 12 GBP return by taxi and about 1GBP return by bus if you manage to squeeze on or find the bus stop. A hotel Group as large as the Victoria Group could easily run a free shuttle bus service on a daily basis to Sunny Beach.

Where do i start, the hotel will be loveley, but quite obviously no where near ready.

firstly, arrived and took 2.5 hours to check us in as no one on reception understands English. when eventually checked in we were told there was no cot for our 7 month old baby after 4 hours of waiting for one. We insisted they find one, so they brought us one with 2 legs, broken metal spikes, and noosed rope holding one side of the cot up. we obviously refused and put the baby in bed with us. It then took around twenty visits to hotel reception, shouting at 5 different first choice reps and two days before we were given a cot. im sorry if they dont think this is important, but i think it is just basic.

the hotel itself looks lovely from the outside, but it is not until you live the nightmare inside that the fun begins. it is clearly not safe. there is open electricity wires everywhere, the wardrobes in rooms are falling to pieces due to quick/poor workmanship, the roof above the kids pool has tiles piled high that have not yet been fitted, and v.dangerous should they fall below.

first morning going to breakfast we were waiting for the lift, we pressed the button and a brick fell off the wall, it just missed the baby in the pram by inches. when we took the piece of brick to reception, the staff thought it was hillarious. not. the lifts have been broken for two days, so having to carry pram down two flights of stairs to pool/dining area.

the bars regularly run out of glasses/beer/coca cola - not just now and again, this is every day. the food is disgusting - everything is freezing cold - everyone in hotel is complaining every time you enter the dining area. only thing we can recommend you eat is the soup - it is the only hot thing here - oh and the chips - the minute they bring them out people are running and queing for them, it is like something from a comedy sketch, a complete stampede. you cannot get a cup of tea of coffee at lunch time - and even when they do let you use machine, it only ever poors lemon tea!

the whole hotel has a very sombre mood, and every time you pass reception there are people yelling and complaining to reps, the reps just cannot cope with the amount of complaints. the only people who dont look stressed are the reception staff, as they dont speak any english and dont seem to give a monkeys uncle about you.

dont bother asking for basics such a coat hangers in the rooms or extra sheets/blankets - you wont get them.I could go on and on even more, but recommend you think again before booking here.

We are well travelled and have been to many 3rd world countries, and never had reason to complain, but we would never come back here, in fact we are considering flying home early if we can get seats.

<font color=blue>EDIT: Gary ... Holiday-Truth.com has teamed up with Ros Fernihough, a highly experienced travel law solicitor, to provide the best information and advice available on holiday related problems. If you would like help or assistance with the problems which you have raised, Ros may be contacted directly during office hours on 01922 621114 for free impartial holiday advice.

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Regards
David
HT Review Team</font>

Hi my first time on this site.
I have photos for anybody who is interesed in looking at them if someone will tell my how and where to post them but i will warn you all now they are not pretty.

I arrived at the Royal Park on the 14/6/04 at which time there was still extensive work to be done and in the time that we were there there had been slight improvement so for anybody going in the nexts few months it coud reach a satisfactory condition and may be more habitable.

Although we started our holiday on the 7/6 and when we arrived at the airport we were given an envelope by the rep informing that we were not going to Royal Park as its uninhabitable we were on bus 9 would recieve

As all the other family's have already said it was an unsafe shambles and as they have not in anyway over exagerated, I don't know how much more I can add to there horror stories, other than to say my wife (who is forty this year and fit) fell badly on two occasions and has some very nasty bruises to back this up, and on neither occasion had she been drinking as the place only served meths and watery beer which she doesn't like!

Well I have just returned from The Royal Park, We arrived on Friday 11th June and were accommodated in Holiday Village for first 3 nights - not good!

Moved to Royal Park on Monday 14th, The 1st room they took us to had only 2 beds, so then they took us to another room that didn't have a sea view and then they moved us to our room and it was lovely - huge, it had twin beds, bunks for the kids, a chair and settee, Tv and fridge. There were no towels and bits and pieces missing so we went to reception and went to collect luggage from the village on our return our room was complete and lovely - only lacking a plug and some hangers but decided to leave it to next morning as everyone was stressed with complainers!

Next morning reception had a dish of plugs and we were handed one straight away and it took about 3-4 days to get the hangers - but we got by!

The food in the family restaurant was ok not brilliant but blooming chips every night due to the moaning and yes the queue for chips on one occasion was hilarious to watch. The British are funny and greedy with no consideration for others and pile their plates with chips and then leave them!!

We did get Roast potatoes with Rosemary on our last night so things seem to be imroving - I'm glad we ate early as I can only imagine another uproar ensued!

There are other restaurants to choose from a Bulgarian, BBQ (Talayana) and one that serves steaks and chicken - you need to book between 9 an 12 on the morning of the day you want to dine and these restaurants are table service so food is hotter that the buffet family restaurant.

The entertainment in the hotel is a man and lady singing and playing music in the main restaurant (not my cup of tea) but just next door in the Animation Hall is the Bulgarian Animation team who do a show each night at 9pm and are very entertaining - really funny and brilliant dancers as well. There is a full entertainment programme all day if you want to join in, including beach volleyball, footbal, darts, pool, quizes, stretching, aqua aerobics, aerobics, Bulgarian lessons and loads more!


The water sports we saw were jet skis, banana boat and the ring ski thingies and we went Parasailing which was fab. There are pedaloes, canoes and speed boats to hire and there is a trampoline on the beach as well.

There is a lack of Bar staff in the lounge of an evening but hopefully when the Irish bar opens it will take some of the strain! We never experienced this ourselves as we were too busy enjoying ourselves in the Animation Hall!

There is just a few finishing touches to be done and everything will be lovely, We are even considering booking for next year!

Hello everyone
I got back late on monday night so after a full day to recover and have a good think about are 2 weeks at the Royal Park i'll add my views.

We arrived around midnight on the 14/6 and it was a complete shambles.

The checkin desk was just a free for all you had to just grab a key and hope for the best. The only first choice rep was a young lady who looked like she had picked the short straw(this was the first night so anyone going in the future will not face the same problems checkin did improve during are stay).

There were 8 adults and 7 kids in are group so we had 4 rooms.

One of the rooms was o.k it had everything it was supposed to have except the infamous plug for the sink but the other rooms were not ready with problems like not enough beds, no curtains, no bedding, no shower, wet paint,
no locks on the doors and exposed wires in the bathrooms, so it was back down to reception for 3 of the familys.

The next 3 hours was the same story until we found rooms that you could sleep in but in the end and after tipping a very over worked cleaner to give us some curtains and bedding we all had rooms.

This was the lowest point of the holiday we were tired after a long day and some of the little ones were covered in gold paint from the flower pots in reception.
the next few days we spent mostly on the lovely beach which was very clean with plenty of beds for everyone you had to pay for all the water sports apart from the one pedalo which was in much demand.

We found the parasailing to be a great buzz it costs 75 levs per couple, other things to do were banana boat 15lv, canoeing 10lv, and all the things you would normally find at any beach holiday.

My biggest gripe about the holiday was at night all entertainment was in the holiday village next door due to the fact that the hotel had no tables and chairs for anyone. Theres an open air stage by the pool but it wasn't used until the following week when the tables and chairs arrived and that was a total mess up because all the unbrellas have been concreted into the ground and can't be removed so it wasn't used again.

The animation team which provide the entertainment are brilliant they provide a great show every night which includes something for everyone and the first choice reps do there thing for the kids and a bit later on some adult games that everyone enjoys.

The problem is the venue only holds a few hundred people so if your not queing outside at least an hour before it starts forget it you won't get a seat.
This is a shame because the quality of the shows is first class and should be seen by all.
So you can't get a seat in the animation hall and theres no entertainment in the Royal Park thats when it gets hard to keep the kids happy.

I could stand at the bar all night and drink the beer or vodka from the plastic cups but the kids will get bored and run round the hotel which could lead to them getting hurt all falling down the lift shaft on floor 5.
So most of our nights we spent in Sunnybeach which was 15lv for a taxi and 20lv for the return if its after 10pm. This led to us spending a lot more money than we planed.

Yes Sunnybeach is cheap but this was mean't to be an all inclusive holiday not half board so anyone going this season please take this in mind.

The food i found mainly o.k but everyone has there own likes and dislikes when it comes to food. I had a lot of salads but not everyone likes that kind of thing so i won't comment on the meals.
The snacks are o.k when you find them the best of these being fresh baked pizza from the little hut by the pier.

You can catch a boat to nessebur everyday which is worth a visit theres lots of little craft shops there and some great places to eat.

On the bottom floor of the hotel behind the dinner hall is the shopping mall arcades and so called irish bar which was all still closed when we left on monday. when we saw all this it felt a bit like being the loser on bullseye you know the bit when jim bowen says come and see what you could have won.

I'm sure if the bar and arcades which had pool tables in them would have been open the holiday would have been a lot more enjoyable.

I've read the other reviews about this holiday and all are a true in a way we all have different opinions. My own views are not the same as my partner so i won't be surprised if anyone else disagree's with me.
to sum up the hotel is not 100% finished and i don't think it will be all season (again just my opinion) we did not let this spoil are holiday if anything it gave us something to laugh about.

I didn't let myself get stressed out and i just sat back relaxed and enjoyed it as much as i could.

All the problems with the hotel affected everyone but thats not to say some people had there own gripes that just affected them.

The hotel lost one of our passports which had 3 kids on it and my son got stuck in a lift for 30mins but we still enjoyed are 2 weeks.

It should have been alot better and it might be for the rest of the season who knows.

I hope the rest of you have a great stay at the royal park and a trouble free holiday if anyone has any questions i'll try to answer asap.

Just to add we are thinking about going back next year

I arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning with my cousin. And after a long journey, and being told by the rep when we got there we were being transferred to alternative accommodation I kindly explained to him that 11 members of our family had arrived on Monday afternoon and they were waiting up for us. By chance I managed to find them and told them what was happening, they came down and told the rep that they would put us up until such time a room became available. So we headed to reception and explained there were only two of us and we got a room in Tommy Cooper style (Just like that) no curtains mind, but that was the least of our worries, we were just glad to be in an not suffer what the rest of the people on the bus had to. Anyway the room was fine and when we did get curtains we ended up not using them as this was our alarm call for getting to breakfast on time. Food I have to say was bearable, especially breakfast that was normal, didn't do lunch and made myself eat something in the evening to soak up the beer. Entertainment was watchable (especially Stefans rippling muscles)but finished to soon even sooner when England happened to be playing that evening (sorry neighbours), but the reps seemed to forget that there were other nationalites there and lets face it they are there to do a job. So if we stayed in the complex it was balcony parties. Anyway on that note I would like to thank everyone who complained, because me and my family had an absoulte blast and got 50% off our adventure to the Royal Park

Royal Park Hotel
Elenite
Bulgaria

AS others have reported the Hotel was no where nere completed and we spent the fortnight living in a building site. The staff we feel were just thrown in with very little instruction and seemed clueless as to what to do to resolve any problems. They spoke very little English and trying to get through to them was not very easy. The food was practically inedible, bread and cereal were ok and bananas were plentiful! Sometimes the food looked alright but tasted dreadful. Vegetables were overcooked and the meat was tough ( I wonder just what is was). One bar was open from 10pm to midnight and the first week only one person was serving. There was a "Night Club" in Elinite Village next door if you wanted to get a drink, but it smelt extremely damp and the music came from a Microsoft package. (Very trendy)
If I should ever return to Bulgaria I would go to Sunny Beach. The place was buzzing and very cheap. Who needs all inclusive!
On our way back to the airport one of the reps described our holiday as the Royal Park Experience. How true.

Still we did get a 50% refund!!!