I would go back to Ibiza and this hotel was so close to the beach. There were also sea ferry's to the castle and surrounding islands. This definitely the place to be and the hotel was excellent.

This hotel is very close to the beech with lots of nice restaurants and very close to the ferry to the old town or surrounding islands (depending on where you want to go).

We would highly recommend this place for couples and also people with families. Staff are great.

I loved this hotel. The staff are all friendly and welcoming. There is no need to speak a good level of Spanish (or any). The food is quite basic, but with a great selection available. Everything is kept really clean. Also in my experience the guests who stay here are really friendly, which makes for a great atmosphere.

The beds were a little uncomfortable but satisfactory for a budget trip away. The bathing facilities were fine and the balcony was a well sized place to relax in private.

We visited the Mare Nostrum a couple, with my sister and her 6 year old daughter. We had a family room, which had 4 single beds, two of which were in a room located off the main bedroom accessible through a doorway (no door). The first thing you notice is a major lack of hanging space for clothes, but otherwise our room /bathroom was fantastic. Good size, and the bathroom was big and had everything we needed.
The air-con was wonderful, but it turns off when you open the the balcony doors which was annoying because you had to remember to put it back on, and with four of us someone was always opening the doors. Also the power in the room is activated by sliding your card key into a slot when you enter, but it can be left on by putting any other card in its place - we used a EHIC card!! Sliding doors led to a good sized balcony, but the railing was very wobbly, so was a bit of a worry with my neice. The maids came in every day and were very polite and friendly, even letting us in when we locked ourselves out!!

The hotel was great overall, very clean and a huge area when you enter for sitting in. We spent many an afternoon lounging on the very comfy sofas with a drink from the bar, it was bliss! The food was very good with many choices. I am a fussy eater and I found something every night. There are 3 seperate buffets which are all the same foods ranging from salads, chips, potatoes and rices through to two or three different choices of main course every night. Then there is also another buffet where they serve pastas and meats - all really nice food. You can eat all you like too, so good value for money. The head chef obviously loved his job and took great pleasure in us enjoying our food. My husband got very badly burnt by a broken heating element which was keeping potato wedges warm from above. The element has come down really low and when he went for the food, he touched it and it ripped his skin clean off. I immediately told the 'chef' who was closest, who just shrugged and smiled as if it was our fault - then glared at us for the rest of the week. We weren't happy.
The eating arrangements are stupid and you should be told the 'rules' before you go in!! They set tables for different numbers of people and you mustn't sit at a table set for any more than your party, or you will face the wrath of 'the battleaxe' - one of the staff tending the dining room. We got yelled at 3 times for various things, always in spanish so we had no clue what she was talking about. It became a bit of a joke as she would walk about telling people off all the time and nobody knew what they had done. Also, for some reason they set out cutlery at each table, but people then take extra forks for different courses and leave odd cutlery on the tables, so you are forever hunting the fork.

The pools were clean and the pool area was kept nice and tidy. Very strong chlorine though and three bathing suits were stained green and ruined over the course of a few days. The terrace on the upper level with the third pool wasn't open while we were there, which was disappointing as it did get busy and sometimes it was difficult to get a bed.

The entertainment was really really bad, although the 'animation' team were a nice bunch of guys who did their best. It was lovely to sit around the pool on an evening with a drink etc, but at 10pm when the so-called entertainment started, it was time to take a walk out for something better. Try Big Bens down the road, something different every night, and very british.

The hotel is a mass of Italians. The british are a major minority. It isn't a huge problem but it depends on the type of people you are. The entertainment day and night is aimed towards the italians, and you do feel a bit out of place because there are so many of them. They also play with balls in the water - like 8-10 grown men, so you get belted with the ball a bit and they expect you to return it for them!! My main problem with the number of italians is that they were all super over-dressed 24/7. If you want to just relax in a vest top and shorts then you'll stand out like a sore thumb, and if you saw what they wore for breakfast, it was unbelievable... bikini's around the pool came with high heels and designer handbags.

I like to browse the shops on holiday, but they are all very well spaced and a 5-10 minute walk to the first one, They seem to be building all around the mare nostrum, which wasn't particularly noisy, but it does affect the views and the balcony was always thick with dust.

Finally, the beach. We were attracted to this resort because of the beach, but in reality it really is filthy. It's just over the road from the hotel, but there is no promenade to walk along if that's your thing, just beach - and not nice sand either. There is a little area near the harbour with shallow warm water and beds / parasols for 5 Euros each, but from there it was a mass of seaweed. We didn't go very far down to be fair and I have read that further down towards bora-bora it is much nicer, but we don't go on holiday to walk and unfortunately staying in this hotel it goes with the territory.

We were very pleased with the hotel itself, it had a lively atmosphere and if you don't mind being surrounded by a constant moving catwalk, then I highly recommend it. Just don't count on being entertained day and night as advertised, and be prepared to be one of about 5 british families.

Must admit we were a bit worried after reading some negative reviews on here and other sites but we neednt have been!!

Didnt think it was possible but they have improved the Mare Nostrum even more than our visit last year.

Had a superb 11 night stay and cannot report any faults or problems whatsoever.

Food was excellent with a good choice every night.
Hotel was always clean and tidy, as were our rooms.
Staff as friendly and polite as ever.

Entertainment wise, have seen better but fair play to the Animation team, they work really hard and put on some excellent shows.

Looking forward to returning again some day soon.

I am a travel agent and on searching for a good deal as money was abit of an issue this year I wanted a resnably priced hotel with good faclities.

On reading up about this hotel in our brochures and 'behind the counter bible'! it wasnt getting the best reviews, I decided to take the benefit of the doubt as I have been to many hotels with these kind of ratings and never been disapointed.

I'm easly pleased and don't really spend that much time within the hotel anyway.

Upon arrival the staff greeted us and they were very friendly considering it was 2am! The room was spotless and very roomy, the added benefit of aircon was great it was really hot even in the evenings.

The food wasnt the best altough there was a good selection to suit everybodys taste, clear labels would have help distingusing between the diffent meals!

The only fault I can find about the hotel which isn't really their fault were the amount of Italian 18-30 style groups!

I'm not past it at 21 but even this was to rowdy for me!
The entertainment I found was aimed for the Italians so we didn't really take much advantage of that but the resort is great there was so much to do for all ages
everybody was so friendly!

I would recomend this for people who are not to over fussy on accommodation standards exepect what is in the brochure.

This would suit a family and couples looking to get most of their entertainment outside of the accommodation.

After weeks of searching for a reasonable priced deal for a weeks holiday to Ibiza myself and my boyfriend finally booked to stay in the Mare Nostrum Hotel in Play d'en Bossa, Ibiza.

After booking I wasn't sure what to expect from the hotel, I came on to this site to see what people thought of it. There was mixed reviews, some people loved and others hated it. This made me Apprehensive about where I was going to end up.

I arrived in Ibiza on the 20th of July and departed on the 27th. I had a fantastic holiday and the hotel was great. The hotel was much better than i had thought after reading reviews on it.

when arriving at the hotel we were told to wait 15mins for our room as it wasnt ready. This wasn't too much of a problem as our flight wasn't delayed and wasn't much of a inconvence as 15mins wasn't long to wait.

When I got to the room I was surprised at how nice and clean it was. Some people had said the rooms were old fashioned, dirty, and small but this wasnt the case at all. The room was lovely and clean. It wasn't big but certainly not too small. A size of room I would expect from a hotel and certainly not old fashioned. There were plenty drawers and a wardrobe to put your belongings in.

I was even shocked to get air con, I was expecting a ceiling fan. You had to pay 20euros for a control for the air con but you got the money back when you handed the control back in. This was the case for the t.v but we felt we didn't really need it anyway because we were hardly in the room.

There was also a safe too, again as like most places you had to pay for the key. Also you got some money back on it.

The room had a balcony and we were fortunate to get a seaview which was very nice.

Everyday we got our room cleaned. There was the odd morning when were late getting up but the maids still came back to clean it. We got clean towels everyday even though we didnt really need it and our sheets got changed. (not sure how often!)

Went to the swimming pool a few times but it got really hot midday cause there wasn't any breeze. There were plenty of sun loungers and was surprised that the pool wasn't full of kids.

The were many different groups in the hotel. Young, old, couples, famillies but i thought there was alot of young people, they were all italian! there were alot staying in rooms near us but they weren't a problem. You would hear them during the day but they didn't come in at night loud and rowdy! (Unlike some young British people!) so I did get a good night sleep!

I rated the food a 3 as I only sampled it once the whole holiday! I thought that there was plenty of choice and it wasn't that bad but my boyfriend was very fussy and nothing suited him so thats why we only went once. I didn't no what some of the food that was at the buffet was as some of it was unusual.

I Think that was due to them catering for different nationalities and even some spanish food. There was salad, cold meat, chips, potatoes, chicken, fish, pasta and a kids section. There will be something there that you like.

I gave the entertainment a 1 as I didn't stay in the hotel at night. I have no idea and couldn't possibly comment on it.

The location of the hotel was perfect, there was a 5 minute walk into the centre which meant it was quiet around the hotel

Overall the hotel was very nice and would definitely go back again.

We stayed at the Mare Nostrum in October 2004.
We found the hotel very clean and tidy and the cleaners always very polite and friendly when cleaning your rooms every morning.
Food was excellent, superb choice at breakfast and dinner.
Located in a quieter spot of Playa den bossa, only a short walk into the busier side of the resort.
We found the hotel staff very friendly and polite at all times.
Entertainment seemed to be on a budget but was still good.
Would deffinately stay at this hotel again.

I think the hotel was great but the food let it down because the sausages was not cooked propely and the eggs still had egg shells on them the room was a bit small and they was not alot of room to put you clothes away
The entainment was excellent 10 out of 10 for that for the week we stayed there

The food wasn't bad really, the staff were really rude, one particular person burst into my daughter