I don't really know where to start, this is very difficult beause i'm a active user of t.a and i followed the threads about this hotel on the forum here for weeks before i left, to the point of crying and not sleeping the weekend before we left, with worry after what i had read.

As it turns out, my husband and i had a really good holiday. Not because of the hotel but because of the location and the fact we needed a holiday. However some of the complaints about the hotel i feel are exagerated and would never let things like that ruin my holiday. All i can do is offer as much info as i can muster here, about our experience, and leave you to judge from that.

Ok firstly i need to make it clear that we upgraded to the vip rooms. So that is the room i am describing, not a standard one...

These are adult only. we have no children so i can't comment on the children's facilities or the standard rooms. I pepped through a few windows and standard rooms seem to be kitted out similarly to ours but with different beds, linen, and no fridge.

Our room was clean, fairly roomy, bath and shower, nice big superkingsize bed with clean (new actually) bedlinen. tastefully painted in cream with some nice dark wood and dark wicker furniture and headboard. Very smart looking. we had a 1st floor room which has a very high thatched roof. heard the girl next door go mental because she saw a gecko in the room. Actually, heard everything next door said and did, including breathing and coughing, as the rooms are divided by a partition wall which doesnt meet the roof... so just be warned to take earplugs if you struggle to switch off!

We never had anything nasty in our room just a fly or two when we'd left the door open. nice size balcony with a colourful hammock, and a little plastic table and 2 chairs. Fridge in the room stocked daily with beer, water, fanta, pepsi, diet pepsi, 7up. and a flatscreen telly, with a rubbish picture on some channels but not much to watch in english anyway. We don't go on holiday to watch telly, we took the ipod and docking station, and also played cds through the dvd player.

air conditioning was fantastic, room was like a fridge if you wanted it (i did) but was easy to adjust. TIP - to keep geckos out of your room and also bugs, keep air con on all day and night. not very environmentally friendly but this tip was in the reps holiday guide on their desk.

iron, ironing board, hairdryer (1600w) and various bits of toiletries like a comb, shower cap, toothbrush, soap, all provided. plenty of massive clean white thick towels provided and always plenty hot water.

OK enough about the room. Apologies in advance i do write very detailed reviews because it's all stuff i'd love to know about before i go somewhere.

OK next on my list - food and drink.

We thought the food was really good. We've stayed in a few all inclusive or half board hotels and this ranks among the best for food. If you're a vip room you get to use the mediterranean restaurant by the beach which is amazing. The steak there is delicious and tender and the staff are fantastic. As for the view over the sea.... wow. You can also eat breakast here, continental type, lots of fresh bread, croissants, cake, cereal, fruit etc. And they make your toast for you :)

Main restaurant is situated above reception. There's an air conditioned bit which we preferred to sit in, some people preferred the main part. Some nights there were queues to be seated which was a pain. But normal. Food there was always good when we stayed. I've seen complaints about the food here and we had none. We both love good food and it's a big deal for us on holiday so please don't think we're easily pleased foodwise. Every night was themed which was good, especially the italian nights. And there was variety, the following week we went to italian night again kind of expecting lasagne, tagliatele al fredo etc again, and all the dishes were different. Plenty of choice at night although not much choice for dessert, usually 2 types of ice cream though which was good quality stuff. There was always someone grilling fresh stuff liek salmon, chicken, pork steaks, and something to have carved each night like a huge roast fish, roast beef, turkey...
every meal you could get nice fresh bread and salad stuff as well.
Breakfast was in there too and was the best meal of the day, omelets and fried eggs cooked to order by the ever patient and smiling Nelly, who must have been roasting hot!! But always looked happy! Also sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, toast, bread, cereal, fruit etc etc available, and pancakes, french toast, syrup... also try the muffins and cakes at breakfast they were GORGEOUS. Don't know how i've not gained any weight actually!

A la cartes - we used both, the mexican is really good, lots of choice, nice desserts we thought. The oriental was also very good, order carefully, ask what things are if you aren't sure, and enjoy. The chicken and almonds was nice as was the sweet and sour pork. Major tip - ASK for rice. it isnt on the menu to order, and it isnt included automatically, yet if you ask for it they bring you a bowl of vegetable fried rice which is lovely.


Lunchtime, while we were there there was only the pool bar, which was right by the swimming pool they havwe closed to work on. Fenced off with plastic meshing so not ideal place to eat really. We chose a table away from that as much as possible. From 11-5 they serve fast food on one side so there's always pizza, hot dogs, burgers, fries, salad, fajitas, nachos etc. from 12 til about 2-2.30 they open the other side too and also serve soups, bread, meats, veggies, potatoes, rice, and there's a grill/bbq where they cook steaks, chicken, kebabs etc. Someone told me their piece of chicken didnt seem cooked through from there so just check that before you eat it... you can always leave it and get another! My hubby and i both ate at all restaurants, a variety of foods and never became ill at any time in our 2 weeks stay. We didnt overdo the booze or sun though which i think contributes...

They informed us n our 2nd week that the main restaurant was to be a lunchtime seafood restaurant now. We didnt try it as only hubby likes fish but i heard it was very good.

Bars - there's the lobby bar, next to the restaurant, a bit warm up there sometimes, nice places to sit and chat though. Underneath is the aquanox adult only bar, air conditioned, lovely big squishy couches and seats in there for chilling on , nice neutral decor, and look out for JORGE who moves about the bars but makes the best cocktails - ask him for a crushed brandy sour... mmm. note on drinks: there's some top shelf stuff here and unlike some all inclusives, it's inclusive. Bacardi and aged bacardi, cuervo tequila, martini, and some others i forget. Just name them or you get a cheapo version if you just say 'rum' or 'tequila'. Bring some straws. You don't realise how much you miss them til you get brainfreeze trying to slurp a strawberry daquairi (YUM)!And there's no cocktail list as yet!! A bit dull - have to remember what you like or gt them to invent one for you. Again, ask Jorge! Someone complained there's no beermats... this isn't the royal oak lol... use the napkins! they're in dispensers on most bars or ask for one.
there's also the terrace bar and pool bar. And for vips, (woohoo thats me) just lie by the pool or on the beach and Jesus and his pals will take good care of you. Ahh what shall i drink next... they also started setting up a little table outside the vip restaurant with coffee and teas and little biscuits in the afternoon which was nice.

The soft drinks here are good i thought, =the fruit juices are yummy (cranberry, pineapple, orange, grapefruit) bit hard to get a coffee in some bars! Although they will go get you one.

Now, the hotel itself.

We had our own vip reception/concierge with free internet access in there too. She /he dealt with any restaurant bookings we wanted to make but there was a 'business centre' for standard room people to use.
We had a rpoblem with our room on day 1, a big crack in a window, the vip concierge said she'd sort it but she didn't, so next morning i popped in to mention it (not looking very amused i guess!!) and as soon as she saw me she radioed a maintenence man and he came up and replaced the glass that morning.

There are 4 pools and a large hot tub at this hotel. It's well publicised now by first choice and on the forums here, that one of the pools is CLOSED. I've already mentioned during my stay it was the activity pool by the pool bar. There's men working on it all day. it measn the only other pools available to everyone to use are the kids pool (very shallow with a huge rather cool looking pirate ship contraption which gushes and shoots water allover kids and lifeguard, looked like lots of fun when my hubby and a friend decided to play in it!!) and the 'relax' pool. Not good - relax pool also needs refurbing so i think they'll close it when the activity one is done. There is an issue of blue paint coming off on swimsuits. We went in it once, wore older swimsuits just in case and got speckled with it. Lucky for us we could also use the vip adult only pool by the beach which i much preferred because i like to relax, and because of the activity pool being closed, swimming lessons, water polo and the older kids playing all happened in the one pool... had we not had the vip pool, albeit it's very small, i would've gone crazy to be honest.

the hot tub is VERY hot, not nice if you have sunburn but lovely in the evening or early morning, overlooking the beach and sea.

on to the beach and sea - by far the best feature of this hotel! the sand's soft and white, the beach is narrowish but loads of sunloungers, a bit crammed together though i thought. not enough sunshades on adult vip area of beach (with posher wooden sunloungers) or by the pool - this needs sorting as it's very hot there!!
The sea was as warm as a baby's bath in the afternoon and the snorkelling was pretty good just off the beach. Swim in a straight line from the adult vip restaurant for about 25-30 metres and you'l see some cute little colourful fishes and some plants. But wade in anywhere along the beach up to your knees, throw in a bread roll and watch all the big fish come to see you! amazing....

entertainment - i dont tend to get very involved in this sort of thing on holiday, in fact i usually actively avoid it, but - during the day i noticed a quiz every lunchtime which was a bit of fun to participate in (i.e, i can do it rom my sunlounger!!) also heard/saw things like water polo, beach volleyball, poker lessons, poker games, cocktail demos, pitch n putt, bowls, football, etc. No idea about kids stuff as i have no children, saw a bunch of cuties with their faces painted and some crazy staff, running about being lions or hunting for hidden treasure or whatever - very sweet.
at night there was the e3 entertainment people, amateurish but good and very, very enthusiastic and hardworking. Had me singing along and tapping my toes with things like singing a medley of mica hits and songs from musicals. thats 10-11, 8-9 was kids show, and 9-10 was a family gameshow type thing, different each night. Watched mr and mrs one night, which was funny, with 2 couples from the audience.Dont normally watch these shows on holiday but gave it a go a few times and had fun with a few cocktails down me!

To sum it up i'd say if you're going vip adults only - go for it. People with kids... i'm not so sure. They were also still working on the high ropes thing. The kids i saw about the complex looked like they were having fun with the pirate thing etc but older kids i'd say not... then again are they hard to cater for in general on holiday? i know i was!!

This hotel does need more work and we saw them working on it every day while we were there, they sorted out a nasty drainage problem which meant water leaking onto a pathway every morning and being swept away during the day - that's stopped now. There's a few issues i have with first choice about the holiday but nothing which ruined our holiday for us. We're open minded and needed a good break and we found one here. The staff are all so friendly. Ignore stuff about having to tip to get good service. We only tip when we're going home, enver at the beginning, and recieved fantastic service and friendly smiles for the whole fortnight off i'd say 90% of the staff. Maids do a great job too.

Sorry for the huge long review but i hope it helps.