We were sent here after been turned away from the hotel Hakune Majiwe in Paje which we booked and paid to stay in due to 'technical' problems - which turned out to be over booking. We were told Myblue was an 'upgrade' - it was far from an upgrade. Upon arrival the shabby sign lets you know exactly what you're in for. Shabby rooms, tacky sourroundings, terrible loud music blaring from speakers just outside the room. It was like holiday in hell ,plus hardly a beach to mention - tiny and walled off on both sides, Sun loungers crammed together like the Italian riveria. NOT ZANZIBAR! We didn't dare to look in the restaurant (which is set at the back of the plot and probably full of cigarette smoke), the bar was bad enough. Soft-inclusive meant half a glass of an already opened bottle of coke. A bit of stale cake was lingering on the bar if you were desperate enough to want it. Needless to say we didn't stay. It's geared to cheap package holidays mainly for Italians. I saw the brochure and the hotel is completely mis-represented. If you go to beautiful Zanzibar, you do not want to stay here! We had paid for a beach bungalow on an unspoilt beach - this is nothing like it. By the way the 'gym' is about 4 excercise bike facing the wall at reception! In the end, we were sent to somewhere that supposedly corresponded better to what we booked and paid for...which it didn't. - Coral Reef is yet another run down Ora hotel! Zanzibar is beautiful - this place is not!

We stayed at this hotel for 4 nights with soft inclusive (meals and soda included). Food is very good and beach as well. 9 out of 10 visitors are Italian so if you don't like them don't go here. Many italians smoke so be prepared to inhale smoke during dinner, if you don't like that or have asthma or similar I would recommend you to choose a different hotel.

Staff is very polite and friendly. We where upgrades due to maintenance during our stay so we had the advantage to "inspect" two rooms. Both of them where nicely decorated with modern furniture's but can't have been constructed by professionals since many doors couldn't be fully opened.

Both rooms contained locked safety boxes, and we tried to have the hotel to open them for us but gave up. We even stayed in our room between 15-16 one day on their request to wait for someone to open it, but they never came.

Internet connection is available in reception and at the bar for a cost of 5€ each day or 15€ a week. You need to get a new password each day from the reception. The connection is very unstable and slow, don't expect to be able to watch a you tube clip, or surf at all while it is raining.

We stayed in My Blue for 7 days after booking the trip with "special offer" on internet (Groupon).
Upon arrival we were actually positively surprised... I mean, obviously we did not expect anything extraordinary, but the resort was nicely organized, the garden area was well prepared and clean, staff very friendly at the welcoming (and further on) and in general the first impression was positive. Than we were taken to our room... and again, positive reaction. OK, the rooms are maybe not in the European "design" but in the end that was not what we expected from an African resort :) The room was very clean, bed sheets and all linen "not disturbing" and frankly fresh. Flat TV which is really not important, but if some of you need digital entertainment, there is channel with movies in English :)

The only problems we had in the room was:
- safe box: apparently they break down often, and so did ours. But you can always use your luggage with lock to keep the passports, money, etc. Actually, once or twice we left the bag open with money outside, and not even a penny was stolen...
- shower and water tap: like many islands, Zanzibar has water problems, and the water in the room shower and tap is also slightly salty... :) but if you get a bottle of fresh water to clean the teeth, the rest is "manageable"

Otherwise, we didnt have any bugs, crazy spiders, or anything like that (beside one small lizard, which was totally harmless).

As of the hotel in general, beside short power breaks, which we found quite funny :) everything was OK. Even though there are many Italian tourists, we had no problem communicating with the staff. Food was Italian-African, but nothing to complain about. Soft all inclusive means no alcohol, but beer costs EUR 3 and drinks were max EUR 4. Soft drinks, yes served in small cups (if for the beach) but you can have as many as you want so honestly i think it is simply a good "waste management".

The beach was very nice and great surroundings to walk around. Hotel has small boutique shop with ciggis, sun creams, small souvenirs, etc., massage place, diving center, small outdoor fitness and billiard table.

All in all, we had a great time, and only regretted that it was too short (10 days would be perfect). Maybe because the hotel was not full and we had plenty space on the beach and no crowds during lunches and dinners, but in any case we are sure it would not be a major issue.

One last thing, i have to say that during our stay we met great people from the animation team, who were also important part of our great stay at My Blue Ora Resort! Big hug to Maurizio, Barbara, Cristian and of course all others!!!

All the best to the whole crew,

Magda & Kuba :)

We stayed at Ora Resort, My Blue, for three nights in June 2012 and had a wonderful stay!

We had an all-inclusive package, i.e. all meals and drinks excluding alcoholic drinksfor a very reasonable price (I think we paid $150p/n, but this was just before their high season).
What I loved about Ora was that we didn’t have to think, we could just relax. Our biggest decision was pool or beach?!

Our room was big and came with a king sized bed, air-conditioning, a flat screen tv with some cable channels (although many in Italian) and the best hot shower. It is important to note that the electrical plugs in our room and the hotel are European and not British like the rest of the island, so remember your converter!

The resort’s food was nice, always a buffet but with a selection of salad, hot dishes, always dessert and lots of fresh fruit.

The facilities were all in good condition with the exception of the fitness equipment which was mostly broken and needs some TLC, but otherwise everything else was good.

If you are in need of a real relaxing holiday, this is the place to come!

http://postcardsfromeastafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/beautiful-zanzibar.html