I travelled here with my wife and young family in June with Thomas Cook on an all inclusive holiday. Let me start with the few good points the apartments have to offer. Firstly, even though the apartments are basic, the kitchen/living area and bathroom offer plenty of room and are well maintained by the cleaning staff (By far the nicest bunch of people we meet on the whole holiday). The bedrooms are on the small side, particularly in our case as we had to make room for a cot. But, all in all we couldn't fault the cleanliness of our apartment which was cleaned every other day and provided with fresh towels. Secondly, the balcony area is ideal for sunbathing if you wish to stay away from the busy pool areas during the day as they catch the sun right up to late evening due to their size, plus the views are beautiful as they all look out to sea.
To be fair, the complex as a whole is well maintained and there is also a well stocked Spar shop at reception which is reasonably priced for those essentials. However, it may be worth checking out the Netto at the Europa Centre if you are considering a larger shopping trip.
Unfortunately, the negatives far outweigh the positive experiences we encountered on this holiday. To begin with, the lifts are a joke and prone to breaking down quite a lot, particularly the one nearest reception as it tends to be used the most. We also found that certain items you think would come standard with your apartment had to be paid for. Examples included: If you want a kettle for your apartment it will cost you €15, a parasol for your balcony will cost you over €20. Cushions for your sun loungers will set you back around €40 and if you wanted the Television working in your apartment it would set you back a further €30 for the two weeks.
Secondly, we got the impression very early on in the holiday that, if you were seen to have a yellow wristband (ie. all inclusive). The bar staff in particular were very abrupt and made us feel they were going out of their way to serve us. Their attitude seemed to reflect the fact that ,'because they weren't paying for their drink we won't get our tip so why be hospitable.'
The buffet at dinner time also became quite repetitive in the second week. The selection of meats offered seemed to be either drenched in some sort of gravy or covered in batter. They rarely served fish to our astonishment but when they did, yet again it was cooked in batter except for the very last day when they offered grilled fish. They did offer a pasta dish now again which was a welcoming change along with the salads. However, to be honest, during the second week we started to eat outside the complex, there are some lovely restaurants down at Amadores beach and in Puerto Rico, its worth checking out Oscars and San Miguels.
The entertainment on offer is very hit and miss. The day seems to kick off around 2pm with "quite literally" BIG GAZZA sauntering into the complex usually via the buffet counter to start proceedings. He starts each day by playing the same songs over and over again and promoting his compilation CD. He then finishes his hard day of work with about 5 games of bingo along with that annoying BINGO song he constantly plays over the pool speakers. The evening then starts with Gary the compere/DJ (who kept reminding us he was from Fife) telling some dreadful jokes while his assistant Sarah was trying to find the nearest exit. The acts on offer all seem a bit rushed as they only have a 1 hour window to perform and the pick of the bunch were for us were: Chris Mooney, a Las Vegas act and Peter the Hypnotist.
A word of advice: Avoid the ANFI EXPERIENCE. A rep comes on site promoting this trip promising a fun/relaxing day out where you get shown around a place called ANFI. Basically, its a time share complex where, if you pop along you will get herded around the complex for about 4/5 hours getting the hard sell by a couple of ANFI Reps who would lick excrement of the sole of your shoe just to get a signature. The beach at the ANFI complex as well as the shops and restaurants in what they call the 'Plaza' is in fact open to the public. ( A fact not made known to you by the friendly Rep at the Altamar) so if you do fancy a trip down there, take a taxi at your own expense. There are one or two nice restaurants there ( Bella Pasta is a good option) and one or two nice shops that offer genuine designer clothes at a reasonable price ( Macy's & Lacoste).








