Coral Sea Holiday Resort Aqua Park

We just returned a couple of days ago from a week at this lovely hotel. We were very happy with our stay and we would 100% return. Our two children (aged 10 and 2) also loved it and they'd both also love to return. I have knocked off one star, purely because I think this hotel could make a few improvements to make it even better. I would say the hotel is more of a 4 star than a 5, but maybe with some 5 tar elements. Upon arrival, check in was pretty quick and the staff were polite. We arrived in the evening and it was pitch black. We were taken on a golf buggy with our cases to our room and were told that the restaurant was open late for us to have dinner, which we went to, but it took us an awfully long time to find the restaurant from our room! The signs around the hotel were not lit up and we were not given a map or told where the restaurant was. I had also not downloaded the Holiday Village app (Download it before you go - this has the map on it!) The main map in the hotel is outside the restaurant! They are also on the interactive screens in reception. Anyway, we arrived at our late dinner which was lovely. Throughout the week, we ate twice at Bamboo and once at the Greek Tavern. Bamboo was lovely and the Greek was nice too, but is on the beach and is open, so there is no air con and there are mosquitos! The food in the main restaurant is absolutely lovely and the variety is absolutely huge, probably the best food of any hotel I have ever been to! There was always something for the 4 of us and we found that it was varied enough to not be boring. The restaurant staff are all absolutely lovely. They're very attentive and friendly, they absolutely love children. They keep everything clean and tidy and also keep your drinks topped up. Our son especially liked Mosad who was always friendly, along with lots of others, who's names I was unable to get. We stayed in a swim up room, 9101, which was on the end of the block, with nothing beside us except a little road and a wall between our hotel and the one next door. The room was absolutely huge, the biggest hotel BY FAR I have ever stayed in, which was nice as the children had room to play. There were two extra beds for our children (not sofa beds, but proper beds). The rooms were cleaned well each day and we had several bottles of water left each day for us too. We found that there was a waiter who came round a few times a day for drinks which was handy as the closest bar was at the quiet pool. It wasn't far to walk to, but it was nice to be served at the pool! The rooms were pretty much soundproof and the area was lovely and quiet in the evenings.

The things I think could make the hotel better are as follows:

• The shower is extremely slippery. The tiles are the same as the ones in the rest of the bathroom and bedroom. They are SO slippery and there is no rubber matt to use (we didn't actually ask for one, so they may be available from reception). I think some textured tiles would be a good addition to the showers (which are huge!)
• We also found that out on our terrace, where we were on the end, we had a sort of open wooden fence rather than the built in concrete walls all the other terraces had. This made our terrace less private and also absolutely freezing when you got out of the pool because of how strong the wind was when we were there. Although the "fence" panel made it light, it was very windy and when you have children to get out of the pool in the wind, it is uncomfortable to sit in, so we would have preferred a concrete was, the same as the other terraces. We found most of our pool inflatables and clothes blown all over the terrace each morning! We also felt that the two chairs and small table on the terraces was not enough for a family room. It would have been nice to all have a seat to sit on, either to dry out on our to sit out on in the evening, but there were only two.

-The pool also needs some attention. The actual pool is just made up of a pool liner rather than tiles, which is coming away at the edges and there are also hoses/pipes running through the pool that you often walk on, however the pool was lovely overall. It had a good slope down in the swim up area and then two steps into the deepest bit. - The pool could have been cleaned a bit more. Again, where we were the end room, there were lots of leaves and sharp grit in the pool each morning which wasn't nice to stand on and the area where the sunbeds are the same...lots of leaves and stones....I actually cut my foot quite badly one day on a stone, so we asked for our sunbed area to be swept, but it never was.

• There also must have been slides between each swim up pool at one point. These are now closed off and again, the pool liner is coming up and looks very messy. This is something that could probably be sorted quite easily to make it look much nicer.
• The main restaurant could also do with a little upgrade/update. It is quite basic in there and some soft furnishing, such as some show curtains or similar would be nice and would reduce the echoes in there, but the food is absolutely lovely.
• The main smoking area is outside the hotel restaurant and shops, meaning you have to walk through it to get to the shops and the Rep's office. This could probably be in a better place, as some children want to look around the hotel shops etc and it is not pleasant walking through it and having no choice but to breathe it in. This may just be me, where we do not have this issue in our country so much.

These are only small things but I think they could really improve the experience of staying at the hotel.

There is a camel on the beach you can ride, called Bobby! We took our children twice and the man looking after Bobby was very nice and friendly. The water park across the road is absolutely brilliant, and we regret not visiting sooner! We only went twice, but if we go to this hotel again we will be there on the first day! Again, the staff over there are all very friendly and the lifeguards do a very good job too. There is even a staff member out on the road to cross you over as the road is busy. We thought this was a really nice touch and made us feel safe.

The hotel is in a brilliant location, with probably hundreds of shops right outside the hotel gates and also several restaurants too. From the airport on the coach, it took around 15 mins to get to. Metro supermarket (out of the hotel to the right, a few minutes walk past Hard Rock) is very cheap if you want to keep a few drinks and snacks in your room like we did. We also went to Wild West for dinner which was pretty nice, and also Hard Rock Cafe which was really fun and the food was delicious! The area feels very safe and you don't get hassled too much.

On the way back, our flight was delayed by just over an hour. We travelled in the evening, so it may have been quieter than usual, but we didn't find the airport as bad as some people did. There are lots of security checks, but this made us feel safer! Some of the airport security staff are quite rude, telling everyone to hurry up and clapping their hands at them, but there were only the odd few of them. Everyone got searched too, but again they were quick searches and only ladies search ladies and men search men. It was very quick and again the thorough checks made us feel safe.

Overall, the hotel is excellent we definitely would return, despite the few improvements that could be made, and we would request a swim up room that isn't on the end! The staff are so lovely and we really did have a lovely time, so thank you Coral Sea! We hope to see you again another time! :)

It was nice that it was just a quick 20-30 minute transfer on the coach. Location on the beach was fantastic. The hotel itself is very spread out, reception building, where the main buffet restaurant is, to the pool was a good walk. There was a restaurant by the main pool and food in there was nice enough but is very small and queuing could be quite a long time with very little shelter from the very hot sun.

Food at the main buffet was mixed, most days was very poor quality, I found the best themed day was the Egyptian evening. We used 2 of the a la carte restaurants, the Asian and the American. Both of them were terrible in food quality and service. The Asian was the worst Asian food that I've ever tried.

Atmosphere was what you made it as the the entertainment was very poor. Same activities nearly every day. A 'PTY pool party' which consisted of all the entertainment staff dancing around the side of the pool for 3 or 4 songs, Bongo bingo, adults water polo with a couple of other activities throughout the week. As for the night time entertainment, it was the poorest entertainment I've seen on any holiday. It was all carried out indoors when there is a large amphitheatre onsite. The shows were something that wouldn't look out of place at a social club and we're carried out by the entertainment staff. No big extravagant shows that most other hotels would put on. As for the children, kids of varying ages ( between 8-15) found the whole entertainment boring and there was nothing geared to their age groups.

The pools were decent with a big variety of which pool to use. All the pools were to shallow to allow diving /flips, so hindered the children's fun around the pool. For the children under 12 to take part in pool activities had to wear life vests despite their ability to swim which was poor and again hindered their ability to take part in swimming races against others in rare activities like 'Family ball games'. The floors around the poor were in need of repair/upgraded as it was painted concrete that was starting to crumble away.

Rooms were fine. We had been upgraded by the hotel as the rooms for us weren't ready when we arrived at 11pm. The rooms are very dated and is in need of updating. Things looking old and broken. They were very clean and had fresh bathroom towels every day. Beach towels were an issue, we were given enough for the size of our party and they were the towels to use at the pool and beach, but to get fresh towels you had to leave the beach towels on the floor of the bathroom to get changed when the cleaner came in through the day when you would be using them at the pool.

Noise level was fine and a lot of the sounds were blocked out by the sliding doors.

Value was fine but wouldn't use Holiday Village again at any of their sites if this holiday was anything to go by.