Cynthiana Beach Hotel

TripAdvisor reviews were very much mixed: some rave and some very critical, so we were getting worried that we already paid for non-refundable arrangements and expected to be disappointed. But thankfully, we had a reasonable time. I start with positives. FYI, we went for HB option.

The Seaview We paid extra for a sea view room. It was one of the farthest located from the main building thus it was a pain to commute for meals and to the beach, but the view from our room was absolutely stunning. We could watch the beautiful sunset from the platform, the restaurant and the bar, too

Clean Room Our room had plenty of plug sockets, a kettle, a fridge, good lighting, good blackout curtains. .

Flexible board options You can just book B&B and decide to upgrade to HB, FB or AI. But they require you to commit a minimum of 3 days of your chosen option. We would have appreciated if we could arrange like B&B on the first day and on the days we go out for excursions, HB or AI as we needed with minimum two days notice or something.

Plenty of sun loungers Unless you have specific preferences, you don't need to get up early to secure your sun loungers. There's no solid shade available at the beach, so unfortunately we could not stay there as we didn't like to get burnt and stayed mostly at the poolside.

Next, our negative experiences:

Dangerous to swim in the sea For the entire week when we were there, a yellow flag was displayed to indicate that we could swim with caution. Strong waves were constantly bashing against, my other half nearly got drawn whilst there was no life guard. He lost some of his swimming equipment whilst struggling to get back to the platform. Afterwards, when I was chatting about his horror experience, I was told that someone was severely injured and half of his body was covered in blood. We stopped swimming in the sea.

Not much sealife to enjoy Although I snorkeled extensively on a relatively ok day, hardly saw any fish. Other guests were saying same.

Unfriendly staff The receptionist who checked us in didn't even say any welcoming greeting. She didn't provide us information like available tours or activities, so we missed out so much until it was too late. It took very long for the bar staff to bring change for our cocktails, so we quietly enquired as we were about to leave the table. Guess what, she snapped at us. What was that?!
One waitress in the restaurant was the only one who was chatty and made jokes with us. We usually remember a few staff names and become friends and take photos together etc. at every resort, but at this hotel we didn't develop such friendships.

Limited food options They label what's contained but they don't offer much variety, so we had not much to choose from whilst we have some restrictions due to allergies or medical reasons. E.g. there were no non-dairy desserts such as sorbet or jelly, and most cooked main food had some dairy in them. They always had very thick pizza and boiled pasta with tomato sauce, none looked appetising. We were pleased that we didn't book AI.

Not great Coffee and Tea There were three coffee machines in the restaurant area but none of them produced drinkable coffee for us. Unfortunately our taste buds detect what most people cannot. We tried to compromise by drinking herbal tea but none was provided either. Well, we thought it maybe the case, and brought our own.

Limited activities The animation team ladies were great. But the range of activities that the hotel offered were very limited. The gym is small and equipments were dated.

Unsupervised children in the spa For us to be free from somebody else's uncontrolled & screaming kids from the swimming pools area, the spa was the only hope. Their spa is kept clean but they allowed children in even if they were unsupervised by their parents. Also some adults must be illiterate, they didn't follow the notice and they were screaming and jumping into the swimming pool. It was chaos.

Bathroom The room was cleaned every day, but they had this strange rule of not changing towels in the bathroom every day. It was very difficult when the floor gets wet after shower and we had to use the same wet bath mat on the following day... Why? They could ask guests to keep towels on the rails if we mean to reuse instead. Most of us have become environmentally conscious and would cooperate. There were just liquid soap and body/shampoo. You need to bring your own hair conditioner and face wash.

Would we come back? Possibly yes, but won't book long ahead: will check the weather forecast and the directions of the wind to make sure that we can enjoy swimming in the sea next time.

We have been choosing this hotel for the last few years, and it continues to exceed our expectations every single time. It has truly become our favourite place to stay, and returning here always feels like coming home.