Hi All,

Just returned on Sunday 17th.

Rooms: Cleaned to a very high standard every day, much better than most hotels I have stayed in. The rooms were not very luxuriously furnished but light and clean with a mini bar that was filled every day, with soft drinks beer water and wine and DVD player which was great for the kids. The suite we stayed in had a massive balcony. Deluxe rooms are nothing special and difficult to get to in the hotel layout. Looked at a junior suite and ideal as a single bed tucked out of the way in the lobby as you enter the room, so can sleep away from children, but if you have 2 children the other one with sleep in the main room- basically much bigger junior suite than usual.

Areas for improvement: the doors had no child look or chain, so from the inside our son could open the door and run straight out. I would recommend that they change this before an accident happens. Also out the front of the balcony the way is very small and the other side is a huge slope down, they have got shrubs growing to create a natural barrier but it is still worried us that our son could be over the wall and fall down the bank.

Food: Lots of variety, good quality tasty food, like any buffet you can have enough of a good think- everyday there was a choice of pasta – various varieties some being cooked fresh, carvery meat, lots of fish , salads, two soups, lots of fruit and many desserts. The Al carte restaurants made a nice change but were hard to get booked into; also the choice was limited especially in the Asian restaurant. Bottled wine was served with all meals.


Drink: Very generous, excellent international quality of drinks from pimms, Baileys to branded rum and scotch. No problem getting bottles of water from the bar. Only area for improvement was more diet drinks, I know this is problem all over Europe.

Staff: Very friendly, but not very happy once you get talking to them. Mostly being run by trainees (90% of the hotel). Also many of the reception staff were unsure about information and the type of rooms they had on offer, also did not know anything about the Sani Group.


Location: Beach was very gritty and there was some coral at the edge of the water but once you are in the sea (about 6ft from the edge) there is pure white sound. Getting down to the beach was an effort as the hotwl was on a slope. 10-15 minutes walk (2 mins in the car) to a busy town with lots of bars, restaurants plus lots of shops – but we did not need to go out really. We also walked along the beach and came across a few beach bars but mostly residential, probably an upcoming area for development.


Fitness & Spa: indoor pool great place to chill out, very calm gentle music playing and candles burning. I had a treatment, great value in comparison to UK prices. We used the gym a lot, could do with some more machines and something to look at while you are running– but on the whole clean air conditioned and very useable.

Watersports: Plenty to do on the beach and you can pay extra for courses.


Mini Club: Our son did go in for a hour a day, great to have English staff working there. Staff seemed enthusiastic, again young trainees but seemed to care for the children and make pleasant environment. Also dod a really good show with kids, West show Cats – all the kids dressed up as cats and got involved.

Evening Entertainment. They have really made an effort over the last few weeks in this area, shows now start at 10pm most nights including starlight Express - with the real costumes and skating around the indoor theatre, also Mamma Mai, CAt and Circus show . children;'s disco plus live music.

This hotel is getting better by the week !

We have just returned from a 2 week stay and it was fantastic, we had a great time. There is something for everyone to do. The shows in the evening, if it's your sort of thing are very good - Cats, Starlight express, Mama Mia!. We had a very bad storm which caused mud slides on the site but they were cleared very quickly and you wouldn't have known there had been a problem. The food is stunning and the staff are all great.
There is a little information lacking that they just haven't got themselves around to giving out for eg. you can rent dvd's from reception or take you own, you need to book at the concierge desk for the al a carte restaurants, there is a laundry service (paid).
Have a great time. This hotel seems to have had some bad press but we are not easily impressed and we thought it was amazing and would definitely go again

Thanks Lynne and Karen for your informative postings.

I was wondering about the mud slides having seen them mentioned in another thread and the fact that some of the Deluxe suites were affected. Glad to hear all is now OK before we travel.

.

Hello everyone
We are going to Oceania Club next week. Is ther a bank close by to use a Switch card to top up the Euros?
Jean

Hi Jean


The nearest bank is in Nea Moundania which is about 15 mins walk - there are several there so it should not be a problem

Have a lovely time

Annemarie

I am going on the 8th of August with my family and i was wondering what things are there for children and young teenagers to do

We are going to the Oceania club next week and received a call from our travel agent today saying that there was quite a bit of construction work going on around the hotel. Apparently there is a shopping mall being built.

We haven't heard anything about this on the message board so question whether or not it is an issue or not.

If you have recently return from the hotel can you confirm if this is a problemor not?

Many thanks

We are going to the Oceania club next week and received a call from our travel agent today saying that there was quite a bit of construction work going on around the hotel. Apparently there is a shopping mall being built.

We haven't heard anything about this on the message board so question whether or not it is an issue or not.

If you have recently return from the hotel can you confirm if this is a problemor not?

Many thanks

Mike

Check Gillian's post in this thread (07-14-05 16:36) and the previous one.

There have been a number of reviews recently and none have made any negative comments over building works near the hotel so I assume there is no problem.

We are going out in two weeks' time. Having had some concerns due to early reviews when the hotel had just opened, we are now thoroughly looking forward to our holiday.

Hopefully someone who has recently returned will post a re-assuring reply.

No work around the Oceania club, see my new post

mike wrote:
>
> We are going to the Oceania club next week and received a
> call from our travel agent today saying that there was quite
> a bit of construction work going on around the hotel.
> Apparently there is a shopping mall being built.
>
> We haven't heard anything about this on the message board so
> question whether or not it is an issue or not.
>
> If you have recently return from the hotel can you confirm if
> this is a problemor not?
>
> Many thanks

thanx

Came back from Oceania club last week.
I can only say one thing,if anyone does not enjoy their holiday at this hotel they do not deserve holidays at all.
Fantastic in all respects,staff cant do enough for you.

Hi everyone.
Could anyone tell me what are the entertainments for children between 7 and 11 years old. Are there waterslides at the pools?
Thanks in advance.

hi

dont know if this is still relevant to you, but in the junior suite there is a huge double beds (we had 3 kids in this sometimes), then there is a single settee bed and a camp bed.

there were 5 of us staying in our room (one should have been in another but we didnt bother, there was enough room) anyway another couple asked for an extra camp bed in their room and that was ok.

so whatever you want, just ask. its no trouble for them.

by the way, i had a fantastic holiday there and would love to go back anytime.

trudy

We have just returned yesterday and would like to make the following comments.

The guest are 40% English 40% Russian and 20% German.

The hotel is described as 5* although because this is a family oriented hotel I would personally describe it as four star, but that is not to say it is not very good.
We stayed in a deluxe suite and an adjoining junior deluxe suite overlooking the private pool with our two kids..18 and 17. The room accomodation was spacious and elegant and the maids worked well. The staff (who happen to be mainly from FYROM) all go the extra mile everywhere.
The buffet food/main retaurant is fine and typical of buffet with only house wine available. The a la-carte restaurants are IMPOSSIBLE to book for the first week of any stay because guests are greedy and book up the entire stay on day one mainly because the wines can be chosen from the cellar at no cost. they then eat from the buffet!
The private pool and Epsilon bar for the use of suites is fine although one or two sharp bits where they have cobbled together the pool lights with cables running over the pool sides, but nothing to worry about. The two bar guys ( especialy Dijan) work like crazy and are great. The bar closes at 6pm although if you ask they will leave the beer tap on! The main pool where all the teens tend to congregate is a beautiful infinity edge pool looking out to sea. There are waits of up to five mins to get a beer from the pool bar. There is a poolside waiter service that circulates every 30 mins or so, with the loungers gone by 0830...but who cares if you are in a suite! The bar closes at 6 pm and is secured to prevent teens congregating and drinking unsupervised late at night.
The poolside open air Greek restaurant is a nice place to eat and Dimitri is the perfect host. this closes at about ten pm.
The late teen entertainment is a bit hit and miss...if they are over 18 and can prove it by way of passport or other id (fake) then the disco is fine. If your kids are 17.5 or under then its a hard time and they will be id'd all the time at the bars and only served soft drinks..this is due to the one or two chavs and 15 year olds who cannot behave like adults and spoil it for everyone by spewing and argueing with the management at 2 am. I have to say ashamedly that it is the British young teens that let the side down and spoil it for the older ones who all behave great and are a credit. The hotel was bringing in a new age verification system as we left.
The trips aranged by the reps are a bit naff. We went on the 'pirate cruise' and had as a captive audience to pay for everything on board and at the beach, at the same time miss out on our 'all inclusive day'! You are allowed to jump off the boat once then swim to the beach, whilst the boat is locked and the crew prepare lunch..you then purchase drinks at the beach bar for an hour or so. Later in the trip the boat stopped and we could all jump in and swim as much as we liked, . The water is nice apart from the urchins and the sand is very gritty. The other trip was to the 'oldest village in Halkidiki'....except it disappeared 300 years ago and is now a modern reproduction...the oldest building I saw was oposite the new church dated at 1947 on a wall plaque, but it is pretty and the tavernas are all eager to seat you and the food is nice (choose the taverna's overloking the sea).
There is an EARLY morning market at Nea Moudania (turn right out of the hotel) about a 20 minute walk from the hotel on Wednsday morning..it closes at 1 pm ish. you can buy your fake designer t shirts, bags and shoes as well as veg here, although it mainly caters for the tourists. A better market is held for the Greeks in the first village in the opposite direction (turn left out of the hotel) about a 15 minute walk, This is held every evening from 20.30 ish till midnight, there you can find a more traditional atmasphere with street barbeques of maize and souvlaki pitta. there are some really nice open air tavernas on the side of the beach and the food is REAL and cheap! This is the town that houses the hotel staff!
The hotel leisure club is good although the two squash courts are as yet unfinished (no markings on the rear wall) but you can go in and knock a ball around. The Main lobby bar in the hotel along with the piano bar are family bars and as such expect young children and the teens up to 17.5 along with their parents. The atmosphere is better later when the prams and seven year olds have retired and it becomes a bit more grown up. All activities are booken at a desk in reception and I would URGE you to do this as you check in! The Chef (Rolph) is a great bloke and circulates all food outlets, and if you have a suggestion please make it as he will accomodate it. I asked for a choice of sandwiches at the epsilon bar and perhaps a sweet dish and the next day we had three varieties of sandwich and small doughnuts! perfect! Same at the bars..if there is a drink you would like that they havn't got...ask the bar manager or at reception to send it to the bar...hey presto! I asked for tomato juice and worcester sauce at the epsilon bar..no joy...one call to reception..and its there! Its a shame the staff cannot do this but as I was told..the guests wishes are paramount and therefore carry more weight.
There were a couple of MINOR building works going on at the hotel ie change of use of certain areas but nothing that will detract from your enjoyment and all are screened from view, a lift to the suites area never worked so you were forced to go the long way! I was told they were waiting for a part but I believe the real reason was to make it as dificult as possible for non suite guests to access that area! Golf carts are available for folks who find the trek a bit tiring and all that is needed is a call to reception from your room or bar. The same carts are available upon request to take you down to the beach. The beach is a coarse sand but nice, loungers for all, and shades. There is a beach bar just on the beach road.

I have been blunt in this post as I do not want to big the hotel up, neither do I want to slag the hotel off where it is not warranted.

All in all the adults had a great relaxing time and our kids loved it, they made their own fun and met lots of friends.

One final thing! when you leave Greece and go to the airport, the check in staff are officious and apply the rules to the letter...so if you are one gramme over in your luggage weight be prepared to cough up excess baggage at the rate of €6 per kilo



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 27/07/2006 08:50AM by Nikos.

Hi Pete,

thanks for your opinion about the hotel. I really appreciate the info on the local villages and were to get soulvaki pitta, mu husband doesnt consider it a proper holiday until he's eaten that! Do you know the name of the village as we do like to go out and explore the 'real' Greece.

Michelle

DOES YOUR HOTEL HAVE A/C IN THE ROOMS?

i arrived back from the ociana hotel on teh 29th of july i went for 2 weeks i must admit it was the best 2 weeks ive ever had!
even though towards the end the bar staff were demanding id for people who looked under 18 and serving people who looked over when they were really only 16 which i think was out of order either id us all or dont bother other than that it think the holiday was a sucsess
there were many bars to go and visit the entertainment staff tried there hardest through day and night to get you up and doing things from waterpolo darts bowls even going to the market then night entertainment! even get people to go in it with them admit i did! so i think they did a really good job and took alot of stick for the teenagers,
the restaurants were nice when you can gt booked in them if not the buffet restaurant is fine few diffrent things few the same!
bar staff were good they tryed to serve u as quick as possible on pool side and night in the bar! some times you can be waiting for a bit but only if its busy! the pool service they come round and offer you drinks to save you movin i found quite handy!
but yes i did enjoy the holiday tehre its a gorgeouse view from teh pool to the sea also and i hope you will enjoy it like i did!

We went to the resort at the beginning of July and it was superb, couldn't fault it and through my work I've stayed at some of the best hotels in the world and not easily impressed.
Enjoy it, we intend going back next year.