A lovely place to stay in a great location (Cinco Plazas Apartments (Lanzarote, Spain))

Member Name: icklepickle

Product:	Cinco Plazas Apartments (Lanzarote, Spain)
Date:	13/05/09 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great staff, lovely pools, lovely spacious clean rooms, great location

Disadvantages: Pool was a bit noisey with kids but cant be helped

We booked a week at the Cinco Plazas through Thomson for the 30th April. We had read lots of reviews, good and bad and went with an open mind. Our stay was wonderful and are returning again for 2 weeks at the end of June.

* Arrival and reception*

Upon arrival we entered a very large reception area with very shiny polished floors, a shop to the left, restaurant entrance and sofas in front and the main reception desk to the right and next to that is the Thomson and first choice desk too.

The two Spanish receptionists were very friendly, we were welcomed and asked for our names and passports. (They keep your passports overnight to check details etc. we got them back the next day). We were told some information about the hotel and given our key and a map of the hotel. We were told where our room was and off we went.

* The rooms/apartments *

We had read that rooms were very spacious and that was right.
We were given a ground floor apartment which outside has a small outside area which is quite private and has a long tiled bench, a patio table and chairs and a small airer for drying washing.

Through the main door we entered a large open plan room with sofa bed and coffee table to the left, cupboard with tv on top to the right, a dining table with four chairs far left and on the far right is a small kitchenette which includes microwave, sink with washing up liquid and sponge, small hob with two rings, toaster, kettle, coffee maker and fridge with icebox. The cupboards and drawers are well equipped with saucepans, frying pan, plates, cutlery and a tea towel. Everything you need to make a small meal and breakfast etc. No oven/cooker though.

The bedroom at the back had twin beds pushed together with 2 bedside tables. A large built in wardrobe with a few hangers and some more shelving and drawer space. There is also a fan in the bedroom which came in handy at night as we didn't want the windows opened on the ground floor and also there is a safe in the wardrobe but we didn't use this as it is chargeable.

The bathroom has two doors, one from the bedroom and one from the living room. It has a shower over bath (although you cant use the bath as it has no taps or plug), toilet and sink.

Everything was very clean and tidy.

The only complaint we have about the room was the TV. there is only about 3 free channels, 2 Spanish ones and the only English channel is CNN! If you want to watch any of the other channels they are chargeable!

The beds were very comfortable, with a sheet and top blanket for cover and there is an extra blanket in the wardrobes (which also double up as very good sun bed covers)! There was only one pillow each which was a bit annoying so we asked at reception and they brought us an extra one each straight away.

The only other thing i would of liked was a soap or hand soap for hand washing.

* Maid service*

We found the maid service to be a bit odd.. don't get me wrong they did a very good job but it seemed a bit random. We arrived on a Thursday, the next day our room was cleaned and towels were changed etc. Then we had it done the next day too.. then we didn't see them again for 4 days, then they cleaned again the day before we left! Seemed a bit strange but never mind! The maids didn't speak a word of English apart from the words "clean now?" they would yabber away VERY loudly to each other and keep using our phone to ring reception but never mind lol!

You are provided with broom and mop to clean the room ourselves if needed.

* Problems *

One day we had a shower and the water was draining from underneath the bath, it seems the pipes were blocked. The staff came to sort it within 10 minutes and it was fine for the rest of the holiday.

* Hotel facilities *

There are 3 swimming pools and each pool is surrounded by apartments. We stayed in the main big pool which is by the restaurant and seems to be the busiest.

The pool was very clean, and tidy. It is a salt water pool but not too salty and i found this better as chlorine makes my eyes sore.

The thing i read about most before we went was the sun bed problem! Well i can say we never had a problem getting sun beds, there was always plenty stacked there during the day and we even ended up keeping one for sunbathing on our front veranda but i can definitely see it being a problem during the summer holiday peak season because i hear there are double the amount of guests. They do chain the sunbeds up at night only because they have had vandals and people stealing them!

The hotel offers a restaurant which serves breakfast, all day snacks and dinner with evening entertainment. Well we had a lunch snack on the last day and it was very good value for money and the staff are friendly. They also offer ice creams (1.26 euros for one scoop and cone of carte dior)
There is also a kids club which runs most days offering various activities which seemed to be very popular.

Also bingo and water polo is organised daily for everyone, held in the main pool at 4pm which can get very noisy!

There is also an on site laundry which we didn't use, a kids play area with brand new equipment, there are two rooms which you can rent for 25 euros on the day you check out if your flight isn't until later on and also a luggage room where you can store your luggage on the last day but they charge 1 euro per weighing for the weigh machine which i wasn't very impressed with! There are pool tables around the swimming pools.

The shop on site is cheaper for most things like cereal, milk and ham etc but more expensive for other things so try netto or shop around.

The Thomson rep Andew is a nice guy but doesn't seem to be around that much but when he is he does get involved with things.

* Location *

The hotel is at the top of a hill (not too steep but probably not great for disabled or elderly people).

It is based in the resort of Puerto Del Carmen which is the busiest resort on Lanzarote. It is in a very good position for accessing all of the local restaurants, clubs and shops etc.

Next door is a Netto for shopping but its not the cheapest so shop around. Also next to that is the Spinakker pub which is great for beer and pool. But we didnt try the food.

Across the road is car rental (autos feber) which seem to be the cheapest around.

Walking down the hill brings you down to the main strip of entertainment and the beach, turn right for some of the main restaurants and nightclubs (the royal for EXCELLENT food and tropical for cheap drinks and dancing) (Avoid Niki beach and tequila bar they have nasty pushy touts and lie about what free things they can give you).

Turn left for the quieter part of town, mini golf, gift shops and some smaller restaurants.

The beach runs right along the strip, if you want sunbeds and the busier part keep walking to the right. But there are some small cove along the way.

All in all the hotel is very good for all the family, clean and we had no complaints at all.


Our second trip in June:

After visiting Lanzarote and the Cinco Plazas in April, we booked another trip with Thomson for the end of June but this time for 2 weeks!

Upon arrival we were greeted by the same friendly receptionists from last time, and were quickly given the keys to our room. Last time we had a downstairs apartment around the big main pool. This time we were given a small downstairs room right by reception! It had no sun on it and looked completely dingy! We were not impressed... soooo

We went straight back to reception and asked for an upstairs room and thank god we did!!

We made our way up to our apartment which was right up at the back of the hotel near to one of the smaller pools and it was fantastic!!

The apartment itself was huge and it had really high beamed ceilings which were lovely.

The balcony had a table with two patio chairs and a washing airer. The view from the balcony was absolutely spectacular. It looked right out over the sea and volcanos in the distance and we could see right over the whole complex.

The living room area had the usual blue uncomfortable sofa bed which begged some cushions, a table, cupboard and tv.

There was a dining table with 4 tables.

The open plan kitchen was massive, it had all of the usual stuff you need to cook and it was very clean. There was no tea towel so we grabbed one of the maids outside and managed to ask for one and was brought one straight away.

The bathroom was much bigger and with more room to move this time even though no window which didn't bother us. It was very clean as before with plenty of towels. A shower over bath, sink and toilet with a huge mirror.

The bathroom looked out of the back and had an equally lovely view, we could see the sea and all of puerto del carmen. The breeze that came through the window was amazing.. it was lovely cooling down in bed and because we were upstairs we felt happy leaving our window open at night. The bedroom has a big mirrored wardrobe (not many hangers though) and has a safe which is chargeable.

We were really pleased we asked for a different room.. i think we would have been miserable stuck 2 weeks by reception with eveyone coming and going.

Our balcony was completely private we could sunbathe (topless) quite happily.

We had no problems in the whole 2 weeks we were there, we also found our lovely cat who we met last time and soon had him fattened up again! (gorgeous tabby who answers to Jimmy please feed him if you see him lol)

The only one thing that did get us down is around the area there is major road works going on and it was so noisy it vibrated through the whole complex! I am not sure when its going to be finished but it did annoy us! But this is not the hotels fault, we have complained to thomson because we should have been warned about it!

People moan and moan about the hill to walk up from the main strip! It doesn't bother us at all! Okay we are young but i am not fit at all and if you take it slow its fine.

If you want a good clean hotel that caters for

We spent a lot of nights in "the royal" again, turn right at the bottom of the hill the food is amazing, also for some fantastic mexican visit emmas catina in the old town it is truly amazing! For a fab night out (and take the kids until midnight) visit Tropical.. Valerio the italian waiter is lovely!!

Netto next door is even more expensive.. if u hire a car try and get to hypo dino its so cheap (80p for a lire of sangria wooo) . Also the car hire place across the road from cinco is so cheap and the lady who runs it is lovely try and go there! its very convenient!

You must must visit other parts of the island to experience lanzarote.. puerto del carmen beach is lovely but its nothing compared to papagayo or orzola!

We are off back in October lets hope we can book the cinco again!

Summary: A great hotel for anyone visiting Lanzarote