Sun, Sand and Sangria (Hotel Jupiter-Saturno-Marte Complex (Alcudia))

Member Name: meah

Product:	Hotel Jupiter-Saturno-Marte Complex (Alcudia)
Date:	14/08/02 (10063 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent service, Friendly staff, Everything you need from a holiday available on the complex

Disadvantages: Mosquitoes, A little to far from night life of resort

We recently spent a week at the all-inclusive hotel Jupiter in Alcudia, Majorca. We had seen the hotel advertised many times on the TV Travel Shop and we had never been to Alcudia but had often said we would like to visit that part of the Island so when we saw this holiday advertised as a named late deal at an extremely good price we decided it was too good to miss.

The Jupiter is built on a large complex next to two other hotels; the Saturno and the Marte and guests from all three hotels have the use of the facilities of the whole complex.

The Jupiter

The reception area of the hotel is very large and airy with the usual notice boards telling guests about day trips and evening entertainment, there is a wide sweeping marble staircase in the centre of the reception area and seven lifts, one of the lifts has panoramic views across the surrounding country-side, the sea and the old town of Alcudia. The entrance to the dining room is in reception and there is also a very large open plan lounge bar.

Accommodation

There are nine floors and four-hundred and sixty-three rooms in the Jupiter and our room was on the first floor, which we were very pleased about because although there are seven lifts they do get very busy as the evening goes on and we found it a lot quicker using the stairs at the end of the evening.

Our room was fairly large with two queen size beds, safety deposit box, fitted wardrobe, direct dial telephone and cable TV. The bathroom had a full size bath with over bath shower and unlike most hotels we have stayed in on Majorca the water pressure was extremely high, there was no bidet in our bathroom but there had obviously been one at some time because the fittings were still evident.

The balcony from our room was small but adequate and the rail around the balcony looked high enough to ensure the safety of children. We had a couple of chairs and clothes dryer on the balcony.

Our towels w
ere changed daily, bed linen was changed twice during our one-week stay and the room had air conditioning. We were pleased with the overall cleanliness of our room.

Dining Room and Meals

Meals are self-service and the dining room is very large with virtually floor to ceiling windows on two sides and is strictly a no smoking area. The tables are all set with linen table cloths, linen serviettes, water jugs, glasses, cutlery and vase of flowers so there is no hunting for cutlery after you have selected your meal and the waitresses are very quick clearing your table between courses. There was an abundance of high chairs around the dining room and tables varied in size from those for two to large round tables sitting eight people.

Although the hotel was fairly full the week we were on holiday there was no real queues in the dining room and there were numerous self-service points. There was a large selection of meals on offer and all of the food looked very appetising.

Breakfast consisted of a choice of croissants, pastries, rolls, cold meats, fruit, cereal and a cooked full English, with fruit juices, tea, coffee and hot chocolate although the hot drinks were only available from machines and they never really taste the same to me.

Lunch and diner offered a large selection of starters, main course and desserts and there was always both fish, meat, vegetarian and salads available as well as a varied children’s menu. During both lunch and diner two bars were open in the dining room offering soft drinks, red and white wine and beer.

The dining room is open from 8.00am to 10.00am for breakfast, 12 noon to 2.00pm for lunch and 6.00pm to 9.30pm for diner and you have the option of eating in either the Jupiter, Saturno or Marte dining rooms; the Marte dining room also serves supper between 10.00pm and midnight, super comprises of salads, pastas and burgers.

The Facilities

The hotel complex offers fou
r large swimming pools with a section for children in each pool and three separate children’s pools, all are supervised by life guards and there is a large lake with free pedalos and bike skies available for a small charge, the lake does not have a life guard on duty and children are only allowed on the pedalos and bike skies if accompanied by an adult.

There is a volleyball court, badminton and tennis courts, five-a-side football pitch, soft ball and basket ball courts, table tennis tables, French bowls, water polo, archery, bikes, crazy golf and golf practice area with equipment and instruction available free of charge although you do have to book a session in advance and leave a five euro refundable deposit against the equipment.

During the day there are frequent keep-fit classes and snorkelling classes on offer and there is a rifle shooting range available for adults only as well as a go-kart track with coin operated go-karts and coin operated pool tables.

Younger children are catered for in their own adventure playground with sand pit, paddling pool and mini-train. There are children’s clubs running throughout the day offering activities such as pirate adventures, shows and mini-discos.

The complex offers numerous different types of areas for relaxing and sunbathing, there are all the pool areas as well as secluded grass areas with fairly high hedges around to give a little privacy and when we were there these areas were mostly used by adults without children.

Entertainment

As well as the day time entertainment there is also varied evening entertainment, the lounge bar of the Jupiter offered fairly loud music, the bar in the Marte offered a place just to sit and chat in quiet and the bar in the Saturno offered quiet piped music. Between the Saturno and the Marte there is an area with seating and a stage and the evening entertainment here was directed towards families with small children, there w
as a clown, magician and sing along party music with games, this area also has a giant chess set in it.

Between the Marte and the Jupiter there is a very large stage with seating area and the evening entertainment here was directed towards adults, it was more along the lines of variety shows, early evening bingo and quizzes.

There is also a cinema on the first floor of the Jupiter that showed a different film each night of the week and this was popular with the teenagers.

The complex has around eight bars and they were all well staffed so we never had to wait long for drinks. Throughout the day kiosks were open in various locations of the complex offering sandwiches, fruit, ice cream, hot dogs, hamburgers, pizzas, chips and soft drinks so you did not have to go into the dining room for lunch if you preferred to have a snack. There are also spa water fountains on the bars inside the Jupiter, Saturno and Marte so once you have bought a bottle of drinking water you can just keep refilling you bottle.

Location

Alcudia is set astride a beautiful bay on the north coast of Majorca and boasts eleven kilometres of sandy beaches, the complex housing the Jupiter hotel however is one kilometre inland but there is a free courtesy bus from the hotel to the beach and back and the bus runs every half hour.

Around the hotel complex there are a few bars, self-catering apartments and shops but on the whole the area is on the quite side. It is a fifteen minute walk in one direction to the night life, cafes and restaurants in the main beach resort, fifteen minutes walk in another direction to the shops and beach at the Port of Alcudia and a twenty-five minute walk into the old town of Alcudia although the hotel receptionist did show us a short cut through the back of the complex and across a well worn path into the old town, if you take the short cut the walk into the old town is fifteen minutes and brings you out at the beginning of
where the market is held; the path is fairly easy to walk on but would be no good for a family with a pushchair.

The complex is right next to the aqua-park and there are also a lot of small lakes with stagnant water in the vicinity, we found that there were an abundance of mosquitoes around the hotel, they were not a problem for us because we never go on holiday without our plug in mosquito mats, spray and tea-tree oil, which all work really well at repelling any biting insects but a lot of the guests at the hotel were being heavily bitten and had to go to the shops to buy insect repellents; there is a shop on the complex but the shops outside the gates offered better value for money.

To Sum Up

There seemed to be an abundance of entertainment for families and those guests like myself who were there without children could always find somewhere quiet if that’s what we wanted.

On the whole I would recommend this hotel to families and those who like to spend their holidays around the hotel, once you have paid the price of the holiday you need not spend another euro if you don’t want to.

I would return to the Jupiter again if I saw it as a named late deal but I personally would not book and pay the full brochure price for an all-inclusive holiday because I like exploring the surrounding area and spending most of the day away from the hotel, however we enjoyed our weeks holiday, it was great value for money, had a good entertainment programme with lots of activities to occupy you throughout the day, the food was varied and well cooked and the hotel complex was very clean. We could drink as much as we liked when we liked and did not have to queue more than a couple of minutes for anything, everything you needed for a relaxing, enjoyable week in the sun was available on the complex.

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