Good fun Hotel! (Hotels in Kenya)

Member Name: jayjolynn

Product:	Hotels in Kenya
Date:	17/11/06 (214 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: All you can eat and drink!

Disadvantages: too fattening!

TURTLE BAY BEACH CLUB

It is situated next to Watamu National Marine Park. The hotel is set in 10 acres of tropically landscaped gardens with 145 rooms, three restaurants, three bars, a large entertainment lounge, large swimming pool plus a child’s paddling pool & Jacuzzi.
We were there ‘all inclusive’, as there are not many places to go outside this beach resort. Being the first ‘All Inclusive’ we had been on, I was curious as to how I would feel about it, having liked getting ‘out and about’ during my previous trips abroad.

TROPICAL GARDENS

Scattered round these tropical gardens, there the hotel buildings, a mixture of Cottage Style rooms/Units, Villa type units, Suites and main rooms situated in the larger building. There are tennis courts for your use should you want to run around like an idiot in the soaring heat! Monkeys swing amongst the trees, though not so friendly…. there are signs around the place telling you not to feed them as they bite! Well warned, as I thought they looked so sweet, I would have quite happily let them nibble a treat from my hand! There are also hundreds of canaries and budgies flying amongst these trees too! Very tropical, but very noisy when the birds all decide to screech at the same time!

RECEPTION

When we first arrived, the staff made it very welcoming, giving us a ‘Welcome’ drink of some sort of cocktail, which was lovely (but still never found out the name of it)! Well, good start I thought! Initially looking around the reception area, while waiting for our room keys, it looked very relaxing with couches littered everywhere. I thought right from that moment, I was going to like this place!

ROOMS

The rooms are a mixture of Cottage Style rooms/Units, Villa type units, Suites and main rooms situated in the larger building, as described previously.
Our room, which was not luxurious, but nice and clean, with mosquito proof plug ins, which was an extra bonus to me, having been a victim to the most horrendous mosquito bites in the past! The bathroom was nice too, having a shower over the bath tub, and all your usual bits and pieces. Nice balcony overlooking the tropical grounds, which we found very relaxing after the bars in the resort had closed (1 or 2 am).

POOL

The pool area is nice through the day, but a bit overcrowded for my liking! I tended to stay on the beach (where the waiters still serve you anything you want). This is a very family orientated Hotel, so it can be noisy through the day. What was nice though, was that there was often shows put on through the day when you were sunbathing, and again we had African dancers and instrument players. After the shows, you had the opportunity to buy some of their wares, being jewellery, ornaments etc…… Nice lively colourful stuff!

BEACH

As usual, you do have the beach sellers on the sand, but they are not allowed onto the actual private beach area that belonged to the Hotel, so they stand outside of this imaginary line…….selling their carvings & various materials, under little wooden shacks. On first going down there, I thought ‘Oh no’ another place where you get pestered all day! No, not the case…..they do not venture at all into the private beach area, and you can sunbathe in peace without being badgered! If you want to buy something, then you just walk along and do so at your leisure. We did stroll along a few times during our holiday there, and got to know these people and they are so friendly and warm, with a terrific sense of humour, and they love to barter with you, especially over your trainers, jeans etc….in return for one or two of their wares! They actually made me want to go along and chat with them most days!

WATER SPORTS

These include Boogie boards, Paddle skis, catamaran, pedaloes, canoes, Windsurfing and Kiting, There is tuition for windsurfing and scuba diving here too. We decided to take a little trip on a sailing boat which lasted an hour and cost round about £4.00, and this took us through Turtle Lagoon which was very relaxing and we were able to see some of the exotic fish in these waters. Over 100 species of hard coral have been found here too, and the water is so clear here, you are able to see some lovely sights!

INCLUDED IN THE RATES

Full breakfast is included in the main restaurant which seats around 300, and you can eat as much as you like, as it is buffet style, with the chefs cooking your eggs as you want them. There is a large selection and tastes to suit everyone, from European to African choices.

This same restaurant is where you have your Dinner meal, again, serving buffet style meats, salads etc… Now, here is where you can try Impala & Water Hog, to name a few, but after seeing these beautiful Impalas running about, when on Safari, I am afraid, I couldn’t stomach the thought of eating it! My other half informed me it was quite yummy though! YUK!
Some of the nights we spent in there, over dinner, African singers, entertain you while you eat, so there was something going on all the time in this resort! This restaurant looks over the grounds and sea, so it has a nice ambience.

Full lunch is offered at the Snack Bar at the poolside in buffet style again, and you can have any snacks from 12.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. (If you still need to eat after the large breakfast and lunch!) This is a large area, but through the day, it is more like a soup kitchen, if you happen to go up the same time as everyone else in the complex! They serve a lot of European style dishes, with chips etc….

In the evening, if you get tired of eating at the main restaurant, you can go up market to the Blue Turtle Restaurant, where you will get an a la carte menu. This is not in your fully inclusive deal, but it serves a nice meal and a change from the ‘soup kitchen’ queues! You have to pre- book this one, but certainly worth it for a change! Think we paid about £10 for a steak dish.
Pizzeria is another one where you can eat at, though some meals you can pay an extra charge for. This restaurant overlooks the water ponds, so is another nice relaxing place to eat. It offers lovely ‘oven fresh’ pizzas for lunch and evening meal.

One night we ate at the side of the pool, enjoying the show for that particular night, which happened to be the famous Masai Warriors! This was a very interesting show, as they are really quite scary, with their red traditional dress on, and the height of the average one can’t be much less than 7 feet! Their act consisted of Masai warrior cries and some sort of sinister chanting. Their dancing, well, is not really dancing, but jumping up and down a lot, quite threateningly! Still, I felt safe, knowing they had came into our ‘safe haven’ of the Hotel, so it must be ok!! I would hate to meet them outside though and upset any of them!

BARS

The bars offer you local drinks, but we found it offers you most of your ‘normal’ drinks and we didn’t find anything too awful to drink! It serves you beer, whiskey, gin, vodka, Brandy and even wine!

Kasaramba Bar – Next to the pizzeria in a quieter location. (Opens from 11 am – 2 pm and 6 m – 11 pm) This is where we would go to for a quiet pre dinner drink, and then perhaps a coffee after our meal, as you can sit outside and watch the many tropical birds flying amongst the trees.
We would then stroll through the gardens to the Pool Bar – Opens at 10 am and closes at 1 am. A popular area during day and evening time, and this is the place where a lot of entertainment takes place.
If you really do need your branded drinks, there is the Dunes Bar – right on the beach and very romantic! (opens from 10 am – 1 am).

NIGHT TIME ENJOYMENT

Each night the hotel put some sort of entertainment on, either down at the pool, or in the lounge, ranging from singer, dancers, Warriors and one which was interesting, was a married couple who kept reptiles, and was a regular at the complex. They showed off these snakes, and even produced a huge python which he let about 8 people handle (all sharing the weight at once as it was so big)! I turned down the offer! He had a cobra spitting at the sole of his shoe, which he had put two pins in, to make it looked like eyes, then managed to capture the venom in a plastic cup, to show the audience how much venom actually comes out of a cobra! All interesting stuff, watched from quite a distance by me!

OUTSIDE THE GATES

Go outside the gates to this resort, and you go into another world! There are little run down shacks with M&S homemade signs nailed to them! Tesco, Safeway etc….. and I found this amusing! The people who have these little shacks are trying to sell their crafts, have planted themselves outside of these big hotels to hopefully get some business from us ‘rich’ tourists! Just barter and banter with them and you will enjoy the experience!
On the dirt track road outside the Hotel, you will see the Kenyan women going about their normal everyday business, and many carrying large baskets of their daily supplies on their heads!

We strolled along to the Post Office, maybe about half a mile away from the hotel, and found it so quaint! I had tried to phone home, and they have phones in there that are quite antiquated, but I tried to get through to ‘home’. The locals there were so helpful, and helped me to eventually to ‘work’ this phone! It ended up, about 8 people around me, trying to help, and all arguing with each other about the best way to get through to the UK! Ha ha…found this experience to be funny, though I felt really silly at the time!

From the Hotel, you can book your Safari which we did from here (but that is another story), you can book many excursions fro there, so this hotel is a great family place to base yourself for fun in between your Safari and whatever else you should book! Malindi is a short ride away by taxi, which you can get outside the hotel gates for a cost of next to nothing ( bearing in mind the taxis are really like a hundred year old bangers), but if you book the 'posher' taxis from the hotel, you will pay more!

This Beach club was good family fun, and the staff were excellent! On our departure, we gave ‘our’ waiter, George, a £30 tip, and it almost equalled 6 months wages to him! We are still in touch and I send him pics of our house and family, and we have invited him over, which he hopes to come soon, so here’s hoping!

Down side? Well, lots of security walking about day and night which made you wonder why they were needed there? Fun packed holiday for kids too, so, if you don’t have kids, you may find it noisy at the pool area through the day.

Oh, another point, we booked through the internet with a company that escapes me right now, maybe SUNTEXT? Well, people on the same package tour who had booked through Kuoni had paid a whopping £300 more pp for the exact same package!

Great place for all round eating and drinking, so don’t go if on a diet! Great excursions too ….all that can be booked from hotel!

Summary: Very welcoming!