I must say right away that we did not choose the place and the hotel, we simply offered the option of rest for parents with children, provided that the guys go swimming with a coach for several hours a day, and live with their parents, who also, in turn, have a rest. Last year, such a camp was in Greece, this year, succumbing to the general trend, we went to the Crimea.
Therefore, regarding the place of Nikolaevka, I can say that we would never have chosen this village. Nikolaevka is a small, dirty village, which is far from civilization, it is difficult to leave from there, there are buses, but passing from Yevpatoriya to Sevastopol, there are no tickets for them a week in advance, so you can get out of there only by taxi, which is not at all cheap. Drive to Sevastopol min. 30, costs 1000-1200 rubles, you'll be lucky if you get a full car. By the way, it’s even more difficult to return to Nikolaevka, the last bus leaves at 19.00 and that’s all, they returned back for 1200 rubles. alone. There is nothing to do in Nikolaevka itself, there is a cottage village with taverns and loud chanson-type music. There is a market, counters under polyethylene, prices are higher than in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but more on that later.
Pension "Radiant" positions itself as a family holiday hotel with a 4-star rating, so at least it is rated on the site and by the rating (old). The hotel, built in the 70s of the last century, was overhauled 10 years ago, when it was bought out by the Kazakh corporation Kazakhmys. Then a swimming pool (50 m) was built, slides, buildings were restored, the territory. Everything, I think, at the time of 2006 was done quite decently, cheaply and quickly in 1 year. At that moment, the hotel was 4 *, given the past inexpensive prices. Which explains quite tolerable past reviews. Since recently, the boarding house has been rented, and nothing more has been done there in terms of equipment, nothing at all!....
Now I will try to specifically describe the boarding house and the rest in it.
Territory: large well-groomed, lots of greenery, benches, paths, flowers, everything is worthy, quiet and lit. The territory is the main and almost the only plus of the boarding house.
Swimming pool: the second plus of the boarding house, we were interested in the pool for training children, but I’ll make a reservation right away, if you go on vacation not for the purpose of sports victories, but there is a desire to lie down calmly and comfortably by the pool, you are unlikely to succeed. All tracks in the morning and evening are occupied by athletes, during the day the pool is closed (it's not clear why? ). There are sun loungers, there are no mattresses for them, the shower, toilet and changing room are dirty. Slides work, but not always regularly. There are also 2 children's pools.
Rooms. It is a pain! First, upon arrival, they settled in building No. 2 near the sea, 4 floors, without an elevator, but they helped to carry the suitcases. For some reason, the standard room turned out to be in fact a 4-bed room, those 4 beds, a wardrobe, a table, a TV, an air conditioner. Everything is sad. The beds are utterly shabby, stained, the linen is old, the bedspreads have seen the views, the towels are old, burnt out, 2 pcs. per person. The decanter is broken, the glasses are so dirty that it’s scary to pick up, but most importantly, the floor and the carpet are on it! It's monstrous! Hair, crumbs, pits from cherries, cotton buds, all in variety on the floor, and under the beds - it's better not to look! Garbage on the floor, judging by the appearance, old, swept everything under the bed and in the corners. From this they concluded that they had not cleaned under the beds, apparently, since 2006. ? The shower is broken, from the accessories for the shower - soap (they were given 1 time upon check-in), the tile falls off, is stuck with adhesive tape and falls off again. What bothered me the most was the dirt. It was scary to touch the curtain in the shower. . . It turned out that this building is used for children's groups, and for them it doesn't matter what the conditions are, apparently. Chamber in the pioneer camp. Later they moved to the “Sleep by the Sea”, the interior is the same, dirt, neglect, musty smell in the room, but still it’s better there, by the sea nearby, everything is ventilated, you can sleep with the door open. It reconciled with reality . . Sometimes there is no light or water, but rarely, we must pay tribute . .
Housekeeping: ugly! Not every day, one unfortunate maid runs around. One! To the body! He throws towels, forgets toilet paper, vacuums only in the center of the room and then somehow, does not wash plumbing, dishes either. We asked her for a tip to wash better, the result is almost the same. When she didn’t come either on Saturday or Sunday, the administration told us indignantly: “A person must have a day off! She is one! " She is really alone, the management of the boarding house sincerely believes that such cleaning is quite enough for 4 *
Beach: 2-tier, as it was stated, the upper tier has sun loungers under awnings. The lower tier is a small strip of beach, pebbles, steps (very old, apparently from the 70s), and everything is sad with sunbeds. There are few of them (20 pieces), all broken, tied with a rope so that they would not be “stolen”, it was impossible to move them, then they were still allowed... The length of the beach line allows you to put more of them. 50, and the lower sunbeds are all in cracks, you can really cripple yourself: pinch something for yourself . . , which we observed every day looking at poor vacationers . . Rescuers do not collect and do not arrange sunbeds in the morning and evening, like everywhere else, but simply tie them in a pile close to each other, although there is enough space to lie down without “pushing your elbows”. . Wildness, in my opinion.
Sea: warm, but stormy in this place in the afternoon, we were warned in advance.
Food, canteen: This is the second pain! But not so strong. )) We must pay tribute to the fact that the products and dishes prepared from them are delicious, the staff cooks soups and cereals very well. BUT: 3 meals a day and very (well, very! ) Reminiscent of food at school and a pioneer camp, a good one, but still a camp. By the way, it is 2-shift. Those who have not been anywhere, even in the notorious Turkey and Greece, would really like everything. However, there is no talk of any declared buffet. The menu of the day is something like this. Breakfast: porridge in a saucepan on the table, cutlet with pasta or buckwheat (((((, tea and cocoa "from the bucket" (forget about coffee forever! ), roll, bread, ham, cheese, butter, lemon. Lunch: soup on table, cutlet or goulash or the like, buckwheat pasta, etc. , an instant juice drink, cucumbers and tomatoes, salad (eggplant, zucchini, sometimes beets) fruit (one per person, pear or peach, this is strictly! the second will not be given), ham cheese Dinner: cutlet or goulash or similar, buckwheat pasta etc, tea, lemon, bun, kefir or fermented baked milk, dumb salad. , glasses too....You definitely won’t stay hungry, cutlets or soup are delicious... but they don’t eat cutlets for breakfast for a long time, and rolls for dinner! It’s unpleasant to pour yourself kefir from a kettle with a broken lid, not understanding what’s in it guess), and to see how they wipe the table in front of their noses with a rag from a bucket. . . All this, perhaps, is permissible, probably, in a school (bad) canteen, in a pioneer camp, in kindergarten, but not in a hotel with a room rate of more than 6000 rubles. per day! That. the cost of a tour without plane tickets! amounted to 87.000 rubles. for an adult and a child for 14 days. (coach paid separately).
Separately touched the menu for dinner on one of the days: they served red caviar and herring, we didn’t even know what to grab onto? ), later it turned out that it was on that day that the owner arrived at the hotel....Later he left, and everything fell into place, either ham strictly according to the bill, or meat "as stolen" . .
Animation: for children in the evening cinema, disco, afternoon games. Morning exercises on the beach. In principle, the animation is not satisfactory.
Wi-Fi: of course, it does not cover the territory of the hotel, as stated, it was very weak at the reception, but then it disappeared, apparently, the administration got tired of people sitting at the reception, occupying sofas, they cut it out completely, saving the cafe nearby.
Findings. Of course, all this is not fatal, we rested in what we had, but knowing that we can and should! get for such a sum in more or less decent Greek, Bulgarian, Turkish, etc. the hotel gives you a diva, and does not leave the feeling that you are being deceived. Apparently, the hotel management does not want to come to them again.
Among other things, separately about Nikolayevka. In short, it’s dirty, everything is very expensive (food is 2-3.5 times more expensive than in Moscow), there is entertainment, but everything is spoiled by cars passing by all the time, taverns with screaming music (it has long been known that the quieter the music in a cafe, the better it is : )), crampedness on an unequipped public beach.
In conclusion, I would like to advise the management to take an interest in the trends in the development of the tourism business in the country, at least in an introductory manner.
Pros: Gorgeous green space. Own sand and pebble beach. Super kid's room. My daughter (6 years old) just loves it. Good animators. Huge respect to Maxim. Daughter remembers and says hello! Every evening they came up with something for the kids: either a cartoon, performances, or a disco. A bunch of flowers, a grandiose work of gardeners. Large warm pool, slide. From the pros - all sorts of taverns were removed from the embankment. only one left, but the prices are crazy.
Well, now to the cons:
We lived as in 2012 in the 2nd building. During this time, the boarding house has built a couple of luxury log cabins - the prices of a log cabin are not cheap. BUT! - the area itself has somehow become worse. There are many times fewer flowers compared to 2012. Food in the canteen has become much scarcer. Appeared ala-Swedish table with appetizers and salads. Sausage and cheese in unlimited quantity, but cut very thinly. And the portions have gotten smaller. For women, of course - normal, but not enough for men. There are no complaints about the waiters - well done!
Now let's move on to the numbers. In the second building of the minuses - the furniture is shuffled. The rooms are dirty. The maids clean very badly. For 10 days of rest, they never even vacuumed it. Although we asked when we were traveling. We traveled a lot because were by car, so there were opportunities for cleaning for the maids, but they insistently came just when we were in the room. The carpet is covered in crumbs, under the bed is generally dirty. Also cons - the mirror in the "hallway" does not have an outlet. In the bathroom too. You can't dry your hair in front of a mirror. Soap, shampoo and other hygiene products - nothing. A couple of times put toilet paper.
Further, we learned that the boarding house is now also based on the type of children's camp, so there are a lot of children. True, we were even more fortunate, we rested in September. And so according to the stories - a lot of children. Changes and more. I believe that this information must be written in the description of the boarding house and warned that there will also be such "shifts". Rest, I think is not cheap, I personally would be strained. Also, even in September, it was not very lucky because the pool was often busy with training. Don't misunderstand me - I want to relax, not look at schoolchildren as they relax. There is no special control over children. Yes, I will not explain, they themselves were in children's camps))
beach compared to 2012 - deteriorated. Lots of sun loungers broken. I liked the beach of the Solnechny boarding house more. It's just great there. It is rolled out every day in the morning. And the pebbles do not fall through like in the radiant one.
Wifi only outside. In the room did not catch at all.
Well, in principle, all of the minuses, but some kind of sediment remained. If, I think, I would not have been there in 2012, then I don’t know if I would have noticed these minuses. But I think next time I won’t go there anymore, as it burned out for me. For that kind of money....you can see something else. Maybe we are such mischief, because we met many people there - they were delighted. We seem to have something here.
The overall impression is good. Boarding house for a relaxing family holiday, many children. It is not noisy at night, you can sleep. They feed, though in a simple way, but satisfying and do not save on meat. There are no mosquitoes. The pool is large and deep. The sea is nearby. There are exercise machines, table tennis, children's disco/animators/cartoons in the evening. The territory is well-groomed, a lot of greenery and flowers - very nice. Immense respect for gardeners. At the reception adequate talking people - a rarity for the Crimea. These are pluses.
And now the cons.
Cerberus supervisors in the pool - God forbid you want to give the child an apple or a peach by the pool - immediately run away shouting that you can’t eat / drink / live by the pool. The same situation with the slides - they constantly climb to the children, then you can’t move head first, then you can’t move out in twos, then they shout loudly, then they run fast... At lunchtime, everyone is kicked out of the pool - it closes for a break, opens late in the morning, closes early in the evening . A shallow pool with a waterfall and massage jets - only for children, if you want to lie in it calmly - they immediately run screaming, kicking you out, although there is no one there at all at that time and you don’t bother anyone. It’s not very pleasant, it constantly strains, interferes with rest, I want to shoot these Cerberus. Floats-paths in the large pool interfere with swimming. Vacationers are not athletes, they do not need paths, they need a pool. Too much chlorine in the water.
The beach by the sea - literally a couple of meters and water, pebbles - you can't walk with your bare feet. The depth is very sharp, 2-3 meters from the shore and there is no bottom. The sea is constantly stormy, the water in the sea is cold, swimming between the breakwaters is not pleasant. Half the time due to the waves the sea beach was closed.
The dining room is hot, the salt/sugar bowls are constantly empty, the waiters are struggling because of the number of people. There is a small selection in drinks and dishes (2-3 drinks to choose from / 2 first / second courses to choose from). The food is good, a lot of meat (it's impossible to eat everything), but quite simple and not always tasty. They don't know how to cook potatoes and pasta. The staff in the dining room is honest - I forgot my bag with money and mobile (I didn’t even notice) - after 2 hours they called, returned it, not a penny was lost.
The room is comfortable, medium in size, not a kennel - there is where to stand / walk. Toilet / shower in the room, normal. Water is available all the time. Towels are provided upon arrival, but are changed for a fee. The same applies to bedding. The air conditioner works, there is a remote control. But there are no sockets, the refrigerator / TV is connected and that's it, you need to charge your phone or connect a laptop - turn off the TV. It is imperative to have a tee with you, without it in any way. The air conditioner was hung right above the bed, whoever slept under the air conditioner will understand me - this is horror. Or hot, or windy.
WiFi is both there and not at the same time. There is a signal, although weak, but it connects every other time, and the Internet is so slow that it’s hard to even browse sites. Skype/video is out of the question. If it was possible to receive/send mail - lucky.
For all these cons, I'll take off 3 stars. But everything else is good. In some ways even better than Turkey. For a relaxing holiday - the most it.
1. Nikolaevka is a quiet place, without noise.
2. Radiant - one of the best boarding houses in it.
They feed well there. There are several animators who work with children all day long, from morning exercises by the sea to evening children's discos. The principle of the animators is this - they involve children in events, all the time there are some kind of competitions and so on. Unlike them, in the neighboring "Solnechny" animators work rather in the Show mode, they are all on stage, children and adults in the hall. This is a plus for the animators of Radiant.
Movies are shown in the evenings 3 times a week. Everything on the territory is well-groomed, trimmed, very neat. The pools are washed every day (early in the morning). Lots of gazebos, shady bushes, etc. The rooms are nice, no harsh, everything is fine. In general, everything is very cool.
There were two downsides:
1. The general WiFi was very slow, so even looking at websites is a whole problem. And all these people go and look at their devices with the hope that now you will see something and no, and no....I had to sit on roaming 2G / 2.5G, which is expensive.
2. To get a kettle in the room in the evening, I had to quarrel, they kindly did not give it. At first, the concierges gave almost all the kettles for permanent use to some rooms, and as a result, there were two kettles left for all the others and there was a shortage. Only by swearing could they force them to take away the rest of the teapots, and everyone began to have enough.
Everything else was great!