Your rating of this hotel:
5.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
3.0
Service:
5.0
Cleanliness:
5.0
Food:
7.0
Amenities:
8.0
We rested at the Sun Sea Bar Beach Resort with a group of 7 people from 10/23 to 11/3/2021. The hotel is not at all 4*. More like a bad trio. Winning only the location and the guys in the restaurant.
Let's start with the good.
LOCATION: the hotel is located in Kendwa, and there is the most luxurious beach of the island. There are very small low tides that do not interfere with swimming. The stunning beauty of the ocean, clean white sand and magical sunsets. Near the hotel there are several small shops, fruit and souvenir shops, as well as restaurants of second-line hotels and neighboring hotels. From here you can walk to Nungwi at low tide, to the natural lagoon, where sea turtles live, to which you can go into the water (10 dollars entry). The beaches in Zanzibar are municipal, so sunbeds are on site, and on the beach you are at the mercy of local beach-boys and sellers, but they do not steal - neither adults nor children (these can sit around and ask for children's toys).
Adults offer souvenirs and fruits, but leave quickly enough. Don't get angry. But they will come up all the time. I would not particularly recommend swimming near the hotel, because it is there that many motor boats of local fishing artels are parked, and after returning they often pour water into the blood-colored sea right at the shore. I understand that there is constantly water moving, but still. Swimming is best a little to the right. We spread out towels and were there. If it is possible to take an umbrella, then it is better to do so.
RESTAURANT AND CUISINE: breakfast - not so good: a plate with 2 small pieces of watermelon, 2 pieces of pineapple, a tiny piece of papaya, a pancake with chocolate or a small cake, and then - eggs of your choice (from scrambled eggs to hard boiled) + 2 toasts (1 without anything , and the second with avocado, hummus, etc. ), sometimes sausages. There is fresh watermelon and mango with plenty of water and sugar (I saw it myself). But for lunch and dinner you can order delicious treats.
The menu is not very large (in the neighboring Tropicana it is much more interesting), but the food is very tasty, and the portions are large. They took squid, crabs, lobsters, tuna, fish in masala sauce, octopus, shrimp, salads, soups. The portion of the soup is huge, you can order half. When you take fresh, you need to say “no sugar, no ice”, and then it will be without sugar and without ice. The devices are placed on the table or on the substrate, without napkins under them, so we wiped them with a sanitizer. There was a case when someone did not have enough knife, then the waiter almost took the used one. But, it should be noted that no one had problems such as diarrhea and vomiting. The loosening of the stool may be from local fruits, because you overeat mangoes, etc. , which are 6 pieces per dollar. The guys work well and are very calm, they do not require tips and always bring change. Dinner on the "breakfast-dinner" system is an order from the menu in the amount of 30.000 shillings ($13) per adult and 15.000 per child. At 30.
000 you can take the main course, half of the soup and fresh juice. There were several of us, so we took it to a common table, since the portions are large, and therefore enough, but for 15.000 you can’t really scatter, except for french fries or pasta with juice. If you do not choose the amount, get it with water so as not to buy. It is better not to sit down for breakfast near the edge, because crows can steal food from plates.
BEACH TOWELS: very large and thick, most without holes. We have replaced the old ones with new ones. Often the problem is to exchange them in the evening. You need to seize the moment. Nothing dries at night, but in the morning it dries quickly because of the sun. There is a $10 deposit for a towel, which is returned at the end.
This is where the good ends.
They write that the hotel is new, which you can’t say. He's dead enough.
OWNER: A Lebanese man who calls himself Al Pacino (also the name of one of the few rooms with sea view and jacuzzi) - cold and rude enough that you can not see at first sight. Screaming at the staff, often drunk, with a red face. With us, the women were settled in the wrong room, which they ordered, so he refused to resettle them for a long time, and said that he only spoke English.
ROOMS: most of the rooms overlook the construction site, the backyard and the windows of the neighboring hotel or unfinished building. Quite dark. There are nets on the windows, but the curtains are dirty. The linen is clean, but the duvet covers are torn. Give out one towel per person for everything. There are no towels for hands or feet. In the shower, a drain in the floor was not thought out, and the one that exists does not cope, and even if there is a door (our friends did not), the water flows out, but there is no hood, and the window is very high, so it cannot be opened.
There are no hooks and hangers for towels, only something like a heated towel rail near the shower, so after washing your hands you have to go there and dry them, which is inconvenient. Our friends who didn't have a shower door and had a lot of water weren't even given a towel to clean it up. The plumbing is not very good. The drain in our room did not work, and we adapted to lift the lid. The sink sometimes clogged. Fan is very weak. An iron with bare wires at the plug. The fridge in the room didn't work but no one did anything. We did not use the air conditioner, but at the acquaintances it flowed directly onto the bed. And not just one. In one case, the room was changed, and in the second, the woman herself repaired it. The beds are, as it were, stationary, so you can’t drop anything for it, because you won’t get it.
The room is small and dark. We didn’t have a smell, but there were some where it was. They give a kettle in the room, but there are no cups or glasses, and they don’t give it from the restaurant.
Forks were given, as well as a knife with a plate, but it is better to bring a knife with you. The closet is good, there is a safe, which is great. The people who were resting at the same time as us had a hot water pipe come off at night, and the bathroom began to flood, etc. One of the women quickly ran downstairs, but at night there was no one on the counter, and a Masai was sitting on the sofa. They took him upstairs, and he says "in the morning", and the time is 5 in the morning, and whips. Thank God that one of the women found how to turn off the water (the one who fixed the air conditioner). Such is the attitude. When I asked why there were no towel racks, I was told that not all goods are available in Africa, but it is expensive on the continent. There is no balcony either, there is nowhere to dry things. I had a rope, and I managed to tie one end to the external fixed pipe of the air conditioner, and the other to the grate, and we could dry our clothes. In general, on the common balcony there is, as it were, a wooden drying rack, but it has wide slats, and you can’t dry fine things on it.
And one more thing: soap, which is bottled on the sink and in the shower, is diluted with water, sometimes strongly. Time was more or less. There are no shampoos, conditioners, shower caps, sponges, etc. at all.
Clean the room well, do not steal. There is hot water, although the pressure is weak.
TERRITORY AND POOL: the territory is very small, but there are few rooms. There are plenty of sunbeds under umbrellas. Jacuzzi rooms have their own loungers. Masai are cleaned and sit there, but the locals don’t go there anyway. It is better not to hang bright things on nails on umbrellas - they are rusty, and we could not wash it off. The pool is washed with something thermonuclear. Getting up early in the morning, I often saw foam floating on the surface, and once my daughter had sore eyes and a runny nose, although she is not allergic. Chlorine smelled up to the 2nd floor in the distance. We talked about it, and it went on more or less, but the children were not particularly allowed there. There, thank God, a warm ocean.
HOTEL GUIDES AND EXCURSIONS: the guys on the beach have the best prices. Excursions are the same for everyone, except for a visit to the Anglican Cathedral in Stone Town, but you can ask about this. We ourselves put together a tour to the south, and they organized it for us. Safaris are also cheaper on the beach. Someone reports to the guides who rides with whom, and then they complain to Join Up. The guides are Arabs, as is the owner, and mutual responsibility works there. When the situation arose, the guide protected the owner and generally froze. Better not to deal with them. Save money. And specific. There is a guy Omar on the beach, he organizes good tours and is cheaper. Speaks Russian.
ATTITUDE TO HOLIDAYERS:
Faced with the following:
1. Twice there was an early departure for excursions, and the breakfast paid for in the ticket was not given to us, because we were not traveling from a hotel guide. We encountered this for the first time. The owner told us that he works for a travel agent and that such an arrangement. We were also not given any money.
2.
It so happened that during cleaning, the maid broke something in the already not working toilet bowl, and I climbed to see what was there, because it was necessary to flush it urgently. The lid of the tank accidentally slipped out of my hands and broke, which I reported to the reception. The girl came, took a photo and called, as I thought, a plumber. A guy came and told me that they don't sell caps separately and that the whole tank needs to be replaced, which will cost me $100. Nobody offered a receipt or a link. I didn’t pay, I opened the sites and looked at the prices for a tank of this kind. Much cheaper. The next day the owner said he was canceling half board for all 3 of us until it was paid. At dinner they asked to pay. They were told that if I did not pay, the money would be deducted from their salary. I explained to them that this will not happen, because the matter will either be closed or I will pay the bills. They believed.
The next morning we handed over the key for cleaning (there it is), and when we returned from the beach, we were not allowed into the room, which had our things and money. I had a 6-year-old daughter and a friend with me, who were also not allowed. I asked to call the owner, but the manager came up. My request to give an invoice from the company or show a link was refused. The owner could not be contacted. My daughter was crying, but we were not allowed into the room. There was a woman with legal knowledge on the sunbeds, who went with me to the reception, where there was a guide who had previously sent me a message that I had to pay, because it would be worse. An agent from Ukraine wrote a complaint, etc. , but since it was a weekend, no one responded. He did what he could. The hotline phone did not answer either in the morning or in the afternoon, although it says “round the clock”, the messenger number was generally incorrect, without one digit. The numbers from the site did not answer. No one answered on Facebook or What'sApp.
That's the kind of support there.
The guide was completely on the side of the owner. I said that they should take me to the store and show me the price, to which they replied that I should pay for a taxi. In the end, I paid money so that everyone would calm down and be able to get into the room, but this left an impression. And, one more thing: when we were talking with our guide, another one appeared, also an Arab, but with Italian roots, and when we finished and ours left, he said that he wanted to help and started talking about the fact that he was close in mentality etc. , that he was for us, and when I paid, he began to ask for a handwritten receipt that the money had been paid and that I had no complaints. I did not do this, and then he got angry, and said - broke - pay. In general, this is it. My conversation with our agent from Ukraine, as well as with the manager, was heard by everyone who was on the sunbeds, and everyone was in shock. No receipt was ever issued to me.
The travel agent told me to threaten them with the police, and the hotel guide told me in response that the owner wanted to call the police, but allegedly he dissuaded him, which I do not believe.
Nearby there are all-inclusive hotels, and further there are even those where locals are driven. You can only take breakfast, because everyone earns at dinner.
Let's start with the good.
LOCATION: the hotel is located in Kendwa, and there is the most luxurious beach of the island. There are very small low tides that do not interfere with swimming. The stunning beauty of the ocean, clean white sand and magical sunsets. Near the hotel there are several small shops, fruit and souvenir shops, as well as restaurants of second-line hotels and neighboring hotels. From here you can walk to Nungwi at low tide, to the natural lagoon, where sea turtles live, to which you can go into the water (10 dollars entry). The beaches in Zanzibar are municipal, so sunbeds are on site, and on the beach you are at the mercy of local beach-boys and sellers, but they do not steal - neither adults nor children (these can sit around and ask for children's toys).
Adults offer souvenirs and fruits, but leave quickly enough. Don't get angry. But they will come up all the time. I would not particularly recommend swimming near the hotel, because it is there that many motor boats of local fishing artels are parked, and after returning they often pour water into the blood-colored sea right at the shore. I understand that there is constantly water moving, but still. Swimming is best a little to the right. We spread out towels and were there. If it is possible to take an umbrella, then it is better to do so.
RESTAURANT AND CUISINE: breakfast - not so good: a plate with 2 small pieces of watermelon, 2 pieces of pineapple, a tiny piece of papaya, a pancake with chocolate or a small cake, and then - eggs of your choice (from scrambled eggs to hard boiled) + 2 toasts (1 without anything , and the second with avocado, hummus, etc. ), sometimes sausages. There is fresh watermelon and mango with plenty of water and sugar (I saw it myself). But for lunch and dinner you can order delicious treats.
The menu is not very large (in the neighboring Tropicana it is much more interesting), but the food is very tasty, and the portions are large. They took squid, crabs, lobsters, tuna, fish in masala sauce, octopus, shrimp, salads, soups. The portion of the soup is huge, you can order half. When you take fresh, you need to say “no sugar, no ice”, and then it will be without sugar and without ice. The devices are placed on the table or on the substrate, without napkins under them, so we wiped them with a sanitizer. There was a case when someone did not have enough knife, then the waiter almost took the used one. But, it should be noted that no one had problems such as diarrhea and vomiting. The loosening of the stool may be from local fruits, because you overeat mangoes, etc. , which are 6 pieces per dollar. The guys work well and are very calm, they do not require tips and always bring change. Dinner on the "breakfast-dinner" system is an order from the menu in the amount of 30.000 shillings ($13) per adult and 15.000 per child. At 30.
000 you can take the main course, half of the soup and fresh juice. There were several of us, so we took it to a common table, since the portions are large, and therefore enough, but for 15.000 you can’t really scatter, except for french fries or pasta with juice. If you do not choose the amount, get it with water so as not to buy. It is better not to sit down for breakfast near the edge, because crows can steal food from plates.
BEACH TOWELS: very large and thick, most without holes. We have replaced the old ones with new ones. Often the problem is to exchange them in the evening. You need to seize the moment. Nothing dries at night, but in the morning it dries quickly because of the sun. There is a $10 deposit for a towel, which is returned at the end.
This is where the good ends.
They write that the hotel is new, which you can’t say. He's dead enough.
OWNER: A Lebanese man who calls himself Al Pacino (also the name of one of the few rooms with sea view and jacuzzi) - cold and rude enough that you can not see at first sight. Screaming at the staff, often drunk, with a red face. With us, the women were settled in the wrong room, which they ordered, so he refused to resettle them for a long time, and said that he only spoke English.
ROOMS: most of the rooms overlook the construction site, the backyard and the windows of the neighboring hotel or unfinished building. Quite dark. There are nets on the windows, but the curtains are dirty. The linen is clean, but the duvet covers are torn. Give out one towel per person for everything. There are no towels for hands or feet. In the shower, a drain in the floor was not thought out, and the one that exists does not cope, and even if there is a door (our friends did not), the water flows out, but there is no hood, and the window is very high, so it cannot be opened.
There are no hooks and hangers for towels, only something like a heated towel rail near the shower, so after washing your hands you have to go there and dry them, which is inconvenient. Our friends who didn't have a shower door and had a lot of water weren't even given a towel to clean it up. The plumbing is not very good. The drain in our room did not work, and we adapted to lift the lid. The sink sometimes clogged. Fan is very weak. An iron with bare wires at the plug. The fridge in the room didn't work but no one did anything. We did not use the air conditioner, but at the acquaintances it flowed directly onto the bed. And not just one. In one case, the room was changed, and in the second, the woman herself repaired it. The beds are, as it were, stationary, so you can’t drop anything for it, because you won’t get it.
The room is small and dark. We didn’t have a smell, but there were some where it was. They give a kettle in the room, but there are no cups or glasses, and they don’t give it from the restaurant.
Forks were given, as well as a knife with a plate, but it is better to bring a knife with you. The closet is good, there is a safe, which is great. The people who were resting at the same time as us had a hot water pipe come off at night, and the bathroom began to flood, etc. One of the women quickly ran downstairs, but at night there was no one on the counter, and a Masai was sitting on the sofa. They took him upstairs, and he says "in the morning", and the time is 5 in the morning, and whips. Thank God that one of the women found how to turn off the water (the one who fixed the air conditioner). Such is the attitude. When I asked why there were no towel racks, I was told that not all goods are available in Africa, but it is expensive on the continent. There is no balcony either, there is nowhere to dry things. I had a rope, and I managed to tie one end to the external fixed pipe of the air conditioner, and the other to the grate, and we could dry our clothes. In general, on the common balcony there is, as it were, a wooden drying rack, but it has wide slats, and you can’t dry fine things on it.
And one more thing: soap, which is bottled on the sink and in the shower, is diluted with water, sometimes strongly. Time was more or less. There are no shampoos, conditioners, shower caps, sponges, etc. at all.
Clean the room well, do not steal. There is hot water, although the pressure is weak.
TERRITORY AND POOL: the territory is very small, but there are few rooms. There are plenty of sunbeds under umbrellas. Jacuzzi rooms have their own loungers. Masai are cleaned and sit there, but the locals don’t go there anyway. It is better not to hang bright things on nails on umbrellas - they are rusty, and we could not wash it off. The pool is washed with something thermonuclear. Getting up early in the morning, I often saw foam floating on the surface, and once my daughter had sore eyes and a runny nose, although she is not allergic. Chlorine smelled up to the 2nd floor in the distance. We talked about it, and it went on more or less, but the children were not particularly allowed there. There, thank God, a warm ocean.
HOTEL GUIDES AND EXCURSIONS: the guys on the beach have the best prices. Excursions are the same for everyone, except for a visit to the Anglican Cathedral in Stone Town, but you can ask about this. We ourselves put together a tour to the south, and they organized it for us. Safaris are also cheaper on the beach. Someone reports to the guides who rides with whom, and then they complain to Join Up. The guides are Arabs, as is the owner, and mutual responsibility works there. When the situation arose, the guide protected the owner and generally froze. Better not to deal with them. Save money. And specific. There is a guy Omar on the beach, he organizes good tours and is cheaper. Speaks Russian.
ATTITUDE TO HOLIDAYERS:
Faced with the following:
1. Twice there was an early departure for excursions, and the breakfast paid for in the ticket was not given to us, because we were not traveling from a hotel guide. We encountered this for the first time. The owner told us that he works for a travel agent and that such an arrangement. We were also not given any money.
2.
It so happened that during cleaning, the maid broke something in the already not working toilet bowl, and I climbed to see what was there, because it was necessary to flush it urgently. The lid of the tank accidentally slipped out of my hands and broke, which I reported to the reception. The girl came, took a photo and called, as I thought, a plumber. A guy came and told me that they don't sell caps separately and that the whole tank needs to be replaced, which will cost me $100. Nobody offered a receipt or a link. I didn’t pay, I opened the sites and looked at the prices for a tank of this kind. Much cheaper. The next day the owner said he was canceling half board for all 3 of us until it was paid. At dinner they asked to pay. They were told that if I did not pay, the money would be deducted from their salary. I explained to them that this will not happen, because the matter will either be closed or I will pay the bills. They believed.
The next morning we handed over the key for cleaning (there it is), and when we returned from the beach, we were not allowed into the room, which had our things and money. I had a 6-year-old daughter and a friend with me, who were also not allowed. I asked to call the owner, but the manager came up. My request to give an invoice from the company or show a link was refused. The owner could not be contacted. My daughter was crying, but we were not allowed into the room. There was a woman with legal knowledge on the sunbeds, who went with me to the reception, where there was a guide who had previously sent me a message that I had to pay, because it would be worse. An agent from Ukraine wrote a complaint, etc. , but since it was a weekend, no one responded. He did what he could. The hotline phone did not answer either in the morning or in the afternoon, although it says “round the clock”, the messenger number was generally incorrect, without one digit. The numbers from the site did not answer. No one answered on Facebook or What'sApp.
That's the kind of support there.
The guide was completely on the side of the owner. I said that they should take me to the store and show me the price, to which they replied that I should pay for a taxi. In the end, I paid money so that everyone would calm down and be able to get into the room, but this left an impression. And, one more thing: when we were talking with our guide, another one appeared, also an Arab, but with Italian roots, and when we finished and ours left, he said that he wanted to help and started talking about the fact that he was close in mentality etc. , that he was for us, and when I paid, he began to ask for a handwritten receipt that the money had been paid and that I had no complaints. I did not do this, and then he got angry, and said - broke - pay. In general, this is it. My conversation with our agent from Ukraine, as well as with the manager, was heard by everyone who was on the sunbeds, and everyone was in shock. No receipt was ever issued to me.
The travel agent told me to threaten them with the police, and the hotel guide told me in response that the owner wanted to call the police, but allegedly he dissuaded him, which I do not believe.
Nearby there are all-inclusive hotels, and further there are even those where locals are driven. You can only take breakfast, because everyone earns at dinner.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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