Золотая осень в Марате Golden autumn in Marat

Rested in Marat from September 21 to 30.2012, I, my wife and daughter of 12 years old in a standard room in building 6, on the 6th floor. The room is simple, without frills, a direct view from the loggia to the Villa Chair, on the left is a view of the sea, on the right is a view of building No. 5 and Ai-Petri, the battlements behind the 5th building were just visible. The view from the left and right is of course awesome, but the direct view was not pleasing. Back in the summer, we decided that we would go exactly to Gaspra, to the southernmost point of Crimea, during the velvet season, and the place of rest was mainly chosen based on reviews. Preference was given where: low price, proximity to the sea, the presence of a swimming pool, in case the sea is stormy or cold, and also that there would be no mandatory food. Sanatoriums immediately disappeared by themselves, since we did not plan to be treated, and there was also an attachment to food, and we wanted the freedom to go somewhere and not think that you need to return for lunch or dinner at such and such an hour. Where hunger strikes there and we will eat. Therefore, we looked at hotels where there is only breakfast, or no meals at all. Ai-Todor South and Park-Hotel Marat were selected from the entire extended list. We chose for a long time and carefully, according to the photo, according to the reviews, studied and finally decided: the preference was unanimously given to the Marat Park Hotel. The choice is due to the fact that there: 1. There is a territory (in Ai-Todor it does not exist at all) where to take a walk in the evening. 2. Beautiful swimming pool (Marat's visiting card). 3. Breakfast buffet. 4. Beach. These moments made the final choice in favor of Marat, and as it turned out, not in vain.
We booked a room on Marat's website. A couple of hours later I received an email with an invoice for payment. A mistake was made in the account in the surname - an extra letter was added, although everything was correct in my application, I checked it before sending. I called, they sent a corrected invoice, but the adventure did not end there. It turns out that not every bank can transfer money from Russia to Ukraine. There was no such bank in our city. As it turned out later, the money could have been paid through the VTB-24 bank, but we don’t have such a bank in the city, so the reservation had to be canceled and then we ordered a ticket at the Resort Shop. The girl from there immediately called, said that tomorrow she would contact Marat and call back, but not tomorrow, not after tomorrow, she did not call. I had to call again myself, they didn’t find that girl, our application too, I had to re-order. This time everything was clear, and after the payment, the manager of the Resort Store sent scans of the voucher, contract and other documents by email, and the originals were received by registered mail in a week. We paid directly on the site with a bank card, quickly and conveniently, money is credited at the same second. We paid for 8 days, but lived for 9. From September 6 to October 30, the Golden Autumn in Marat promotion was active in Marat: 7 days + 1 day as a gift; 9 days + 2 days as a gift; 11 days + 3 days as a gift. On bonus days, only breakfast is paid - 70 UAH per person. The promotion applies only to rooms of the "standard" category. In general, there are a lot of all sorts of promotions in Marat, you need to find out by how the employees of travel agencies will not tell you this themselves until you ask them about it and demand it.
From the railway station we took a bus to the Yalta bus station at 08:00. Things were handed over to the storage room at the bus station, and they themselves went for a walk, since check-in to Marat is at 13:00. On the embankment in Sberbank they changed money, by the way, the most favorable exchange rate was at that time, and at 11:00 a taxi for 100 UAH reached Marat.

Settled immediately ahead of time, as the room was free and ready to move in. We filled out the questionnaires, paid for the safe deposit box for the entire period, received guest cards and cards for the cable car, room keys and here it is, the long-awaited vacation has begun. For cards for the cable car, by the way, they took a deposit, which was returned upon departure.
The room is not big, about 9 sq. m. , not counting the entrance hall with a built-in wardrobe and a bathroom. The furniture is modern and not so old, as some vacationers write here, but not new of course, one might even say in excellent condition. Two bedside tables, a coffee table, a refrigerator with a small TV showing about 30 channels, two soft chairs, two very comfortable beds. An extra bed is a folding bed, also not old, with a good and comfortable mattress. The only thing we lacked was the furniture on the loggia, at least some plastic table and a couple of chairs would have been put up to sit down to drink coffee and enjoy the views, but we had to stand up, there was nowhere to even put a cup, it was not very convenient. All rooms have air conditioning, though not a split system. We didn't use it because it wasn't hot, we don't even know if it worked or not. There was a remote from him. The dishes included two cups and two plates.
In the bathroom, the tiles are clean, the plumbing is also all polished, the shower with a tray and a curtain. Everything worked and nothing leaked to the floor. Hot and cold water was constantly, well, maybe at night it was hot and turned off, but we don’t know about it, we slept. One small bar of soap, one bottle of shampoo and one bottle of shower gel per guest. All this was more than enough for us until the end of the holiday. There are two terry towels for each - a large bath towel and a small one for the face. Toilet paper 2 rolls, also enough.
Towels were changed on the 6th day. They also wanted to change the bedding, but we refused. For 5 days it did not have time to get dirty.

Of the food, the price included only breakfast - a buffet, pretty good in terms of quality and variety of food. But the porridge was very sweet. We took a couple of times and did not take it again, very sugary. Of course, the assortment was the same every day (90 percent), but for that it was very large. Today you could take one dish, tomorrow another, the day after tomorrow the third and thus diversify your menu, which we did. I will not write about the assortment of dishes, everything has already been written before us. Let me just say that there was not enough baking. All dishes are very tasty and well prepared (except for cereals, which are very sweet). Sometimes there were small queues for tea and coffee due to lack of cups and spoons. There are chipped crockery, especially cups. I can't say anything about lunch and dinner as we didn't eat there.
The beach was reached by cable car, which is included in the price. The cable car worked intermittently from 10 am to 11 am and from 2 pm to 3 pm, it happened that you had to walk either there or back. The beach is pebbly, sometimes large pebbles, even walking hurts. There was enough space for everyone, a lot of free sunbeds, cleanliness, there are specially designated places for smoking. There are many cafes on the beach, a fruit tent, diving and other entertainment such as cheesecakes. I really liked the cafe "Tea House" for prices, quality of food and service and an assortment of dishes and drinks. Outsiders were not allowed on the beach, the guards checked everyone's guest cards. The sea is clean. In calm weather, the bottom was visible at a depth of about 2 meters. The sun all day until the evening on the beach, and it's good that there is no pier for ships, as in Miskhor.
The pool was once on the day of arrival. I didn't like that the water was highly chlorinated. They didn't go there anymore. And there was no point, since the water in the sea was 21 degrees.
During the rest we visited many excursions and attractions from Alupka to Gurzuf, thanks to the convenient location of Marat. We often went to Miskhor Park. They only came to the room to sleep and change clothes after the beach. The elevators in the building worked properly. But the Internet in the 6th building is slow. It was necessary to wait for several minutes to check the mail, and I'm not talking about more. Near the 5th building, the Internet speed was faster, so we went there in the evening with a computer on a bench.
The buses run quite frequently. True, even in September they are crowded.

On the way back, tickets were taken at the ticket office of the Miskhor bus station for the Simeiz-Simferopol bus from Marat. On the last day at 8 o’clock, we checked in the maid’s room, left our things in the storage room (the service is free on the day of arrival and departure), had breakfast, handed over the safe deposit box, guest cards and cards for the cable car, took things from the storage room and went to the bus, which at 9.50 departed from the stop Marat.
In conclusion, I would like to say that we got what we wanted. The holiday was amazing and unforgettable. Marat's staff is polite and attentive, except, perhaps, the guards on the beach. Sometimes they huddled together and discussed something loudly, sometimes allowing themselves obscene language, or either sat buried in a computer. And once they even shouted at each other through a megaphone for the whole beach, it was not pleasant to listen to this.
In general, we did not bother looking for shortcomings, but completely focused on the rest. After all, how you set yourself up for rest is how you will spend it.
Special thanks to the maid of the 6th building, 6th floor Olechka and all the other Marat employees for the warm welcome!