Riu Karamboa - All Inclusive - Adults Only

“Wonderful staff and facilities,but the food needs to improve”

The hotel is spotlessly clean and tidy and the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful. The drinks at the bars leave a little to be desired, local spirits are to be expected but could be much improved by proper cocktails like frozen daquaris/Pina coladas etc rather than drinks with crushed ice i… more

The hotel is spotlessly clean and tidy and the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful. The drinks at the bars leave a little to be desired, local spirits are to be expected but could be much improved by proper cocktails like frozen daquaris/Pina coladas etc rather than drinks with crushed ice in them. Now to my main point for development.....the food....I will admit that my husband and I are 'foodies' and love ( and are happy to pay for) good quality food. I also understand that the majority of the food on the island has to be imported so the best quality ingredients may not always be available. Having said all that, the food could be greatly improved with some simple interventions, seasoning, for example, would help a lot of the dishes as well as a little more time spent on preparation of some of the dishes. A good tomato based pasta sauce is easy and cheap to make, as is an appitising salad dressing. The food at the hotel is very bland. There are some better dishes which are fresh cooked by the staff in the restaurant, however, the food in the 'speciality' restaurants is pretty unanimously awful (we tried them all) with most dishes clearly frozen and poor quality. There are opportunities to use fresh local produce that are clearly being missed in my opinion. I appreciate that, when cooking for over 1000 people, you need to produce food that is economically viable but I feel that a greater focus on simple ingredients, flavour and quality local produce would greatly improve the food offering at the hotel and be better for the local economy and the guests. All in all we have had a lovely time and really appreciate the welcoming atmosphere and wonderful staff at the hotel. I'm hopeful that this review is taken as an encouragement to improve in the one area that, for us, let's the hotel down as a 5 star.

less

“Excellent hotel, highly recommend”

We stayed at this hotel for 11 nights, and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. I would however say that this is not a five star hotel, but a good 4 star - in line with many other RIU hotels. No issues with sun bed wars, always plenty of choice for food at buffet and a la carte restaurants - however, we d… more

We stayed at this hotel for 11 nights, and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. I would however say that this is not a five star hotel, but a good 4 star - in line with many other RIU hotels. No issues with sun bed wars, always plenty of choice for food at buffet and a la carte restaurants - however, we did need to book a la carte at midnight, as soon as they were available on the app. Room was a lovely size, and lovely and clean. Had some issues getting our fridge refilled, as the app requests were not listened to, but a visit to reception sorted the issue. Entertainment was not great, but didn't bother us as happy to sit in the bar / lobby and have a drink and play cards. However, we did enjoy the white party. Noise level not an issue. We did leave the hotel to visit a bar on the beach, turning left as you come out of the hotel - this was lovely. We also went on a day trip with Boa Vista Carefy, who I highly recommend. It was windy, but do not be deceived, you will still burn/tan! Saying that, the sea was not safe for swimming the whole time we stayed, but this did not bother us. Thoroughly enjoyed walking along the beach and watching the sunset. I wouldn't jump to return here, but that is not unusual as I don't often return to the same place, but do think it's good value for money.

less

“Good Stay Overall”

Nothing big to really complain about with this hotel, everything was pretty good. It’s literally 5 minutes from the airport which is great. Once inside it’s like Moorish style and everything is open in the main building. Our room was 2 blocks away from the main building which was a blessing for … more

Nothing big to really complain about with this hotel, everything was pretty good. It’s literally 5 minutes from the airport which is great. Once inside it’s like Moorish style and everything is open in the main building. Our room was 2 blocks away from the main building which was a blessing for peace and quiet. Our room itself was very nice and spacious, I did not like the 2 single beds pushed together - but from what I gather every room in the hotel has this instead of normal double beds. The room was clean but some of the towels and sheets had stains… we also had a couple of instances of strange/big beetle like creatures in the room which I found disconcerting. The pool and beach areas are the best part of the hotel. There’s tons of sun beds and plenty of shade/umbrellas. The beach is adjacent to the pool area and again there’s plenty of sun beds. Is quite windy out there and I thought it very clever that rather than umbrellas that can fly away they have a palm tree per 2 sun beds for shade. The all inclusive food and drinks are very good. The food in the buffet was excellent, but got a bit repetitive by the end of the week at dinner. We also tried the Italian and Asian restaurant but these are also buffets. Unfortunately we could not get a reservation for the Kulinarium restaurant as it was fully booked the whole time, we later found out reservations open at midnight which would’ve been nice to know from the off. The drinks are good but limited in choice, especially on the cocktails - but I figure this is for speed and ease for the bar staff. The wines need reviewing as they were all undrinkable - the red tasted like stale mulled wine. Entertainment is provided every night in the form of a dance show / band / karaoke etc and most of the ones we saw were good till the last night - the “Riu Party” was neon themed and took over the WHOLE hotel - the average guest age seems to be in the 50s so this kind of event seems rather misguided. The reception area was choc full of people vying for seats uninterested in the party as there was no where else to go. Overall a great stay and I would revisit the other islands in Cape Verde but don’t feel a burning need to return to this hotel.

less

“Mixed bag but still enjoyed”

We booked an seaview room, but upon entering the room noticed we had been upgraded to a swim up pool, this was lovely and a great location for pool beach and restaurant all within 5 minutes walk. Hotel grounds/pool area are very clean no issues with getting a sunbed either lots available. The foo… more

We booked an seaview room, but upon entering the room noticed we had been upgraded to a swim up pool, this was lovely and a great location for pool beach and restaurant all within 5 minutes walk. Hotel grounds/pool area are very clean no issues with getting a sunbed either lots available. The food in restaurants is very good lots of choice highly recommend the Asian restaurant , cocktails aren’t so great all out of a machine. Spirits and wine are fine though. Very good entertainment at night, particularly the white party by far the best I have ever been to. Beach is absolutely stunning too. Negatives: cockroaches in room not just one several , reported this to reception and was given bug spray. The second negative and probably most serious was being lay in bed after midnight one night and 2 members of staff entered the room with a swipe card. This is not acceptable upon challenging them they scurried away. This was reported to reception twice unfortunately they didn’t care also reported to Tui rep. Recommendation for improvement would be if we could use Riu points for treatments at the spa

less