Duni Marina Beach Hotel - All Inclusive

“Great hotel, horribly polluted sea and beach.”

The hotel is nice. The location is great: beautiful beach, huge park, very well maintained. Large clean pools. Excellent house-keeping. Clean rooms, towels are changed every day. The main problem this year was the polluted sea. Perhaps this is not the hotel's fault, but they have to raise this is… more

The hotel is nice. The location is great: beautiful beach, huge park, very well maintained. Large clean pools. Excellent house-keeping. Clean rooms, towels are changed every day. The main problem this year was the polluted sea. Perhaps this is not the hotel's fault, but they have to raise this issue with the local authorities because it was really unbearable (see my photos). The first three days there was a horrible smell of sewage all over the hotel beach. On the third day we saw (from our balcony) a long thick trail of scum floating across the sea in the direction of the beach. It was definitely not normal sea foam as it stayed afloat like froth on top of beer. It finally reached the beach (see picture). The water was full of all sorts of plastic garbage, probably coming from ships in the sea. On the third day the sea washed all that on the beach. Nobody cleaned it for two days. The beautiful dune beach south of the hotel was more polluted than ever before: a real eyesore. Another issue: the food. It was more or less OK, although it was much better in previous years. The fish was mostly mackerel: the cheapest on the market. However, there was also lamb, rabbit, etc. The main problem was that unless you went when lunch and dinner started, many of the dishes were completely cold. After the second day, there were no oats for breakfast. It is a good thing that the waiters were mostly from Central Asia. More polite than Bulgarian waiters who would rather bump into you than yield if you cross their way. Still, that is exactly what one of the Bulgarian cooks did: almost bumped into me. They don't know the word "sorry" in any language. Overall, our experience was mixed. Would we come again? Maybe. I am not sure.

less

“Needs a few tweaks to make it amazing!”

We have just returned from a family holiday at Duni Royal Marina Beach hotel. Having read some of the recent reviews I wanted to share our thoughts on the hotel and complex as we were dreading going after some of the more recent reviews on Trip Advisor. There were actually numerous positives….. th… more

We have just returned from a family holiday at Duni Royal Marina Beach hotel. Having read some of the recent reviews I wanted to share our thoughts on the hotel and complex as we were dreading going after some of the more recent reviews on Trip Advisor. There were actually numerous positives….. the room was spacious and the resort overall was styled in what I assume is traditional Bulgarian which was nice. Our air con worked although it was a little noisy, the hotel was spotlessly clean in all communal areas, the food choices were wide ranging although after a week they did become a little repetitive- lots of meat in various forms! But there was plenty of salad, fruits etc. The self service for drinks was nice- red, white and rose wine was on tap and wasn’t too bad, a range of soft drinks were also available as a help yourself. There were fridges to grab 1.5l bottles of water too. The pool was spotless and there were lots of sun-beds and parasols available. It was really refreshing NOT to have to race and grab a spot by the pool or on the beach in the morning. Lots free every day. Towels could be changed easily, there was a little shop that sold sweets, crisps, toiletries, beach balls, beach inflatables, beers, vapes, sun cream etc. It only took cash though so that was a bit of a pain! The entertainment team were full of life and the show in the amphitheater was of a high standard although the one we watched was a little ‘inappropriate’ for the young children in attendance with scantily clad performers twerking very enthusiastically! More appropriate for a slightly older audience I feel! The grounds were lush and green and well maintained. The lifts all worked in our hotel thankfully. We could also have a shower before our evening flight home which was much appreciated even though we’d checked out. The hotel was perfectly situated for both a pool holiday or beach holiday all in one so you could decide which one you’d go for that day. The negatives…… the corridor to our room when we arrived very late on the first night was rather grim with an old fashioned carpet and tired net curtains at the windows. Didn’t feel like a 4 star resort and actually made me dread waking up the next day. Because we arrived late, there was no where to get food or a drink by the time we’d settled in. The room was big but basic. There was a fridge in there but no one told told us on arrival that we could get bottles of water from a central fridge downstairs - would have been nice to have one in the room fridge ready. The safety deposit box cost 10 BGN per day (which I think is pricey) and was key operated so spent the holiday worrying I’d loose this. There were no tea/coffee making facilities in the room sadly - you could pay to hire a kettle but then you couldn’t bring cups/ milk up to the room from the restaurant so this was pointless. There were no plug sockets by the beds either so you couldn’t charge your phone etc easily. The WiFi was NOT free- you had to pay for this if you wanted it in your room and then the hotel information said that there was free WiFi in the communal area although they admitted it was very poor and not guaranteed. We managed to get 1 bar occasionally! Luckily all of us (including 2 older teenage kids) had plenty of data so it wasn’t an issue and all of our mobile signals were amazing in the area. This does seriously need addressing though as travellers now expect a decent free wifi connection at a 4star resort! The staff on the whole were a little ‘brusque’ - not as ‘hospitable’ as resorts we’ve been to in other more established holiday destinations. They did all speak at least basic English which was helpful and generally understood what we were asking. The bar queues weren’t ever too long however they only had Becks beer on tap which didn’t go down well as my family don’t like it much. The plastic wastage is beyond belief though. I am no major eco warrior but I do feel we all have a responsibility towards looking after our world. Most drinks were served in small plastic disposable cups so you had to get two or three at a time and then these were all thrown away. Being so close to the beautiful coastline you couldn’t help consider the hotels contribution to plastic waste ending up in the sea as cups did blow away if not put straight in the bin. Maybe they had a recycling initiative behind the scenes but this was not made obvious 🤷🏻‍♀️ This resort was beautiful and with some tweaks and upgrading could make an amazing destination. Sadly I felt its current offering falls a little short of what the modern traveller expects from a 4 star experience. We did have a great time and the weather was amazing however sadly we won’t be rushing back to this resort in the foreseeable future in its current form.

less