| Holiday-Truth Readers Reports |
Lester from Teesside travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
MyTravel Direct Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2007 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location |  | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: We visited the Mare Nostrum a couple, with my sister and her 6 year old daughter. We had a family room, which had 4 single beds, two of which were in a room located off the main bedroom accessible through a doorway (no door). The first thing you notice is a major lack of hanging space for clothes, but otherwise our room /bathroom was fantastic. Good size, and the bathroom was big and had everything we needed.
The air-con was wonderful, but it turns off when you open the the balcony doors which was annoying because you had to remember to put it back on, and with four of us someone was always opening the doors. Also the power in the room is activated by sliding your card key into a slot when you enter, but it can be left on by putting any other card in its place - we used a EHIC card!! Sliding doors led to a good sized balcony, but the railing was very wobbly, so was a bit of a worry with my neice. The maids came in every day and were very polite and friendly, even letting us in when we locked ourselves out!!
The hotel was great overall, very clean and a huge area when you enter for sitting in. We spent many an afternoon lounging on the very comfy sofas with a drink from the bar, it was bliss! The food was very good with many choices. I am a fussy eater and I found something every night. There are 3 seperate buffets which are all the same foods ranging from salads, chips, potatoes and rices through to two or three different choices of main course every night. Then there is also another buffet where they serve pastas and meats - all really nice food. You can eat all you like too, so good value for money. The head chef obviously loved his job and took great pleasure in us enjoying our food. My husband got very badly burnt by a broken heating element which was keeping potato wedges warm from above. The element has come down really low and when he went for the food, he touched it and it ripped his skin clean off. I immediately told the 'chef' who was closest, who just shrugged and smiled as if it was our fault - then glared at us for the rest of the week. We weren't happy.
The eating arrangements are stupid and you should be told the 'rules' before you go in!! They set tables for different numbers of people and you mustn't sit at a table set for any more than your party, or you will face the wrath of 'the battleaxe' - one of the staff tending the dining room. We got yelled at 3 times for various things, always in spanish so we had no clue what she was talking about. It became a bit of a joke as she would walk about telling people off all the time and nobody knew what they had done. Also, for some reason they set out cutlery at each table, but people then take extra forks for different courses and leave odd cutlery on the tables, so you are forever hunting the fork.
The pools were clean and the pool area was kept nice and tidy. Very strong chlorine though and three bathing suits were stained green and ruined over the course of a few days. The terrace on the upper level with the third pool wasn't open while we were there, which was disappointing as it did get busy and sometimes it was difficult to get a bed.
The entertainment was really really bad, although the 'animation' team were a nice bunch of guys who did their best. It was lovely to sit around the pool on an evening with a drink etc, but at 10pm when the so-called entertainment started, it was time to take a walk out for something better. Try Big Bens down the road, something different every night, and very british.
The hotel is a mass of Italians. The british are a major minority. It isn't a huge problem but it depends on the type of people you are. The entertainment day and night is aimed towards the italians, and you do feel a bit out of place because there are so many of them. They also play with balls in the water - like 8-10 grown men, so you get belted with the ball a bit and they expect you to return it for them!! My main problem with the number of italians is that they were all super over-dressed 24/7. If you want to just relax in a vest top and shorts then you'll stand out like a sore thumb, and if you saw what they wore for breakfast, it was unbelievable... bikini's around the pool came with high heels and designer handbags.
I like to browse the shops on holiday, but they are all very well spaced and a 5-10 minute walk to the first one, They seem to be building all around the mare nostrum, which wasn't particularly noisy, but it does affect the views and the balcony was always thick with dust.
Finally, the beach. We were attracted to this resort because of the beach, but in reality it really is filthy. It's just over the road from the hotel, but there is no promenade to walk along if that's your thing, just beach - and not nice sand either. There is a little area near the harbour with shallow warm water and beds / parasols for 5 Euros each, but from there it was a mass of seaweed. We didn't go very far down to be fair and I have read that further down towards bora-bora it is much nicer, but we don't go on holiday to walk and unfortunately staying in this hotel it goes with the territory.
We were very pleased with the hotel itself, it had a lively atmosphere and if you don't mind being surrounded by a constant moving catwalk, then I highly recommend it. Just don't count on being entertained day and night as advertised, and be prepared to be one of about 5 british families.
Click here for more information on this hotel, resort and region
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Neil Farmery from Mid Wales travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
Thomson
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2005 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location |  | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Must admit we were a bit worried after reading some negative reviews on here and other sites but we neednt have been!!
Didnt think it was possible but they have improved the Mare Nostrum even more than our visit last year.
Had a superb 11 night stay and cannot report any faults or problems whatsoever.
Food was excellent with a good choice every night.
Hotel was always clean and tidy, as were our rooms.
Staff as friendly and polite as ever.
Entertainment wise, have seen better but fair play to the Animation team, they work really hard and put on some excellent shows.
Looking forward to returning again some day soon.
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laura from devon travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
thomson
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2005 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: I am a travel agent and on searching for a good deal as money was abit of an issue this year I wanted a resnably priced hotel with good faclities.
On reading up about this hotel in our brochures and 'behind the counter bible'! it wasnt getting the best reviews, I decided to take the benefit of the doubt as I have been to many hotels with these kind of ratings and never been disapointed.
I'm easly pleased and don't really spend that much time within the hotel anyway.
Upon arrival the staff greeted us and they were very friendly considering it was 2am! The room was spotless and very roomy, the added benefit of aircon was great it was really hot even in the evenings.
The food wasnt the best altough there was a good selection to suit everybodys taste, clear labels would have help distingusing between the diffent meals!
The only fault I can find about the hotel which isn't really their fault were the amount of Italian 18-30 style groups!
I'm not past it at 21 but even this was to rowdy for me!
The entertainment I found was aimed for the Italians so we didn't really take much advantage of that but the resort is great there was so much to do for all ages
everybody was so friendly!
I would recomend this for people who are not to over fussy on accommodation standards exepect what is in the brochure.
This would suit a family and couples looking to get most of their entertainment outside of the accommodation.
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Hols from Scotland travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
Sky tours/ thomson
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2005 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: After weeks of searching for a reasonable priced deal for a weeks holiday to Ibiza myself and my boyfriend finally booked to stay in the Mare Nostrum Hotel in Play d'en Bossa, Ibiza.
After booking I wasn't sure what to expect from the hotel, I came on to this site to see what people thought of it. There was mixed reviews, some people loved and others hated it. This made me Apprehensive about where I was going to end up.
I arrived in Ibiza on the 20th of July and departed on the 27th. I had a fantastic holiday and the hotel was great. The hotel was much better than i had thought after reading reviews on it.
when arriving at the hotel we were told to wait 15mins for our room as it wasnt ready. This wasn't too much of a problem as our flight wasn't delayed and wasn't much of a inconvence as 15mins wasn't long to wait.
When I got to the room I was surprised at how nice and clean it was. Some people had said the rooms were old fashioned, dirty, and small but this wasnt the case at all. The room was lovely and clean. It wasn't big but certainly not too small. A size of room I would expect from a hotel and certainly not old fashioned. There were plenty drawers and a wardrobe to put your belongings in.
I was even shocked to get air con, I was expecting a ceiling fan. You had to pay 20euros for a control for the air con but you got the money back when you handed the control back in. This was the case for the t.v but we felt we didn't really need it anyway because we were hardly in the room.
There was also a safe too, again as like most places you had to pay for the key. Also you got some money back on it.
The room had a balcony and we were fortunate to get a seaview which was very nice.
Everyday we got our room cleaned. There was the odd morning when were late getting up but the maids still came back to clean it. We got clean towels everyday even though we didnt really need it and our sheets got changed. (not sure how often!)
Went to the swimming pool a few times but it got really hot midday cause there wasn't any breeze. There were plenty of sun loungers and was surprised that the pool wasn't full of kids.
The were many different groups in the hotel. Young, old, couples, famillies but i thought there was alot of young people, they were all italian! there were alot staying in rooms near us but they weren't a problem. You would hear them during the day but they didn't come in at night loud and rowdy! (Unlike some young British people!) so I did get a good night sleep!
I rated the food a 3 as I only sampled it once the whole holiday! I thought that there was plenty of choice and it wasn't that bad but my boyfriend was very fussy and nothing suited him so thats why we only went once. I didn't no what some of the food that was at the buffet was as some of it was unusual.
I Think that was due to them catering for different nationalities and even some spanish food. There was salad, cold meat, chips, potatoes, chicken, fish, pasta and a kids section. There will be something there that you like.
I gave the entertainment a 1 as I didn't stay in the hotel at night. I have no idea and couldn't possibly comment on it.
The location of the hotel was perfect, there was a 5 minute walk into the centre which meant it was quiet around the hotel
Overall the hotel was very nice and would definitely go back again.
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Neil Farmery from Mid Wales travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
Thomson
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We stayed at the Mare Nostrum in October 2004.
We found the hotel very clean and tidy and the cleaners always very polite and friendly when cleaning your rooms every morning.
Food was excellent, superb choice at breakfast and dinner.
Located in a quieter spot of Playa den bossa, only a short walk into the busier side of the resort.
We found the hotel staff very friendly and polite at all times.
Entertainment seemed to be on a budget but was still good.
Would deffinately stay at this hotel again.
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revill from birmingham travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
brittannia
on a friends holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: I think the hotel was great but the food let it down because the sausages was not cooked propely and the eggs still had egg shells on them the room was a bit small and they was not alot of room to put you clothes away
The entainment was excellent 10 out of 10 for that for the week we stayed there
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r mackay from thurso travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
skytours
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: I am a 12 year old girl and I thought this holiday was excellent!
I always saw a maid around which was nice.
The food was changed every night and there was something for everyone.
The hotel is near the beach, shops and a bus stop.
The staff are friendly and inviting.
The entertainment is the BEST!!!! They always change it every night!
The kids clubs are fantastic and anyone between 3 and 12 should go my favourite rep was juciy lucy she was really funny and you can sometimes go to the kids club at night for evening entertainment.
There is a really good playground where I met loads of friends.
I would go back to this hotel in a flash it is the very best around for lots of fun and entertainment.
I also reccomend going on the glass bottomed boat to the hippy market.
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Leigh from London travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
Independent trip
on a singles holiday.
There were 4 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food |  | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The hotel is like a council block with a pool, which was absolutely writhing with screaming kids.
We neither ate nor drank anything there and wouldn't have contemplated it.
Room’s very basic, decent bathroom, balcony overlooking abandoned lot. Nothing worked, no controls supplied for TV or aircon and staff were so incompetent we couldn't be bothered to take up the issue.
We booked as it was cheap and we intended to spend no time there other than to wash and sleep - with no aircon in August, even that amount of time in the room was unpleasant.
Can't believe the other reviews, I can only think they were meant for a different hotel...
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mr oliver from dagenham travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
thomson
on a friends holiday.
There were 4 adults and 5 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff |  | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The food wasn't bad really, the staff were really rude, one particular person burst into my daughter’s room and referred to her as scum because she had a photo of her boyfriend on the wall. He told her to go home saying her room was dirty, yet the fans on the ceiling hadn't been cleaned for years. We went down stairs to complain to the Thomson staff one did come up straight away she said that he had no right to come into her room or to touch her stuff. We were assured of an apology which we never got.
The entertainment was rubbish especially for the children, all they got was the same 6 songs every night after 1 week the couple we were with decided to go home on an early flight.
A man was caught stealing another mans wallet he had already stolen someone’s purse plus 2 suitcases from the departing room.
There was also a dead cockroach out side the dinning hall for 3 days.
Our room was around the back which seemed quiet until 2am when the bin men turned up which in turn set of all the dogs barking....horrible hotel I would never go there again.
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Dave, Zoe and Edward from whitby travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
thompson
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We are a young family of 32, 35 and 6. We booked the Mare Nostrum after seeing good reports from previous guests on various websites. we stayed at the hotel for 14 nights from June 30th to July 14 2004.
The Mare Nostrum is situated on the north end of Playa den bossa towards Figuettes and Ibiza town, its approx 5-10min walk into playa and about 30mins to Ibiza town. The beach is across the road and over some rough ground about 3 mins walk away
Facilities are good at the hotel with a large Reception area with several sofas internet access machines and the reps desk, there is also another large room off here were the welcome meetings are held. Through reception you enter the Bar area, here a well stocked and cheap bar is staffed by four or five bartenders (the one with glasses and spiky fair hair is bad for giving you the wrong change – watch him!) there are several sofas and tables and chairs in this spacious area. Next to the bar is the snack bar where you can get hot snacks up to about 1.00am if you desire. Through the bar is another area with chairs and a large screen projection TV showing major sports events and cartoons for the kids. This area leads on to the dining room. Meal times where I think 8.00-10;00 breakfast and 730 until 9.00 for evening dinner although im not 100% on that.
The food is of quite a decent standard and plenty of choice, a typical evening meal will offer soup, 3 or 4 main dishes – chicken, pork, fish etc, hot vegetables various salads, chips or potatoes, various deserts and a table that offers some specialty, eg carved roast beef, large cakes etc, you have to purchase your own drinks on an evening a bottle of house wine was 6 euros. Breakfast was free orange, pineapple, grapefruit, tea coffe, continental style meats and cheeses, yogurt, fruit, dates,figs, plus either a choice of bacon one day sausage another, beans, tomatoes etc, overall something for everyone I enjoyed the food at the hotel and found it substantial and plentiful.
Leaving the dining room and walking through the bar leads on to the pool area, here a very large pool caters for the guests with a decent amount of free sunbeds although those in prime positions go quite early but its is possible to go out for the day come back and get one later on. The pool has a decent depth at the deep end and has a small toddlers pool next to it, it has a water feature on the side cascading water into it. From the pool you can walk up to a small shady area in a grove of a few palms or you can walk behind the building where you will find 4 air hocky tables, table football and 2 table tennis tables, across from this is the crazy golf course and a decent equipped childrens play area, there is a small toilet block here and another small building reveals its self to be the kids club- this runs at various times during the day depending on age, they also have an evening club were for 3 euros you can escape from the little people for 2 hours. Next to the kids club is a five a side flood lit astro turf football pitch, at the back of this is a tennis court come basketball court, once again plenty of things to do, all the equipment can be hired from reception for a small deposit and a modest fee. I think one of the good things about this hotel is there is only one way in or out through reception, so children can play fairly safely once inside the premises. As well as the kids club the hotel also has its own Animacion team who are responsible for organising entertainment during the day, eg killer pool, table tennis, water polo, kids discos and such like, on a night they do bingo and then one of various outside acts will start, we saw a parrot show, a transvestite show (suitable for children) some acrobats, flamenco dancers etc, you could in theory never leave the hotel if you desired although Ibiza has a lot more to offer than hotel entertainment.
The rooms are fairly small in size with a small balcony are entered with a Card key and you place the key in the socket inside to switch the electricity on (hint it doesn’t have to be THE key card so if your charging camcorders use a playing card etc), there is no air con in the rooms just a ceiling fan, there was one socket in the bedroom and one in the bathroom there is also a Safe in the wardrobe
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Jayne Bull from Birkenhead travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
Thomson
on a friends holiday.
There were more than 6 adults and more than 6 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This is a very good hotel lots to do and the beach is just over the road.
This is the perfect hotel for families, I cannot say anything bad about it.
It was the best holiday we have booked so far.
There is lots to do in the hotel and lots of entertainment around the hotel like mini golf etc.
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Morris Family from Huddersfield travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
skytours
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This was our 4th stay at this hotel and we feel the hotel standards have slipped a little from last year.The hotel is in a good location, with the beach being just across the road.The hotel didn`t seem as clean as in recent years. The rooms were quiet clean but the bar and snack bar area could have been cleaner. The reception and snack bar staff were very good and polite. The bar staff were lacking in numbers and it took ages to get served. Only watched entertainment once has most of it was the same acts as in recent years the Beatles were very good. Rumour has it that the hotel has been bought out by the Italians. This hotel is also being advertised on the internet as a place for young clubbers. There was quiet a few young Italians there when we went so i don`t know what it will be like in the high season. It is a shame really because we really like this hotel and resort, but families and young clubbers have different holidays and i can see this causing problems. The food was quiet good but not as good as in previous years the chips were over done most nights. There is a good choice of food every night. Meal times have changed since last year and are now the evening meal is at 7.00-9.30 previous years you were allocated a meal table for all of your holiday but not anymore but we found it easy to get a table but did go a 7pm.
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phil elks from stoke on trent travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
skytours
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This was the 4th time we've stayed at the Mare Nostrum in the last 6 years and each time we've stayed before standards have improved, but this time we feel standards have slipped. I suspect something is changing at this hotel as some rooms had tv's and there were workmen on the roof (air conditioning maybe?) Rumours afoot of Thomson Gold. There's much work to be done to achieve that in my opinion.
Since our last visit in 2002, the food has gone downhill. Breakfasts that try to be English but fail and a poor choice in the evenings with many dishes that should be piping hot barely lukewarm.
Our room was kept clean but some in our party complained about their dirty room which was never sorted out in 10 days.
The bar staff were a bit grumpy but we heard that the bars were being sub-contracted out so perhaps that is why. The reception staff were efficient but need some customer care training.
The pool was kept very clean as usual and the evening entertainment seemed better than before with fewer transvestites (fewer not none!)
The resort itself seemed a bit run down, the beach was dirty with last years seaweed still rotting on the sand. Plenty of construction that seems to proceed at a snail's pace.
Even though it was June and hot, many bars were still closed and the bullbar on the beach opposite the hotel had gone (well actually shrunk)
We enjoy the Sports Café but were disappointed that they couldn't show the England friendly against Japan and there was 'technical fault' I presume it was fixed for Euro 2004.
Ibiza town is a long walk or short taxi ride and is fantastic, do not miss it
A good holiday but please Mare Nostrum halt the decline!!
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Pearson Family from Mansfield travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
Thomson
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2004 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We stayed at the Mare Nostrum in May 2004 for 14 nights we had a great holiday, the food was good but could have been a bit more varied, no childs menu, so my son had to eat what we had.
The rooms were clean we had a slight problem with the spanish visiting at the weekends, but other than that no problems.
The pool was clean,but trouble finding a sunbed unless you got up at 7.00am to put your towel down.
My son loved the astro-turf pitch infact we hardly saw him for 2 weeks we would like to go back to the Mare nostrum but weve since heard Thomson have sold it, and they do not want the british there. Which is a shame.
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Dale from LOndon travelled to Mare Nostrum Hotel with
Single
on a singles holiday.
There were 1 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2003 |
rated the Mare Nostrum Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: I was a hotel entertainer in 2002/2003 at Mare Nostrum, I think reading the latest reviews there is a confusion over the new ownership.
After much searching I have solved the problem. It would seem that the new owners are grupo playa sol, they seem to own many hotels, apts in Ibiza inc costa sur in san an bay. I checked out the web site www.grupoplayasol.com and Mare nostrum now has gym etc. Check it out, I am sure things will improve.
Also hi from me Dale to anyone I entertained in those 2 years, happy holidaying.
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