Phoenicia Holiday Resort

Before we get into the review, note that there have only been 177 reviews of this hotel (at the time of me writing this), which has been operating for a long, long time and have had thousands upon thousands of visitors over the years. We were looking for something different for our trip to Romania this year and decided to spend some time at the sea. We looked at various hotels around the area and considered Eforie Nord, Eforie Sud and other area further south like Olimp and Saturn and everything in between. After much deliberation we decided to experience a 'proper' summer holiday and to stay in Mamaia, and eventually settled on an all-inclusive 7 night stay at Phoenicia Holiday Resort. We flew to Constanta and took a taxi to the resort. Check in was great - we would like to thank Mohamed and the reception team for a smooth check in process. We were a family of four with luggage, tired children and earlier than the check-in time but our room was already ready so we made our way to the 1 bedroom apartment. The complex is large and was clean (it had been raining on our arrival) and we made our way to Smarald building (all buildings, I understood a few days in that they are named of course after jewels). Our room was clean and spacious, with a sofa bed already made for our children, we have towels and extra linen available. The room itself was fine and we had air conditioning and a balcony, where you can see the sea in one direction and lake in the other. But. since we didn't spend too much time in the room it was not a problem for us. The week we stayed was very, very busy - possibly the busiest period as it was also Saint Mary's day (?) and possibly some other National Holiday so there were a lot of guests. The food hall became incredibly busy - if you do not go early then it's difficult to find a table but we always had somewhere to sit in our preferred areas. There are different seating sections and we often stayed in the same areas. The food itself was great for us. Because of the size of the complex and so many guests, the food is spread out quite a lot but after a few visits you get familiar with where to find eg the changing dishes each day (in the main entrance hall), then there is the separate BBQ type food (chicken, pork, sausages), salads, bread and pizza, drinks dispensers, another corridor for pasta, chips and kebab-style depending on the way (kebabs or wraps for instance) and also fruit, and desserts/sweets. We would like to thank the service staff for the great job of clearing, cleaning and preparing tables. I managed to speak to 'the boss' of the team on the last day and expressed our gratitude. What a great team and I expect many guests do not appreciate or Thank them very often. Of concern to us though, was the amount of food we saw go to waste. We always, always tried to leave empty plates so that food did not get thrown away, but we saw so many families and groups of people taking food unnecessarily - more than then need or could eat - and then the staff had to clear away so much food. Please, if you go to an all inclusive resort, it doesn't mean you should consciously waste food. The pools were great - we naturally gravitated towards the pool with splash park features and our children loved to spend hours there. We could sit and relax and watch the children play and soak up the sun! The beach was pretty busy too, and could be difficult to find chairs nearer the sea unless you go very early in the morning. However, it's the same with the pools as people come and go over the course of the day so you will always find a chair somewhere. You are given towel coupons from reception which you can use at the towel hut near the beach, and can change them over your stay. We returned our towels at the end of the week, got tokens back and returned them to reception when we checked out. We did not take full advantage of all-inclusive drinks since we are not heavy alcoholic drinkers, but being able to use the All Inclusive Bar was useful, plus there is another bar at the pool 'high up' where you can get the same drinks. We were fortunate to have a very hospitable cleaning lady on our floor who provided extra linen when we needed. and we told her not to worry about cleaning too often. We did not know her name but we are grateful to her and the other cleaning team for our room on fourth floor Smarald ;-) There was also other entertainment and kids activities but our children didn't take part (since they don't speak Romanian either) but they really enjoyed their time at the pools and in the sea. The only things to mention is that some areas can be slippery with water and after cleaning - you must take care not to slip! Also, since many guests are in groups, you often see people taking chairs from other tables which meant many tables only had two or three chairs. It would perhaps also be good to put some signs up for the food, because in many cases I didn't know what I was eating! It would also be good to consider some signage to encourage people not to take more food than they can eat, to avoid so much food waste. It was a very, very busy week but we had a great time. The staff were great: thank you reception team, room cleaning team and restaurant/kitchen and service teams! You made our holiday great.