Diamonds Star of the East

Similar experience to Muriel's. Traveling with my family, I was surprised, a few days before departure, by the cancellation of our reservation at Riu Palace Zanzibar, due to delays in the renovation works. However, we were offered by Carlota, Sales Manager in Zanzibar, an upgrade to a villa in the contiguous Star Of The East, acquired by the Riu hotels chain the previous month. She was always very kind and patient, clarifying all our doubts and calming down all our fears, including the robbery with the previous owners. Hotel La Gemma Dell'Est, which is one of the best hotels in Zanzibar, has within its facilities a private club, named Star Of The East, with villa accommodation, which has a private restaurant, Ocean Blue, a bar and a private beach area, although their guests have access to the rest of the hotel facilities. Each villa has its own pool with Jacuzzi, plus an indoor hydromassage bathtub, which can be prepared by the butler, with beautifully flower petals taken from the gardens. Its gardens are among the most beautiful I've ever seen in the hotels where I've been to, and the villas are there beautifully enframed. With many glass walls, they give us the feeling of being inside the garden, but its architecture gives the essential privacy to the villas. Each villa has its own private butlers during the 24 hours of the day to satisfy our room service requests. We were welcomed by Elisabeth, our afternoon butler, who had a very special competence, kindness and fineness, and showed us the entire resort on a tiring but enlightening tour of the hotel facilities and explained the all-inclusive system. Although we frequented the main restaurant for breakfast and lunch, we opted to dine at Ocean Blue because it is quieter, it is served a la carte and the food is great in presentation and quality. It was our precious Elisabeth who served us at these dinners. A little advice: a hotel like this cannot serve the same amuse bouche for 5 nights. At the main restaurant we went to dinner only on the day of the Swahili dinner, since Ocean Blue does not serve regional cuisine. At lunch we also tried ordering the Ocean Blue lobster and tuna sandwiches for the villa, which we highly recommend. This hotel also has a pier with a bar and restaurant over the sea, where one can see a magnificent sunset, exactly where the boats take tourists to see it, but without the all-inclusive bar service we enjoyed.