Paloma Oceana - All inclusive

I should probably start this review by saying we were lucky enough to stay in one of the villas, which was truly memorable, but I get that this is a different experience to any other room type in this hotel. Arrived after a seamless airport transfer, (can fully recommend Koiride for that), and were quickly checked in and shown to our villa for the 8 nights. This was such spacious accommodation, with the kids twin bedroom, a great family bathroom, and a large living area (complete with fully stocked complimentary mini bar) leading to the patio which had a good sized table for eating or playing a game on and four great private sun loungers. Upstairs was the master bedroom, again a great size and with its own ensuite bathroom. I would estimate the kids were in the adjacent pool within 15 mins of checking in, and had gone on all the slides within half an hour. The beauty of the villa set up is that the 14 villas have an exclusive island bar in the middle of the private pool. You can either be sociable and take your drinks (and bar snacks) at the area around the bar, or if you prefer to stay in your villa the very attentive staff will see that you are never too long without your fave drink. For this in particular I would like to thank the two main staff for the villa, Nizam and Lufty, who always served us quickly and with a smile, even laughing at my notorious dad jokes. You can also order room service free of charge using the app, but if you want something not on the app speak to dddd and he will sort you out. It was so nice around this private area that to be honest we didn't really venture to the other pools all week, except for the slides which were of a good variety and well maintained (and safe enough for us to let the kids (10 and 13) go there on their own. We also went to the off site water park twice, just book in with guest relations the day before. We went afternoon both times (pick up at 2 from memory, but may have been earlier, and you have until 5 at the park, which is easily enough time to go on the variety of slides as many times as you want.) You get soft drinks as part of your all inclusive package when you visit the park, and there are safes there if you need to put your watch or jewelry somewhere secure. We loved the food at this hotel, I have seen negative reviews but I honestly don't know why. The buffet was enormous and it was always fine to get a table either indoors or out. The waiters then fetched you tea or coffee in the morning and a varitey of other drinks at other times. We usually had a late breakfast at the main buffet restaurant, and then lunch was either pizza or something from the beach restaurant. (Although when we discovered we had room service available for free we had lunch at our villa.) For the evenings, we tried all of the all inclusive a la carte, not the paid for one (never have paid extra on an all inclusive, just a personal choice.) We did the Turkish one twice, (always go for the a la carte with the local cuisine, it makes sense that they know what they are doing!) but also enjoyed the Oriental and Medittaranean. The nights at the buffet restaurant were by no means second best, there was always something different on the fresh counter, and if my two fussy children can be happy with the offerings then you know you are on to something. As mentioned, we did go to the water park twice, but apart from that we didn't leave the hotel. This was our first overseas holiday since before Covid and I think we all just enjoyed doing not much! My son and I tried our hand at Archery a couple of times and that was fun and well organised, but apart from that I cannot really comment on the day time activities. The night time entertainment was something we did attend most nights, and have to say it was really good and a great way to finish the day. The weather was lovely all week except for the last day when the heavens opened. Not much to do around the hotel then, (don't get excited by the "sports bar" it was never open for serving, although it did have a couple of pool tables which came in handy on the last day. Because of the rain we paid extra to have a late check out from the villa, think it was about 90 euros to have it until 4. I would also like to thank the reception staff who again but up with my poor jokes and really helped answer any queries we had very efficiently. They also helped me by calling the airport transfer company and speaking in Turkish (when our flight was delayed and I wanted to move the pick up back.) We tipped in Turkish Lira, the housekeeping staff 3 times during the week, various room service waiters and then Nizam and Lufty just at the end of the week. I didn't feel under any pressure to tip at all, except for the person who took our luggage to the room and just stood there until we tipped him! As the headline says, we will be going back next year, I cannot comment on the other accomodation but if you do have the funds for an upgrade to the villa I don't think you will be disappointed.