Jaz Aquamarine Resort - All Inclusive

Not sure how to tackle this review... I guess in trying to provide a short overview: the place is too big so has too many guests for the staff to handle, the food is terrible, the service is mostly very poor (when you actually get some), everything is a task to get done and inconsistency rules. It could be so much more but isn't. The detail... As a side point, entering the country costs you £25 per passport, we booked with Thomson/Tui and I was only prepared for this due to reading reviews. Arriving there around 9pm, the check-in process was the first indicator our holiday wasn't really going to be 5 star. Felt more like a challenge; queue for envelope with details of room then read next instructions, sticker your baggage outside, queue for wrist band and await your group to all head to rooms together. Had to wait around 15mins for bags to arrive before we could go and get dinner, tip still expected. Restaurants: We headed for the main restaurant to find it more like feeding time at the zoo - too many people all rushing around and taking large portions of everything and then leaving it on the tables. The variety (ha ha!) of what we saw over 12 days wasn't fitting of a 4/5star resort, we were hoping first night it was simply because we arrived not long before it was due to close for the night - not the case. This was one of the areas which really spoiled the holiday, that and the service within them. After the first night we decided to go to the Four Corners restaurant for breakfast and dinner each day, we found this the better option but still the food was poor, almost always the same each night, no themes, sometimes undercooked or things smelled off at times. The children's section was a joke, thankfully our daughter found dishes elsewhere. We never got any service at the table for drinks and frequently found ourselves ignored and the plates/cups not cleared so started piling up where as many around us where cleared the moment they put them aside, had constant attention, their children high-fived by the waiters, etc... My wife soon noticed the common denominator being the blue wrist band the German guests all appeared to wear over our pink/purple bands. Some nights it was so obvious it felt like a hidden camera joke or something. So as well as always having to get our own drinks I'd get there to find restocking of cups, glasses, etc... was very slow - never think you'll go and get something else & return because the next batch will have gone too. A la Carte Restaurants: Eat here if you can. Got to 3 out of the 4 of these, here the food was better and service to the level you'd expect however getting a booking was painful. The first few days we tried & tried on the machines to get a booking, then heard the game is to wait until midnight when the booking process rolls into the next day - the following night we got to the machine terminal in reception to find a queue at each however the staff then switched both of them off at midnight much to the annoyance of those there, we were told they would be turned on at 7am. 7 hours later I arrived at reception to find the same queues but managed to get a booking. We noticed this had changed again though a few nights later when awaiting a tour pick in reception as they were on a 5am. Pools & Sunbeds & Beach: The usual game here, loungers around the relaxation pool are completed reserved by 8am (the time the towel houses open). We got a spot by keeping our towels overnight & heading down at 7am. Only ventured to the active pool side once, seemed OK. The beach side pool was very dirty and our daughter refused to go in it a few days in so the 7am relaxation pool visit became the daily routine. The aqua parks were goods, helped add some fun. The beach loungers weren't so busy, so easier to get a spot. The beach was effectively private and had a good reef you could walk out too - would advise getting sea shoes though, as saw a number of nasty cuts to feet & legs. Entertainment: Somewhat disappointing, however we were starting to get used to that, the building it was in was open top so no air-con plus most people had to stand as layout doesn't work and seats only really around the edge of each section. The shows weren't very good but they did appear to be trying to entertain you at least. The animation team weren't in your face which I like, they would politely ask you if you'd like to try an activity. Rooms: Good size, we were in the 5xxx range by the relaxation pool and the spare bed could easily be added & still left lots of room. There was a TV with BBC world news, CNN & a couple of English speaking film channels so certainly sufficient. The room was tired though and some fitting were coming off the wall, yes we could have reported it but was clear at first sight so clearly those cleaning & checking the room felt it didn't matter. The room cleaners were nice guys, happened to tip one for the towel animals he made and from then on the it seemed the tip was his target as some parts of room not totally cleaned. Staff do ask to exchange £ coins for £10/£20 notes as other reviewer stated. WIFI: Very poor coverage around the resort and very inconsistent, even when you get it it drops out constantly. I spent around £35 for the top speed but it obviously doesn't improve the weak coverage. For some people it may not matter but in this day & age I expect good coverage on holiday as it helps - chilling by the pool, calling other members of the party, etc... Illness: Our Thomson arrival pack mentioned this, providing a list of things to avoid or do to help prevent a bad stomach - including not drinking ice-cold drinks. Heard of many people being ill, some going to hospital and many going to a pharmacy for tablets (go to Senzo Mall, not the one outside). Out of our party of 3 we were all ill at some point and one for 90% of the stay. Guest hygiene wasn't good to be honest and people touching food and returning it wasn't uncommon. Never experienced this level of illness in other nearby countries nor in wide travels around Asia. Check-out: By departure day we were ready to leave (never experienced that before on holiday), booked a late check out as our transfer with Thomson wasn't until after 6pm - this cost around £30-£35 and they can only confirm after 8pm the night before your departure day (unless you book it before you arrive). Phoned reception to arrange bag collection but no one answered the phone, tried their operator and same issue. Actually tried leaving it ringing for over 5mins one time because I was sure someone must answer. I ended up walking to reception (large resort remember so 5+mins walk) to find 4 guys staffing it and no guests there. Asked to arrange bag collection and told to return to room & call reception - I refused. Bags then collected but disappeared for 20mins then appeared on a pickup outside. Upon checking out I was asked how I wanted to settle the room charges before getting to see the list of them to check, had to ask for it (as a number of other guests next to me were complaining about incorrect charges). Never asked for room & towel cards, passed them over at the end. Inconsistency: Rules seem to change daily; already mentioned the A la carte booking process, a common theme on timing of things - different each time. One night at dinner I asked for a Pepsi in a large glass because was fed up getting 3/4 full small glasses (& having to queue each time) only to be told they were "only for beer, but will make an exception this one time". Days later everything was in large glasses. Some pool side bars were well staffed, the beach one had an unhappy chap who told me I could get certain drink myself next time, so queue for what I couldn't self service then for the self serve ones. The list goes on but really... The local tourists gave the staff a harder time than most Europeans because often seemed to feel rules did apply to them. Queues at bars, the aqua park & restaurants - they simply walk around to front, common clash of culture though. The local area & resort felt safe, you could easily walk outside and people did walk to the local Senzo Mall. That aspect was good I must sdmit. Guest relation were around the resort and had such feedback, each time in the A la Carte you also had a form asking about service so we fed back here too. It felt a shame because it could have been so good... we won't be returning.

I was very disappointed with this holiday, the general cleanliness and maintenance is low, there were more people trying to up-sell additional services than addressing the obvious problems. I was expecting a far superior resort than to one I discovered. Would not consider revisiting.

Travelled with elderly parent who uses a wheelchair outside of the house and four children aged 17,11 and 2 8 year olds. Booked 2 rooms a Deluxe family room for 4 and a superior twin for 3. Both rooms were on the first floor and lovely. Unfortunately there are no lifts in this property which was something that the travel agent we booked with failed to mention even though they were aware of mums mobility issues and had booked her wheelchair on the flight. The travel company had not informed the hotel of our request for a ground floor room and wheelchair access and unfortunately was fully booked. They were however extremely helpful and happy for us to call at any time to give assistance and fortunately mum was able to manage the single flight of stairs with help from one person. The hotel itself is beautiful and facilities outstanding; the staff are polite and friendly and we all had a lovely holiday despite our different expectations and preferences as all was catered for..

We had a nice stay, but were very poorly for 7 days out of 14 days. We had only eaten at the hotel t this point. The hotel is lovely but we would have enjoyed ourselves even more had we not been unwell. The gp visit cost me £300 of my travel insurance excess which is disappointing. We were eventually well enough to visit the pools and restaurants again and we had a pleasant last week of our holiday.?

Have just returned from another nice trip, with my 6 year old grandson and 11 year old granddaughter. Having been here a year and a half ago we new what to expect. The food again was OK not brilliant, I must admit the various bars serving lunchtime snacks were very good. Water chutes popular as ever but this did lead to queuing unfortunately. The visit to the Asian Restaurant one evening was enjoyable, the decor was nice, service good and the food was very tasty. Our room was always kept tidy by Mustapha. I must agree the beach is not up to much and a very long walk to reach water deep enough to swim in. Overall not bad.

We have just returned from a 2 week stay at this hotel. We went as a family of 10 and luckily came back as a family of 10 as 8 became quite ill during the visit. Let's start with the good! The hotel is beautiful, pools are amazing and the water park is great too! The rooms are lovely and the maid service kept them very clean. The staff are generally very nice with the exception of the a few which I will later mention. The food is below average and unless you like to eat the same thing day in day out then avoid the restaurant at all costs!! Within 3 days our party started to suffer with diarhorrea and this went on for most of the holiday, not sure if it was the food but we can't put it down to much else. We complained and they tried there best to accommodate us but it just was not good enough. They cooked the kids chicken nuggets as they could not eat any of the menu as it was awful and when the nuggets arrived they were more like a spicy falafel, no chicken present! The blessing was the Italian al a carte, amazing food, service and staff. Now to the guest relations haha I'm unsure what there role is but I'm sure it's not to help guests, this will be the same for he TUI rep too! When explaining that our family were becoming sick one by one we were told that we had a million forms to fill in for each person (this would have taken hours) and hear were not to help us they were for the hotel purpose. We were them told to go to hospital and fork out the cab fare for all of us!! We said that the food was bad and we were sick and told that it's only the English that complain, so unprofessional and unsatisfactory to be given that reply. Maybe cause we may have better hygiene standards and actually like to eat clean, fresh, healthy food. The reception staff were quite rude at times especially if you ring them. The kids corner for dinner is a joke!! I reckon prisoners in the Far East sharing a cell of 10 or more are served better food, actually they probably eat better than any of us did on this holiday. One good point is for the first time on all inclusive, none of us gained weight, we all went back a bit lighter!! Do not use the taxi outside the hotel they will rip you off, get hotel to arrange transport. Hotel wifi is rubbish, your better off not trying. The mini bar is way over priced and should be free as its all inclusive, prices are disgusting. The waves bar is really nice to sit at night but the singer could do with changing their tune as listening to the same songs night after night is mind numbing!! Hotel is 5 star but service within is defo not!! Shame really because it cost us over £10,000 to stay there and I reckon a caravan holiday in Skegness would have been 3 times cheaper and safer for our health.

We've been with family in this hotel at the end of Jul and beg of Aug this year. Very nice hotel, lovely service, amazing animations and animators. They really care you have a great time there. Hotel area is clean, nice greenery, arranged with taste and quite practical. Clean rooms and nicely arranged. Many swimming pools and clean as well, but... If you are a sea & beach person, you'll be quite disappointed. You will face a very long walk in very shallow water to submerge yourself in the water actually. Beach is clearly not the focus area in this hotel as well. One of the reasons we have chosen this hotel was that they have kids buffet, and there was, but how many times during 2 weeks you want to eat pasta with tomato sauce?? Boring and not really tasty. We've been with 3 years old child and I was happy I took some food with me for him, believe me, I would have a real problem otherwise.

The weather was lovely. However, a couple of things spoilt it for me. The price for 10 days in August was £1050 per person which I think it expensive anyway as I went to Sharm before for £600 for 10 days in July. The hotel has a lot of facilities and the pools are lovely, the beds are also very comfortable. However, I found the staff very rude they would barge past people, we would have to wait for ages being served, no drinks were offered. We had to ask about 2/3 times to get served. The beach was one of the worst beaches I have been to, on the pictures it looked lovely. When you are out there, there is near enough no sand and there is rubbish everywhere on the beach, it never gets cleaned. There wasn't alot of food choice at all and was not very tasteful. I would definitely not recommend going to this hotel it is not worth the value for the amount you pay.

Accommodation and look of resort is good, rooms have coffee and tea making facility and stocked mini bar with a charge, rooms cleaned well. The reception, check in is slow and all my dealings with the reception staff were slow and disappointing. As a booking .com guest the all inclusive did not include the 4 al a carte restaurants so would have been charge, but no available times in the two weeks we were the anyway. Lots of different pools, but the pool area's were dirty didn't see the tiles areas cleaned once in the 2 weeks, if drink spilt it was still stained 5 days later, lots of rubbish and debris in the bushes and greenery and the sprinklers used to water the grass had a definite sewerage stench. The pool drinks service poor very rarely saw the waiters so had to get drinks ourselves lots of rules about what was available and when and these changed on daily basis and depending on who served you, Tito was polite and fast but could be quite abrupt. Only 2 restaurants available to us for dinner, they both operated 2 sittings and involved queuing for tables, both in restaurant and bars lots of reserved tables which nobody actually sat at so very annoying when looking for a table or seat you couldn't sit at these places but the. Nobody else's did. The service was poor very slow for drinks i the restaurant had to constantly ask for bowls, glasses, plates replenished food was ok, but repetitive and just warm and the microwave was old and unclean, I repeatedly complained to the head chef and guest services but no real change. Both my husband and daughter have had diahoria for more than 5 days took the usual antenal but arrived home tpyesterday attended doctors today stool specimens sent for possible food poisoning. One of the reasons I chose hotel it stays wifi available but it is very poor and was advised by guest relations to not buy upgrade as also useless, had to pay 40 English for 12 gb wifi for up to 7 devises from local travel provider. Hand sanitiser dispensers all empty in all snack bars and restaurants If booking a taxi in hotel had to pay the reception which made the whole process long and drawn out. At booking .com I was told my payment at the hotel would have a 13% vat but then at hotel they said it was 14%. Not friendly, no big screens for watching sport or children's films Entertainment every night but would have preferred somewhere husband could watch sport.