Chegem-1

We still have three days left, and the room has been pretty average. Cleaning clearly isn’t a priority. The lights switch off as soon as we leave, so charging a phone while away is impossible, and the tiny refrigerator is useless. The grounds are full of miserable stray dogs, which is heartbreaking and impossible to solve. The worst part is the dining room, a seven-minute walk away and shared by several buildings. It’s always crowded. The food is cold and not especially tasty, tables aren’t wiped, there are no napkins, and salt and pepper come in disposable containers with spoons. When we returned later for breakfast, the choices were only chicken, a side dish, vegetables, and vegetable salads. No casseroles or omelets, of course. I’ll be much more careful choosing a vacation spot next time. You need to check what the travel manager is actually offering yourself. Apparently, you can’t trust anyone.

Our impressions of this current stay are mixed. We were put in the new Eucalyptus building on the 13th floor, which opened in May, and it should have been nice in theory. Instead, the single elevator serves all 15 floors. Six people squeeze into the stuffy cabin, waits can exceed 10 minutes, and going back upstairs in 35-degree heat and humid air is no fun. From up there, the view is starting to feel like a disadvantage. The room is bright, but the curtains are dirty and one is missing, so sleeping properly is difficult. Several baseboards are missing their ball joints even though the room is new. The bed is two beds pushed together rather than one shared bed, so you fall into the gap. The toilet bracket is loose, meaning you practically have to levitate every time you sit down. Hot water appears only during a short happy hour and is hard to catch. Cold water comes and goes in the evening. The stained bed linen consists of one sheet laid over two beds, and the nightstands already have stains inside. The towels are stained too, with just one hand towel, one foot towel, and two bath towels for two people. There’s only a clothes dryer on the balcony, while other rooms and buildings have plastic chairs as well. I wanted to sit on our view balcony and drink tea, but there’s only one kettle per floor in the shared hall. Someone periodically takes it and doesn’t return it, so finding one is a major event. After excursions, when the dining room closes at 8:00 PM, you want something in the evening. The balcony is useless for tea, sitting, or drying clothes because of the humidity, and leaving it open lets Madagascar beetles crawl in. There’s a TV with three channels, but a kettle would be more useful. The refrigerator works perfectly as long as you have a room card. The dining room is tasty and varied, with enough choice for different tastes and tourists who don’t want spicy food, and you can eat throughout the day by returning three times. The grounds are pleasant and people are trying, though there’s still plenty to fix. The hotel is close to the sea, but the beach is dirty. At least it’s possible to find a free sunbed, and there’s a bar and entertainment staff. If you come, choose one of the low-rise buildings. At least those balconies have stools 😂. We definitely won’t return. New Athos is better.

We’re still here for our vacation from 18.07.25 to 25.07.25, and my son is already asking to come back next year. There are some drawbacks, but they’re limited, and the hotel is trying to fix them. One elevator broke on our arrival day, so elevator service remains a problem, although they promise a solution soon. The internet won’t connect if you leave and return after 22.00, probably because there’s a connection limit, so it’s better to keep one phone in the room. There can also be a queue for the dining room, but the staff are working hard and trying different solutions. The positives are much more important. Our room was excellent, clean, and equipped with a refrigerator, TV, hairdryer, air conditioning, and everything else needed. The huge corner balcony overlooked the sea and the grounds, and the view was fabulous. There’s a kettle and an iron with an ironing board on the floor. The entertainment program runs constantly for children and adults, including water polo, disco and morning exercises for children, yoga, aqua aerobics, Mafia games, Women vs. Men, and other evening activities. The host and his team do an excellent job, and both children and adults have grown fond of them. The sea is a minute away. Free loungers, umbrellas, and awnings are available near the main building, and there are always places despite the busy beach. The staff are helpful, the hotel grounds are very beautiful, and the canteen food is varied and very tasty. I don’t understand reviews calling it monotonous and tasteless when those same people eat there every day and create the queues. If it weren’t tasty, there wouldn’t be queues. For me, this deserves the highest rating.

Sunny Beach, I’m speechless. There are ants in the room, if you can even call it a room. Everything is broken, nothing works, and the so-called two-room space is 2x2, basically a kennel. The receptionist even offered to poison the ants with dichlorvos together with us!