Hotel Caesar Palace

The dining experience was the biggest letdown. The food wasn’t very good, the restaurant was hectic and rather dark, and the tables had plastic covers. We were there as part of a tour group and, as a couple travelling together, wouldn’t come back. We were fortunate to get a large, clean room with a big terrace. The hotel was very busy, though, and the pool was crowded.

The staff were really helpful, and there was a team keeping an eye on the pool and getting guests involved in dancing, yoga, and other activities. They also put on music most evenings. The hotel’s nice for a family with kids aged 8-14. It does look a little old in places and could use some renovation.

The drinks were a bright spot, the staff were generally pleasant, the location was good, and the shuttle was handy. I’d come back to this part of Sicily, but not to this hotel or on All Inclusive. The food was the main problem. Breakfast and dinner were meant to be hot, but were always lukewarm. At the end of the week someone suggested using a microwave, which doesn’t seem acceptable. When we were out for the day, the hotel offered packed lunches, but as a vegetarian I got cold vegetables left over from the night before. The dining room felt like a canteen, with plastic tablecloths, and the decor was tired in places. The lounge music was so loud we couldn’t talk, so we had to spend our evenings in our rooms. The rooms were generally good, but the bath screen seal didn’t work properly and the floor got very wet every day. The cleaners were great, though they seemed to replace towels daily even when we hung them up to reuse them, which wasn’t very eco-friendly. The pool was freezing in October.

The hotel was very clean, and I didn’t mind that it looked a bit dated. Most staff were pleasant and helpful, though not all; our Jet2 rep was lovely. There were some good points, but the food made this an unsafe place for anyone with coeliac disease. I’d read that the dining room had a separate gluten-free area. It turned out to be a hot plate labelled vegan and gluten-free, with only vegetable dishes, and everyone used it for vegetables. As a vegetarian who needs gluten-free food, my options were salad and vegetables. Since all dining was buffet-style, cross-contamination meant nothing there was safe for someone with coeliac disease. Twice, after being shouted at in aggressive-sounding Italian, we managed to get kitchen staff to make gluten-free pasta. The kind head waiter and another helpful waiter saw how distressed we were and helped us. We were given gluten-free bread rolls, too, but the breadsticks also provided turned out to contain wheat. It was quite appalling and spoiled the experience. I’d assumed Sicily would handle this well because Italy apparently has a high rate of coeliac disease, but sadly this hotel didn’t.