Melia Tortuga Beach - All Inclusive

An amazing experience! My friends and I had an unforgettable stay at this resort, where everything was simply perfect. The atmosphere was beautiful, the service was excellent, and the staff was always kind and attentive. A special thanks to Edmir, who was incredibly dedicated and welcoming. Without a doubt, this is a place we would love to return to!

On arrival we checked in at reception and paid to upgrade to the VIP package, at a cost of €50 for adults (3) and €30 for children (1), totalling €180 per day. See photo for listed benefits. We then booked the various restaurants etc for our weeklong holiday with Wagner (VIP manager). We were then given the key cards to our villa and shown on the map where our 4 bed beachfront villa was located and told our luggage would follow. On arriving at the villa, none of the key cards would open the front door, but we managed to gain access through a patio door that had been left unlocked. We then tried to use the phone in the room to contact reception, but this was not working. My husband went to the Cabana restaurant/bar to ask if they could call reception to inform them that our keys didn’t work. Abruptly, he was told NO you have to walk back up to reception to sort out!! Our bags arrived and we trudged back up to reception to get new key cards and inform them that the phone and tv’s in the villa also weren’t working. They were unable to immediately fix the keycards so we were given one normal metal door key, to use between the 4 of us. They also said that the phone in the room had not worked for some months and they would come and look at the tvs, which had no remote controls in the room. We then asked how we were meant to contact reception or order any 24hour room service from our room without a telephone and were told to WhatsApp Wagner or Heidy if we wanted anything!! This obviously turned out to be impractical as they would have days off and didn’t work 24hours. The villa was promoted as having a fully equipped kitchen. Yes there was a kettle,fridge, microwave etc, but not a single item of cutlery or crockery etc to use to even make a cup of tea, let alone a saucepan! The other items that were obviously missing from the villa were, bathrobes, bathroom amenities such as tissues, cotton buds, decent amount of toilet rolls, fans in 3 bedrooms as air conditioning only in master bed and lounge, table and chairs on the patio and to be honest it just seemed dirty and bare. We messaged Wagner, to request the missing items etc and problems with the villa but he had already gone home for the day, but he passed the messages onto to Heidy to resolve. We were tired from a full days travel and just went to signora sassi for dinner and thought we’d sort it out the next day as we weren’t getting much help from reception, who just stared at us blankly claiming they didn’t understand. In using the villa overnight, we realised just how filthy it was, with what we hope was insect blood on the walls, fungi growing in the showers, ticks and cockroaches in the bedrooms, mold growing on the disgustingly stained mattresses, grease stains on cushions and curtains, filthy floor, stained bedding and towels, we once again trudged up to reception and demanded to see the manager, Mr Luis Miguel Goncalves as our youngest daughter had also come out in a rash basica

hotel - not complete luxury but still very lovely! very nice, villa cleaned daily, bathrooms clean and good pressure from showers. comfy beds and pillows. shampoo, body wash and conditioner included, conditioner is soooo good. a few extras provided, e.g. razor, shower cap, mini sewing kit, cotton wall pads, etc. two main pools, one lively with music and one quiet. loud pool has a swim up pool bar! shout out to ricardo and bruno, very good bartenders. tiles missing from pool but really not as issue unless you just want to be miserable. also two kids pool, one undercover. sun beds and umbrellas are good but can be hard to find as they are reserved early. no deposit is actually needed for the towels and they are easy to get from the towel hut by the pool. resort is beautiful with trees and flowers and lovely cats who we invited into the villa. aircon in living room of villa but not all bedrooms, but keeping bedroom door open in enough to control temperature. no problems with villa. two little gift shops with cute key rings, jewellery, soap, clothes etc. do not wait to get to the hotel to buy sun cream!!!!!!! one bottle is £20, so get it at the airport or bring it with you. beach is very nice, clean, but with limited sun bed. you can use sunbeds from neighbouring hotels 50 meters away, they don’t care. tropical fish in the water and opportunities to dive and snorkel. there is a man with a monkey! very cute. some staff a little rude, but mostly very friendly and enthusiastic. shoutouts to fabio from the spa, little willy from the pool, and the zumba/ darts man (forgot his name). all staff by the pool were lovely and fun. little willy asked for my instagram. food and drink- a few cocktails to chose from with the all-inclusive, along with a wide variety of other drinks, soft and alcoholic. cocktails were delicious and bartenders are happy to add more alcohol if you find them weak. bars are at the pool, in the lobby, and at the beach. restaurants are the buffet, an italian restaurant, a japanese restaurant, the beach restaurant and the secret garden. i recommend the last two, but all are nice experiences. a la carte restaurants are included but you need to book them, you can book all nights at once at the start of your holiday. be careful with the buffet or eating any fish or high risk food, a lot of food poisoning complaints but can be avoided. can’t be sure but looked like a lot of left over food was used the next day at buffet and sat out for a bit too long. secret garden has lovely steak and other grilled foods. food wasnt amazing overall, but some choices were great, and the a la carte restaurants were generally super good. very good variety considering it is all imported. water is good, a lot of bottled water provided. if you run out just ask at reception. entertainment- daily activities including water gyms and aerobics, pilates, yoga, zumba and dance classes, darts and beach volleyball/ football. there is a timetable in recepti

On arrival at Sal airport we met the TUI rep who tried to flag down our taxi who had decided to drive off. She did call another taxi for 8 people with only 7 seats and was made to put the youngest on a knee. On arrival we were told to go the bar and get ourselves a drink while we waited to check in. 5*??? The concierge took us to our 2 rooms and it was all downhill from there. The first room was covered in water, the aircon didn’t work (no aircon in twin room at all) and was leaking all over the floor, no tv, no hairdryer, no working phone. 4 attempts to fix and it was only a temporary fix. We were shown to the second room where the staff had to shoulder barge the door to let us in. Turns out the door handle was broken and only access was with a key. The place was dirty, staff rude & aggressive, soiled sheets, poorly maintained in all areas. If you can find a seat in the restaurant, good luck finding plates, cutlery cups, no table service, etc. Food was average and lacking choice, no ice cream in the whole result but the staff said we could purchase it at a cost from the beach I haven’t got the strength to list all the issues, but I can definitely say don’t waste your money! Stay at the In Palace instead which is incredible. Due to the obscene amount of issues during the first 6 days of our holiday we were moved to the Riu Palace which was amazing. Everything you would expect from a 5* resort & more.

But, shouldn't have worried. Will admit that we had a problem with our allocated room (aircon unit leaking). Asked to be moved, and ended up in a lovely room. Staff were very helpful. The hotel seems to get a lot of criticism re the food. We found that especially in the main dining room there was so much choice you could always find something to eat, and the desserts are really yummy. Only complaint would be that the air con in the restaurant and main building needs to be more efficient. Always book the speciality restaurants when you can, gives a bit more variety. The beach is wonderful, and a short walk to the safe swimming beach. I think people need to be aware that all of the food items are imported and as such may not be available on the menu as expected. All in all we enjoyed the holiday.

Food not cooked, and hot plates cold! Cockroaches in the restaurant Stains on curtains Holes in the bed sheets No hot water some nights Tiles missing in all the pools Staff absent Balcony still had cigarette butt's on for the full 11 days TUI rep missing 2 of the 10 days TUI told us this was 5 star, it's not even three That's just some of it. Avoid this hotel