AP Cabanas Beach and Nature

Myself and my fiancé visited here from 7th-17th June to celebrate our engagement and we were quite concerned at the amount of negative reviews that appeared once we booked our holiday.

We arrived at the hotel and was told we couldn’t check in straight away which was fair enough. We went and had some lunch and then had to wait until the room was ready. It was over an hour after the advertised check in time that we finally got into our room, (we were so annoyed at the point, especially as there was no acknowledgment of our engagement celebration even though I’d emailed prior to our holiday). After a few hours we had a knock at the door and it was a cake and a bottle of bubbly which was a nice touch. The hotel itself is very modern and sleek, with the most beautiful outdoor pool, (there are 3 lots of jets in the pool like a jacuzzi operated by buttons, 95% of the time wouldn’t turn on). The pool surface is quite rough on your feet. Quite a lot of tiles around the pool are loose and so you have to constantly be careful as to not fall over. I notified the staff of this on day one, and was told they would be sorted over the coming days. On day 8 of my holiday I tripped over one of the loose tiles, informed them again that this is a massive health and safety issue, and was told they’ll be fixed next Thursday, (our holiday finishes a week prior), and that in the meantime they will take precautions to ensure everyone’s safety, (not sure what these are because absolutely nothing has changed). I asked if the dodgy tiles could at least be marked but clearly not. Extremely disappointing. The WiFi is good in the rooms but diabolical by the pool and other areas of the hotel. Aqua Gym and AquaZumba pretty much every day, brilliant instructors, full of energy. Unlike other hotels, there are no issues getting a sunbed. Plenty available and don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn, (that’s if you’re lucky enough to not be woken up by the cleaners deciding not to be decent human beings and singing at the top of their lungs at 8am in the morning - this happened at least 5 times during our ten night stay). Got into our room the one day and the cleaners had left no towels, called reception and it took forever, and when the cleaner finally came she was on her personal phone talking to someone, handed me the towels and left without a word said. The room was small but adequate, looked clean from the first look but if you look a bit closer it’s actually not that clean at all. The spa is lovely and it’s great that it’s free, however you have to pay 5 euros for a swimming cap which is ‘mandatory’ however half the guests don’t wear them…… Now let’s talk about the food. Not the best variety and choice available, one or two meats, one fish, chips, a few extras and salad. They had pizza 5 days in a row for lunch and dinner and a lot of the food is either completely bland or doused in garlic oil. The desserts, same again, fruit and some cakes, however the banoffee pie and chocolate cake were absolutely divine. I have a severe nut allergy and this is probably the best hotel I’ve been to for brilliant allergen labels. I never even had to ask as all the information was already there for me. The snack bar food is consistently lukewarm, and as someone with a sesame seed allergy, I couldn’t have burgers or hot dogs during my stay because they were in the same basket as the seeded buns, (cross contamination). Drinks are good. Unfortunately the biggest issue for us during our stay was having to scan our room key to get drinks, snacks and enter restaurants. I did email in about this and was told it’s because of monitoring consumption and identifying all inclusive guests, but we have been wearing all inclusive wristbands the whole time?! So technically the wristbands are completely pointless. The worst part about this was that we weren’t told about this at check in, and for the first day or two we got shouted at and ‘told off’ because we didn’t scan the room key?! If you have a system in place you can’t expect people to adhere to it if you don’t tell them what the system is…… A couple of the staff members are lovely, however the majority of them are extremely miserable and unhelpful - this is across restaurants, snack bar, bars, spa and reception. On day 5 we woke up to a water leak in our room from the ceiling light in the bathroom, and a second leak on the ceiling by the bathroom door. My partner went down to reception and they said maintenance would be with us in 5-10mins. They did not arrive. My partner went down to reception to ask again, I called from my phone and then on the hotel room phone, (was asking a question and reception just put the phone down on me), and maintenance finally arrived after an hour, (ruined the start of our day). The hotel seems to have a lack of care for health and safety, as we kept stating the reason we were so adamant to get maintenance to us asap was because there was WATER COMING FROM A LIGHT FITTING. That didn’t hurry them up one bit! Overall we wouldn’t return to this hotel. We’re extremely disappointed as this is our first time in Portugal and we were really hoping for a nice relaxing break. We paid quite a bit for this ‘four star hotel’ and we were left disappointed.

Very good friendly 4 star hotel.It went above and beyond my expectations. Great friendly staff.Lovely clean spacious hotel and grounds.Large pool with plenty of sunbeds.Great position overlooking the nature reserve,sea and river.A short 10 min stroll into town.So many positives .Many little touched such as tea and coffee.facilities and regular free bottles of water ,fridge ,good hairdryer,great shower…… I could only find ONE fault…….. Only 3 coat hangers each and 1 drawer…..for two weeks.😱 Feedback was given but nothing is ever done and this is such a simple issue to get right.

Firstly I would like to say the hotel, facilities and staff are brilliant - the weather was superb Food etc all good But …… Nobody gives you prior warning that this place is mosquito hell! To be honest I should have realised that being a nature reserve surrounded by standing water that this would be the case Our first night we were bitten alive and then struggled to buy any decent repellent locally as they were sold out ! It then became a case of being inside after dusk which is sad as the music and any entertainment is external It’s such a shame that this is the abiding memory that I will take from this place but sadly as much as the place was beautiful I would not return I’m not sure even the Jungle Formula brand would have helped as all you see in the evening is people with candles on tables etc but still slapping legs arms and necks Not saying don’t go but be prepared