Viva Sunrise

Reception: We were met by a check-in agent who quite bombastically stated that our booking was without any meals, even though we had booked half-pension. The misunderstanding was after a few minutes cleared, and I would overall give the reception an "ok" rating for our 10 night stay. Not very greeting, welcoming and smiling in any way (working in the hospitality industry myself, I personally feel that "welcome" should be the first word from a receptionist a check-in, but ok), but mostly the reception filled its purpose during our stay. Rooms: (we had a 1 bedroom apartment/room) Overall nice and of good standard and renovation. Very nice and large bathrooms. Room was simply but nice furnished, with all necessities in place, and a small kitchenette with among other things a fridge. Housekeeping: Probably the best side of this hotel. Pleasent housekeeping staff, way more smiling and welcoming than anyone else at the hotel, and the cleaning itself was of high standard. Restaurant: Sadly, this was a huge negative surprise. The staff are nice enough themselves, but the food is a big drawback. Most of your choises from the buffet was either tasteless or practically unchewable, and we mostly ended up sticking to eggs, bread and fruits. Which was far from our expectation from a buffet that had many choices. Facilities: Nice, but overcrowded outside hotel area. The pools were of ok standard, and the outside area is nice though smaller than you would think from the pictures. Of other fascilites were massage, which my partner tried and reviewed as ok, if nothing special. And a supermarket with decent prices, which was a nice asset. In addition there was a couple of kiddie-/baby rides and a popcorn machine. Environment: Seriously overcrowded, in particular with Swedes who seemed to feel too much at home occupying and reserving sunbeds, and not following general rules or normal human behaviour. I did not see the hotel do anything at all with this, which added to the annoyment. Probably because Swedes are their biggest customer group? But please keep in mind that we are also some other guests. Animation/Entertainment: This was by far the biggest drawback. While most of the animation team seemed fairly interested in doing their job and keeping their guests happy (with superstar columbian Mario in front, who is a real catch for any hotel entertainment team), one individual in specific seemed to do her most to commandate, dictate and make guests unhappy. Her name was Evy (or Ivy), and she alone managed to ruin our vacation for both us and our soon. She was generally unpleasent, rude, made you feel like you were a hassle on every approach, and was clearly both very unhappy and seriously misplaced in such a role. We have absolutely no understanding of how such behaviour and personality could be recruited for an animation team (I have worked in animation myself in my early days). It has been 6 months since our stay now, and we still can not get this sour character out of her heads. Having said that - thumbs up for most of the other staff. They are hard-working and honest, although they hotel suffers from being a tourist machine. A little more soul and smile would be highly appreciated, by any future guest. If ever in Alcudia again, we would not go back to this hotel.

We were back in the Viva last July for our 4th time and I have to say, it was as amazing as ever. If you've got small kids, you'll struggle to find a better holiday anywhere. The apartments are bright, airy and spotless (I'd highly recommend paying the extra for a poolside room) and are cleaned regularly by the exceptionally friendly cleaning staff. The rest of the hotel and pool area were also spotless. The kids club is brilliant. Our two older girls joined in their activities most days while our toddler stayed with us and happily splashed around in the pool instead. They do so many different things that there should be something for every child to enjoy. The Mini Disco in the evening was definitely the highlight of their day. Even our 2 year old got in on the action dancing along with Bufo and Katy! It was lovely for us to be able to sit and relax and just watch them having fun. There's table service all around the seating area near the stage and we had the same waiter every night (Jonathon) who was so lovely and helpful. Last year was our first time to go all inclusive as we'd always enjoyed sampling other restaurants outside the hotel. However, we decided to give it a go and were delighted with the decision. There was such a good selection of food for every meal that even the fussiest eaters could find something (and I should know as I have 3 of them!!). Probably the only downside was when our 2-year old discovered that she could have free ice cream and wanted it at 9am!!! There is honestly nothing bad I can say about the Viva Sunrise. Every year we're waiting for standards to have slipped or to be disappointed in some way, but it has never happened. We've had 4 brilliant holidays here and already can't wait to go back this summer.