Magic Aqua Rock Gardens

We have just completed a 9 night break at the Aqua Magic Rock, accompanied by our 15 year old Grand daughter. What a thoroughly enjoyable holiday! We opted for the Ultra All Inclusive package which entitles you to Internationally branded drinks and free entry to a range of the resorts attractions. Our room 512 although relatively small was kept clean and thankfully Air conditioned...a must as temperatures reached 95f during our stay! Although we didn't use the restaurants daily, we found the food plentiful and varied, with something to suit our individual tastes. The Hotel is kept immaculately clean and the staff friendly, especially Rosemary, Eddy and Alfonso of the bar staff. Finally a special thank you to Tony, the British Entertainments Host for all his hard work in keeping us all amused each night in the Mogambo Suite A true gent who goes out of his way to get to know you individually, and is willing to help with any questions you might have.

We’ve recently returned from Magic Rock Garden. Overall it’s a good hotel but we have a few positive and negative points to share: First the good: The evening entertainment is excellent. At least two different acts each night, sometimes three, plus a great kids disco every night. The Animacion team are really enthusiastic. The Ed Sheeran tribute in the “British bar,” run by Tony, was BRILLIANT. He made our night, especially our little boy who he got up on stage with him. Overall the food is great. Doesn’t always look that appetising but tastes good and good selection for an all inclusive. The bread rolls and chocolate croissants are lovely and the selection of mains on the oriental night were really tasty. All the bars have named brand drinks - we were having Gordon’s Pink Gin most nights, delish. On the whole the staff are friendly and helpful (just a couple of exceptions below). The hosts in the restaurant were particularly helpful and the cleaners and maintenance staff are always polite and friendly when you see them around the hotel. The air con in our room was awesome - I know this sounds like such a small thing but when you’ve been struggling to sleep in the muggy UK for a few weeks prior it’s a welcome relief. Great for our small baby too as always worry about her overheating. The theming and decor around the hotel and in the rooms is good. Our rooms were cleaned every day to a decent standard. The shower is really nice! Another little thing but helpful - the Wi Fi is really good. Quick and constant, and not just in reception like some hotels but in our room too. Just as an extra note - we flew from London Southend with EasyJet and couldn’t be happier with the service. Staff were great, plane very comfortable and roomier than usual TUI flights. All very smooth and easy, especially helpful with young kids. And now for the negatives: The layout of this hotel is strange to say the least! It’s clearly called rock garden for a reason because everything is on different floors and confusing to navigate (even on the last day I was still checking which floor certain bars and pools were on!). The evening entertainment all takes place inside which is a shame as usually hotels have a staging area outside which is really pleasant on the warm evenings. Rooms don’t have balconies - again very unusual, especially for a four star, so again nowhere to sit outside or dry your towels. Be warned that travel cot hire is €6.50 per night! Which seems extortionate, frankly, and a bit of a con. So if you can be bothered to bring your own travel cot, do. The worst part about the weird layout is the lifts. Since we had a buggy with us we were constantly needing to get the lift from one place to another (the pool to the restaurant for example) and they are very small and VERY slow. One morning we waited 20 mins for a free lift. There aren’t really enough sunbeds and you have to queue 30 mins before the pool opens to get them. But once we knew this it wasn’t such a big deal. The air con in communal areas is patchy at best so we were often hot watching the entertainment, eating or waiting for a lift! There are queues for the main dining room if you come down during the later part of breakfast or dinner but the staff are good at setting tables and moving you along quickly. My son really didn’t like the kids club and only went there once. He’s usually very sociable and enjoys kids clubs but he said he was lonely as all the other children were Spanish so he was a bit left out. Obviously this isn’t the hotel’s fault but just something for British families to bear in mind - it’s not like the TUI run kids clubs you get at the Family Life or Holiday Village hotels. He also said there was no toilet in there and staff told him he had to just wait until we collected him! Don’t know if this can possibly be true but worth checking before your kids go there. The packed lunches are revolting and inedible (and that’s from someone who eats almost anything!). We chucked them and bought our lunch when out. Most staff were great as I said but there were a couple of exceptions. One of the bar staff in the Safari bar (I believe his name was Layonel) was rude and miserable, and decided to chat to his colleague while I was midway through speaking to him. After a couple of nights he cheered up though so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Someone who definitely doesn’t deserve that though is one of the lifeguards at the flume pool. I don’t know his name unfortunately but he’s the very young one without a beard (the older chaps and the young one with the beard are great). This lifeguard was AWFUL - rude, whistle-happy, spent the entire time flirting with girls and messing around with his mates rather than watching the pool. Constantly abandoning his post. He only watched the pool to unnecessarily blow his whistle at people. He did things that were frankly dangerous and setting a really bad example to the kids around such as throwing his mates into the pool and even abandoning his post to go down the slide with a friend (two people at a time, which isn’t allowed for anyone else). Ignored any complaints people took to him. He should be sacked in my opinion but it was clear he knew lots of people so I can only assume he’s related to a manager or something! Anyway, that’s the end of my rant. Overall a decent hotel and none of the negatives I mentioned prevented us from having a good time. I just wanted to mention them so people wouldn’t be surprised as we were occasionally.

Entertainment team, Priscilla, Willian, Ainoha, Maria, Andreu, anais, Karina, you were amazing i cant thank you enough, you kept my son busy everyday 12 till 2200, you gave an opportunity to relax with partner knowing that my son in safe hands. Again thank you all