Pestana Royal Premium All Inclusive Ocean and Spa Resort

The real added bonus for us with this hotel was that they provided a free shuttle service into Funchal. Just belt Christmas this was brilliant as you can see the Christmas decorations on the journey into and out of the city.

Let’s start with the positives. This hotel is beautiful. The staff are excellent, there’s a choice of pool bar or main dining room for lunch and some evenings you can choose between Italian or pan-Asian theme restaurants as an alternative to the main dining room. Our room was spacious and clean with dressing gowns, slippers, mini fridge and a kettle and kept well stocked with toiletries and fresh towels. All the staff were very friendly and helpful. There is a complimentary Madeira wine tasting room. There is a complimentary shuttle bus to and from the waterfront of Funchal which has been significantly redeveloped since I was last in Madeira 13 years ago (where the bus drops you was a semi derelict industrial area full of vagrants drugged out of their minds trying to rob you). Now the not so positive. The attention to detail and service is not of a 5 star standard neither is the food and drink. The best food was the poolside snack bar as this was burgers, toasties, hot dogs and fries prepared fresh to order but the buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner was on the whole pretty cold (the plate warmer is pretty ineffective so within a minute or 2 your plate is cold also), unappetising to look at (either raw or burned but always at lukewarm temperature) and lacking in flavour. I found myself getting several things and picking at them a bit then giving up and just having bread and butter. Desserts were generally better and pretty good except in the Italian restaurant (we had 2 meals there) where they were bland and tasteless. The Italian restaurant was disappointing as the menu was very limited and the food quite disappointing apart from the pizza. The beer was OK but the wine and spirits could strip paint, the juices and non alcoholic drinks were over sweet cheap types. In our room they brought some teabags and UHT milk cartons on the first day but never again so I had to pinch them from the dining room along with an espresso cup of milk which was on the turn by morning despite being kept in the fridge and on our final morning was so sour I couldn’t drink the cup of tea I made with it. There were some cleanliness and state of repair issues in the room with the desk surface disintegrating and the shower screen being caked in grime from not being properly cleaned for some time. If this was claiming to be a 4 star hotel I could understand and give benefit of the doubt but it claims to be 5 star. No way is it up to that standard and I’d venture to go as far as saying it’s 3 star hotel operating in a 5 star building. I would return to Madeira but avoid this place and go somewhere more central on a B&B basis to enjoy the restaurants in Funchal.

Hotel is in a beautiful setting, loved going to sleep at night with the sound of the waves, room was spacious and clean. Food was good, freshly prepared, varied, lots of choices but we did choose the wrong table at times (constantly getting knocked or access blocked by other peoples chairs). Service from all the staff was excellent although some of the dinning room staff seemed pushed at busy times to service all their allocated tables (easy solution - pick your dinning time carefully). Particularly enjoyed watching the sunset from the sunset pool by the bar. The Christmas decorations were starting to get put out and they were fabulous. Staff were very helpful when we wanted to book trips. It's a bit far from Funchal so a shuttle service is laid on which is adequate. I would have liked smokers to be segregated around the pool and sunset bar area.