TUI BLUE Lagoon Princess

We had a wonderful week in this beautiful location The staff were excellent and in a difficult time went above and beyond . The hotel was not over busy [ understandably] we had a great room lots of Space with all the amenities, the restaurants [ good choose ] were great , the buffet restaurant we had to be served by the staff [ due to COVID regulations ] entertainment wow what can we say , Professional shows in a great amphitheater lead by a very smiley Ruby and fantastic cast . Thanks for a great time .... we will be back .

We have just returned from the Tui Blue Lagoon Princess hotel in Halkidiki. We had a lovely two bedroom two bathroom swim up room. Couldn’t fault the size or location of it. It has a large terrace with sun beds and a table and chairs. A separate sliding patio door for each room to access the terrace. Steps straight into the pool ... but, the water is not heated, it’s freezing. It literally takes your breath away as you get in. Not pleasant and very difficult to get a small child into. This did spoil our holiday. The grounds of the hotel are very spacious and the rooms nicely dotted around so you do not feel on top of each other and there are lots of pools in clusters next to the different room blocks. There are enough sun beds and parasols. We went during the pandemic so the sun beds were spaced out more than they normally would be, this was nice as you’re not on top of each other. There are pool bars and the grounds are kept nicely. Drinks are served in plastic cups (even hot drinks) The hotel is right next to a beach. It’s not a pretty beach as stated in the literature. It’s sand and stones and a lot of seaweed. The pull of the tide is quite strong. There isn’t anywhere to walk to or see along the beach. We had our room cleaned twice in the week we were here. It was adequate. I make the bed when I’m away so that didn’t really bother me but I did have to phone reception for an extra towel change. The restaurants and food are definitely not five star. I have eaten in five star hotels and this hotel definitely isn’t one. Due to pandemic you cannot serve yourself so there is a lot of queuing. You have to stand behind lines and you have to point at what you want. The hotel did not have enough staff to serve. Two or three waiting staff running around to each different station to serve the queuing guests was not good especially for the amount of guests. For example, breakfast- you would wait in queue to get toast, walk to the egg station and wait to get eggs, then walk to the middle station to get beans, bacon etc and again have to queue waiting for the member of staff serving toast to finish his queue to cone to your queue!!! By the time you got back to your table your food was cold and inedible. Total utter chaos!!! We mentioned this to restaurant manager and he replied “Not my job”!!! Your tea and coffee (which you order as you are shown to your table) is always cold by the time you are back at your table, Breakfast is the normal buffet of full English or continental. Lunch is quite repetitive, pizza, pasta, fries, then a Greek option, vegetables, salad. Serving staff wear face masks, guests do not have to. Sanitising stations readily available on entrance to all restaurants. Dinner again was the normal ‘staples’ plus some themed meals (ie) Italian, Greek, Spanish. But if I’m honest, I never once had a hot meal and I always felt rushed. The restaurants aren’t decorated in any special way and the food is mediocre so how this is classed as a five star resort I don’t understand. The entertainment wasn’t good. There is a evening kids disco followed by an hour of entertainment from the team. Then from 9pm the team (3 people) dress up and sing - themed events (ie) ABBA, Disney. They work hard and sing well but this isn’t five star entertainment, if you don’t have kids you can sit outside having a drink listening to a live singer. It’s been a surreal experience, but we have enjoyed having a weeks break away in the sunshine. I would definitely recommend our room (7404) but I would advise that if you are expecting a five star experience you will be disappointed. There is nothing special about the food or entertainment, and you are not next to a golden sand beach. Pools are cold - I’m always baffled why Hotels in countries that enjoy good weather don’t use solar panels to heat up the pools. I’m not asking for heat, but don’t expect ice either. This hotel has the potential to be a five star, but it isn’t one yet, it has to have quite a lot of work done to it to become one.

I travelled here with my sister in a last minute booking as our holiday elsewhere was cancelled. We were advised to download the app to check in, which we did but we still had to check in at Reception and there are long queues. The sea view we requested didn't happen but we were upgraded to a suite with a semi private pool which was absolutely lovely. One of the worst issues for us as we like our tea in the morning, there were no tea or coffee making facilities in the room, they had been removed, apparently because of Covid. This completely didn't make sense as we could have ordered room service but of course there is an extra charge for that, there is nowhere to get tea or coffee in the morning except in the main restaurant. For the same reason we didn't have the towelling robes but we had towels, which didn't make sense! I You have to book all of your meals on the app, which isn't ideal as you don't want to be tied to specific times on holiday, so we booked but didn't stick rigidly to the times. Breakfast in the main restaurant was a farce, it is a large restaurant and there are far too few staff on duty who run between food stations to literally throw food onto your plate. None of the food is hot either. We generally ate in the bay at the far end where Anna waited on us, she is a credit to the company and was always smiling despite the long hours she (and her colleagues) work. It should be a buffet restaurant but because of the restrictions you have to walk about with your plate and tell the staff what you want. With the all inclusive deal you can have one main meal in the Taverna and one in The Green and Grill. The Taverna wasn't anything special, we ate in there lunchtime as it's nearest to the beach, it was only in the last day we were told we should book for lunch too. The Green and Grill we were looking forward to as the meat is cooked to order, however we were provided with a glass of wine and our order and then ignored for the rest of the evening, very poor service. For hot food the best place is where they make crepes to order, toasted sandwiches, hotdogs. All of the toilet facilities appear to be underground, down a flight of stairs, I think there were lifts to some but not the ones nearest the beach. The hotel advertises that you can order drinks to your sunbed, I believe this only applies around the main pool, as it certainly didn't on the beach unless you pay 35 euros for a gazebo and also not at the private pools. You can take a drink back with you but they are in awful little plastic cups. The beach is lovely although stony on the shore but fine a bit further out. Suitable for children as it's quite shallow although it did get a little windy in the afternoons which made the waves a bit livelier but in the mornings it's very calm. Maid service is only twice a week, which was fine for just the two of us but might be a bit trying if you're a family with children. There is a small shop on site, but very expensive. We didn't have to wear masks in the resort, only in reception when booking in and out. All of the staff however do wear masks. I can't comment on the Tui rep as we only saw her on the way to and from the hotel. I have been generous with the rating as I don't know what it was like pre-covid and the resort is lovely for the price we paid (just under half price). I wouldn't be if we had paid the full price. It was a nice holiday and I'm aware the travel industry have taken a hard hit but it could have been better had they had more staff.