TUI MAGIC LIFE Calabria

We've just arrived back after a mixed bag of a week at Magic Life Calabria. First things first, the airport is not fit for purpose. Only 3 Immigration desks meant an hours queue to passport control and on the return there are no seats, only 2 small toilets and one information board in departures. There is a smoking area however you have more amenities if you stay outside until the last minute. Now for the hotel. Good things first: 1/ The beach area is fantastic. Good sunbeds, excellent beach bar/snack bar and the best evening restuarant in the complex. The beach is sand and shingle and the waves can be deceptively strong so care is needed however lifeguards are on duty. You could easily make a day of it down there. 2/ The walk to the beach through an "enchanted wood" is beautiful. 3/ The grounds are also beautiful except for the area outside our room. 4/ The main pool is massive and a nice depth. Good temperature too and a pool bar, and loads of sunbeds although shade is quite scarce at certain times of the day. 5/ Activities, especially for kids looks to be first class. Now the bad points. 1/ With the exception of the beach bar the food is absolutely awful. It is nearly always cold - the hot plates dont seem to work, and overcooked which doesnt add up but there you go its a puzzle. Fish is added to nearly all salads which was ok for me but not others in the group. Pasta and pizza were ok but cold with some quite random toppings - potato croquette for example. Hard boiled eggs weren't. 2/ There are no table cloths and it is all self service - even your first drink which is the first time this has happened to us with TUI. 3/ We saw the dress code only applied once. This was when a lady came into the restaurant wearing some thong swimming bottoms! otherwise it is widely ignored. Even on the much vaunted gala night when they left notes on the breakfast table to dress elegantly. 3/ The wine is also awful. 4/ The Hotel is very isolated. About 7km from Pizzo. They run a shuttle bus a number of times a day but charge you 5 Euro each way making it a profitable enterprise I think. 5/ The accommodation is in blocks. If you are allocated a room in block 2, 2001-09 and 2101-09 ask for a change. You are overlooked by the main restaurant and your patio area or balcony is useless because it smells of food. There is also a constant stream of staff leaving their compound with trolleys that rattle loudly on the paving. This starts at about 07.00. Block 5 is a longish walk from the amenities. 6/ Rooms 2007,8 and 9 share a patio so if you are unlucky enough to get 2008 you have no clothes drier outside and some mud and a fire escape for a view. Finally, when I made a complaint to the manager Jose, he completely gave us the brush off and in my opinion was arrogant and patronising. All in all, there are some very good aspects to this hotel however it has a feel of a 1970s style holiday camp. I feel that the title Magic Life is a gimmick from TUI to add a premium to the price of your holiday.

One disappointment...the wine is truly dreadful and I mean truly dreadful. White and the red. Rose was just about drinkable. I did complain to 2 members of staff who did agree that it was dreadful, apparently they have to take it from the local Calabria area - well all I can say it must have been a bad year that year. It was such a shame as being in Italy you would expect to have decent wine. The management did leave in our room a bottle of Prosecco with a plate of fruit one lunchtime with a letter of apology which make us laugh because we were all inclusive so not really a hardship but at least an acknowledgment. Anyway moving on to other general information and observations. We arrived home yesterday after a weeks stay and overall we had a great time. We stayed in the 'normal' accommodation. Although we did ask, when we arrived, if there were any private lodges available for an upgrade but the receptionist said there wasn't that day but to ask the following day. We had settled in by the next day and didn't feel it was necessary to move to another room. During busy periods it would pay to upgrade I would think, I had already requested, via email, for a kettle to be in the room before our arrival and said again when we checked in. When we got to our room there was a kettle but no cups saucers etc! So you just have to take these items from the restaurant, plus milk which I got from the bartender. it does seemed odd that in a hotel this size there isn't tea/coffee making facilities in the room, it is a 'given' nowadays. And we were telling people during the week that they can ask for a kettle as it is not advertised that you can request a kettle. I had also requested a quiet room and were pleased that we were a far away from the main evening area. Some people that we spoke to said their room was by the restaurant and they could hear the disco every evening until after midnight - definitely not good! As many people have said the air con isn't the greatest although when we were there is wasn't very hot during the night and managed ok. There is BBC World news on the television. WiFi is good mostly, sometimes dipped out but not for long. Swimming pools - we stayed mainly around the family friendly pool. Although only the two of us in our 50's which no children but it was quieter than the main pool and warmer. However the disadvantage is you have to walk back to the main pool to get drinks. Take beach shoes as the beach is shingle especially nearer the sea which can get rough. Restaurants - overall good, no fresh juice other than tomato juice but plenty of choice regarding food. We tried both specialty restaurants which were very good and it made a change to be served. I booked these before we arrived and used 0000 as the room number and then changed it to our actual room number when we arrived to ensure we got a reservation on the days we wanted. Evening entertainment was ok, we didn't do any other activities. Day trips - we did two days trips one to Reggio Calabria/Scilla and another to Capo Vaticano/Tropea/Pizzo. We enjoyed both very much and our guide, Katya,(both days) was very informative about the area and where we were visiting. she spoke very good English. Both days involved alot of walking and sometimes over cobbled streets. Lunch is not included nor entry fees to museums/castles if you want to go in so take extra euros for these. PS-we booked these trips before we arrived as not to spend a whole morning at the 'welcome meeting' and didnt have to queue to book the trips. Lastly the hotel is very remote, although the resort itself has a large area it is not near anything else at all so do not expect to walk to any other shops/restaurants nearby.

We had a brilliant holiday . We paid a little extra to stay in the adults only accommodation area, which I must say was well worth it. We had the opportunity to use all of the resort however chose to stay in the quieter adults area of an evening by the pool bar. We do like piece and quiet and time to relax and I feel this hotel offered this or there was a fantastic family option . The food in the resort was outstanding, so much choice and attention to detail. Our room I feel was on the small side, considering it was made to sound like a lodge it was a basic size room, with very little clothes space, no drawers . During our stay, there were many members of the staff who went out of their way to make our holiday fun and special . Asheed in the adults only a la carte restaurant, fantastic customer care and always made us smile and made conversation. Martina in the pool bar, was very polite and hard working, she always had a smile on her face and yet again excellent customer care . Lastly Alberto in the adults pool bar, made our stay a very happy one, very good English . The flavour restaurant on the beach was the only area I feel needed changing, some fans and a change in the menu were you can choose your starter and dessert . Many thanks for a fantastic holiday and just like our stay in a sensational hotel in Sorrento it’s the staff in this TUI magic life hotel that would be one of the reasons we would return .