TUI BLUE Nevis

Dangerous place for kids near reception they can run straight out On a busy road also someone was injured on their Swimming pool not sure of the outcome of the poor lady,also was badly bitten by bed bugs I lost all my clothes made my holiday the worst ever and tried to Claim for new clothes and a case but tui never replied until I Threatened to use social media ,after a long time they said I refused to see a dr which is rubbish because the staff took pictures of my bites and showed there so called dr he told Them to wash my clothes and they changed my room,also was a mission to get to The beech with buggies as pavements are Missing And broken.was a waste of a £4000 family Holiday Would never use Tui again I won’t even use there £100 Hush voucher

Sunny Beach in Bulgaria is a compromise in terms of holiday locations because its cheap, a little tacky, attracts a lower-class of visitor but is only a 4hr flight. The Tui Nevis Resort on face value looks good, it's only 4 years old and is a TUI resort but it really is far from perfect. LOCATION: Sunny Beach is a little like new Benidorm, tacky, chavvy and just not particularly pleasant. The resort sits on a steep hillside around 15 minutes walk from the front beach, its not a fun journey with young children or a buggy, but it is fortunately situated away from the hustle and bustle of the front. The restaurants on the front are not worth visiting, its typical cheap food with the same menu regardless of which establishment you visit. Expect to see lots of stag and hen parties. The main entrance to the hotel is just off a very busy road, there are no gates or secure entrance, therefore if you kids were to run off down the hill they would be heading towards busy traffic. FACEBOOK: There is a large 'unofficial' Facebook group posing as 'official' for this resort, run by individuals who routinely delete constructive comments from anyone who isn't praising the resort, be very wary of this group and it's admins because it does not give an accurate reflection. We posted in the group while at the hotel to warn other parents of the raw chicken, our post was deleted immediately, that's simply dangerous. RESORT/GROUNDS: The grounds are in really good condition and well maintained, the grass is so green and healthy that it looks artificial. The resort isn't gigantic and so walking from one side to the other is not a big issue, although for some the hill on which the resort resides may be a problem. The staff looking after the property are friendly and helpful but unfortunately when you venture into the rooms, facilities and restaurants, the issues become apparent. ROOMS: We had the Family Suite initially which wasn't ideal if you wish to have your toddler not sleeping in the same room as you, there is only one bedroom and so the only other option is for your toddler has to sleep in the lounge area. The bathroom is tiny in these 'suites' and there isn't a bath although they do provide a plastic baby-bath if needed. On our second night, the air conditioning in our room failed and the unit was dissected in the morning by engineers to determine the issue, we heard nothing more and so called for an update. We were told that it would take 3 days to repair, this is unacceptable in 31c with a small toddler and so after lots of phone calls we were offered a room move which took 2hrs of our time to pack and relocate, however we were upgraded to a 2-bedroom Suite instead which was far better with two bathrooms including a bath, much more appropriate if you've got toddlers. However in the new suite, one room's air conditioning didn't work either and the TV signal was constantly on/off (same in the previous room as well) and oddly for a 'Family Life' resort, there is only one kids TV channel, also almost all channels were in Dutch. None of the telephones in the new room worked, nor did the locks on the bathroom doors. Attention to detail seems to be an issue here, these above elements should be checked by cleaners or maintenance at least before/after new residents check in/out. In terms of cleaning, we found it strange that bin liners weren't ever provided, consequently the bins were pretty much always a bit dirty. There was dirt and crisps down the sides of the sofa bed and a pile of raisins under one of the beds. We never really got that nice 'clean' feeling whenever we returned to our apartments, the cleaning needs improvement. On your first day, you're provided with a couple of bottles of water because it's not advisable to drink the tap water, however that's the last of the bottled water you'll see, despite it being an all-inclusive resort. You're expected to refill your bottles using the water machines scattered around, this is really poor and bad hygiene, every day there should be new bottles provided. This clearly isn't about saving the environment, its about the hotel saving money. Hot water for showers in both rooms was also inconsistent and the temperature often fluctuated up/down while showering. One morning, there was no hot water for a shower at all for hours. A key issue for us in both rooms was darkness, the curtains were slightly transparent (see photo) and so let lots of light into the rooms early morning, plus we struggled to get the rooms dark enough for our toddler to nap. We resorted to sticking bin-liners to the windows, we shouldn't have to do this on holiday. The keycard system they have in place means that if a card is inserted in the room inside, you can't use another keycard to unlock the front door - so you can't go out and leave air conditioning on ready for your toddlers nap when you return. Plus if your partner is in the shower and you head out to grab a snack, you can't get back in. A very silly system, it's dangerous too if you briefly leave the room to get ice/water from the hallway machines and couldn't get back inside. Finally, when you're on holiday its nice to be disconnected from the rest of the world but weary parents like a bit of WiFi and that's a problem in this resort. As soon as early evening arrives, everyone is connected and the WiFi goes down like clockwork, not working again until hours later. This happened consistently throughout the week at varying times and is very frustrating. FOOD/RESTAURANTS: Before booking we read many reviews to assess whether the all-inclusive was worth it or not, we saw comments such as "The food is just AMAZING" and "almost fine-dining". Myself and my wife are true foodies and have eaten all over the world. The food in the main restaurant at the Nevis is just a buffet, there's nothing "amazing" about it at all, it's genuinely just average. We could only conclude that those individuals are accustomed to McDonalds or KFC as their benchmark, and/or were simply overwhelmed by the "eat as much as you can", there were many very obese guests in this hotel. The selection is good overall but there are only a selection of 5-6 hot food choices per day and a lot of repetition day-by-day. The meat is very rarely tender and quite often was over-cooked from sitting in those buffet trays for hours. The pizzas are however freshly made and baked each day and are genuinely pretty good, if not a little doughy. Located by the upper-pool is a 'Snack Bar' which opens at various times in the day, it also offers fresh pizza and various fast-food takeaway such as chicken, chips and a selection of ready-made salads and fruit. Here arose the first food issue, our toddler bit into a breaded piece of chicken and we fortunately spotted that it was entirely raw, not even partial but completely raw while the other side of this chicken was cooked, even more dangerous. We showed the Bulgarian chefs but they did not appear to be too concerned and so we took it to our TUI representative who immediately actioned the removal of the remaining chicken and hopefully warned the kitchen that it was utterly unacceptable. Members of the unofficial Facebook group defended the hotel stating that "guests should always check their food abroad", an entirely illogical and silly response. There are also two onsite restaurants which you're permitted to use once during each week. The standard of food in these à la carte restaurants is better than the buffet but it all feels like the same food ultimately although it nice being served instead of having to serve yourself. The Taverna wasn't as good as the Green & Grille but both made a nice break from the buffet. A member of staff called Marina in the Taverna was especially friendly and a pleasure to have serving us. However, to book these restaurants is a real frustration, you're not allowed to call the restaurant or visit adhoc, you have to attend Reception at the bottom of the hill between 1pm and 3pm, then queue up with other guests to try and book a spot, you can't even phone to book during this time. A highly inefficient and frustrating process, especially when the restaurants during our stay were virtually empty every single night. DRINKS: We read so many comments of "the strawberry champagne is amazing" before travelling to this hotel and so we were curious to try, quite honestly it was horrific and simply a low quality sparkling wine with cheap syrup added. The all-inclusive self-service beer and wine during the daytime were actually fairly good, the beer was nicely chilled, refreshing in the hot daytime sun. However, at night the all-inclusive element was a disaster. The queues for the bar were constant and lengthy, therefore resulting in missing most of the family time, and performances in the evenings. Despite the beer being self-service during the daytime, it was oddly not in the evenings and this seemed very inefficient, the queues would be vastly reduced if beer could be served by holidaymakers themselves, rather than waiting for the minimally staffed bars to work through the queues. POOLS/SPA: There are several pools in this resort, due to the Bulgarian climate however they are all generally very cold and unheated, but its nice to have the variety. However, the main large pool is ruined by pumping music through cheap speakers almost all day, the volume is turned so high that the music simply distorts and you could easily mistake the crowded atmosphere for a low-class chavvy Spanish pool party. We found the Relax Pool to be the only one where you could genuinely get a little peace, the holidaymakers at this pool were also decent. Towels are not available at the main pool and it was frustrating that you had to go to the Spa in order to get them, each day fresh towels required a walk up/down the main hill, that was an irritation. The spa itself is dark and tacky, it lacks any feeling of relaxation and the staff working there felt a little sleezy. As we walked in, a Scandinavian couple were on their way out, complaining of how dirty the hot-tub was. PLAY PARKS: There aren't many play parks in this resort, the main one is a short walk up the hill from reception, its very toddler friendly but small and without any shelter from the sun. A simple sun-drape over the play area would provide babies and toddlers with protection from the sun. BABY CLUB: A major reason for booking with Tui is because of their Family Life facilities, specifically Baby Club. We utilised this feature during our stay at the hotel and our son fell in love with one of the staff, Ellie. We had only one complaint, we were told by the hotel that Baby Club has no direct telephone number, therefore giving no opportunity to call the club to check on your child or to give them additional information such as a forgotten note about whether they can nap or not - Baby Club does however have a telephone as they're able to call out, we found this rather odd and misleading. While we were very impressed with this facility, we were disgusted on our return home to find that the Hotel Manager had raised a report with the UK NSPCC with regards to our 2yr old, stating that he was "smelly" and had been wearing the same clothes for the duration of the holiday, this was clearly nonsense. The report was dismissed after just 2 days on the basis of a clear false allegation. We suspect that this report was made due to the complaints that we had made while staying at the hotel (raw chicken, faulty air conditioning etc). OVERALL: I hate to sound elitist, but a certain class of holidaymaker visit this hotel, it doesn't deserve any 5* review because they do not represent this resort at all. While the hotel itself is new, a combination of poor maintenance, bad management, placement on a steep hill and the class of holidaymakers pull this hotel down to a 2* at most. Coupled with repetitive average-quality food, low hygiene levels and risk of raw food being served to toddlers and the general 'feel' of the Sunny Beach resort means that we will not revisit. This hotel falls far short of the Tui Family Life standards that we're used to, we were very disappointed in the overall experience.

Myself, partner and 7year old daughter visited this hotel in June/July 2019 for 14nights and loved it! The pools are great! The food is also really good but remember it is all inclusive so can be a bit repetitive but always something for everyone. We felt the evening entertainment was brilliant both during the day and at night for both kids and adults. The hotel is situated up and into a hill so for people with mobility problems this may be an issue. Shuttle bus to a more quieter beach every 30mins. Taxis situated outside the hotel which will take you anywhere in the centre for 10lev... Overall brilliant holiday, so much so we are returning this summer again.