Club Cala Romani (Calas de Mallorca)

...children!

** Club Cala Romani **

It's situated about a 15 minute walk from the beach and a mere 5 minute walk from the commercial centre where most amenities can be found so is in quite a central location although due to the nature of the resort there's very little noise and no crowding at all. The Club Cala Romani consists of 3 great big concrete blocks, not the most appealing on the eye if we're honest! Upon arrival ...
...your usual (fairly brutal) Mr Club Cala Romani and talent shows too - needless to say we never participated! If you've got a family then it's really ideal as there's plenty for the kids to do in the day and entertainment for both parents and children at night, sadly it just wasn't really our cup of tea but the free booze did help to ease our suffering!

** Cleanliness **

I can't fault the room for cleanliness at all, ... more

You'll have to bare with me while reading this review, it's likely I will break down in hysterics due to the lack of warmth and sunshine when this time 2 weeks ago I was still lying and sunning myself on a sandy beach with the sun beaming down on me at around.... oh let's call it about 30 degrees give or take a few! And here you find me, huddling close to my radiator, in a woolly jumper with the rain beating down above me and my tan rapidly disappearing... life really isn't fair!

On the 5th September myself and my better half (debateable of course) departed for the sunny warmth of Majorca while the dark rain clouds gathered in the sky above Manchester Airport. Once I'd actually got my boyfriend on the plane (after we'd been through the usual panic attacks, terrorist worries and engine dilemmas) I sat back and began to dream of the sunshine!

** Calas De Mallorca **

The resort we stayed in was called Calas De Mallorca and is located on the east side of the island, just below the more famous and popular resort of Cala D'Or. It's about a 45 minute transfer directly from the airport and also the capital city Palma.

Our overall impression was that it was very much a purpose built tourism resort, the small centre consisted of about 4 supermarkets, 10 or so quieter bars, a handfull of restaurants and the usual tourist shops including a jewellers, multiple gift shops, leather shops, car hire and excursion outlets, etc. There is very little in the way of services for locals and to be honest, locals are rather rare in this resort - the majority of people working at the hotels appeared to come from towns and villages outside the resort. In total there's about 15 hotels and apartment blocks in the resort, not your biggest so it's quite intimate although as ever there are the inescapable concrete blocks and towers leaving the resemblance of a concrete jungle!

As it's a purpose built resort it didn't appear to be very attractive nor have any stunning landscapes - even the beach had obviously been dredged back and was set between two large cliffs, on the positive side it was quite large with a clear sea and sandy shores. Over a cliff, about a 10 minute walk away is a much more secluded beach which we often found to be preferable due to the lack of children!

** Club Cala Romani **

It's situated about a 15 minute walk from the beach and a mere 5 minute walk from the commercial centre where most amenities can be found so is in quite a central location although due to the nature of the resort there's very little noise and no crowding at all. The Club Cala Romani consists of 3 great big concrete blocks, not the most appealing on the eye if we're honest! Upon arrival we entered the main block, which is about 6 storeys high and about fairly long too - the appearance from outside is really not the most endearing at all and at first glance we were very apprehensive to say the least! After check in we learnt that opposite the pool area outside there were about 2 equally ugly concrete blocks as well as a fourth adjacent to these from another complex... that left us with one side to look at without viewing concrete!

** Check In **

Our main priority was to check in and get to our room... then to hit the poolside! Check in occured in the reception area, a marble floored and neutral coloured hall - clearly once having been quite glamourous but in need of refurbishment due to the cracking floor and peeling wall paper! Check in was fairly painless and hassle free, luckily our room was ready although the people on the same transfer as us were told they had to wait another hour (although it did say check in was available from 1 o clock). The staff on reception speak limited English, apparantly one man does speak fluent English and we were told he would greet us... however he remained rather elusive for the majority of our time there! Once we'd handed in our passports we were given a key & a map and sent off in search of our palace!

** The Room **

Palace wasn't exactly the right word on certain notes! The room was very spacious, as we were staying on an all inclusive basis we expected to just have a basic room but were surprised to find a kitchen and sitting room as well as a bedroom and bathroom. One note however... if you stay on a self catering basis be warned there are 2 hobs, a pan, some plates and a sink... that's your self catering facilities! The bedroom had 2 single beds pushed together, a fitted wardrobe along with a dressing table - practical but rather plain if I'm being honest. The sitting room and kitchen could be doubled up as a second bedroom with 2 sofa beds as couches, a table with 4 chairs and outside a balcony (unfortunately our room was looking straight onto another concrete block... not the best views!). Overall I'd admit it was clean and basically furnished with the neccessities... nothing was lacking but it was far from luxury!

** The Facilities **

After discovering our room we were keen to explore the rest of the complex and see what lay in store for us. The whole complex is built around the pool which once again is surrounded by concrete and sun loungers, there was also a smaller children's pool with play area set back slightly as well as some grass with sun loungers which we soon learnt was the quietest place to be! The complex also has tennis courts and a football type court - yet more concrete, they certainly loved their concrete! Other facilities included the pool bar which sold drinks during the day, the evening hall which is typical of all Spanish resorts comprising of a stage and a bar with many tables for evening entertainment, a small snack bar in which food was served during the day, the restaurant area where meals were consumed, a TV room and the lounge bar. Everything you'd expect from your typical holiday resort could be found here!

** Food & Drink **

Now this was the main bonus of the holiday, my boyfriend and I had strict reservations about going anywhere on a self catering basis and were strongly against it - just too much hassle and so the fact that this hotel boasted all inclusive board was a real advantage! Upon arrival we were issused with a photo ID card (stunning photo about the flight!) which we had to show everytime we visited the bar in order to take advantage of the all inclusive option.The bars were all inclusive from 10 am until 11 pm at night which meant that for a total of 13 hours a day you could drink whatever you wanted and however much of it - we were a bit too keen on the first day and ended up in bed by 10 pm with bad heads! There's a huge range of drinks available - beer, wine, cocktails, spirts & mixers, soft drinks, etc. but as a word of warning, they don't measure out the alcoholic content like in England and in their language there's no word for limit - the Malibu & Coke consisted of about 60% malibu and only 40% coke - bargain for getting drunk though! Queues were rarely more than about 10 so the longest we ever waited was about 10 minutes to be servered, sadly you can only get 1 drink each at any one time!

The food wasn't quite as impressive and after 10 days we did get slightly bored of the repetitiveness of the meals. The breakfast was served until 9.30a.m. in the morning and consisted of your usual "full English" (with hot dog sausages, runny scrambled egg and ham rather than bacon) as well as a selection of cereals and fresh fruit. Lunch was served from 1.00p.m. until 3.00p.m. and there was always pizza, pasta, limited salad, a meat, a fish and your usual accompaniments as well as a choice of about 4 deserts. Dinner was much the same as lunch (I think they did change the choice of meat & fish though... I hope they did anyway) and was served from 7.00p.m. until 9.00p.m. In between the hours where no food was served the snack bar was open and was basically the left overs from the previous meal but it always seemed to fill the gap! The food was of a good quality, there was always something for everyone but it was repeated every day with only slight variety.

** Entertainment **

Now this is the one thing that really put me off this hotel, I'm not one for kids clubs or for games in the pool or anything remotely Butlins like - I do admit when I have children I'll probably be only too glad to send them off to something similar but right now it's just not my kind of thing! Sadly there was entertainment throughout the day, consisting of various sports, games, dancing classes and loud music playing which easily could have been heard in the neighbouring island of Menorca! The evening entertainment was slightly better although dripping with cheesiness - it occured from 8.00p.m. in the evening hall, starting with a kids disco and followed by a family show. The family shows were actually quite amusing - their was a hypnotist there one evening as well as your usual (fairly brutal) Mr Club Cala Romani and talent shows too - needless to say we never participated! If you've got a family then it's really ideal as there's plenty for the kids to do in the day and entertainment for both parents and children at night, sadly it just wasn't really our cup of tea but the free booze did help to ease our suffering!

** Cleanliness **

I can't fault the room for cleanliness at all, it was cleaned every 2nd day with bedding and towel changes too. The restaurant was also spotless, spillages were mopped up instantly and all staff were presented very smartly indeed. The only qualm would be the pool side area, with ciggarette butts littering the floor around the pool as well as empty beer glasses, etc. On the positive side every night it was thoroughly cleaned!

** Security **

As with every hotel there's always the worry of loosing money or having things stolen and guess what... that's just what happened to us! We had over 100 euros stolen from our room and were informed that as the money was not in the hotel safe they could take no responsibility for it - almost implying they didn't even trust their own staff! Due to this we were left with under 10 euros for our last 2 days of the holiday which created enormous problems for us, thank god we were all inclusive or we'd have wasted away!

** Customer Service **

What always makes my stay anywhere more pleasant is the friendliness of the staff, it just makes the holiday a little more personal and more special in my opinion.

Reception Staff - Very rude and brusque in my opinion, especially over the missing money. We were told that nothing could be done by one woman and the next day a man told us that it wasn't their problem! Upon requesting clean towels one day we were told that towels were only replaced every other day!

Bar & Entertainment Staff - These really could not be faulted, they all worked very long hours (from 8 in the morning until 1 at night often) and were never without a smile or a kind word! They really did make the holiday more pleasureable, always a smile or a song for you!

Cleaning Staff - We didn't really encounter them often on our holiday but they always seemed pleasant and smiling!

** Price **

Now this really was the upside of the holiday, we paid under £400 for the 2 of us for a 10 day all inclusive holiday - this worked out at £20 a day each for all the food and drink we wanted - cheaper than Butlins even I imagine! This was through booking through a Teletext company Sun4U and for the price we paid we couldn't have expected anything extra! Brochure prices start at £319 for 1 week for an adult during the summer months on an all inclusive basis.

** Good V Bad **

So the ultimate question here is would I go back and sadly the answer is no. The resort wasn't really my kind of resort but would be perfectly suited to a family with young or middle age children. We were quite surprised by the broad ranges of ages there, from young adults like us (not for much longer as I hit 20 soon) to the older generations too (one man was even 92)! There is something for most people in the resort and the hotel itself - not ideal for those looking for a lively holiday nor for a completly quiet and chilled holiday. It did remind me slightly of a Spanish version of Butlins and the concrete jungle theme really didn't do it for me I'm afraid! 

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