Occidental Grand Fuerteventura, Fuerteventura

I stayed at the Occidental Grand Fuerteventura from 5-12th December 07 and travelled with First Choice.

===First impressions:===
On arrival at the hotel we were greeted by the reception staff who were more than helpful, filling us in on the hotel grounds. As we had arrived at around 9.30pm, they had extended the opening hours of the buffet so warm food was available for us. Our bags were taken to our rooms while we went and ...
...spacious and well landscaped. There are numerous pools so they are never full, as well as a dedicated kids pool with lifeguard, and adult pool which is nice and quiet. In December, the pools were too cold for me to swim in, but the kids didn't seem to mind! Sun beds are plentiful around the hotel, but none are found on the beach which is nice. "Cat Café's" are found around the grounds as a sheltered areas for cats to eat and drink, meaning ... more

I stayed at the Occidental Grand Fuerteventura from 5-12th December 07 and travelled with First Choice.

First impressions:

On arrival at the hotel we were greeted by the reception staff who were more than helpful, filling us in on the hotel grounds. As we had arrived at around 9.30pm, they had extended the opening hours of the buffet so warm food was available for us. Our bags were taken to our rooms while we went and ate.

Hotel:

The hotel grounds are spacious and well landscaped. There are numerous pools so they are never full, as well as a dedicated kids pool with lifeguard, and adult pool which is nice and quiet. In December, the pools were too cold for me to swim in, but the kids didn't seem to mind! Sun beds are plentiful around the hotel, but none are found on the beach which is nice. "Cat Café's" are found around the grounds as a sheltered areas for cats to eat and drink, meaning there are a few nicely healthy looking cats around, but they are shy and don't really like to be stroked and do not come scavenging for food as they are very contended! Try and remember to check their bowls are full.

Our room was very spacious with a lovely large bathroom as well. Sky TV was available but with very limited English speaking channels. Maid service was daily and never woke us up as in some hotels. My only niggle is that the shower should have been more powerful. As a lady washing my hair, I had to spend longer in there to get it wet!

Food:

There are 5 'free' restaurants for normal all-in guests. Italian, Chinese, Mexican, buffet & pool bar. I have to say, our big let down with this holiday was the food. It seemed to cater for the German guests (who were the majority) in that the food was a little bland. In the buffet, although the choice appears to be huge there is little change in food and little meat provided for non-fish eating guests (usually only 1 choice of other meat a day). I'm not a particularly picky eater, but I didn't look forward to meal times. One tip I would suggest is to try the Mojo sauce though! It comes in green and red and is famous in the canaries. It is just fab on potatoes! I looked forward to going to the themed restaurants on our stay as I thought these would be a lovely change. However, I was almost always wrong. All these restaurants are also self-serve, which is not normally the case in themed restaurants of this calibre. It didn't make for a special evening. The food here too left a lot to be desired. The Chinese was OK, but a very small menu available for main course, although the food was tasty. In the Italian, I don't think there was a clove of garlic to be seen! Re-heated spaghetti was the main serving….. We ate at the Mexican restaurant at the end of our stay and had feedback from other guests to only have the steak as everything else was just "so-so". We definitely made the right choice! This was the best meal of the holiday! We ordered 2 steaks, and these were brought to us as raw cuts of meat (good quality) and were brought a stone straight out of the oven to cook them on, to our own tastes. Fantastic!! The pool bar served a few nibbles if anyone missed breakfast, and also did lovely baguettes and cakes thereafter. For me, food can make a holiday, so if this is the case with you, perhaps you should look at another hotel.

Staff:

Like many of the other reviewers, I noticed that the bar staff were quite rude. They didn't make conversation or speak much at all. Sometimes they would second-guess your order without hearing you speak and generally just looked grumpy. However, if you can ignore this, as we did, then it's fine. Drinks were kept flowing, although there was usually a good wait at the bar to be served.

Beach:

The beach is lovely. It's a long narrow strip of soft sand. Take a towel as there are no sunbeds on offer. However, there are u-shaped rock walls which nudists can chose the bath behind without too many prying eyes. It's not great for snorkelling as there's not a lot out there, and the sea at this time of year is cold! Access to it is via very steeps steps, and even I, at 23, was puffing and panting getting back up!

Jandia Town:

Just about 15 mins ride on the bus that stops outside the hotel and costs 1 Euro. You get off when you see the lighthouse and shops. There is a nice stretch of cafes, restaurants and shops and the bus runs every ½ hour. Electric items are cheap, but be very careful where they shop keepers put the decimal place! Also, make sure you are getting all the added extras you get at home, as they have a habit of leaving these out!

First Choice:

First Choice, as always, were excellent! I have travelled with them many times and never found a fault with them. Due to the 'calibre' of hotel we were staying at, and because we flew out of East Midlands, we were automatically upgraded to Premier Class. We have more seat and foot room, free drinks and had priority baggage. We paid a last minute price for the holiday which was very good indeed.

All is all I did enjoy my stay at this hotel although I would class it as 3*+ as food and staff let it down greatly. I am glad we only spent a week as the food would have driven me crazy much longer! 

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