Hotel Riu Karamboa - All Inclusive - Adults Only

Rui Karamboa Cape Verde First impressions nice resort but not 5 star 4 at best …. My opinion did not change Adults only resort yet children from Palace next door was with parents walking through resort not stopped by staff. ? sports bar ok but live sports keeps buffering SportsBar Very poor TV coverage and unfortunately the pool table was substandard with broken parts see attached photos Rooms very spacious with spirts and mini bar , safe in room , wardrobes are located in the bathroom , Bathroom had a small shower, no power and no bath - limited shower gels Kings size bed with seating area and 2 seated balcony Housekeeping very loud in the morning woke us up at 08.00 by shouting and being loud in the corridors even though they did not enter our room that early , is not what you you expect for a peaceful holiday. No clean towels when we went to exchange them at 1630 Drinks no branded drinks at the pool area whatsoever , Bacardi available at the main reception bar only but all local brands available throughout - no procesco or sparking wine but was told we can buy it … no Bombay Sapphire no Apple spritz Gym opened at 8 am poor size not enough equipment for the size the hotel very disappointed. But at the least did manage to do sessions by getting there at 7:45 to ensure I was the first one in line no water bottles or towels provided so take your own Food Reservations are easy to be made on the app but was told only 1 themed restaurant booking per stay ? - what’s that all about ??? Italian first night and it was as expected , plenty of choice and really tasty and service was spot-on , 3rd night we went back and the food was poor and the service not great to start with and food not replenished as you would expect . Restaurant as expected service is really good with plenty of choice of Asian foods white wine was house which was fine but again no sparkling wine. Ala carte restaurant by far the stand out food of the holiday everything course was spot on and delivered to the high standard you come to expect with a 5 star resort unfortunately everything else was not where near 5 star Lunch buffet - was told at 14.30 - that the club sandwiches were finished when I asked to be replenished - but buffet did not close until 17.00 poor service … Rui white party was excellent entertainment and sax player was superb Had to reinstall the RUi app twice which was not great

What can I say, as standards go for a riu hotel. This was shocking after having stayed at a number of other Riu hotels around the world, the standard was not there at all. To begin with when we got to our room which was on the first floor in the furthest block from the centre to find there were no lifts to help getting our cases up to our room was not great, the room was dirty with a massive clump of hair up the wall that looked like it had been pulled out of the drains. There was then also a dirty mark that was very suspicious on the wall between the toilet and shower. On looking at the mini bar that's supposed to be re-stocked every other day, this did not happen throughout our 10day trip. One of the bottles of alcohol was empty with the measure/dispenser broken on it and so couldn't be used. We had to report these problems twice at the reception and once on the app for them to be rectified, which at no point was an apology issued to us for these problems. After asking to speak to a manager only then was an apology given to us and a bottle of fiz as an apology. The holiday it's self, we'll I booked this hotel for the fact it was adult only and also it was a riu hotel so expected a high standard to the food and activities and general facilities. This was not the case the food was bland and in the main restaurant the meats that were cooked and presented for you to help yourself too were extremely salty and not edible. It was near enough the same food every night in the restaurant, and sadly nothing to showcase the local food. Booking the 3 restaurants was a nightmare, having to be done through the app for the hotel which didn't always work and the 1 and only A La Carte restaurant was showing as fully booked for our whole trip and only showed availability for 5 days time, but this had to be booked at reception as the app didn't work. The wait staff showed little to any initiative to come round and ask if you wanted refreshments during meal times and you had to help yourself, again very disapointed. The food was covered in flies at the restaurant down by the pools and as such we dis not eat here if we could help it. The shows in the evenings were okay but again we're nothing like shows put on in other riu locations, which was disappointing. The best evening was the white party while we were there but again there was a couple of dance acts during this that did not make sense for the party and looked like they had just been used to fill a gap. The state of the hotel for one that has been refreshed only a couple of years ago is shockingly bad. With black mould and water dripping from ceilings on corridors to rusty showers and plug sockets not fully attached to the wall. If I was to be asked by anyone, I would advise them not to stay at this hotel and find an alternative. This is by no means a 5 star hotel and is more like a 3 star plus. One last thing as per someone else review, the flies are really really bad and I would suggest a fly spray is t

You can’t fault any of the staff. From the moment we were met by Gilberto to the time we left, all staff in bars, restaurants, housekeeping were fantastic. Happy, chatty, engaging and really looked like they were enjoying their job. Rooms were great. Spotlessly clean and comfy. Apart from the fish selection and amazing salads the meat I found tough, often overcooked and repetitive. The four other all inclusive holidays we have enjoyed would all beat this menu selection hands down.