Solana Beach Mauritius

Amazing trip! I definitely am an advocate for solo trips now. The hotel was lovely, good facilities and amenities with some water sports included. The bartender Shane was amazing made you feel welcome. Dominique the team leader was so welcoming, he ensure his team looked after me and catered to my needs and the rest of the hotel guests. The staff were knowledgeable and gave good advice of where to venture on the island. The leisure team made the hotel guests come together to have fun and introduced us to new games. Amazing trip Read less

The hotel is on the main east coast road, and is a few KM north of Belle Aire, so is a bit isolated if you want to visit bars and restaurants as there are no more than a couple nearby, with the rest a taxi ride away in Belle Aire. The hotel has an attended gated entrance (great for security), and some parking for approx. 20 cars The hotel is lovely design in a Indian ocean/south pacific style with thatched roof buildings right on the beach overlooking the Indian ocean and the hotel buildings are surrounded by wonderfully manicured beautiful garden that make it look like it is in the middle of a botanical garden. Some of the wood work in the hotel does need some maintenance attention, but you have to cut them some slack as the hotel is located right on the beach in the Indian Ocean, so not an ideal place for wood to last, so I think the hotel staff do their best to keep it looking good for the customers. Upon arrival you are met by a bellboy desperate to take your luggage from your vehicle and bring it to your room (we prefer to handle our own on our own time). The check in process is a little bit slow and laborious with the reception desk wanting you to complete an online form via an IPAD and then wait to be shown the hotel facilities via a large touch screen TV. Perhaps this could be skipped as after a very long international flight and a 75 minute drive from the Mauritius airport, we were tired and dazed and just wanted to get to the room and settle in. We could have come back to reception later to get all the information. A lot of the information given at this time was quite confusing as to what was included and what was not included in the all inclusive package, so we had to try and find out ourselves as the holiday progressed. We also were not advised of check out times etc, so again we had to check later. We were then shown to our room by one of the reception staff, and we were pleasantly surprised at it's size (we had Junior suite). The room had a huge bed overlooking the lagoon, and a separate dressing room, bath and shower area. The room was spotlessly clean (and was kept that way all the time by the superb staff). The room has a air-con, a mini bar/fridge which is included in the all inclusive package and is re-filled every day, and a room safe. The only worrying factor was that our patio door lock was broken so the room could not be locked, and this was bit of a security issue. All rooms in the hotel are overlooking the Indian Ocean and the scenic coral lagoon that provided sheltered waters to swim/snorkel in. Pleasantly surprising was that a lot of water sports provided by the hotel in the lagoon were included for free (water skiing, kayaking, sailing, paddle boarding, glass bottom boat etc). We changed clothes and headed off to the bar for a first holiday drink to relax. There are 3 bars in the complex, but only the Indigo Bar is included in the All Inclusive package, you need to pay for drinks at the other 2 bars. We ordered 2 cold beers and were surprise to be given a bill to sign. This happens every time you order a drink in the bar, or in the restaurant and it is a bit concerning that it is not clear if you are going to be charged or not (later in our trip we double checked and apparently signing the bar bill is hotel protocol as not everyone is on All Inclusive, but it still is a bit concerning as to what is included and what is not, as you are never sure. The Indigo bar has a large open plan space with lots of soft furnished seats in the shade, or you can sit in the sun overlooking the stage area (next to the pool) where nightly entertainment takes place. Our preferred spot was outside on the wooden deck overlooking the wonderful lagoon and the Indian ocean beyond. The bar staff in general are very attentive and your glass is kept topped up all the time. The best waiter by far is DANISH, he is amazing and always helpful. There are 3 restaurants in the complex...Cinamone is the main restaurant that breakfast, lunch dinner are served and is a buffet style basis where you will be able to find something to suit your taste, and this is included in the all inclusive package. Pomelo is an a-la-carte restaurant that is included in the all inclusive package (if you opt for the a-la-carte menu, and do not opt that day's special meals which are at an extra cost. Secret's corner is the other restaurant and this is a-la-carte and is NOT included in the package, but has to be paid for. One thing that is off-putting is the constant sales pitch you get from the restaurant staff in Breakfast and Lunch for that day's special menu (Lobster menu, Prawn menu, Surf & Turf menu, BBQ menu), which are all at extra cost, it gets a bit tiresome being bothered when you are having a meal. The main issue we had during our stay was that the Hotel catered for local parties/groups a few times during our stay. During these times, the locals took over the entire bar/pool/deck area and the hotel guests were left searching for seats and we were kind of overlooked in favour of the locals. At the weekend a lot of locals came in on day passes, and the pool are was full of locals playing boomboxes/ghetto-blasters, and drinking from glass containers in and around the pool. If it wasn't for a few of the niggles I mention above, this would be a 5 star rating from me. Read less

Day 1 of check-in, basic facilities that are generally provided easily in any top class 4-5 star hotel across the globe were missing. 1. Tooth brush was not there. When we called to get one, we got a response that it is out of stock. We had to wait for a whole day before we got it. 2. AC quilt was not there. When we called the room service, they took almost 2 hours to get the quilt to the room 3. Any 4-5 star resort across the globe would never charge it’s customers for water, unless the normal water there is completely potable & safe for drinking. Your resort was charging a 500ml water bottle so heavily. You need to understand it is a basic necessity, even if you wanted to charge, you could have kept it bare minimum. Even during dinners & breakfasts the waiters never served water, unless we asked to. Water was like a luxury to us when we lived there. 4. Rooms definitely needed some maintenance, considering the charges per night that were taken by the customers is quite high & the rooms were not upto the expectations. 5. The whole route that runs from reception to the different blocks is covered with coconut trees. We literally saw a coconut fall in front of us from the tree just 2 meters away & there was one couple standing 1 meter away from that. It could have caused serious accident to anyone working or living there. When we informed the reception, the guys standing there started to laugh. There should be safety nets installed in the trees to avoid any untimely falling of the coconuts. 6. Our flight was 9pm at night & the check out time was 11am. We had gone to the reception to request for 2 hours extra that will allow us some extra time in the rooms rather than roaming aimlessly without any room all throughout the day. Considering we had stayed for 7 whole days, resort could have easily provided for a complimentary 2 hours extra late check out, that is a pretty normal practice all across the globe, that too when the checkin time was 2pm for the next guests. But unfortunately we were asked to pay if stayed. Hence we booked a day tour to some tourist place & checked out at 10am, which we found a much better approach rather than spending money on staying for 2 hours extra in the resort. 7. Termites were present & they were eating wood on a daily basis. 8. Cost for Southern Cross legacy added in check out bill without informing us beforehand Read less