Latest Reviews for Duni

First description was DISAPPOINTED! 40 hrs prior to travel we were informed by 1st choice that our chosen Hotel the Royal Marina was double booked and we were relocated to the Pelican.It transpired when we got there that this had been happening all peak season with the english.Word of warning dont go here if you have an issue with the germans as we are by far the minority!! Pelican rooms are rather basic but adequate and our maid wonderful and friendly teaching kids bulgarian.One problem was the number of steep steps we has to tackle to get to beach with pushcahirs.Beach lovely.

Food plentiful with lots of salads,veg,fruits, butnot best place if an over fussy eater. and we did manage a evening at the fish a la carte on seafront thanks to excellent rep Barney,but usually exclusive to Royal Marina guests.Which the hotelier refused to allow any first Choice over booked to use (or any of the other 'nicer' perks).However Thomas Cook guests overbooked were for some reason!! hotel kids club abit of an safety issue the reps were very keen to for you toleave your kid but no actual safety mechanisms in place to prevent wandering/lost kids in the busy resort, and my poor 5 year old was spoken to in german all afternoon!Despite this we made the most and enjoyed the food/alcohol,pools ok,no need for beach towels they supply,some good sports included in price.My mate got pickpocketed in Sozopol by a little girl so beware. Taxis pretty mad driving bu reliable if booked from reception and bring you home when asked, reasonably priced.

Overall a nice holiday providing you are prepared to be downgraded,not overly paranoid about what you sample to eat,you get no hassel from time share reps/touts etc as you are on one massive resort which is a bonus,like lots of nice fattening pudding every mealtime and afternoon. Would recommend go again but not get my hopes getting into the Royal marina as a member of staff explained this is how it always operates evry summer with the minority i.e the english always being relocated first- SO BE WARNED, as there was one poor couple who had booked their honeymoon and ended up at the Pelican in single beds! And First Choice doesnt seem to have any power to help at all. First Choice Rep Barney speaks excellent English and I actually felt sorry for him picking up this mess evry week. He generally wanted his guests to enjoy Duni so tried his best to help.

Oh the Balconies are a real danger if you have small children as they can easily slip/climb through the big gap. Safety laws are clearly not paramount yet In bulgaria. So go open minded and understand it is a cheap,clean but primitive holiday resort, and has till now kept its own Bulgarian culture which was nice.

Had a great holiday. Whole Duni complex spotlessly clean and food very good.

Marina Hotel right by beach and activity pool(music,aerobics,games etc).Can use pools at Pelican or holiday village for peace and quiet.

Rooms very wellkept- the only problem being some are near main road (but doubleglazing and aircon counteract the noise),and some of others are rather in shadow of enormous new Marina Royal Hotel (whose facilities cannot use)

Most of holidaymakers German.Sunbeds not a problem as same number in complex as bedspaces.Entertainment staff speak English as well as German.Enjoyed evening shows in Ampitheatre.

Sea generally safe for children(except when windy),and watersports well cordonned off from swimming area.

Didn't need to go on Bulgarian Evening trip as meal in Mechana restaurant on site lovely(staff in national dress )and had Bulgarian dancing one night anyway(including fire dance).

Trip to Sozopol a must(but beware the overpriced photographers with Disney etc costumes and chameleons).

We went to the pelacan Hotel in Duni on recommendations of friends who went there in may 2004, This holiday was nothing like what they described.

We arrived at the hotel at 1am, first impression it was clean and the staff were friendly, we managed to get a drink from the lounge bar as it dos`nt shut until 2am there was only me and my partner in the bar which seemed strange as i thought someone would of still been up having a drink. There was no music on in the bar just a tv stood on a stage with some german channel playing out.

The room had twin beds, the carpet had stains all over it, the balcony over looked onto a roof underneath our room you could just see the hotel pool.The bathroom was nice with bath, shower and hairdryer. The tv only had one english channel which was the news channel.

The meals were horrid, breakfast - the only thing we would eat was toast and hard boild egg.
Lunch - we never ate lunch at our hotel as there wasn`t much to choose from we had lunch at the palace hotels pool restrant which had a lot more choice - pizza, chips, chicken (which didn`t look very nice) burgers i tried a burger but when i cut into it the blood ouzed out. soup and a salad bar which was always swarmed with wasps and flies.
Dinner- There was always some sort of meat but smothered in different sauces, none of the food at any of the restrants or pool bars looked freshly cooked it always looked as if it had been warmed up, my partner would only eat the soup as it was piping hot but one night they had put tripe soup on it was fair to say we never ate that night either. By day three we were so hungry we had to by biscuits and crisps from the hotel shop which wer`nt cheap.

The hotel was dead there must of only been about 30 guests which were all german we were the only english there, when we asked the girl behind the bar why there were'nt many guests there she said cos the resort was shutting down a week later. That explaind why they were moving the sun beds from around the pool and beach and why the food was warmed up so they could get rid of it.

on day 4 we enquired about how to get a flight out of there but we were told there was no more flights out until the day we were leaving, i was devastated, i just stayed in the room all day listening to the news channel over and over again.
you could'nt even sun bathe as there was'nt any sun it was dull and chilly.

we did get a taxi into the old town just to try to get someting to eat but the places there were dirty and with not having anthing proper to eat for 5 days it made my stomache churn. The few pounds i wanted to lose before the holiday i lost by the time i got home.

All in all this was the worst holiday we had been on it was so boring even the entertainment which was only on one night was in german. We came to the conclusion that it was like that cos the place was shutting down but they could of made some decent food for the guest that were there.

It was all inclusive but they defantly got there money for nothing.

If after reading this you still want to go to this hotel don't go in october go earlier in the year as our friends did and they enjoyed it.

This hotel was booked last minute and what an excellent surprise! My friends and I were absoloutely thrilled. The animation team are fabulous, the food is great and the location is superb. The only downside as mentioned by previous guests is the cold swimming pool, but it is such a lovely pool you simply have to go in it anyway. There are jellyfish in the sea but they don't sting (apparently) according to the locals. A further tip from the locals, my son got quite badly sunburnt as did some of the other children in our party, there were some lovely older Bulgarian female cleaners who rushed into the kitchen and cam be back with a massive pot of natural yoghurt which they liberally applied to the children and it really worked - no pain.

The other thing is that although you can use the Pelican and Belleville Hotel you are strictly not allowed in The Royal Marina Hotel, there is tight security, however, that said Barney are fantastic First Choice Rep did manage to wangle me entry in to their gym. By the way, the Belleville Hotel has views to die for and you must try the Yacht trip, we saw dolphins.

Enjoy