Hotel Club Dolphin Reviews

I can only repeat what most people have said about this hotel.there are two pools one is what is called the quite pool which has a bar and is also used for the Fine Dining at night which i would recommend this was about £20.00 per person but for waiter service and a 6 course meal with 5 different chioces of menu including excellent seafood all in a peaceful setting was well worth it. the other pool has all the activities around it. however it can still be a relaxing area as there are plenty of sunbeds and a large area so you can move away from the activities if you want to. all the staff from the room boys up to the managers were friendly and very helpful. the hotel rooms are well equipped as are the bungalows and all rooms have now been equipped with tea/coffee making facilities.fridges are available for hire as well if you need one.the restaurant food was very good with a lot of choice and if you dont like spicy food there were still a lot to choose from.The local fruit drink in the bars at the hotel was a drink called sour sup which was pleasant and refreshing however if you want a real drink be aware there are no measures here.Rooms were clean and tidy and ours overlooked the pool on the ground floor great for just walking straight into the pool in the morning.the pool was well designed with an area for children which was no more than 15cm deep then at each end of this vast pool were 2 areas which were about a metre deep and in the middle was the deep part which was the only area where you could dive in.Entertainment was basic but could be a laugh and was all done by the animation team who were all great to be with.There was security on the beach 24hrs so you felt safe but i would say that most of them knew the local guides from the beach these guides were not a problem and we found them a lot more helpful and did do 3 trips with Thamel (ASDA) which were the river trip, elephant orphanage and Kandy, and the Negombo trip which were all well worth it.All these guides have shops called ASDA, SAINSBURYS, TESCO and HAROLDS which i am sure should have been HARRODS but got lost in interpretation.all were friendly and helpful and we did find that Thamel had a contact at the elephant orphanage which helped when we went to feed the baby elephants but remember to ask if you use him.if you do venture along the beach make sure you have plenty of sweets for the children that will come up to you.A truly wonderful country and hotel which makes fo a lovely holiday.

My Husband and I travelled to Sri Lanka in March 2008 for our honeymoon, and it was our first trip outside the EU and we used First Choice. I'll try to make this methodical and usefull! Rooms - We staying in the main building as the hotel were kind enough to upgrade our booking to celebrate the occassion. We had a balcony over looking the pool and sea, a tv/dvd, bath and shower and much needed air con. From what i gather the bungalows are comfortable, have fridge and tea making facilities and open air bathrooms. Pools/Entertainment - There are 2 pools; a quite pool with a small bar, and what i do not doubt is the largest pool in Sri Lanka! There are sun beds scattered around the pool and lawns, and a busier bar. This is where the day's enertainment plays out in the form or darts, skittles, aqua-aerobics etc. Happily we did not feel pressured to join in, but welcome on the times we opted to. The evenings enertainment is at the hotels 3rd bar, and was worth a look in for a few giggles. Food - My Husband and I love Sri Lankan and Indian food, so were not disapointed! You find your own table for each meal, whenever you are ready. You are quickly attened to in regard to any drinks you want, and waiters are always circulating with cold drinking water. The sides of the restaurant are open and there are many ceiling fans to make the temperature comfortable. All meals are buffet with a wide choice of starters, mains, desserts and salads. If you dont enjoy spicy foods you will have no concerns - I would guess that there is around 10 options for dinner plus accompianments. Service - Staff were all very attentive, without being over bearing and we did not onc feel pressured to tip. Our room boy made up the bed beautifully and every evening someone comes round to offer to change the mosquito repellent, spray the rooms and leave a few flowers behind. (a note on mosquitoes - i didnt get bitten once and am usually VERY prone!) Location - If you intend to venture out, the location may not be ideal - it is a long dirt track to the nearest "shop". Howver the reception staff wilol summon you a taxi within minutes which has air con, and engish speaking driver and very cheap rates. on the other side of the hotel it joins right onto the beach patrolled by security staff so you should not be bothered by any touts/"guides". We will undoubtedly return to Hotel Club Dolphin and would recommend it to everyone.

Went with First Choice on the who were excellent on flight, transfers and in hotel. The weather was very hot around 35 degrees plus and humid in resort all the time we were there. Sea water and swimming pool very warm, both like getting into warm baths.

Hotel was on the beach with the longest swimming pool in South Asia. Lots of choice with food and the deserts were amazing. We had a ground floor delux room with TV and DVD player with a large free DVD library to chose from. Everynight a couple of chaps came in to turn on the insect repelent and to spray the room and give us flowers. We liked the entertainment the on site entertainers provided it was just right and a couple of show were provided by outside acts during the two weeks we were there. Everyone at hotel were friendly and the service was very good. Went on a day trip to see elephants..tea plantation..bontanical garden..Temple of the golden tooth..spice gardens, where we all got a free massage, which was all the body, done while we were sitting on the benches provided, also gem factory which was very expensive if you wanted to buy,trip recommended and well worth the £30 each. Went in one of the local taxis one afternoon..it had roof but rest open air and on three wheels. Glad we did it, but will stick to air conditioned ones in future. A lovely country with lovely people and a lovely hotel.

Would go again..I surpose the only downsides are the long flight and the hotel did not have wine on its all inclusive package, it was a extra but I think this applies to all hotel in Shri Lanka and the very strong currents in the sea made it dangerous for swimming. We did go in but kept near the edge.

Just came back from sri lanka staying two weeks at the club dolphin hotel what can i say except excellent,We flew with first choice who were very good on arrival to columbo there were reps there to meet us we were put straight on an air conditioned coach and were each given a bottle of water each. On arrival to the hotel which didnt take long about 45 minutes within 10 minutes we had our room key and was on the way to our hotel room becouse there was 3 of us we had to have a delux room which was bigger plus had tv and dvd player it was very clean all the delux rooms face the sea. if you like spicy food then there is plenty to choose from there was some plain food but you could still taste the spice, the desserts were excellent from fruit crumble to ginger pudding i have never tasted desserts like it.
The staff were so kind and helpfull they coulnt do enough for you, even though it was an all inclusive you have to pay for diet coke which is all i drink and wine.

Some times they had evening entertainment outside at the dolphin bar
it didnt start till ten and would end about 1 in the morning so if staying in the delux rooms you can easily hear it this was one thing i didnt like about the hotel so perhaps you would be better to stay in a cottage if you wanted more peace and quite.

The beach is just what it looks like in the brochure but be warned the under current is very strong and they adviced us not to go in the water and that was for the whole duration of our holiday
i was a bit upset about that as it didnt state this in the brochure.

We booked 2 trips with our first choice rep one was to the elephent orthanage and the other to sigria rock they were both first class we decided to have our own driver and in an air conditioned car and you only have to pay i little bit more but its worth it as you you can decide how long you want to be at certain places, their is beach boys on the beach who do trips but becouse i was with my mum and sister they were trying to rip us off so in the end we went with our own rep.

I hope what i have written will help you decide if you want to stay at this hotel,

excellent flight on first choices own plane with plenty of leg room even in standard class up to the minute films on personal screen hotel accomodation we stayed in a bungalow on the beach frontwhich was comfortable and well serviced by the ";Room Boys"; food was varied and plentiful with sweets to die for
evening entertainment was alright bt usually only lasted for about an hour when it moved from the stage to the night club where you had to pay for all drinks i wonder why?
staff we very attentive and helpful

high light of the trip had to be the elephant orphanage at pinnewala could have stayed longer
on the down side when ever a local did anything for you eg took photos they exspected payment
weather was intense heat and humidity thank god for air con
we would like to return at some point to visit the south part of the island as from negombo this involved some 5 hour road journey and having suffered the road conditions this was a step to far