ожидали большего! expected more!

It seemed that our vacation would never come ...But, finally, it came ...And so we, tired and exhausted by work, flew to the Antalya airport. We rested from August 13 to 25.2013. This was not the first time in Turkey, we were sure that we would like the hotel very much, because of all our trips it was the largest and most luxurious hotel that we booked. To be honest, the hotel was disappointing. Let's just say that they were not ready for some, at one glance, trifles, and on the other, trifles of little significance. But, since I like to talk about everything in detail, I will tell a lot.

Nutrition. This is what disappointed us in the first place. The hotel almost never gave lamb. This upset me very much, since I really love lamb and, in principle, always, when they come to Turkey, I expect to eat enough of it. In any case, many Turks cook it in such a way that you will lick your fingers! !

But lamb is not the only thing I would like to mention. The restaurant has very few normal side dishes. Potatoes in this hotel do not know how to fry any. French fries in 100% of cases turn out to be undercooked, it is generally impossible to eat them! And no matter what bar you take a potato - it will be unbearable to eat! In addition, they cooked fried, stewed potatoes - I can say one thing - this is not their path. The noodles, which were more or less, got tired on the third day, and I had to eat meat and fish without a side dish, which was somehow unusual. Quite an unpleasant surprise, an ultra hotel, where there is nothing to eat))) Well, I'm joking, of course, you won't stay hungry, but don't expect delicacies either. Drinks are a separate issue. It's a joke, but there are no normal non-alcoholic drinks in the hotel ...I noticed that many vacationers drink sprite with lemon in a glass. I also began to take a sprite with a lemon in a glass.
Once there was no lemon in the bar and they poured me just Sprite. Please, smell it - it smells like some kind of medicine ...But you're thirsty!! ! ! ! Sometimes, instead of a sprite, they generally poured a mineral water without taste, which also gave off the smell of drugs. It is very stuffy outside, and if you drink cocktails and whiskey in the morning, what will happen to you in the evening! ? ? I had to endure, but drink. On the fifth day of rest, my stomach hurt very badly. I can’t say that this is specifically from the sprite (by the way, fanta and cola smell about the same, but the smell of the sprite is the most distinct), but when I canceled these drinks for a couple of days, my stomach went away. The choice of meat is not very diverse, almost the same every day ...Something too salty, something too peppery, something you can eat! the chicken was well prepared, the chicken was almost always delicious! ! ! I really liked the grilled trout, I have never tried such a tasty fish before.
And they also have delicious salted fish ...Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen every day, but quite often. Crazy about local soups - although in my opinion a little watery for Turkish soups, but very tasty especially those with tomato - red. Try it, I think you will like it! We did not notice food for children as such. In my opinion, the hotel did not cook porridge for breakfast at all, but they do have cereal. In general, if the kids have some special diet, then this will be problematic. There is a diet table where boiled meat, boiled rice and boiled chicken are served every day. You won’t be able to lose weight, because you will get bored on the second day! =)

A la carte. The hotel has 4 a la carte restaurants. We were in Turkish and Italian. In particular, I really liked the Turkish restaurant. There was a dish there that looked very much like a jacket potato (although of course it wasn’t), but inside the meat was so tasty! !

And of course, I finally ate lamb in this Turkish restaurant. In general, I was satisfied with the Ottoman restaurant! ! Unlike my husband and friends who liked Italian more. I read a lot of reviews, so many people praise the fish restaurant! Probably worth going to it too if you like fish. Asked about the Mexican - two people told us that there is very, very spicy food. Although I also saw reviews that people were happy with visiting a Mexican restaurant! ! ! Be sure to go to the restaurant at least once! Only initially ask for a place to be seated on the street, and not indoors, because the room is very loud and stuffy. A la carte restaurant can be ordered once a week, from 10 am to 12 pm at the guest-relationship.
Rooms. Very pleased. Everything is fresh and clean! !
interesting showers - water pours on the floor, I know that many complain about the wet floor because of this, but I really liked it - because the climate is hot, you can cool off a little! The TV has a lot of channels in different languages. There are also enough channels in Russian - about 8-10. But there was no time to watch TV, only around lunchtime. By the way, tiles are laid everywhere in the hotel and it is very slippery. Be careful! ! ! !

Swimming pool. Attention! ! ! The pool has stairs on both sides. When we arrived, we immediately saw her, but we constantly forgot about her. It is not highlighted in any way - no other color and you constantly forget about it when you flop into the water. I hurt my leg very badly, completely forgetting on this ladder. Thank God, it was a severe bruise, but the leg still hurts sometimes. Every day someone got hurt when they simply forgot about it. Be careful! Do not dive or jump near corners.
try to remember this to avoid injury. I am still surprised that a few more centimeters and I could easily break my leg. It is very dangerous!

Room cleaning. Nober was not cleaned at a very convenient time - early in the morning, when we were still sleeping. At first they put “don’t disturb” on the electronic scoreboard, but the staff does not pay attention to the electronic scoreboard at all and still breaks into your room! After three unsuccessful attempts to break into our room, the Turkish water peddler gave us a paper sign that had to be hung on the door - in this case, they would not break into you. They are not in every room, so if you don’t have them initially, it’s better to ask right away. The staff opens the doors very quickly, you don’t even have time to get dressed =))))

Entertainment. It's just a guard ...Ready to shout, protest and strike about the fact that the hotel does not have discos and a volleyball court.

When choosing a hotel, these were the fundamental qualities for choosing a hotel! We booked the hotel in March, on the website of the anex it was written that the hotel has discos and a volleyball court. August is already over, but their website still notes the presence of a volleyball court and discos. Well, to be honest, we were bored without it. Especially when we counted on them so much. They asked the animators why there are no discos! ? They answered us that they held discos and supposedly no one went to them ...BUT! As soon as some kind of incendiary music is turned on, very often you can watch people who are sitting / standing / lying and dancing ...Well, I don’t believe that from the whole hotel, in which SO many people rest, there will not be a single one who would go to disco. That's bullshit! ! !
There is evidence of this, because on the 10th day of our stay in this hotel, the first disco was held, it was foamy and very cheerful, except for the fact that the eyes are terribly watery from the foam! ! In the morning, the eyes were burgundy and watery - some kind of strange foam - caustic! So a lot of people gathered at this disco! ! ! Probably the third part of the hotel was there for sure! ! ! ! And after that, I didn’t believe the words even more that discos are not held due to the lack of people. In general, I can rate the animation at 4 with a minus. I can’t say that it was terribly boring, but the fact that we had fun until we dropped was not like that! Of the daily animations, I can note games by the pool - they are very fun and somehow charge for the rest of the day! !
They played cola-fanta-sprite, and balls filled with water, which must be thrown in pairs and not lost, and various team games, one of which was to pass a wet towel to the last one and squeeze the maximum amount of water out of it. It was a lot of fun at these games! ! Animator Johnny did a good job of water gymnastics, there were quite a lot of people who wanted to work out! I did not like how water polo and darts were carried out - it seems that the animators do not want to do anything at all. As for the animators themselves - my opinion - they didn’t light it up! They are all wonderful guys, very positive and cool. But as animators in general, the team did not really like it. I would like to single out the chief animator Hadji, in my opinion this is an Animator with a capital letter - very kind, cheerful, incendiary and does his job 101%! We are very grateful to him for organizing the rest!
If the whole team was the same as Hadji, that would be great! ! ! We talked with a Ukrainian girl Vika - a good, sweet and diligent girl, a smart girl. As we were about to leave, Olya, a Russian (or Ukrainian? ) animator, came to the hotel, she was holding a mini-disco, but we didn’t manage to talk. The rest of the animators speak Russian poorly or do not speak Russian at all, communication with them was reduced to a minimum - they smiled sweetly at each other and greeted each other! ! =)) Cheerful British animator Johnny, a pretty girl from Iran Nina - all the guys are good. But only Hadji really lit it. The hotel has billiards and bowling.


Show. There were a lot of different shows! ! ! It was disappointing that among all the speakers, there was only one truly Turkish team - in the Turkish night. All the rest almost everywhere are Russian artists. I really liked the show on the water - when the girls from synchronized swimming came and were delighted with the Kenyan show! !
The guys did such acrobatic etudes on the stage that you are simply amazed. By the way, a lot of people gather for any shows in the amphitheater, sometimes it comes to a fight, so take your seats in advance - no later than 21.15.

For kids. In general, there was a feeling that the hotel is more intended for children's recreation than for youth. Although, of course, many who specifically traveled with children may not agree with this. What we noticed was the mini-club animation girls who entertained the kids as much as they could! ! ! Once we went to the mini-club itself - a classroom where children study according to their interests. Someone is chasing the ball, someone is drawing. Girls animators actively help the kids in their activities. The mini-club is open for a total of 4 hours a day and the children are very happy! ! In the evening, a mini-disco is held for children, after which all children who excelled during the day are given commemorative diplomas and some souvenirs.

Also, children ride in the water park, a lot of fun. There is a special children's pool (although all children still swim with adults), slides (already on the ground) that glow in the dark, there are slot machines in the lobby - you can play basketball, hockey, drive cars, try to get a soft toy from the box. A child from 3 to 8 years old in a hotel is unlikely to be bored. But older children have absolutely nothing to do. In children's animation, they will be very bored, but they are not taken to participate in adult animation. Many children over 8 years old were frankly bored and hanging out doing nothing. The mini-animation is not intended for children over 8 years of age.
Bars. In the bars they offer ...oh, they don’t offer anything there ! ! ? ? On the second floor, in the longest bar, there are cool bartenders - one of them is Kadyr, what can I say, a tough guy! ! He made us such cocktails - we have never tried such cocktails.
For men, he prepared a cocktail called “Airplane” - in fact, a flying cocktail, but not in the sense that you immediately get drunk from it - no, our men just somehow liked it. We drank Baileys, martini rosso, various cocktails. It was delicious. Sometimes they left tips there - the next day they got even more beautiful and delicious cocktails =)) In general, the bartenders and waiters are very cool throughout the hotel ...There are, of course, beeches - but they are a minority. Basically, all the guys are friendly, cheerful and very, very fond of children ...They just see the baby walking or standing - they will come up to her, talk, play. It's nice to see such behavior of the waiters. Nice guys! ! ! By the way, there is one minus in bars! The first - and the biggest minus - a bar with good cocktails and alcohol is located on the second floor - and only there (after 00 hours on the first floor, which is also very far away) - it's just very inconvenient! ! !
For example, you want to drink a martini and watch an animation. But you won’t be able to do it initially, because by the time you get from the bar to the amphitheater, which is located in the water park, you will get tired of carrying your glass - in fact, the distance is not small and walking back and forth with glasses is somehow not very good. Although many went, but I was too lazy +)) That is, there was a choice - either sit in a bar, drink and chat, or go to the animation. In my opinion, not very convenient, why not combine business with pleasure? There is a nice bar near the pool, which is open until 00 o'clock, and there are tables there, and music sometimes plays! BUT! You won't be able to find the same Baileys, martinis, etc. there. Again - why not make a few bars with normal drinks? ? I didn't understand!


Staff. The entire staff is very friendly. If they understand Russian at least a little, they will definitely help you, or at least try to help.
I liked the staff everywhere - from the reception and the bartender up to the cleaning lady and the water peddler. People try in various ways to make our holiday serene and peaceful. For which we thank them very much! ! !
Contingent. We went to Turkey for the fourth time. All four times I dreamed of getting into a hotel where there would be fewer Russians - in order to listen to less Russian music, less Russian speech - in order to feel really abroad =)) Travel agencies have always said that there are practically no hotels in which there are few Russians, and if they are, then initially they don’t sell vouchers there to Russians. But we ended up in Zen - it was he who turned out to be a hotel with a minimum number of Russian people. I've been to this hotel and I don't want to. The hotel has a huge number of Europeans. All Europeans behave too arrogantly, arrogantly and defiantly.
) and then he names the country, and those who came from this country should shout loudly ...and so the Germans shout so that the ground trembles under their feet! 1 =)) In general, there are a lot of them! ! Some Russians, even when they hear Russian speech, come up and say: “Guys, how nice it is to hear our speech, otherwise there are only foreigners around here! ” ! =))

Anex tour. The hotel has two hotel guides from Anex Tour - Rustam and Parviz. Parviz for all 12 days of rest I have never seen! ! ! But I read a lot about the fact that many scold Rustam. . I will say this - Rustam helped us in many ways, although it can be seen from him that he is still that beetle! Specifically, we can only say positive reviews about Rustam, but I think this was one case. We went to rest with friends, they are from another city, they arrived at the hotel 3 days before us.

When they were unloaded from the bus and registered at the reception, Rustam approached them and other tourists and said that there were no places in the hotel at the moment and now these people were going to another hotel, just to spend the night, and in the morning they would be transported back to our hotel . The most interesting thing is that after that, how lucky - someone is accommodated in a hotel that is located nearby - Aidinbey Gold Dreams - in my opinion, such a good hotel ...And some are accommodated in half boards, in which only breakfasts (but this is again rumored, although in fact, you can guess so - at this time of the year all the hotels are full, where else can people spend the night! ? ? ) The Poles were accommodated by several people in one room, and in principle, only in our presence there were a lot of complaints - that two families had arrived, who booked two rooms, and they were settled in one ...Somehow Rustam had to decide everything, but I don’t know how the matter ended in the end. So, about friends.
Rustam told them that they would go to another hotel. All the tourists who came with them agreed. And our guys - in any. They said that they would be waiting for 14.00 and Rustam would simply have to check them into the room, because after all they BOOKED it. Rustam argued with them for a long time, dissuaded them from staying and said that there were no places! ! But as soon as 14.00 came, our guys were settled. The guys initially put themselves in such a way that they would stand their ground - the whole vacation with Rustam had a good relationship, he even quite calmly returned the money to his friends for the excursion, which they refused. By the way, if something needs to be explained at the reception, or your room has leaked or you have been settled incorrectly, contact Rustam, he should help. Also, we noticed some people in the hotel who had two bracelets on their arm - for example, Aydinbey and Zen.
A lot of people were moved to other hotels, perhaps it was only during the peak season, perhaps, and still continues. My advice is stand your ground and don't settle for this! You gave your own money, you booked your room and you are obliged to live there, and not in some hut. Show your character to Rustam - you will communicate normally. If you agree with him in everything, then buy a bunch of unnecessary excursions and stay with your nose. All hotel guides are cunning, in dealing with them you need to be extremely careful.

Beach. Close to the sea. By the way, there is a free bus, but you will have to wait a long time until it is ready - by that time you will already have time to swim in the sea 2 times. We have never traveled by bus, especially since it stops far from the beach of our hotel. The beach is good. on the beach there is a bar, gozleme, drinks. All this also works at certain hours, not constantly. Lots of loungers, enough for everyone.

The bottom is very rocky at the entrance. When big waves are hard to get in and three times harder to get out. Many saw special rubber slippers - probably, they were very comfortable. It is better to immediately flop into the sea, swim a little and there will be a very pleasant sandy bottom. Swimming is very pleasant, especially since the beach is located in a place where there are always waves. On our last two days there was a storm at sea and there were very big and cool waves. Sometimes it was even scary to look at them, let alone swim! ! ! But the sea is great! ! In the end, this is the main reason why we all fly to Turkey! ! ! By the way, you should not sunbathe from 14 to 16 hours - almost everyone who was in the sun at that time got very severe sunburns.
Tours. We were on two excursions from the Anex tour - a hammam and a tour of Alanya. I must say right away - when Rustam tells you about the time of excursions - multiply this time at least one and a half times! !
Everything is always much longer - both the road and the wait ...I did not like any of the excursions. Hammam - don't even go there!! ! ! ! There are a lot of people - massage + foam massage lasts about 2-3 minutes, you just wait for the rest of the time. In any case, it is better to go to the hammam in the hotel - we used to always go to the hammam at hotels and it was much cooler. I don’t advise Hamam from anex at all, don’t waste your time and money. The worst thing is time! ! ! Alanya tour - everything would be fine if we didn’t stop by those damned textile and Onyx stores. Again, it was terribly disappointing for the time, the people who buy there make a big mistake, things are sold with an extra charge of 20-30 dollars. In any other place, you can bargain many times cheaper than they offer you in these stores. Don't get fooled! After all, you are not just brought specifically to this store! ! ! Anex gets a good benefit from your purchases! ! !
Because of the shops in the 40-degree heat, wild fatigue appeared, there was simply no strength left for the yacht, so I can’t say that we were very pleased with the excursions. I don’t know how these excursions are carried out specifically if you buy at the bazaar, but with the annex everything takes a very long time. They promised us that we would return at 15 o'clock, and we returned at the seventh hour.

Bazaar. When we went to Turkey, we always made purchases at the Grand Bazaar in Okurcalar (you can go to it by municipal transport for $ 2 one way, you need to go towards the airport for about 15 minutes). This time, we initially went to the local bazaar, started bargaining, they don’t really bargain there - it got boring and we went to the grand bazaar in Okurcalar. They were a little upset - of course, they bargained there, but they initially inflate prices in Okurcalar by two or even three times.
In principle, they didn’t save a lot, so you can buy things at the local market, throwing off at least 5-10 dollars (the prices are not high on it initially - this is for those who don’t like to haggle! )

Photographers. Basically, it's just footage. They rip off money on everything they can! ! ! One photo costs $7! ! ! ! But it's just mind-boggling! ! ! These crazy prices break almost nothing! ! We participated in the evening animation, which was photographed by local photographers. The next day we approached them and asked how much it would cost to transfer 4 (! ) photos to our flash drive! ! Do you know what they said!? ? ? ? 50 dollars!!!!! ! ! ! Just amazing people! ! Of course, a few days later we bargained with them at a raised tone several times less (these photos were very expensive for us), but it still turned out to be expensive! ! !
They offer to take a photo with a parrot or an iguana for $7 - but these photos, in my opinion, are not worth it! ! It's just a shame for tourists who are fooled for simple photos. We've made it easier. They put an iguana on one of us - and began to take pictures, and we took a couple of better pictures from the side, while they did not see. At the same time, saving 14 dollars =))) So if it's a pity to give money into the pipe, but you want to have such a photo, you can do it like this =)) If they notice, pretend that you didn't know. But the prices are bent, they are simply cosmic for all their services.
Aquapark. The water park is awesome! ! ! ! Although, to be honest, the seams there are really felt very much if you don’t drive in a circle. I have always ridden the farthest hill - it is not so scary, in addition, you can (and even need to) go down on it in a circle.

The slide next to it is generally very slow and it’s even a little boring to ride on it and it’s a pity for a swimsuit that is worn out ...=))) I rode it once, my butt remembered very well every seam that they didn’t solder to the end. I wouldn't say it really hurts, but it's a little annoying. On the last three slides, I did not dare to ride - the black slide is sometimes turned on, and sometimes not, they say, it is the most traumatic. My husband rode it - he says nothing special, the main thing is to take the position of 3 points. In general, I liked the water park, and there are enough circles for almost everyone. And if someone didn’t have enough, then they are very often released, you just have to wait a bit!
County home. Be careful! Buses to the airport from the annex tour arrive much earlier than the appointed time! ! Our friends were picked up 15 minutes early and we were picked up 40 minutes early.
Therefore, if you don’t want to detain the others (who are already waiting for you on the bus) and feel guilty later, it’s better to sit at the reception an hour in advance and be ready to leave.
It so happened that from our city in March, by early booking, we took a ticket for 90 thousand for two - expensive. In my opinion, the hotel is not worth it ...Last year we rested at the Water planet aquapark de luxe hotel - it costs less, but is 1000 times cooler. Therefore, if you choose a hotel for an ACTIVE (! ) vacation, consider it first of all.

Outcome. The hotel is good. It's not great, it's not bad, it's just good. He must be really 5*. But personally, I don't rate it 5*. It all depends on your mood and willingness to relax. If you have come with a positive attitude and are ready to have fun, help the animators to entertain yourself and others! Participate in everything where possible - then you can take 100% of your vacation!
If you just come to lie in the sun and swim in the sea, then this hotel is for you. The animation is unobtrusive, no one will pull your hand somewhere to participate. You will not stay hungry, and everything else is up to you.

Usually there are those who want to read my reviews to the end. I hope you have them too! =)) Hello to everyone who read everything. Write your comments and suggestions, for sure, many of you will not agree with what I have written. But how many people - so many opinions. And specifically, I remember Zen the inn just like that. If you have any questions, write to e-mail: nspu_mf@mail. ru, or write messages on VKontakte: Lenochka Maslyukova.