Veranda Palmar Beach Hotel & Spa, 3 Star

Myself, husband and 2 children (8 and 4) stayed at the Veranda Palmer for 10 days towards the end of July. Usually when we travel we start in a 4 or 5 star hotels but we changed our destination some what last minute from Egypt to Mauritius and decided to stick with an all inclusive that was roughly the same price as what we were planning to spend on Egypt. Veranda Palmer had great reviews so we decided to go with it. Firstly it didn't start well. It was our 10 year wedding anniversary and also our flight was arriving very early one morning so I wanted to enquire about checking in early as we had a very early arrival. I sent 4 different communications over a few weeks - via the website, an email, follow up email and then contacted via social media. Eventually got a response but when arrived at the hotel at 8am and told our room still wasn't ready until 2pm. Also we never had any acknowledgement from the hotel of our wedding anniversary. The positives about the hotel. The hotel itself is very pretty. They've got a lovely little beach, beautiful grounds, good size rooms for 4 people and a nice pool. There were plenty of children with different languages that played together lovely and the kids club was wonderful. They had activities like bracelet making, baking cookies, going to the beach etc. The hotel has very much a relaxed family vibe - most of the children, despite ages and language differences all seemed to play so lovely together. The entertainment team had plenty of activities on too and also the free water activities like a glass bottom boat, pedalo and kayaking. The weather was glorious - I was slightly worried with being on the East coast in the Mauritian winter we would have plenty of rain and wind but it was a pleasant sunny mid 20 degrees all of our holiday which was great. My major gripe with this hotel is the food and the drink. Firstly the drink, as an all inclusive only hotel the majority of drink options aren't included. Fair enough for premium spirits but most were still standard spirits with an different flavour to them. I don't see the point in having so many items you can't have included for the majority of the guests. Also Apple juice was included but virtually every bar it was out of stock and then later on they were out of mango juice too. This was the same for most of our stay. The food was my biggest issue all week. Not the quality or taste of it as we had some wonderful dishes here - but the lack of consistency and replenishment. Primarily the food for children. If I'm honest, my children aren't the most cultured souls so anything beige (chips, pasta, fish fingers etc) with the odd fruit and veg thrown in they are happy. They have a kids corner and at numerous meals times out was completely empty or not even put out. My children won't eat fish curry or Thai calamari salad (like probably the majority of European young children). A few days into the trip we found out they had a specific kid

Wow! We had the most amazing two weeks here, 32'+ sunshine right next to the beach with white sands and turquoise waters. The ideal place to relax in the beautiful, tranquil surroundings where we enjoyed great food & drinks. The air-conditioned rooms make even the hottest nights comfortable with large beds and well equipped, cleaned daily with lovely animals left on the bed made with the towels😊 All staff were so welcoming, friendly and helpful, giving a wonderful personal service, with a special mention to Zuu for always going the extra mile to help, advise and share his excellent local knowledge and that of the island👍👍👍 We hired a car to explore the island (Eden Car Rentals in Belle Mare recommended) which is so amazingly beautiful and will definitely return to relive the experience and explore more of this wonderful island from the same amazing hotel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The hotel offers a wide variety of activities to keep you busy, but also makes resting as easy as can be. Beautifully kept grounds and rooms. Very friendly and professional staff (shoutout to Clive the entertainment manager, and Suren the Horizon restaurant manager).