Marina Palace - Nesebur, Bulgaria 

Myself, my husband and our 3 children aged 10, 8 and 2 have just returned from a fortnight at the Marina Palace but I have to say what was in general terms an enjoyable holiday was wrecked as we were checking out at 3.30am in the morning by the hotel receptionist who threatened to call the police when I refused to pay a 400 Lev minibar bill on the grounds that I had already paid for our consumption once and that the minibars in our 2 rooms had only been filled once when we arrived at the hotel and not on a daily basis as they were claiming!!!!! . My advice to anybody staying there would be to exercise caution when using the minibar because although they do not refill it, they will try to charge you as if they have when you check out and threaten the police if you dispute the charges!!!!. They'll also try to insinuate that you have a drink problem but I would have had to have been permanently drunk to have run up a 400 lev minibar bill in 2 weeks and I only ever drink the occasional glass of wine with dinner!!! Yes, I admit we did use it in both the rooms we had, my husband thought we were given the vodka and whisky gratis but I paid for our consumption at the end of our first week on realising that this had happened as we were holidaying on a very tight budget and the one thing I wanted to avoid was very large hotel bills, also as I've already said the minibars in our rooms were not refilled once during our stay so we couldn't have consumed their contents on a daily basis as they suggested!!!! It seems strange to me also that this problem arose at the end of our stay, when we were leaving in the middle of the night , with young children in order to catch a flight home and that they have a leaflet in the hotel rooms which says that complaints made after departure are not justified!!!!! My complaint arose at 3.30 in the morning when we were leaving, so I've contacted the holiday operator to complain because obviously after all this and being threatened with the police at 3.30am in the morning, I just wanted to get home!!!! Other than this the holiday was ok though. Nessebar is a beautiful town or at least the old part is,( the new part is a bit of a dump!!!!) people stop you in the street and ask you to buy things but don't bother you if you just say no thank you. I'd avoid the Romantika restaurant there though it was very expensive and I had food poisoning after we'd eaten there!!!!! The hotel was clean if very functional but meals were a bit bland and as other people have said not very warm. They seem to cater for mainly German tastes but in fairness, I have to say that even with 3 very fussy children we managed to eat there on a regular basis and the food offered was perfectly edible, also nobody became ill after eating there!!!!. The kids enjoyed the trip to the Aquapark in Sunny Beach ( Much better than the one in Nessebar!!!) and to the blue mountains at Sliven. but the pool on the roof was often too cold for them to spend much time in!!!! I was disappointed that the SPA services were not available and nobody seemed to know when they would be. Also there was a lot of conflicting information re times of meals and trips etc and the staff did not seem to be very well informed about things like this which caused confusion. All in all although we enjoyed our trip apart from the debacle when we were checking out, I'd probably go back to Nessebar again but not to the Marina Palace. Also it is a myth that Bulgaria is a cheap place to visit. Not anymore, we found it to be quite expensive. Its no longer a place to go for a cheap holiday!!!!!

After reading the more recent reviews I was concerned about my holiday but from start to finish we had a super time. We traveled with Balkan Holidays , on time , usual plane food , did remember to take English notes! Mini bus to hotel in 40 minutes, straight to rooftop pool on arrival, yes it is cold but just what you need in 30 degrees of heat! Rooms are well equipped and cleaned daily , odd numbered rooms get the sun in the morning , even in the afternoon.the fridge is very handy for the beer etc. We ate in the hotel every second evening as it is so cheap in the many closeby restaurants(2 course meal for 2 with bulgarian wine about £12).The food in the hotel was just as good with an excellant variety over two weeks as stated in other reviews the temperature of the food is not as hot as we like but not a tummy bug the whole time we were there.If you like welldone toast you will have a problem and a long wait, this hotel caters for many different nationalities and they do have different tastes!The waiters are friendly if you are friendly, I got a huge hug from a young lad whan we left( they work every day for 4 months). The view from the top of the hotel is spendid, over to old Nessebar which is a unique place.The sandy beach is a five minute walk & the sun shades are 5 lev. The sea can get rough but there a lots of lifeguards to let you know if you venture too for out . If you like Benidorm or Blackpool go to Sunny Beach but families , couples young or not so young will enjoy Marina Palace.Go with an open mind about Bulgaria and you won't be disappointed.