Valamar Club Dubrovnik Hotel - Dubrovnik, Croatia     

Just returned from a weeks break at the Valamar Club. This was not our normal sort of holiday, but we wanted somewhere to just chill for a week, and wanted all inclusive so we didn't have to bother thinking about anything. As another reviewer has pointed out this is not the all inclusive deal that most of us customers think of. If you want to eat or drink anything outside of the very regimented breakfast (7-9.30am), lunch (12-2pm) or dinner (7-9pm) hours you have to pay. The poolside bar, lobby bar and beach cafe all charge 15K for a bottle of water, 20K for a beer etc. I had to play cat and mouse all week with the restaurant staff so that I could fill up my water bottle. On two occasions it was snatched away from me and filled with tap water. The tap water is supposed to be fine, and is for washing, brushing teeth etc, but even the Thomson tour rep advised visitors not to drink it. The food was good and plentiful, depending on what time you arrived for meals, don't leave it later than half an hour before closing or you'll get leftovers. Good selection of cold salads, freshly grilled meat and fish, and lots of cakes! The free Lowenbrau beer and wine with lunch and dinner were also good. Food did get repetitive after a week. The ventilators above the grilling area need to be improved. After every visit to the grill you came away smelling of whatever they were cooking. Not great after breakfast and heading out for the day to smell like a fryer. The room was small, and very basic with plastic table and chair which a neighbour took out and left in the corridor for extra room. However, the air conditioning was useless. Its lowest setting was at 24 degrees, and would come on when it reached 25 degrees. Apparently it shouldn't be lower than 5 degrees from the outside temperature but this made it quite uncomfortable until we finally got used to it. There was a ceiling fan, but that had a speed and life of its own, and even on the lowest setting at night had an irritating repetitive noise, so we turned it off and coped with the air-con coming on and off repeatedly - hence the earplugs. We would have kept the doors open but the nightly entertainment went on from 9.30 to 11.30 every night, and not quietly. We requested a sea view room, and indeed the view was lovely, but the noise was not. In-house band Dora and musical theme nights were loud and intrusive, to the point you could not sit peacefully on the balcony, nor escape from them in the room with the doors closed. Nor could you escape from them at the beach bar, or the outside balcony of the lobby bar. The in-room safe also broke, and was not fixed again during our stay. Heard other guests at reception complain about things that had been reported as faulty but still not fixed by the time they departed. The pool was clean and big, which it needed to be with the amount of people in it. If you want to swim lengths forget it unless it early morning, but if its just for a dip to cool down and bob about then its fine. Never had a problem getting a sunbed as there were plenty, just don't expect a great deal of personal space. We still chilled, relaxed, and had a good time laughing away these little annoyances, but will be returning to our more independant way of travel in future......

A warning to anyone booking their holiday at the Valavar Club Hotel thinking that they are booking a "All Inclusive" holiday think again. The only time you don't have to pay extra for ANYTHING, is with your meal at meal times, Breakfast 7.30-9.30am, lunch 12.00-2pm and Dinner 7-9pm. as it was 32 degrees every day we were there, you needed to drink throughout the day and drink is dearer than in England. Water, soft drink and local beer (works out about ?4 a pint). If you have children you can soon spend a small fortune ondrink and ice cream. The resort seems to run with a skeleton staff it can take quite a while to get served (which may be a blessing financialy) There were very few English people there during our stay and no Engish information on the notice board. After saying all this we had an very enjoyable holiday weather was great, pool complex and beach were lovely, the hotel though a bit dated, was clean and beds comfortable, Dubrovnik old town lovely and there is a host of boat trips to various local Islands. Steve from Bucks