Turtle Bay Beach

This is our seventh time at Turtle Bay Beach Club, and probably the first time we have reviewed under five stars. Three stars might be a bit harsh, as I think a lot of the frustrations were unique to us having been there so much.

The positives first. The location is amazing, right on the beach which is great for looking around rock pools or snorkelling off the beach. We also ventured out to some of the other hotels (try the cocktails at Medina Palms) which can all be accessed from the beach and are a short tuk tuk ride in the evenings (or short walk if you’re feeling adventurous).

The staff are amazing as always, although there were fewer of the old staff that we know and love than there has been on other occasions. This is probably because we arrived shortly after the Easter weekend and they were starting to wind down.

The grounds of the hotel are amazingly well kept. A personal favourite of mine is just sitting with a coffee at the weavers bar watching the weaver birds. The rooms are ok, nothing amazing, but you hardly spend any time there so it never bothers us. Housekeeping do an amazing job keeping the rooms clean and stocked with fresh clean towels.

The big downside for us was the food and drink. On our first visit (back in 2011) I remember being very impressed with the food and drink. As the years have gone on, we have found ourselves getting more and more bored with the food, specifically in the evenings. Breakfast is great, lunch is ok, and 4pm pancakes are always amazing (thanks Josef 😀). By the evening we found ourselves uninspired by what was on offer. It’s difficult to pinpoint why, exactly, but figure it is because we have been there so much. In fact, I am going to change my rating to four stars, as it is much fairer haha. It’s also worth mentioning that every time we come to Watamu, we get a bit more adventurous. So this time we ventured out to more places in the evening (Ocean Sports, Hemingways, Lichthaus, Crab Shack, and Ascot all recommended). One night we even got picky bits (bread, cold meats, cheese and choc) from the Blue Marmalade restaurant and took it back to our room to eat (with a pot of butter kindly sourced by Kadengi, thanks Kadengi 😀).

The only other point of contention was the beer! I do t know if this has got worse because of cost cutting, but the beer available on the all inclusive is (in my opinion) terrible. When we first came you used to have Tusker on tap. Last time we came we found the beer from the tap was always flat and not cold, which we got around by ordering Baloo’s which was servers from bottles. This year there were no bottled beers included in all inclusive, and it seemed like a mission to find a cold fizzy beer. These days I drink so little that I just found myself ordering bottled Tusker (550 KSH) as it was more important to get a decent pint!

Location is fabulous. Rooms are great. Really good value. The rooms were cleaned everyday. Fresh towels on request. Sheets were changed every day (which was perhaps a excessive!) The atmosphere was lovely. Staff were always friendly and helpful. I hope we'll be back!

Last stayed in 2012. Came this year as it was our golden wedding anniversary. Accommodation was nothing special, rooms needing alot of attention, beds clean, room cleaners very efficient. Alot of things in the rooms have not changed in 20 years. Food was ok but not like it used to be. Staff a lot of trainees some were very good, some not so good some over zealous, thank goodness for the old brigade of staff who carried it. Dress code especially for dinner is non existent. Decoration needs attention as every bit of wooden furniture has been given a white undercoat distressed look which looks terrible. On the other hand pool's were very clean, security very good but work needs to be done on entertainment. We turned up with a preconceived idea that it would be the same as before but sadly mistaken.