Stella Palace Aqua Park Resort

We’ve just returned from a two-week stay at Stella Palace and, unfortunately, we left feeling disappointed. Having read the reviews and followed various social media groups before booking, our expectations were quite high. Sadly, we didn’t feel the resort lived up to them, particularly considering the price.

Compared with other resorts we’ve stayed at in a similar price range, Stella Palace felt lacking in several areas. From the moment we arrived, we didn’t get the warm, welcoming feeling we would expect from a 5-star resort, and generally we found some of the staff to be less friendly and engaging than we have experienced elsewhere.

The main buffet restaurant was another disappointment. We found the choice at meal times quite limited, especially considering the size and price of the resort. The à la carte restaurants, however, were much better and were one of the highlights of the food offering.

We also found the evening bar options quite disappointing. Once the pools and main daytime areas start to wind down, the main options are the small lobby bar, which feels quite dated, or the two pool bars. The pool bars have very limited seating, so finding somewhere comfortable to sit and have a drink in the evening can be difficult. For a resort of this size and price point, we expected a better choice of comfortable evening spaces.

The hotel’s toilets were also a real let-down. There seems to be a lack of public toilets around the resort and the ones that are available are looking tired and dated. In the evening, guests are essentially expected to use the same facilities that are used as the pool toilets, and frankly, they are not particularly pleasant. We ended up going back to our room whenever we needed to use the toilet, rather than using the public facilities.

The sun loungers around the main resort are actually very nice, with comfortable leather-style mattresses. Unfortunately, the loungers around the waterpark are a completely different story. Many looked old, heavily worn or broken, and were the cheap plastic type you would expect at a much lower-end resort. This really stood out against the otherwise impressive waterpark.

The rooms themselves were fine, but the fridges were another example of where we felt the resort fell short of what you would expect at this price point. There is a fridge, but it isn’t stocked. You receive one bottle of water per person per day, which seems quite basic compared with other 5-star all-inclusive resorts we’ve stayed at.

I could probably go on, but ultimately our feeling was that this is not what we would consider a true 5-star resort. In our opinion, a significant part of the price is paying for access to the waterpark, which is undoubtedly the resort’s biggest selling point.

That said, I do want to give a huge amount of credit to the animation team. Every member we encountered had such a friendly and positive attitude and they genuinely seemed to go out of their way to include guests and make sure people were enjoying themselves. They were a real highlight of our stay and are a credit to the hotel.

Finally, I would advise anyone considering Stella Palace to do their own research and look beyond the social media groups. We found that some of the groups give an overwhelmingly positive impression of the resort, and we didn’t feel our experience matched that. In particular, negative experiences don’t always seem to be received very well, with people who raise concerns sometimes being heavily criticised. Everyone will have a different experience, of course, but I would encourage prospective guests to read a range of independent reviews before booking.

Overall, we had some enjoyable moments and the waterpark and animation team were certainly positives, but for the money we paid, we expected considerably more from a resort marketed as 5-star.

Our stay at Stella Palace was simply outstanding, from the cleanliness to the absolutely amazing staff to the facilities everything at the palace is fantastic.