Eftalia Ocean Resort and Spa

⭐️ 1 STAR – Extremely disappointing experience at Eftalia Ocean Resort & Spa

Unfortunately, our stay at Eftalia Ocean Resort & Spa was nowhere near what we expected from a family resort. There were some genuinely lovely staff members and a few positives, but overall there were far too many issues for us to consider returning.

❌ Staff attitude

We experienced several occasions where staff were rude or simply not helpful. On one occasion, I asked a member of staff if he could clean a table for us. He rolled his eyes before cleaning it. Once he had finished, there was cheese spread all over the table. I politely asked if he could clean it again, at which point he snatched the cloth away from me and sprayed the table again, with the spray going towards our children’s food.

That sort of attitude is completely unacceptable, particularly in a family resort.

❌ Security and behaviour around the resort

One of the biggest concerns during our stay was the behaviour of some other guests and, in our opinion, the lack of security.

On one occasion, children were kicking my autistic auntie in the face and calling her abusive names. When my daughter came to tell me what had happened, I went over to find out what was going on. A young child then lunged towards me, while the parent eventually came over.

Around five minutes later, a large man approached our group of around 12 people, calling me names, threatening to bury my partner and continuing to try to intimidate us. We did not want a confrontation and tried to carry on with our holiday, but he continued to approach and intimidate us afterwards.

There were also two separate incidents involving men fighting during our stay where staff had to intervene. On one occasion, staff had to physically intervene to stop the fight.

For a resort marketed heavily towards families, I genuinely think there needs to be much better security and control over guest behaviour.

We also witnessed other worrying situations, including a young child repeatedly using the slides without their parent appearing to be supervising them, a child reportedly going missing, and a used tampon being put into one of the swimming pools. These are not things you expect to witness at a family resort.

❌ Food

The food was, unfortunately, one of the biggest disappointments.

There was very little variety and it felt like we were being served the same food repeatedly. The quality was also poor and, for us, the food was nowhere near what we expected from a resort of this size.

❌ Transfers

The transfer to the hotel took around 1 hour 45 minutes.

The return journey was even worse — approximately 2 hours 40 minutes to 3 hours, including a 15-minute break. This is a very long journey, especially with children.

What concerned me even more was seeing a woman who was apparently left behind by the transfer, despite her daughter being at the hospital seeing a doctor for suspected sepsis. I was told the transfer company was aware of the situation, yet she was still left without a way of getting to the airport.

I felt so sorry for her that I told her she could try to get onto our coach because, from what I could see, she had no other way of getting to the airport.

Regardless of the circumstances, seeing someone left in that situation was extremely upsetting and made me question how much support is actually provided to guests when something unexpected happens.

❌ Constant pressure for tips

We also felt constantly pressured for tips. It seemed like everywhere we went, tipping was expected. Of course, we are happy to tip when someone provides good service, but being repeatedly approached or feeling pressured to tip becomes frustrating, particularly when some of the service we received was poor.

⭐ The positives

It wasn’t all bad, and I think it’s important to acknowledge the staff members who genuinely made our stay better.

🥩 The Steak House was lovely and the staff there were 5-star.

🧹 The room maids were fantastic. They were friendly, hardworking and couldn’t do enough for us.

🍳 Big Ben Breakfast became our favourite place. The staff were great and we watched football there twice. They were welcoming and provided some of the best service we experienced during the holiday.

🥢 Royal China was outstanding and was another real highlight.

Overall

There are definitely good people working at this resort, and there were some lovely experiences, but unfortunately the negatives outweighed the positives for us.

The combination of poor food, inconsistent staff attitudes, guest behaviour, fights, lack of security, safety concerns around children, long transfers and constant pressure for tips made this holiday far more stressful than it should have been.

I really think Eftalia Ocean needs to look seriously at security, guest behaviour, food quality and staff customer service, because there is potential for this to be a great family resort, but our experience fell a long way short of what we expected.

We personally would not return. And I am currently on the transfers on way back and felt like this needed saying NOW.

⭐⭐ 2-Star Review – Extremely Disappointing Family Holiday at Eftalia Ocean Resort

A holiday that left us seriously disappointed – lots of room for improvement

I’ve visited Turkey before and have always loved the country. We’ve had some great holidays here in the past, which is why this experience at Eftalia Ocean Resort has been such a disappointment. Unfortunately, this holiday has genuinely put me off returning to Turkey, which is something I never thought I would say.

We booked this holiday expecting a great family experience, but several issues throughout our stay made it difficult to enjoy what should have been a relaxing and memorable break.

Uncomfortable beds and poor night’s sleep

Let’s start with the beds. They are extremely uncomfortable. After spending the day walking around, swimming and enjoying the resort, you want to return to your room and get a decent night’s sleep. Unfortunately, the beds made that difficult. A comfortable bed should be a basic expectation when paying for a family holiday, and this was a major disappointment.

Family swim-up room and unexpected upgrade

We booked a family swim-up room, believing we had booked suitable accommodation for our family. However, when we arrived, we were told that the room wasn’t considered suitable for our family and were encouraged to upgrade to a bigger room at an additional cost.

This was extremely frustrating. We had already made our booking and expected the room we selected to meet our family’s needs. Having to deal with this on arrival, when you’re looking forward to starting your holiday, is not the experience you want. In my opinion, the suitability of the room should have been checked before we arrived, rather than leaving us feeling pressured to pay more for an upgrade.

Water slides and children’s facilities

One of the main reasons families choose a resort like Eftalia Ocean is for the water parks and slides. Unfortunately, the slides are only open for a few hours a day, which is disappointing when these facilities are such a big part of the holiday experience.

What’s even more frustrating is that the smaller children’s slides are shut off when the lifeguards go on their breaks, even though those particular slides aren’t supervised by lifeguards anyway. I understand that staff need breaks and that safety is important, but the resort should have a better system in place so children aren’t missing out on facilities unnecessarily.

When you’re travelling with children, you want them to be able to enjoy the facilities advertised, and the limited opening times were disappointing.

Food and restaurant capacity

The main restaurant is another area that needs serious improvement. It simply doesn’t seem capable of handling the number of people staying at the resort during dinner time.

The crowds, difficulty finding tables and general lack of organisation make dinner a stressful experience. When you’re on an all-inclusive family holiday, you shouldn’t have to feel like you’re battling through crowds just to get a meal.

One positive piece of advice I would give to other guests is to have lunch over at Eftalia Island whenever possible. We found the food there to be considerably better than the hotel food, and it was a much more enjoyable experience.

It’s disappointing that the food and dining experience at the hotel didn’t meet expectations, especially given the number of guests the resort accommodates.

All-inclusive drinks

We were also disappointed to discover that cocktails and spirits aren’t included in the all-inclusive package. This wasn’t what we expected from an all-inclusive holiday, and I feel the drinks offering should be made much clearer when booking.

When you’re paying for an all-inclusive holiday, you expect a reasonable selection of drinks to be included. Finding out that certain drinks come at an additional cost was another disappointment.

Slippery tiles and safety concerns

Another major concern is the amount of tiling throughout the resort. Almost everywhere, both inside and outside, is tiled, and when the surfaces are wet, they become extremely slippery.

With families and children constantly walking around in wet swimwear and bare feet, I feel this is something the resort should seriously review. Wet surfaces around swimming pools and walkways need to be managed properly, and better attention should be given to preventing slips and falls.

Overall experience

Unfortunately, when you put everything together, this holiday has been a massive disappointment.

The uncomfortable beds, limited water slide opening times, issues with our booked family room, overcrowded restaurant, additional drink costs and slippery surfaces all added up to an experience that fell well short of what we expected.

I don’t expect every holiday to be perfect, and I understand that every resort has its limitations. However, when you’re spending a significant amount of money on a family holiday, you expect the basics to be right and for the experience to be enjoyable.

I used to love Turkey, but this holiday has genuinely put me off coming back. That’s probably the biggest disappointment of all.

Eftalia Ocean has the potential to be a great family resort, but in my opinion, there are some significant areas that need addressing. I hope the management takes feedback from guests seriously and works towards improving the overall experience.

Sadly, based on our experience, I wouldn’t be rushing back.