We booked Marmaris palace as we wanted an all inclusive holiday for around about the £2,000 mark. Myself, my other half and his children, (9 and 11). We booked our holiday through Thomas Cook, 7 nights for £2,300. Like everyone else we read the reviews and we did have our concerns as people seemed to take issue with cleanliness and the dated look of the hotel.
I will start with the transfer, from the airport in Dalaman it took about 1 hour and a half, it is a slog but all you have to make sure is you either grab some sleep or make sure your phone is charged and you will be fine.
We arrived at the hotel and we were instantly blown away. The reception area is really impressive with a bar to the left and lots of comfy lounge suites. We were each given our wristbands and then told to put our bags to the side. A bell hop then took our bags and escorted us to a golf cart which took us to our room. We were all exhausted so went pretty much to sleep. Our room consisted of a decent sized shower over bath and a very clean bathroom. We had a minibar that was stocked full with water and a little dressing table. We also had one double bed and two singles for the boys. If you would like more privacy you would need to speak to your travel agent to see if this is possible because if you want to stay up later than the kids it can be a bit tricky. The balcony overlooked the restaurant and part of the main activity pool.
Breakfast has something for everyone, you will never struggle for a table. The breakfast ranges from croissants, fruit, scrambled eggs, their version of a sausage and if you like the more continental approach you can have cold meats and cheeses, potatoes etc.
Lunch was similar but with so much choice from hot to cold food. You can also get pizzas and burgers from the pine bar too and the pizzas are hand baked in front of you. And you get a fab view from that bar too.
Evening meals are served from 7pm and again there is so much choice. They had a Turkish night too which was great because you could try something you wouldn't normally have.
Drinks are fantastic. Pepsi and EFES on tap. You can get cocktails at night too, try the Marmaris palace cocktail but only have three or four, anymore and you would have a sore head the next day!
The food areas are always kept clean and tidy and the staff work almost militantly to make sure people are fed and watered and cleaned up after.
The pools are really good. In a place this size you will always struggle for a lounger so if you definitely want a spot each day then you need to get up at 6am to drop your towels. However, the jetty and beach area is great and the sea water is really shallow so you needn't rule the sea out. Plus you get the most fantastic view of Icmeler and the mountains. You can lie and watch people taking part in watersports and see all the boats passing. This is where you will find the A La Carte fish restaurant too. Although we never ate there it looked lovely. Ice cream hour is between 1 and 2, this is the time of the day where the kids all disappeared from the pool!
The evening entertainment is fantastic. Yes the children's disco is the same music every night and it is very much catered to every nationality but we used to love the fact that we knew which cheesy song was coming next. They have a warm up guy who warms up the crowd in the amphitheater every night (who also does the same round the pool in the day) and you can't help but get involved with it all. We saw Kenyan acrobats, a Turkish dance group and a fantastic dance group called hot chocolate when we were there and it was like watching Britain's got talent every night.
After the show you can then go and chill in any of the bars until 12.
Other facilities include a spa, hairdressers, fur, jewellery and gift shops. It has it's own coffee shop and patisserie. The place even has an ice rink although I didn't see it open. You have the beach area and then 3 swimming pools, one being a small kids pool with a slide which is in the shade and has seats for parents to sit at. The main pool is sooooooo busy but the other pool is a lot more chilled and deeper so you get less young children there if you need some peace and quiet.
The staff are friendly and do a good job to look after so many people. The only issue I had was with the spa staff. They are constantly coming up to you and asking you to tour the spa and have a treatment that will enhance your tan. The way they sell it is by telling you how pale you are and that you must have dead skin that needs removing. An insult will never make me go to your spa but if you ignore them and be firm they will leave you alone.
We did an excursion on our last day that was recommended by our rep and it was called Dalyan departure. Rather than sit around counting the hours on our last day, we checked out at 7 am, had breakfast and got picked up at 8 to go to the mud baths in Dalyan which was fantastic! You have to do this but we all agreed, if you did it at the start of your holiday it would be even better because your skin felt amazing afterwards. We then got back on this little riverboat and got taken for lunch and then into Turtle beach which again was a must see. We didn't see any turtles but it is quite rare to see them anyway. The captain of the boat let the kids drive the boat which they loved. We then got taken to a local hotel in Dalyan to have some food and rest before we got picked up and taken to the airport . The transfer time was only 30 minutes which was far better at 1 am!!!
To summarise, we were all so impressed with this hotel. It is so clean and tidy and the staff do a great job in serving that many people. The facilities are out of this world and you will never go hungry or thirsty. The location is beautiful and the hotel is fantastic value for money all around. Ignore the negative reviews, if you have an issue with anything, speak to your rep or the hotel and I'm sure they would sort it.
I wouldn't rush back because the world is big place but if you want a great family holiday and great weather, Marmaris palace is where I would recommend!!!
