TUI BLUE Cabo Verde

We arrived on New Year’s Eve, had booked a junior suite.... space great, bed on mezzanine upper floor extra firm, almost too firm! No toilet on upper level only downstairs bathroom. Trips to the loo at night could be very dangerous as marble type stairs. With Hindsight If you have choice of room the deluxe swim up rooms nearer the beach look the better option. Hotel very clean and well maintained. Staff always friendly and helpful. Gala Buffet Food lovely, great choice but not always replicated every night but still best choice of place to eat. Cullinarium a la carte dining restaurant , plates looked lovely, (very Instagram food) great tasting but all courses delivered at such a speed that we were in and out within 40 mins. Fast food a la carte! Didn’t try the Italian Casa Nostra as reviews didn’t seem too positive and it was too chilly in the evenings for open air dining. Lots of low key activities and entertainment in keeping with a Sensimar type hotel but felt that the animation team were a bit lacking......They seemed almost embarrassed when having to talk/entertain. Noise after 3 ish in the afternoon ( earlier on a Sunday) from The ‘Ibiza style’ Bikini Bar on the beach just in front of hotel meant the base could be heard /felt everywhere on the beach and for us meant a prompt 3.30 return to our quieter room and balcony at that time most afternoons to avoid a headache. This is not included with your all inclusive and packages are expensive. Postcards of Sal tour ok if you’re really interested to see rest of island but don’t worry if you don’t go, not really missed too much. Best part of holiday was doing not a lot , eating good food and very long beach walks watching the kite surfers. Sea almost a bit too cold and rough to swim in but it did calm down sometimes enough for a quick dip. Dogs on beach and lots of cats in and around hotel Take large towel clips as very windy on beach Take Euros as this is the currency used along with Cape Verdean Escudos, also mozzie spray and enough suntan cream as this is very expensive in Santa Maria. Also take warm clothes, cardigans, wraps for winter evenings. If you have sweetener in your coffee/ tea take your normal one with you, the small packets of sweetener they give are not so nice.

Stayed here for New Year 2020 From start to finish we had an amazing holiday here. The rooms are stunning, the setting just beautiful , the staff could not do enough for us and the food was amazing!! The buffet food you could not fault , it was always fresh and very well presented with plenty of choice.The other restaurants and cafes were excellent but we found the Italian restaurant on site a Casa Nostrum awful Our room had a brilliant view over the complex with a hot tub which was just lovely and extremely comfortable. The entertainment in the hotel was good , not always to our liking but with so many people in the hotel there had to be different music options on We took part in the quiz on New Years day which was different and hard!!!!! The whole setting with the hotel and The Bikini Beach bar is excellent There is a shop on the beach where you can hire snorkels jet skis etc and even try scuba diving. The biggest complaint I have of this hotel is on arrival the room I was offered was in acceptable due to not having a private patio ( all the other rooms did!?) we asked if we could change to another room but were told they were all full? We then chose to upgrade obviously this cost us considerably more The only small complaint I have is that the hot tub was not clean or filled on arrival.