TUI MAGIC LIFE Fuerteventura

Ok, so we visited in Feb this year. We have previously stayed in the northern part of the island on 2 occasions at a Riu Hotel on the sand dune nature reserve at Corralejo. I am going to start with the negatives because unfortunately they outweigh the positives. Noise - if you wish to go somewhere and expect to get any peace and quiet - forget this place. There are 2 reasons for this. Firstly there is a bar that has music parties etc on the evenings when there isn't a show. So basically, if you have children that you have tucked into bed, the music starts at around 10pm and it is loud, really loud. If your room is anywhere near to the restaurant area you will not sleep. I am not sure why they have to have it that loud, especially when it doesn't start until so late. Noise from the rooms. We had a room which overlooked the larger unheated pool. The room was on the first floor. First few days were ok. Then another British family moved into the room next door. The walls are so thin that I could hear every single word of their conversation. He was so loud as well, which didn't help. So we had a week of this. It was so bad that after a few days I actually told him to keep the noise down. He replied "If you don't like it find another room" He left the next day. Then we had 2 german women. The walls are so thin that you can hear the toilet flush, the shower running, all conversation. They were farting, which you could hear and then they were laughing about it. I blame the hotel for this for building blocks of rooms that have poor construction and paper thin walls. The food was very mediocre and I say that as someone who has visited many All Inclusive resorts. There were so many fish dishes. Very little in the way of chicken. Chicken breast meat was non existent. There were lots of salads and fruit and cold meats etc. The only reasonable meat was on evenings when they had beef joints. They were very tender and I have to say very good. No pizza in the evening at all; only during the day. The main restaurant is so busy. This is the only hotel I have ever been to where I have seen queues of people within 20 minutes of the evening opening time. We were going every night at opening time so that we didn't have to wait. The table wine is dreadful - don't bother with it. Cheap and nasty. Tables are cleaned regularly however and the service staff are great and very polite. Food during the day. We preferred to eat by the pool using the snack bar which served quick and simple food like burgers, sausages and chips. There were even 2 sandwich presses. Great idea for a toasted sandwich. However 1 barely got hot. Customers weren't using the grease proof sheets so cheese and all sorts was getting stuck to the cast iron surfaces and burning which was smelling. No cleaning of sandwich makers during lunch period at all. Now to my worst moan about the food. On 2 days the hotel served burgers that were raw inside. I complained to reception about it and they said it was ok because it was beef. I said it was not. Fresh meat yes, not processed beef used in burgers. I couldn't believe it!!! I complained to the manager in the snack bar area and told him what reception had said and he apologised and said that the burgers should be cooked through. Check your kids burgers parents, they may be raw!! The kids pool - This is the only pool in the hotel that is heated, or supposed to be. Given that it was February it needed additional heating. For the first week, no problem. It was warm enough to get in without getting cold. Then all of a sudden the heating went off and people weren't using the pool. I complained to reception again about this. Even the lifeguard said the water was cold. For another 2 days it was cold. Finally they put the heating back on and it warmed up again; only to go off again and I complained again. No-one was using the pool, except the swim instructor and she and her swim kids both had wetsuits on because of the temperature. If you go All Inclusive and it tells you in the brochure that the kids pool is heated, you expect it to be heated. There was no fault because when I complained the water temperature miraculously came back up again. They had turned it off, nothing more, nothing less. Entertainment Shows at the theatre were very hit and miss. Running maybe 3 nights a week. Some nights it was outside entertainment, but there were also staff shows. There was one girl who sang an Adele song. She was fantastic. The other stuff was just staff dressing up in wigs and miming to songs with a bit of dancing. It was very amateurish. Have stayed at the Orquidea hotel in Gran Canaria and the entertainment was exceptional in the evening and during the day. Around the pool in the day, the mostly German and Austrian staff were encouraging the mainly German visitors and having very little to do with English people. This was reflected when I went to play volleyball and found myself very much on my own. As for the head entertainer, a guy from Romania or Hungary, with dark hair, he was very arrogant and walking around with a chip on his shoulder the whole time. He spent 20 minutes trying to sort 2 volleyball teams out. I said "Why is it so complicated" He replied "It is easy, what don't you understand English" I was really annoyed at this. Later in the holiday there were some really nice Swedish people and the mood changed and it was much more fun and less serious. The beach - we knew when we arrived that the beach was a good walk down a steep hill. So we didn't mind this and had read the reviews. For older people this is not the place to go. If you want a fantastic beach go to the Riu's in Corralejo at the top of the island. Nice beach though and lots of sand. You could also have a nice walk up or down. Lot's of people feeding the ground squirrels - bit like chipmunks. That was fun and my lad really enjoyed that. If you took peanuts in the shells they would run out from the rocks and feed from your hands. Didn't see many nudists. Bit cold and blowy. But don't mind that, it is after all a nudist beach. Far more nudism in Corralejo if you are bothered and have kids. It's not for everyone. Beach towels were hard to find and actually kept inside a shop some 100 yards from the nearest pool. Not ideally placed. One day we arrived to change towels and they hadn't been delivered so had to go back later. Very odd place to have them. Drinks - not bad at all really. Quick service and no real queues. Not watered down. If you asked for a G&T it was a good strength G&T Rooms - kept spotlessly clean and cleaned daily. My compliments to the staff that keep the rooms clean. This is my only real positive. Only downside, for some reason unused children's beds and mattresses were stored upright in an open area just outside our room. An increasing collection of beds appeared over the days. These were in the open air and exposed. Not very good at all. Summary. Sorry about this. If you wish to go to a noisy hotel with average food and possible lengthy queues to get a table in the main restaurant, a cold childrens pool with food that is uncooked and potentially raw, entertainment that is infrequent and patchy at best and a beach that is 100 metres down a cliff - this is the place for you. If you like to keep fit they have everything for you. Magic Life is one big fitness gym. I saw enough tight fitting lycra to last me a life time. It is not a kid's resort or family resort. It is more for fitness fanatics and tennis players, older couples and people wishing to meet other people. I am sorry, but clean rooms and some reasonable drinks is not enough to make me ever go there again. It is a big world out there and I can assure you that there are other hotels that offer better food and entertainment for similar prices that also have easily accessible beaches.

Firstly the only reason I am rating this hotel as a four star is because of the queuing system at the bars. Hence the title. I have been to numerous hotels and never have I seen anything like it. The bar is not overly busy. However instead of letting people stand around the bar, sit on bar stools and order, you have to get off your bar stool go to the single line queue and then come back to your stool. Ridiculous and ends up with no atmosphere around the plaza bar and the lobby bar. Sort it out Tui! Surely your staff can serve in order like a normal pub / bar if people are stood around it chatting. It also gets rid of any rapport the staff may build with guests... they are also no doubt losing out on tips! Either stop the queuing system or introduce table service. Moaning aside... apart from this we loved our holiday! Photos attached... Cons - the bar queues - they do not re-stock the mini fridge. On arrival you get bottle of Coke, bottle of Fanta and water. Then nothing. Either don’t stock it at all or do it properly. Even re-stock once a week would be fine. - pool temperature... they are cold. Heat them please! - only holiday we have been on where we haven’t got to know any members of staff or tip anyone due to the bizarre drinks system - more self serves, can one be put near the sports area / sports pool - no bar in theatre - pool bar closed early and people are out until 7ish. Any chance of opening later? Pros - food - amazing - no issues and some of the best food we have had at an all inclusive - reception are very helpful - check in was fast - rooms are nice and usb plug under the tv was brilliant and we took our fire stick and this worked fine - app was good but harder to book on activities or in restaurants in our second week due to the hotel getting busier - Bodega - best a la carte - kids club, Tuesdays and Thursdays in particular with the kids club then tea, cinema and mini disco drop off - cocktails - location - for us it was perfect but if you like mooching about shops it’s not for you, the hotel is isolated. 10euro each each way into Jandia - gym - spa - bottles of wine at the buffet restaurant that you can then take out with you - kids bit in the lobby - grounds - breakfast - available until 11am - perfect if you need your lie ins - activities - proper pint glasses - kids club - kids splash park All in all a positive stay and if the price was right we would go again!