Cye Holiday Centre Hotel

“ I stayed at this hotel 13th-23rd September 2011 with my husband and our three young children (aged 23 months, 4 years, and almost 6).
The hotel itself, we found, was clean and very well presented. The front lobby area was comfortable and inviting.

The staff were very friendly and approachable - our children (especially our 4 year old son) took a particular shine to the evening entertainer and followed him around faithfully like a puppy dog. He was very accommodating to all the children in the hotel and even provided crayons and colouring-in-sheets for them when the weather turned a little rainy so that they wouldn't be bored with not being able to go in the pool.

We stayed full board, and found that the waiting staff in the dining room soon recognised us and began to bring us our regular order of drinks unprompted which was very handy. Indeed, as there were 5 of us, sometimes when we entered the dining room we found that there were no tables available to accommodate us, as most of them were seated with just 4 places laid, but the staff quickly whipped round and set up a larger table for us without being asked.
The reception staff were also pleasant, though they did have a habit of continuing to chat amongst themselves for a while before attending to people waiting at the desk, but we didn't find this to be a huge problem. It was only a matter of a minute or so, and it didn't happen all the time.

The buffet provided for full board had quite a small choice of dishes compared to some other hotels I have stayed at, but having said that, the dishes which were provided were delicious. It is better to have a small selection of dishes which are cooked properly and taste nice, rather than a large selection of dishes which are mediocre. There were two themed dinner nights whilst we were there - Italian and Mexican. My children did struggle a little to find anything that wasn't too spicy for them on the Mexican night, but they settled for pasta and sauce, so at least there was something they could eat. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the dinners there and have unfortunately put on a few pounds as a result!

The decor in the dining room is a bit too canteen-like for my liking, with bright orange chairs, but again this is just a matter of personal taste and doesn't hinder the holiday experience.

The evening entertainment was varied. Every second night was karaoke which we didn't stay to watch, but there were different shows in between this. We saw a circus show, a Brazilian dance show, a parrot show, and a magic show. The only show we didn't bother going to see was the challenge show. We enjoyed the shows, they were entertaining, and lovely for the children.
The kids mini disco kept the children happy as well, though from an adults point of view the playlist for the kids disco was a bit repetitive, but children like that sort of thing, so from a child's point of view both my eldest children enjoyed dancing to the songs and singing along.

I would grumble that 10pm is a bit late for young children to be awake for the disco though, and the shows were always 11pm onwards. I realise most people allow their children to stay awake for holidays, but we had hoped to keep some semblance of a relatively normal sleeping routine for our kids. At home they go to bed at 7.30pm, but here at the Cye Holiday Centre, the evening meal was 7.30pm-10pm, kids mini disco was 10pm onwards and the show was 11pm-midnight, so our children ended up going to bed past midnight every night, and as a result we only made it down to breakfast 3 times during the whole holiday as the children were too tired to wake up in the morning. This would have felt like a bit of a waste of us going full board, if it weren't for the fact that we more than made up for missing breakfast by having rather copious amounts of tasty lunch and dinner!

The hotel room itself was very comfortable. We had to pay an additional 6 euros per night to hire a cot for our toddler, which was a tad bit annoying, but we did it anyway as there is no way he would have been able to sleep in a bed without falling out of it. Our other two slept on the sofa beds which were very comfortable for them. The beds my husband and I were in were also comfortable. We were provided with a fridge, 2 ring electric cooker, mop and bucket, toaster, kettle, drying rack for clothes, and rather bizarrely a full sized sweeping brush yet a short handled dustpan. I have to say that a small brush to accompany the dustpan would have been more useful, as using a full sized sweeping brush to sweep sand into a short handled dustpan is more than a little awkward!
A full range of crockery, pans, and cutlery is also provided. We were also given a little complimentary bathroom set of soap, comb, body lotion, comb, cologne. There is also a washing up liquid/sponge set in the bathroom, and a drawer full of tea-towels.

The balcony is very safe for children. We did not see any way that a child could fall from this balcony (aside from perhaps standing on the patio table and launching themselves over the top, but this would be no fault of the hotel). The top of the balcony edge was as high as the head of our eldest child, and the entire side of the balcony railing is a thick glass panel, so there are no large gaps to fall through.

The room did have air conditioning but at first we thought it wasn't working. We enquired about it at the desk. It turns out you have to keep all doors and windows completely closed, and it takes about half an hour to kick in. Once you figure it out though, it works just fine.

The maid service was a little random. Sometimes we found that only the sofa beds had been made, other times we found that only the bedroom beds had been made. Sometimes towels were changed, and sometimes they were only picked up and straightened. Still the maids did come every day though. They didn't speak terribly good English (though that's not a fault I can complain about seen as how we were in Spain after all!) On one of the days we were all semi-naked applying sun-cream before heading out of the room, when a maid knocked on the door. My daughter opened the door and told the maid that we didn't need her to come in that day as we were all a little busy. She ignored my daughter entirely and with a bright "HOLA!" she swept briskly into the room, so we all grabbed towels around us and dived out onto the balcony patio to get out of her way.

The location of the hotel was just a short walk from the beach which was fine. The street leading to the beach is not hilly at all so it wouldn't be difficult for people in wheelchairs or with prams (we had a pram with us ourselves) to use. Inside the hotel there are 3 lifts which worked well.

The swimming pool was cold but that's quite normal for Spanish countries. The gates to the swimming pool are closed at night. There is a small children's playground in the grounds of the hotel which our kids loved playing on. There is also a games room with arcade machines and pool tables, and a children's creche room with toys to entertain youngsters.

We came to the hotel just out of season so the pool area wasn't too busy and we always managed to get sunbeds quite easily. I have read other reviews which state that the pool area is too small for the number of guests. This may be true in high season, but when we went it was fine.

We had a room with a pool side view, which we specifically requested when we checked into the hotel, as there is a train line on the other side of the hotel and we didn't want the children to be woken up by the noise of the trains. After midnight the pool side is quiet.

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday, and we would certainly return to this hotel in future.

“ Top Tip: It costs 60 euros deposit to check in, which you get refunded at the end of your stay, so make sure you plan enough spending money to cover this.

Make sure you request a pool side room, as the train line on the other side of the hotel is noisy.

“ great hotel,staff and facilities,pity about some other guests who had no consideration for others.

“ We arrived late at night as we were only stopping off overnight en-route to Valencia after watching Barca play. Check-in was quick and efficient, and deposit was required as advertised. Room was basic but had good facilities.

Layout for 6 people was 2 twin bedrooms, and a sofa double bed. Appartment included 2 good size bathrooms, and a decent kitchenette.

10 mins walk from beach, and 10 mins walk from a selection of bars and restaurants, although many were closed by our arrival time.

“ Top Tip: Great value for small groups sharing a family room!

“ I would highly recommend this hotel! The apartments are really big and have everything you could need and the staff are all very helpful. There is a good, relatively cheap supermarket (Michaelagelo) about a 5 minute walk from hotel. There are plently of places to eat out and good nightlife about a 10-15 minutes walk away. The beach is also about the same distance away. The only downside to this hotel is the train that runs along the back of it. This may disturb families with children so I would recommend requesting a room with a pool view.

“ Top Tip: Brilliant Irish pub nearby is Danny Boys - live music every night, friendly staff and lovely Sunday roast. Tuesday nights in the hotel is an all you can eat BBQ for €15 - delicious! Definitely visit PortAventura and Aquopolis also.