Date of review:1 Oct 2011
Super resort but in spite of weather and nos of holidaymakers so disappointing that most facilities closed ie beach, courtesy buses, hotel pool/cafe facilities
Seve
re problems encountered with new bus company/routes, overcrowded too few buses and irate people, almost a reason not to go to Malta!!
Hotel somewhat dog-eared, reception areas/rooms in need of decoration, pool areas very neglected and unpleasant ie dirty sun beds, broken umbrellas unkempt gardens/dead shrubs
Service in all parts of hotel sub standard due to lack of staff, all seemed to be running on minimal staff
Cost of Thomas Cook tours extortionate
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Date of review:1 Sep 2011
The hotel is in an excellent position halfway up a hill in the town, opposite a beautiful church and about 20mins steep winding walk from the beach, with a bus stop
outside. There are more hotels down near the beach if thats what you prefer.
The hotel is lovely and the staff are really friendly. Charlene bent over backwards to help us move after Thos Cook messed up our booking by giving us a room with a double bed!!
I had booked twin beds. We arrived late and were too tired to do anything until next morning.
She gave us another room in the main hotel, after much juggling about, but we had to pay an upgrade fee of E20 per night. We had no choice if we were going to get any sleep.
I was particularly annoyed at Thomas Cook though because it was an expense I hadnt anticipated.
The 2nd room overlooked the gardens. The one in the annex was over a shop on the main street.
I will just say something about the 'tunnel' to the annex. We were dreading it because reviews had made it out to resemble a sewerage tunnel.
However, it was a delightful piece of typically maltese architecture made out of limestone blocks, which is their heritage after all. It wasnt smelly at all, just the natural odour of limestone quarry.
It was the tunnel that we missed the most from the annex.
There is a rooftop pool with sunbeds and a bistro/bar.The views are lovely. The pool area downstairs is quite small and not enough sunbeds, but there is a bistro/bar. There's a secluded shaded area just outside the doors to the indoor pool and two lounging areas in the gardens.
Not much to do at night, we had a stroll up and down the main road a couple of times looking at the restaurants, but none of them seemed as good as ours. The portions are huge so we usually had one meal between us :-) They are quite used to this.
There are a lot of roadworks going on at the moment. I guess its to get their roads up to EU standards.
Buses are in chaos since they got rid of the 600 traditional malta buses and put 250 arriva ones on the roads instead.
Malta's heritage is phenominal, hire a car and in 3 days you can cover almost everything.
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Date of review:1 Aug 2011
This was our fifth year in Mellieha but our first with Thomas Cook and also our first in this hotel. On arrival we were disappointed to be be met at the airport to b
e told the hotel was overbooked and there was no room for us on the first night, we spent the first night in a nearby hotel, which was of good quality, and transferred at noon the following day. Our inconvenience was more than compensated for by both the Thomas Cook representative and the hotel, and we were pleased with the treatment we received. The hotel is clean and in good condition, the staff are pleasant and there is a plentiful choice of food at mealtimes, with the usual Mediterranean spread to choose from. One minor niggle is that there are not really enough sunbeds for the size of the hotel, even though there are two outdoor pools, both of which get plenty of sun. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable holiday but not for anyone looking for an active nightlife, Mellieha is a quiet part of Malta, more suited to we mature holidaymakers.
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Date of review:1 Apr 2011
After reading the trips advisor I was a little concerned about the hotel, some of the reviews did not tell a good story. The hotel was excellent, the staff very frie
ndly and the food very good. Our room was in the main hotel it was comfortable and clean, what more could you want.Mellia is very quite but overall the holiday was excellent.
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Date of review:1 Apr 2011
Took my two teenage granddaughters and had a wonderful time. The hotel was excellent, very clean and the food was super. The facilities were also really good. We als
o booked several tours with Thomas Cook through our rep Katie who was really helpfull and went out of her way to ensure that my granddaughters got to swim with the dolphins (which made their holiday even more enjoyable). Katherine, our guide from SMS for the majority of the tours, was also really good at her job and we learned a great deal about the whole area. I would recommend taking the tours especially if you haven't been to Malta before. Thank you to all who made our first holiday in Malta such a success that there are now three people of very different generations who want to come back!
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Date of review:1 Apr 2011
Malta is a very interesting and historic island. There are many great sights and interesting places to see. The churches and old buildings are amazing, even you are
not into sightseeing you cannot fail to be impressed. It is really easy to get around on the local buses. The beach at Mellieha is great, sandy with shallow waters. The hotel Maritim Antonine was excellent. Our room was very comfortable and spacious, very clean, as were all areas of the hotel. The staff were efficient and friendly. The food was very good, there was plenty to choose from for breakfast every day. We would definately return.
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Date of review:1 Apr 2011
The hotel was of a higher standard than we expected for the price of the package. We were very early in the season (early April) so the pool bars weren't open. This
wasn't really an issue, we simply took our own drinks pool side. The ground level pool area was very nice but the pool was unheated, which later in the season would be fine. Buffet breakfast was more than adequate and was only lacking in fresh tomatoes!
Food in the local restaurants catered for all tastes. We thought some of the top end dishes were slightly over priced but we could have chosen pizza instead.
We like to walk and used this location as a base for some breathtaking coastal walks. We did some circuits and on other days caught the bus back to relax by the pool in the late afternoon. The buses are plentiful and cheap and the drivers will tell you to wait for the next (cheaper) one.
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Date of review:1 Feb 2011
Our annual holiday to Malta was eventful to say the least starting with the flight out. An early departure and the offloading of a nervous passenger meant that we we
re already on the aircraft 45 minutes before take off. On the way over France, an unfortunate passenger had a heart attack which meant diverting to Marseilles for an emergency landing. Well done to the flight desk crew for their cool and professional handling of the emergency but I have to ask that as the plane was so hot and the legroom so restricted did this contribute to the this incident and the fact that three other passengers required oxygen? Maybe so.
The resort is excellent in that quirky Maltese way. The hotel is offers good facilities even if the room had a connecting door only which meant that we could smell smoke from our neighbours, plus all their conversations late at night. The "Balcony" was in name only and if you are of a large disposition - be careful!!!! It is tiny.
However, the food was of good quality with excellent service even if you had to run the gauntlet of the time-share sales people every time you wanted to go to the restaurant or outside pool.
The excursions offered didn't really suit as we found our own way using the local transport which is eventful in itself. The last time I was on a Bedford coach was in 1972 to go to swimming lessons.
Malta though is great. Not many places in Europe offer a taste of home and 60 degrees of heat in February!
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Date of review:1 Sep 2010
We have unfortunately had a few horrible holiday experiences over the past couple of years so we were understandably nervous about this holiday. We have holidayed in
Malta 4/5 times now and this is one of the best holidays we have had ijn Malta the hotel was superb as were the staff the room was clean comfortable and had a lovely view there were plenty of places to eat out (we were bed and breakfast which gave a large range of food choices for everyone) I will say I would not recommend this hotel to people who wish a lively resort with nightlife to go with it this is a laid back resort for holidaymakers who wish a more relaxed holiday. It is easy to get around the island as the buses are frequent but be aware they do go off early at night about 9pm but if you really want to you couldsplash out and get a taxi back, just make sure you agree a price before you get in to a taxi. The transfer to and from Malta was one of the smoothest I have experienced and I could find no fault whatsoever with my choice of destination/hotel So thank you to the hotel its staff and Direct Holidays/Thomas Cook for a wonderful experience.
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Date of review:1 Sep 2010
Apart from a flight delay from Exeter due to weather, the rest of the holiday went very well.
The resort of Melleiha, we were in the village not the bay, is quiet b
ut beautiful. The Village is well away from the beach area and up on the hill, but although we are both in our 60's, we managed the walk down to the beach and back very easily. If your not up to that, then the local bus service is very frequent.
We went to the Maritim Hotel on a B&B basis, but did eat in the hotel some nights. All food was very good indeed, with both breakfast and Dinner being on a buffet basis and catering for all nations. Spa and pool facilities great, with a superb roof terrace and pool as well.
Do the Malta by night tour and the Malta highlights, these will give you a great flavour of where to go back to. Don't bother with a hire car, use the very cheep public transport.
Oh, and finally, catch the bus to the Gozo ferry terminal, 10 minute ride and catch the boat over to the Island, only about 5 euro each. On the other side, just outside the terminal to the left, you'll find the open top bus Island Tour - hop on & hop off. Great value.
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Date of review:1 Sep 2010
This was an excellent hotel in our view and we were given an upgrade from twin to double without asking.
The room we had was looking down towards the sea with a balc
ony we used every morning and evening to watch the world going by.
The room was clean, and kept that way throughout our stay, and comfortable.
One morning the toilet was refusing to flush but this was fixed within a couple of hours of reporting to reception.
Staff were efficient and friendly.
Food was good with an excellent buffet at breakfast and if we had a criticism it would be that the vegetarian options at dinner time were limited.
I have noted that some guests have complained about the noise from the main street and if a guest is placed in one of the rooms overlooking the street either in the annex or the main building then I can understand that.
We would always try for a room on the end or overlooking the pool area.
Overall we would recommend this hotel
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Date of review:1 Jul 2010
Check in, flight, greet at airport all great. Hotel transfere not good. Hotel accomadation on arrival very poor, not even 3 star, complained to holiday rep that even
ing room changed in the morning, brilliant, rep 1st class. Time share inside the hotel trying to sell hotel rooms, not good. Hotel food and facilities excellent.
Would definately go again, thanks for a graet holiday.
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Date of review:1 Jun 2010
Please read the whole of this review for a comprehensive opinion.
Very unfortunate start, as we arrived at 1200 (lunch time) and was told we couldn't check into our
room until 1400hrs!! Minimal assistance or empathy was offered by the reception staff. Luckily, the 120 bar across the road (hotel run) was a good bar to chill in. Once in the room, it was very clean, tidy and well equipped with the usual. The only complaint we had was the slight imperfections which can have been easily remedied, for instance obvious damage to bathroom mirror and stool. We chose bed and breakfast, and the buffet was very nice with good choice, held in the main resturant which was well kept. We personally preferred the main pool over the roof top pool as the surrounding were more attractive, however the rooftop pool had beautiful views over mellieha. Both pool side bars were good. The staff, excluding the reception staff and one barman, were lovely. Very friendly and attentive. The location of the hotel was on the main street, which for beach lovers is probably a negative, as this involves a long walk up and down a big hill. However, the local bus service was reasonably priced, very regular, although not necessarily comfortable!!! At night time however, being located on the main street, means that the main restaurants and bars are very handy. A trip to Arches and Guiseppi's is a must for food lovers but be prepared to pay for the quality food. We independently visited Valetta using the yellow buses, which is well worth it and easy to do. We booked via Thomas cook for Gozo and blue grotto. Gozo is a must trip, however, the cost advertised was approx 48 euros each, with the rep failing to disclose the extra ferry charge of 5 euros each. Overall, for the price we had a nice break away, DONT book this holiday if you want a lively nightlife!!
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Date of review:1 Jun 2010
Hotel was very good, my sister and I had booked a twin room but on arrival found we had a double bed. We advised reception of the error and was rectified immediately
. Everywhere was clean, both outdoor swimming pools were spotless, the meals, both breakfast and dinner, were plentiful. As I am a fussy eater, the fact that the evening meal was a buffet meant that I could see what was on offer before choosing and there was usually something that I liked. Location not ideal, would go to St. Juliens or Sliema if I were to go back again. Hotel staff were extremely polite and helpful.
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