The location is wonderful, a gem nestled in the greenery and tranquility that overlooks the turquoise sea of Cala Sinzias. What did not satisfy us about the Resort, however, were the services present (or those missing) which we felt were not those of a 4S category property while, mind you, the costs fully are (520 euros per night between late June and early July for half board!)
These in our opinion are the highlights:
- The property is characteristic and wonderful, a gem
- Excellent, high-level dining
- Wonderful sea with a private beach
- Free parking
In our opinion, these are the critical issues:
- At the first dinner, the catering left much to be desired in terms of organization because, we were told, they were not expecting so many people at the tables; but the problem repeated itself on our third evening as well, and in this case too, we finished dinner in two hours and fifteen minutes amidst various delays, missing cutlery, etc. It seemed like there was a lack of supervision in the restaurant area: the staff is not sufficiently prepared for the role they perform, with exceptions, in particular Asia, Giulia, and Sara (and also Barbara at the bar), who were very attentive to the customer and their needs.
- The menu is gourmet and is excellent in quality and presentation. The themed evenings—Sardinian, Italian, and seafood—were also excellent. However, it is very repetitive in its offerings, and unfortunately, we found the same dish multiple times during our dinners. From this, one might think that it is a resort not suitable for long stays.
We also verified the same repetition at breakfast. Here too, the quality of the offering is excellent, but the cakes, croissants, etc., were always the same, and as you know, on vacation, breakfast is a delightful moment of the day.
- Beach: the umbrellas are definitely too close to each other and have completely standard lounge chairs that are not always perfect; for example, some were missing the hooks to lower the headrest, so they were unusable. Furthermore, the beach towels, although made of good quality cotton, are rather small and do not seem like beach towels. On the first morning, we had to get them at the reception because there was no attendant at the designated pickup location. There is a complete lack of restroom facilities on the beach, as well as a bar service, which is essential in a resort of this type: to buy a drink, you have to go back to the internal bar or go to the one on the nearby beach (which is very expensive, not managed by or affiliated with the resort, and you have to get dressed to access it).
- Pool: very distinctive in its shape and with various depths in the basin. However, the bottom is damaged in various places, so it visually looks like there is always a lot of sand. There is no hydromassage. The wooden lounge chairs with cushions are very comfortable and distinctive, but on some of them, the rubber is torn, and it is really ugly to look at.
- Room: large and with a nice outdoor patio that we used with pleasure. However, from the first moment, there was a problem with the entrance lock; the same person who accompanied us to the room had difficulty opening the door: couldn't they have had the problem checked immediately? No, we had to request that they check the cylinder and the keys ourselves, and we had to do it twice because the problem was not resolved after the first time (the key was then remade). Courtesy set in the room: we had to request replenishment from the cleaning ladies because it still hadn't been done by the third day. More attention and care should be taken in cleaning the rooms, which is not always done properly, especially in the bathroom. Upon arrival, for example, we cleaned the inside of the closet ourselves because there was sand in it. Furthermore, our room was not among those recently renovated (and unfortunately some details of the window frames and walls showed it...) so at 2 a.m., when the night irrigation of the flowerbeds starts, there is a continuous noise of running water in the bathroom, worsened by a gurgling sound created by the suction in the pipes. We would wake up promptly to that loud noise.
- Some details that should make the difference in a 4S property are not sufficiently taken into consideration: some spotlights under the trees turned off, a light in the floor of the small square turned off, some lights turned off in the restaurant area.
We spoke about these aspects a few days after our arrival with Ms. Tiziana and on the penultimate day with the manager Gabriele Loi, who said he was surprised and sorry about what we were telling him. He was very kind and also told us that if we had spoken to him sooner (but we thought Tiziana had reported our points of view and grievances to him!) we could have, for example, made requests for different dishes at the restaurant and that, in any case, the proposals for each section of the menu are three in number, so we have the possibility of three choices. We thanked him very much for this availability, but the concept is that the proposals must be sufficiently varied on the à la carte menu, given that we had no particular needs other than that of tasting a different dish every evening (and if you choose one, it is perhaps because you do not like the others and do not want to eat them...).
We know that the company ITI MARINA, owner of the resort, is very strong in Sardinia and manages many high-level properties, so what we are pointing out are probably critical issues that will soon be resolved, and that is what we hope because the location is truly enchanting and it would be a shame not to be able to return!