Denizkizi Royal Hotel Review - 24 of 44 Reviews

Review of Hotel Denizkizi

We arrived at around 10pm local time after having been picked up at the airport by a very nice young man and his mum in a plush Mercedes. This was a great start and we were well impressed with our travel agent for this ( go north ) in fact the whole journey so far had gone like clockwork.

We pulled up to the Deniziki rather than the Royal as I had deliberately booked this one following the reviews of both beforehand. It was a little annoying to be told that we were at the Royal but to be fair we did not mind at that time of night and just wanted our bed. One little niggle, the staff made it sound as if I had made a mistake and were a little dismissive of my claim that I had booked the sister hotel. We were taken up to the room by a pretty grumpy middle aged guy who did not talk in the lift.

The room itself was actually very nice. It was a good size, reasonably modern with a flat screen TV, the usual furniture, plenty of wardrobe space and a perfectly good bathroom with a shower over the bath. It did have a quaint little balcony with an absolutely stunning view unfortunately it had twin beds and I had specifically requested a double bed as it was our 10 yr wedding anniversary. This alone made it a bit of a non starter, the lady at the desk did say that it was the only room that night and that she would look at sorting it out the following day.

We were on the third floor and it was extremely quiet both through the night and in the morning. In fact for a Saturday night when we arrived it did actually look pretty dead, there were no signs of partying, drinking or other guests.

The beds were comfortable and we had a good nights sleep. It was also nice that the rooms had an internal door security latch type thing so that you can ensure no staff just walk in whilst you are within.

The following day the receptionist who was friendly and super helpful changed our room and let us have a look at the rooms in the sister hotel. The rooms there are more modern with classy bathrooms and walk in showers but no bath. The floor to ceiling windows give you a balcony type effect however we liked the actual balcony in the Royal. We were at the front and the balconies are private however if you have any of the rooms along either side the balconies overlook one another. All of the rooms inn the Royal, face the sea and have good views.

The safe key is at reception and it was provided at no cost or deposit requested.

Also be careful of what room you are in if you go to the Denizkizi as some of them to the rear overlook the trees and mountains rather than the sea/beach.

We decided to stay in the royal as the new room had a beautiful view a double bed and a private balcony.

The breakfast consisted of cheese, meat, salad, fruit, olives, cereals, yoghurt, honey, jam, bread and rolls etc and various types of cooked eggs however there was no bacon, beans, mushrooms and other English breakfast ingredients.

The mini busses to Girne ( previously called Kyrenia ) come often, take about 10 to 15 mins to get to town and cost 3 TL each. They usually beep to let you know they are coming and will stop for you wherever you are.

We walked down to the harbour which is stunning and surrounded by cafes and restaurants. There are several chaps trying to sell you the boat trips all extolling the virtues of their boat and how they are better than the others. We booked boat trip with 6 brothers and had lunch at the 6 brothers restaurant. Lunch was excellent with fresh salad, super service and reasonable prices for a harbour front place.

The pool in the Denizkizi is fab, large, clean and not freezing cold which is a bonus for this time of year, I guess it must be heated.

All in all it was a great start to the holiday, the place seems relaxed, the views are beautiful, the food is good and the balmy weather at this time of year is lovely.

The evening meal arrived, buffet style, the tables were laid out with white table clothes, wine glasses etc and looked smart. There was no dressing for dinner as such, however we made an effort and so did a number of people. The boss was eating with his family I guess on the end corner table also with a quaint old English chap with a suit and dickie bow. Smart casual,would do it every time.

The wine list was mainly Turkish and Cypriot wines and started from 28 - 30 TLwhich surprised me a little for the basic house wines. I had a glass of very decent red for 7TL.

The meze style salad bar was excellent, the hot food bar had some freshly barbecued kebab type things on a skewer these were tasty and we smelled the BBQ smoke earlier on when we were having evening drinks at the bar. The deserts were a selection of about 7 different but very sweet local squares of sweet stuff and a sort of milky rice pudding. Yummy but not everyone's cup of tea. I enjoyed the first nights food and it wasn't bad quality however I can see how some people do not like this sort of help yourself free for all. It is not exactly fine dining !

It was a bit dead everywhere however for a Sunday night and off season this is not a surprise.

We have had a couple of issues with the room, the air con cannot be controlled at the room ( ours was set on 25 degrees ) and our toilet was playing up. We shall see if these things are sorted out during our second day.

By the way, we have hired a jeep from the hotel at £18 per day. You can apparently get it for much cheaper in the town or at SAMs car hire along the road towards Girne. When we got the papers however it also had another £50 on there which was the charge for a full tank of petrol. Bearing in mind we had the car for 3 days we would have to do over 450k in that time to use up all the petrol. This is a rip off as we did not use a full tank and there was no offer of a refund. In addition the jeep for hire at the hotel is a bit of a wreck, there is no air con and the roof catches were broken. It is also filthy. Having said that, it was great fun driving up through the mountains.

Toilet mended during the day and air con reset at 21 degrees. Some change ( about 8-9 TL ) disappeared from the top of our dresser whilst the cleaner and the maintenance man were in. Maybe one of them thought it was left on the top as a tip. We thought it was a bit cheeky as we would not normally leave change as a tip until we leave the hotel at the end of the holiday. I kept on looking for the money for the next two days as I just could not believe that one of them had taken it, however it had definitely gone. I had meant to report this to the hotel but I did not get round to it.

All in all a nice hotel in a stunning location with plenty to see within driving distance.

Liked — Location, staff, food, room
Disliked — Nothing

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