We booked the Hotel Jinene at the last minute with Thomas Cook and ended up staying at the Royal Jinene. The rep told me that most people are "upgraded" when they arrive.
We arrived in the evening and there was NO MEAL provide despite the fact that this was supposedly included with the package book. This was dissappointing as we were travelling with a young child who needed to be fed. Normally, having worked in the travel industry,one might expect at least a cold salad to be served up if guests are going to be checking in late. We were not delayed or anything and so the hotel could have easily predicted our arrival time - given that it was a package holiday. No apology was given or options offered and none of the buffet restaurants were opened at our arrival time. It was only 9.30 at night. We have travelled to Tunisia before and arrived after the restaurant closed. A late evening meal was provided to us.
Our room was lovely and spacious and we were allocated a sea view room on the third floor. It was lovely. We had all expected facilities and took our own kettle as we knew that this would not be provided. There was hairdryer in the bathroom and the bathroom and toilet facilities were separate. I thought that they could have installed a small hand basin in the WC so that you could also wash your hands and not interupt if someone was using the shower or bath. The bathroom was pretty big.
There were three of us in the room and yet throughout the holiday we were only ever provided with two sets of towels. I assume that they thought my daughter should just reuse one of the adults towels?
There was a TV in the room and luckily for us, we have studied French as there were no channels in English except for BBC world - which shows mostly news. There are most of the French channels and there are also a few in German.
The reception staff were not great at providing local information and suggested catching a taxi every time we asked how to get somewhere. They had no maps or local information that they were willing to share with us. On the other hand, the kids club and animation team were great and spoke a very high standard of English and were willing to help out at any time. My little girl had a ball at kid´s club and still asks if she can go to kid´s club even though we are now back home. LADIES - BE VERY WARY OF THE NIGHT RECEPTIONIST. I had him try to come on to me when I arrived late one night (sober and well dressed) with my little girl hand in hand with me. He wanted to know where my "husband" was and tried it on. Early the next morning he also followed me into the dining area and wanted to "chat" DISGUSTING. I reported this incident to the rep and the manager as it was obvious he had tried this with someone before and gotten away with it. The manager offered his apologies and later the sleazebag did too. I got the impression that apologies were only forthcoming as the rep was informed and as I had his image stored on my digital camera and made a big fuss about the whole affair.
The animation was the same for 2 weeks running. Normally hotels change the program around every two weeks as many people stay for a fortnight. By the second week we didn´t bother even going down to the evening entertainment as we had seen it before. On only two nights the hotel offered entertainment from outside. The team seemed to be trying their best, but after the kid´s mini disco was over - it just wasn´t worth hanging around as we would have probably died with boredom!
The food was good at this hotel, except for one night when they only offered Tunisian dishes. I have a very fussy three year old and the chef bent over backwards to offer her something to eat if she wouldn´t eat from the buffet. I was however VERY VERY DISSAPOINTED with the gala meals offered to us over Christmas and new year. The hotel doesn´t offer a choice and they offer a set menu served over several hours. The menu included fish and meat for most courses and there was no kids choices or a vegetarian option. I ASKED FOUR PEOPLE - the rep included.. to try and sort me out a veggie meal and something for me little girl.. nothing fancy.. but at least maybe one course we could eat!! The manager then asked me WHY (at the actual gala meal) I hadn´t sorted it out beforehand. I had to call him over and explain that I couldn´t eat the meal they were serving up to me and my little girl just wouldn´t even look twice at it. Eventually I received an ommlette, two Breton style pancakes (with savoury food tucked inside) and my little girl had a plate of spaghetti. The chef was a big flirt with all the ladies - but it was all just a joke and he always had a kind word for everyone - in various languages - and seemed to enjoy getting to know the guests. There is little room in the dining room and people were continually having to get up and move to let other guests in and out. Each group had an allocated table for the whole holiday - but often you arrived in the dining room to find no cutlery as other guests had "borrowed" it. Also, when the waiters came to take away dirty dishes - they also took the cutlery so you were left with none for the next course - as it was never replaced. Some days no place was set for my little girl as my menu card on our table stated 2 plus 1.
The drink is double the price in the hotel compared with the irish bar 5 mins walk away. If you intend to drink a lot then upgrade tò all inclusive!
The swimming pool was great (the indoor one as it was too cold to use the one outdoors) the only problem was that there was no lifeguard and many guests used the access door to the swimming pool to run in and out from the hotel grounds. This meant the surrounding pool area probably wasn´t as hygenic as it should have been as they had shoes on. Cold air also rushed in and cooled the pool area down. The showers at the pool area are fab so you don´t need to rush up to your room to wash your hair. they are enclosed cubicles and have a shower curtain for privacy.
To get into sousse - it takes about 30 mins to walk and to kantoui (the main resort) it takes about 20-30 mins. The bus isn´t expensive - about 20pence per adult and half price for kids. it is SUPPOSED to run every 20 mins and is the number 12 or number 12-18. you can catch the bus back to the hotel from sousse just outside the medina - at the bus station. the same bus takes you to PEK.
If you want to go online - it costs 5 dinars for a half hour at the hotel but the price is much lower in town. shop around if you plan to check out your facebook page and emails. it is also much more expensive to call from the hotel as it is to call from one of the many "taxi phone" shops.
Brushing up on your french before travelling to tunisia will help you get around a whole lot easier and help bargain for cheaper taxi fares and souvenirs!
- Hotel Jinene And Royal
- Jinene And Royal Hotel
- Jinene Hotel
