I can't understand what some people gripe about! It's all down to personal taste. This rates as a value for money 3* hotel in my book. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed a totally chilled out week in the sun here, second week of Sept '09. We met plenty of like minded people from all corners of Europe - UK, Germany, Spain, Czech Rep and all friendly enough. No issues with sunbeds. If the flight prices were excluded, we paid £54 per night for two all inclusive - beats a travelodge experience hands down!
This was our first experience of all-inclusive and we had no complaints, we were never hungry, there was ample choice to suit all tastes, we were never thirsty, plenty of soft and alcoholic drinks. The hotel staff were ever friendly, from front desk, restaurant, bars, entertainment to cleaners. Treat others how you would like to be treated and you'll get excellent service, (if we worked their hours, could we smile all day like they do?) .
Enjoy the evening entertainment, Cala Ferrera beach is a two minute walk from the back of the pool area to the left, and just down this path is a landing to take a boat trip on the starfish glass bottomed boat. Another area to the right, through gardens is suitable for relaxing on the rocks, swimming and fishing - take a small telescopic rod, with light gear and use the bread from breakfast. Beds at the beach are 11 euros per day for two (with straw umbrellas). The water is gently shelving and great for snorkling (3 other similar coves in the resort). Pedaloes are also available. The resort is full of bars and restaurants which we unfortunately didn't get to try, although quietening down a bit at this time of the season. Plenty of touristy shops and spar supermarkets available. Cala D'or is purpose built for tourists but we found it to be sufficiently varied with plenty of side streets to prevent the feeling of going down the same old drag/strip. A visit to the marina is well worth the pleasant 20 min walk to see the glamourous motor launches and yachts.
In summary, the hotel is good value for its 3 stars, it's in a fantastic location (although 1 hr from Palma), yes its a 70s hotel, redecorated, so what? They have an internet PC, Food and drink ok, Staff great, smoking outside only - great, resort varied, Kids entertainment limited I guess in summer months, rooms can get hot as 70s air-con out of action, hotel shades much of the pool area in the afternoon so choose a bed at the east end.
I would take some of the negative reports on the web with a pinch of salt, there is so much choice these days that we are spoilt, there are always better and worse places to visit wherever you go, it's down to cost, taste and what you make it.
If a chilled out, relaxing holiday is what you fancy then this will do. Enjoy.......

We stayed at the Cala Ferrera for 9 nights early to mid September on a half board basis. The staff were always friendly and helpful and the hotel was exceptionally clean. The hotel is in a fabulous location, with lovely views towards the small bay of Cala Ferrera itself. The sandy beach is a very short walk away and is very clean with beautiful clear water. The area has lots of pine trees and greenery, making it very lush, which just seems to add to the relaxing feel. Very family orientated with plenty of small children and toddlers with the occasional baby. The area is relatively quiet - the only noisy place seems to be the next door hotel, with a good deal of rather loud 'crooning'/Abba medleys going on until around midnight, although not every night - certainly much quieter than Cala D'Or itself. If you want exciting nightlife or to meet lots of twenty somethings ready to party, this probably isn't the place for you.

There are quite a few reviews for this hotel complaining about the decor..... no, it's not the height of luxury, nor of the most modern decoration, but clean and well looked after.
Our room was on the noisy side of the hotel, which was the only downside of the trip. We asked to move and this would have been accommodated with ease when they had a free room on one of the two quieter sides of the hotel (probably from our 3rd night), but my husband couldn't be bothered to repack. Good thing he didn't hear the lorries most mornings at 6.30 like I did! The room itself was fine - very clean and certainly big enough for the two of us. From some other reviews we expected the room to be tiny, but were pleasantly surprised. The towels were changed when we wanted and rooms cleaned every day. Like in so many european hotels we had two twin beds pushed together, so maybe not ideal for those interested in high romance! There was no air conditioning, but we knew this before we went out and at this time of year (even when pretty hot and humid) it wasn't something that we found a bother. There was a television which we could have hired the remote for, but we hadn't travelled to Mallorca to watch tv (although did end up watching the England match in the bar one night).

We were surprised that so many people had complained about the food in other reviews. Breakfast and dinner were buffets (didn't have lunch, so can't comment). They tried to cater for the range of guests that they have - British, German, Dutch and Russian from what we could tell. Breakfast had a huge choice - pastries, cooked breakfast, cereal, fresh fruit, yoghurts, cold meats and cheeses and dinner had soup, usually five or six salads to choose from, a choice of three hot dishes and a large choice of puddings. The food was generally good quality with plenty of it. We knew we wanted to eat out a few nights, so just kept an eye on the daily menus and picked evenings that didn't seem so inspiring.

The pool area wasn't huge, but easily accommodated everyone. I imagine that July and August would be a bit of a squeeze though. Yes, there was the inevitable towels on sunbeds scenario - but only very few of those were the sort to bag the sunbeds and then go to the beach for the day, only arriving at the pool at 3pm.

We hadn't been to Mallorca before and wanted somewhere quiet, where we could relax and didn't want to pay a fortune. Cala D'Or and especially Cala Ferrera is very pretty with easily accessible small bays with lovely beaches and warm, clear, safe waters. At less than £27 each a night with two hefty meals (especially with the exchange rate making eating out fairly pricey) included, we found this hotel fitted the bill very well. A sea view/quieter room would have made it perfect. For the price we weren't expecting 5 star luxury, but think we were looked after very well and got very good value for money. We would stay at this hotel again.

I stayed at the cala ferrea hotel for 2 weeks (last week in aug- 1st week in sep) I paid £737 for half board, to cut along story short,many other guests paid alot cheaper than me for ALL INCLUSIVE for 2 weeks and with a nicer room and sea view, I am disgusted by this and was told by my travel agent this hotel did not charge a single guest a supplement for a room which i obviously was!! I had to pay an extra €12 per day for a sea view room so my holiday cost me around £900 for half board which was not worth the money at all. Food wasn't that bad, there was always a choice of different dishes etc, the english breakfast was my favourite, I didnt find the staff very friendly in the restuarant. The rooms are very clean but in need of repairs and decoration. I would go back if the price was right next year...Great resort with plenty of nightly entertainment, the best has to be EDEN PARADISE a short walk away from the hotel, it has a very pleasant atmosphere and the staff and shows were super friendly and very enjoyable too, I would say it was the busiest bar in the resort ! I found alot of germans arrived the 1st week in sep, they are so rude and would take your sunbed if you wern't around it or on it. Lots of nice shops and cafe/bars in this resort and beautiful beachs too with lots to do apart from soaking up the sun. I definitly would return to this resort. Duty free was more expensive this year especially the perfumes but then again its because of the credit crunch. The El Patio steak house does a lovely steak as well as other dishes,Its well worth a visit, €18 for a sirloin steak meal with salad,fries or baked potato. above all i would give this hotel 6/10 and the resort a 10/10. The train that goes through the town is another must to do for €3.50 it was well woth it as you can find your bearings this way amongst seeing all the different bars/restaurants and shops and the beautiful marina in the center of cal'd'or. beaches and town are very clean.

Just returned from a weeks all inclusive holiday with my partner and all in all have a lovely time, although one of the most imporant things about going all inclusive is the food and this was terrible. There was nothing to chose from, the meat was bland and rubbery, if you like chips for every meal then your fine as thats all we lived on day and night for a week. Having said that the breakfast was good but thats it. Another let down was there was no air conditioning and being there in august on the top floor was unbearable. we had to pay for a fan which i think is shocking, it should be provided when no air con available, and if you want to watch the tv you have to pay for the remote. i wouldnt bother as you dont get all the english channels. Now the good part, the hotel was clean and tidy. room cleaned everyday and if you wanted clean towels you had to leave them on the floor and they would leave you clean ones no problem. The room was fine, no problems at all and the staff are all lovely and friendly. The pool area is nice, cleaned every morning and always managed to get a sun bed. We often went out on a night as the entertainment isnt brilliant but that didnt bother us. The hotel is located on the beach near enough, theres a path from the pool area onto the beach. the view from the pool overlooking the sea is brilliant. There are loads of resturants and shops nearby. All in all we had a lovely holiday but not sure i would recommend this hotel to a friend, purely because of the things that let us down.