Beach Club Opening 2009

Like many owners we rent our apartment and a few of our clients have been to the club - although we haven't.
They have all said the following:
1. Superb, chic and elegant building
2. By mid afterneeon the changing rooms were disgusting - didn't look as though they had been cleaned all day
3. Horrendously expensive for snacks and water
4. Beach horrid

To reply to a previous post regarding digging the sand out. I'm not so sure this is a sensible idea. I know they've done this sort of thing in other areas of Spain but the rocks and seaweed form a part of the coasts natural defenses to storms and erosion. If we start playing with things we are asking for trouble. Certainly in Teneriffe where they have imported white sand to replace the black lava variety it just washes away eventually and has to keep being redone every few years. The money has to be found for this sort of operation and, as you will be discovering with your community charge, as we are now the effective owners, we have to pay.

Thanks to everyone for their very interesting comments on Beach Club and although we have not visited this year we tend to agree with what everyone is saying based on what we saw last time over in Roda.

We visited the beach club last week and although we did have a lovely relaxing day we would agree with the other comments.  The pool area is lovely but the beach was filthy and with grass tufts growing through the sand and with so much sea weed in the water it's certainly not the most pleasant walk!  There were loads of cigarette ends on the beach and the bins were too full and in need of being emptied.  Although we did see the floors inside the building being mopped this did not seem to follow through to the changing rooms and indeed we would say that the changing rooms were shabby and dirty in the morning - certainly not 5* standard! 

The restaurant was vibrant later in the afternoon where it seemed quite alot of people arrived just to eat.  We had a bar snack - 8-12euro for a baguette and 2euro for a small bag of crips!  We were forewarned so at least had packed a picnic for the kids and brought our own juice - apparently the beach is not private and hence they can't stop you eating your own food on it.  Not sure if that's true but certainly no one bothered us and we did see other people with cool boxes there.

The journey was a bit of a novelty but there was too much hanging around once we arrived at the ferry and before sailing (at both sides)  The boat was very busy so we had no under cover shade, although much of the boat is covered.  There were 4 of us and we personally will take the car in future - although the road to La Manga can get very busy the journey between leaving our apartment (phase 3) and arriving at the beach club was the best part of 2 hours!  At least in the car we would have saved 48euro and enjoyed the aircon for our journey - we could also then escape the beach club at lunch time and eat in one of the many restaurants on the strip instead.

We would go back as we did have a lovely time, but we wouldn't rush back and will certainly no longer be promoting it to our guests as the fabulous 5* beach club!!  Give us the beautiful beaches of Los Narejos and Los Alcazares anyday!

Could I suggest that any problems concerning the Beach Club be forwarded to the De Vere organisation as they have overall control of what is happening.

We did the bus and boat trip finally in the last week as we had previously always driven over to the Beach Club. The trip went like clockwork with the boat departing on time and the bus there to meet us at both sides. The Beach Club was not overly busy and we really enjoyed a very relaxing morning at the pool before moving into the restaurant for lunch.

The menu is small but most things are available and we elected to share the scallops to start which were the best I have ever had, I had duck as a main course and my other half had the rock fish both of which were delicious and the presentation was something else entirely. For dessert we had the chocolate textures which was the most beautifully presented dessert I have ever seen and tasted even nicer. With a bottle of wine (22euro), water, coffee and a brandy we had a most relaxing lunch with a view to die for and spent a great two hours enjoying the excellent food and service. The cost of 100 euro including owner's discount was not what I would want to pay for lunch every day but with the quality of the food and the location was the best 100 euro I have ever spent and I am only sorry that I am heading home and can't do it again until next year.

The facilities were very clean and the showers perfect. The pool was lovely and although the sand on the beach is different to that on the Mar Menor side we enjoyed a wee walk after lunch on the beach before settling down for a snooze until the bus arrived to take us back. The beach area although it has seating etc from the Beach Club is not private as there is no such thing in Spain and all beaches are public. It is totally natural and cannot be interfered with in relation to tidying it up for the Beach Club users so we will have the beach that nature gave us only.

The Beach Club is highly recommended for a day out and given all of the feedback on the snack menu it would be much better value just to have a main course which start at 18 euro in the restaurant than a sandwich and plate of chips outside on the terrace. It is clearly not a facility which is aimed at families with children with no children's area in the pool and with the cost of snacks but this suits us perfectly as it makes it much more relaxing for adults and there are loads of places aimed at young families in the area so it is nice to lie back and enjoy the music around the pool without the noise factor and splashing. Selfish perhaps but been there done that and now want peace and quiet so just honest!

Lorraine