Well, after a week, from the moment of our return from sunny Vietnam, after waiting for all the emotions associated with the vacation to subside, I decided to write an objective review about our repeated vacation at the Dessole Sea Hotel Lion Beach Resort & Spa. We were on vacation with the same group: me, my wife and our 7-year-old daughter. The review will be mostly comparative with our first visit to this hotel in September 2016 (https://tophotels.ru/viewrate/?id=1437374). I’ll say right away that my current visit to this hotel left in my mind a less enthusiastic impression than it did last year, but first things first.
Check-in went as usual. Having signed the papers and received the bracelets (green this time), we headed to the restaurant, where brunch was still going on, where I happily ate Pho soup and the notes of last year’s holiday immediately began to play in my memory, my mood was noticeably lifted, despite the heavy night flight. Then we went to the sea, where we spent time until lunch. After lunch, around 1 p.m., I went to the reception to find out if our room was ready and they immediately gave me key cards.
The room turned out to be on the 9th floor, brand new, after a recent renovation, the unit from the neighbor's air conditioner was located above the ceiling, the only thing that was somewhat surprising was the absence of metal railings on the balcony (you can see in the photo), apparently they forgot to fasten it after the renovation, so wet clothes and towels I had to dry it by hanging it directly on the glass of the fence and plastic chairs. This minor inconvenience didn’t bother me too much, so I didn’t ask the hotel administration the question.
99% of Russians, mainly from the regions of Siberia and Far East, met a couple of Germans in 2 weeks. To the right of the hotel, construction is either frozen or progressing at a sluggish pace, but on the left, work is in full swing, several new buildings have been built, the area between our hotel and the neighboring one is being improved, and some work is underway, a path has been laid between the hotels. The neighboring hotel, as I understand it, also belongs to the Dessole chain; now animators live there, but soon, I think, it will be occupied by vacationers.
And now about what seemed to me to have changed, not for the better, is nutrition. The food at the hotel has noticeably "sagged", starting with hot dishes and ending with desserts and fruits. The selection of hot dishes became noticeably scarcer, the number of “saucepans” remained the same, but the choice of food in them was somehow the same. I watched the guests walk around with empty plates one after another, opening and closing the lids in search of “something tasty” and not finding it, they returned for the second round. There was a lot of chicken in different versions, and beef or ostrich were very tough (especially ostrich), octopus and squid were also “rubbery”. For breakfast there are mainly eggs of various types, bacon and Chinese dumplings. There are noticeably fewer desserts, there weren’t many of them last year, but this year the choice has completely decreased; most of the pastries and cakes are of the same type, differing only in the color of the icing. With fruits, everything was also sad, from the so-called exotic there were only dragon heart, papaya and passion fruit (for some reason not ripe and very sour). Last year there were longans and rambutans, but this year there was none of that; we had to buy these fruits in the city market in order to eat enough. The pool bar has the same thing every day: sausages, hamburgers, deep-fried chicken and fries. I have never had deep-fried capelin, which I loved last year. If last year I gave the food a solid A, then this year the food at the hotel has slipped to the level of an average Turkish four-star hotel, and even lower for desserts. Frankly speaking, the hotel began to save noticeably on food.
There is one more unpleasant moment that I would like to write about: in the first week of our stay there were not very many people at the hotel (apparently this was due to the end of the school year, exams and graduations in schools and kindergartens), there were always empty seats in the restaurant and there were free sun loungers on the beach, but then the flow of tourists suddenly surged and the hotel was “packed to capacity.” I attribute this to the fact that Pegasus, after a decline in demand, decided to organize a sale of tours to Dessole and reduced the price of vacations by almost 2 times. This could not but affect the level of arriving guests. The contingent arrived, the most diverse and once quiet family hotel began to resemble a typical Turkish hotel with notes of “Tagil rules.” It was frankly a shame for our compatriots who, when fairly drunk, are trying, for example, to teach a bartender to correctly pronounce the word “beer-pivko-pivas...” in Russian, when in a restaurant a lady across the hall shouts to her husband: - “should you have scrambled eggs or omelette?”, and he also responded to the whole room: “I’ll have scrambled eggs from 3 eggs”, when at the next table, in front of the whole room, someone on WhatsApp on speakerphone, without embarrassment of others, discusses his personal affairs, or when one lady near a tray with stewed potatoes with meat (where there is approximately equal amounts of meat and potatoes) for a long time and persistently fished out the potatoes, throwing the meat aside in response to comments standing nearby in line, that there were potatoes separately in the next tray, she rudely replied that she needed exactly these potatoes and, as if nothing had happened, she continued to dig. And there are a lot of such examples, but last year I didn’t see such behavior from vacationers, and what’s more, I didn’t even see fairly tipsy individuals. But this is not a complaint against the hotel, but a parting word to our compatriots to behave more culturally and not to forget that despite the fact that some people think: “since I paid for everything, then everything is allowed to me,” you, dear ones, are visiting in another country and we need to at least be cultured, polite and observe basic rules of decency.
Otherwise, everything went great, the gentle sea and snow-white “singing” sand made us happy every day. True, one day there was a massive invasion of jellyfish, many people received burns. On this day, 4 large jellyfish were pulled ashore. I got it too; I now have a bluish spot from the burn all over my right side. This small incident did not in any way affect the quality of my rest; after going to the first aid station, where my burn was treated with ice-caine, I continued to rest. The burning went away after 2 days, but the burn is still clearly visible even though almost 2 weeks have passed since contact with the jellyfish. I didn’t see jellyfish on other days; apparently they were brought in by some current that day. Locals said that there are usually no jellyfish in May; they, as a rule, appear here only in August.
It also makes sense to write about the coxsackie virus, since the topic is very sensitive, especially for those who are going to this hotel on vacation with small children. If last year it did not pass us by, then this year God had mercy on us, and we did not get sick, although at the hotel we met children with symptoms of this disease. We traditionally did not swim in pools and washed our hands after each visit to the playground and before each meal. This time, these seemingly basic hygiene measures were enough to prevent us from catching the virus. During our stay at the hotel, for maintenance and repairs, 2 swimming pools in the relaxation area (children's and large) were closed for several days, the water was completely drained, cleaned and something was repaired.
I would also add to the disadvantages that travel to the city by bus has become more expensive compared to last year, while the bus itself is smaller. I think that the hotel could afford to make travel into the city free for its guests (or at least for regular guests), given that the hotel is located at a considerable distance from the city and there is no alternative but to stay on the hotel premises.
We practically didn’t communicate with representatives of Pegasus; a couple of times I only clarified the rules and regulations for baggage transportation. We went to the meeting, but after receiving the necessary general information We left the meeting with apologies, along with some of the other vacationers, who, like us, did not want to waste their time listening to advertisements for excursions that we had not initially intended to go on. The representative of “Pegasus” expressed his dissatisfaction with his entire appearance, and partly I understand him (this is his job), but you also understand us, anyone who has been on vacation for several years knows very well this whole “topic with excursions from a tour operator”; last year we We honestly spent almost 2 hours, but still bought excursions at the Russian Information Center for much less money. You can still “cheat” newcomers or those who are “not keen on money”, but you don’t need to turn your “tempting” offers into an outright imposition and make the price adequate and people will flock to you. The service “Pegasus-comfort” for $40 per person made me laugh; last year it cost $20, although my friends recently flew from another tour operator to Thailand and from there they easily registered online for free, their appetites are growing. No offense.
There are also advantages compared to last year: there is a fresh fruit shop where you can buy ripe fruits to eat here and order a fruit basket before leaving home. True, prices there are 2-2.5 times higher than in the city. They also sell delicious jam made from passion fruit, mango and other fruits (we picked it up for home before leaving; passion fruit is the most delicious in my opinion).
Another plus is the weekly (on Wednesdays) buffets for regular visitors to the hotel, where guests are treated to delicious cocktails (which are sold for money at the bar) and cold appetizers.
In conclusion, to summarize, I would like to ask myself a question and answer it immediately. Will we return to this hotel again? Given the price level that we paid and the level of service that we had this year, it’s more likely no than yes. If the price of a vacation drops by 1.5-2 times, as happened in mid-May, then we will consider this hotel as an option, but all things being equal, we will give preference to a quieter and family vacation. Well, that's all I wanted to write. I wish the hotel prosperity and more regular visitors, because the more regular guests, the more trust the hotel deserves. Big hello to the UNO animation team!!! You are best!!!
Dessole Sea Lion Beach Resort& Spa 4* - a new hotel of the Dessole chain, was opened in April 2014 in Vietnam, in the Khanh Hoa region. This is one of the few Vietnamese hotels and the only one in Nha Trang that operates on an all-inclusive basis.
It has an excellent location: the distance to Cam Ranh Airport is only 3 km, to the resort center of Nha Trang – 27 km.
The hotel is located on the first beach line, almost on the shore South China Sea, the distance to the surf line is only 100 m. You may also be interested in knowing where best beaches in Vietnam. To do this, follow the link and read the information
Dessole Sea Lion Beach Resort & Spa – This is a four star complex that has two large swimming pools - one of them has beautiful view on the sea, two small children's pools, a spa complex, a gym, a well-groomed green area, a 12-story main building and several bungalows.
Exterior of Dessole Sea Lion Beach Resort & Spa
The path to the beach runs between palm trees providing shade and takes only a couple of minutes. The sand here is snow-white; the staff manually sifts it to remove debris. Sun loungers, mattresses, towels on the beach, as well as at the pools, are provided free of charge.
The beach has a good gentle entry into the water; from May to October the sea is calm, but in winter there can be strong waves.
Entertainment
Dessole Sea Lion Beach Resort & Spa offers vacationers a full range of free entertainment:
- pool games,
- dance lessons,
- water gymnastics,
- beach aerobics,
- beach volleyball and football,
- darts,
- fitness classes.
Diving, surfing, water skiing, banana boat rides, sailing on boats and catamarans, and paragliding can be ordered for a fee.
Swimming pool at the hotel
All inclusive, represented by the hotel, includes:
- food in the format Buffet»,
- local alcoholic drinks without restrictions,
- use of the beach,
- swimming pools,
- beach accessories,
- visiting the children's club,
- use of Wi-Fi throughout the hotel,
- participation in animation and entertainment programs.
Food and alcoholic drinks
Five meals a day buffet style Available in the hotel's main restaurant - meal plan includes breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and late dinner.
At the main pool bar and in the lobby bar you can drink alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and order light snacks. The main restaurant is open until 22:00, after this time you can relax and have a snack in the lobby bar or pool bars - they are open until 24:00. From 24:00 to 7:30 the lobby bar offers hot drinks (tea, coffee), non-alcoholic cocktails and snacks.
Bar by the main pool
The menu of the main restaurant is varied and extensive. There is always a large selection for breakfast:
- hot snacks,
- fruits,
- juices,
- omelets,
- pancakes,
- fresh baked goods,
- sausages and cold meats.
Served for lunch and dinner several types of soups, salads, hot side dishes, a huge selection of fresh seafood - shrimp, oysters, squid, scallops, mussels. Good grill menu.
There is always fish - baked, fried, grilled.
Variety of food for dinner
Hot meat dishes are served for lunch and main dinner. The menu is adapted to European tastes - lots of salads, vegetable side dishes, interesting desserts. Tropical fruits and freshly squeezed juices are included without restrictions in any meal.
In restaurants and bars hotel a good choice strong alcoholic drinks, beer and a variety of cocktails. Free local alcohol can be ordered from 6:30 am to 12:00 pm.
All inclusive also included entertainment programs. The hotel has animators for children and adults all day long. Children are offered entertainment, games and competitions from early morning until late evening. Every evening there is a children's disco and adults animation programs. There is a mini club. For an additional fee, you can invite a Russian-speaking nanny.
For those who like to travel around Asia, you should pay attention to:
The video shows the variety of food options at the Dessole all-inclusive hotel:
SPA complex services are not included in the price, but everyone can relax in the sauna, get different types massage, undergo wellness treatments or visit a cosmetologist for a fee.
Accommodation on site
The hotel has 311 rooms in the main building and 16 rooms in detached bungalows.
Hotel apartments
All rooms have:
- TV with Russian-language channels,
- bath or shower cabin,
- double bed,
- split system,
- free, unlimited Fi-Wi,
- safe,
- balcony or terrace.
All rooms have sea view. The minibar is replenished daily with soft drinks. Toiletries are provided only upon check-in and are not replenished thereafter. Rooms are cleaned daily.
On video of the hotel apartment:
All rooms have king-size double beds; triple rooms additionally have a sofa or pull-out sofa. Two-room suites have 4 beds on two large beds and are equipped with an interior door. For large families, the hotel provides family two-room suites with an area of 45 sq. m.
In the bungalow There are one-room rooms with a large terrace, a bed and an additional sofa.
For the youngest guests The hotel provides free cots in all rooms.
The hotel is located some distance from the main tourist routes region and is perfect for those who prefer a quiet, secluded holiday.
A bus runs from the hotel to Nha Trang three times a day; the fare for a two-way trip is $3. Excursions at the hotel can only be purchased from representatives of tour operators. For those who want to travel independently or use the services of numerous local travel agencies, you need to go to Nha Trang.
From there they organize excursion trips to Swallow Island, to the Giangbai waterfall, a crocodile farm, trips on yachts and catamarans, trips to Saigon and excursions to Buddhist pagodas.
For those who want to travel and relax in comfort, you should pay attention to
Is it worth choosing tours to Tunisia in November and how good a holiday there is, described in detail in this
On video - a variety of recreation at the Dessole Hotel:
The cost of excursions ranges from $40 to $80 per adult tourist.
Prices for hotel tours depend on the city of departure, the number of vacationers and the duration of the tour.
What reviews exist about hotels in Vietnam Nha Trang can be read in this
It will also be interesting to know which ones are visited most often by Russians.
For those who like to travel, it will be interesting to know which seaside resorts in China are the most
Price
- Thus, a trip for two adults and two children under 12 years old, for 7 nights with departure from Moscow, will cost from 270,000 rubles.
- a tour under the same conditions, but for two adults will cost 145,000 rubles,
- and one tourist can relax for a week at the Dessole Sea Lion Beach Resort & Spa for 90,000 rubles.
- TTC Hotel Premium - Michelia can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 07:00-16:00.
- Citadines Bayfront Nha Trang can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 07:00-17:00.
- Sunrise Nha Trang Beach Hotel& Spa can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 07:00-16:30.
- Sheraton Nha Trang can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 07:00-17:00.
- Starcity Nha Trang Hotel can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 06:00-17:30.
- Liberty Central Nha Trang Hotel can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 07:00-16:00.
- Green World Hotel Nha Trang can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 07:00-17:00.
- Galina Hotel & Spa can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 07:00-17:00.
- Nha Trang Lodge can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 07:00-17:00. But guests can only use for 1.5 hours free of charge, for use longer than this time you must pay.
- Yasaka Sai Gon Nha Trang Hotel can still provide sunbeds, umbrellas and towels. Free for hotel guests from 08:00-17:00.
- Novotel Nha Trang has a small beach area with sun loungers and umbrellas. Free for hotel guests from 08:00-17:00.
- Nha Trang Palace Hotel can still provide sunbeds and umbrellas, towels. Free for hotel guests from 06:00-16:30.
Dear friends and colleagues!
Dear friends and colleagues!
From January 1, 2019 in accordance with the new city development plan Nha Trang(Nha Trang) all hotels in this resort can no longer place sun loungers and umbrellas on the beaches. Nha Trang (Nha Trang) hotels no longer have private beaches.
Update 02/28/2019
Some hotels are still allowed to provide umbrellas and sun loungers:
According to government regulations, the beach will be divided into many small areas for hotels (due to the large number of hotels popping up nowadays). Thus, the Yasaka Sai Gon Nha Trang Hotel area allows you to install only 6 free sun loungers for the first 6 guests, and from the seventh guest you will have to pay for a sun lounger and an umbrella.
Best regards, Pegas Touristik.
in Vietnam
Dear friends and colleagues!
Not allowed for transportation by air Galaxy Note 7 tablets, large phone power banks, and any battery-powered vehicles due to the risk of spontaneous combustion.
Best regards, Pegas Touristik.
Changes in room equipment from 07/02/2016
Dear friends and colleagues!
The hotel concept will undergo changes from July 2, 2016 regarding the equipment of rooms upon arrival. From this date, toothbrushes and toothpaste will no longer be provided in the rooms.
Today is the last day of our holiday at the hotel, there is a lot of negative things left from the holiday, there is no management at the hotel, I have never seen a single manager who monitors the work of the staff, the staff don’t care about you, it feels like they get paid not because we pay money , and they pay us, I’ve been working in the service sector for 18 years and I know what it is. We can say that there are no managers here, and if there are, it’s time to fire them for such work: 1) on the beach and pools you have to get and lay the mattresses on the sunbeds yourself; they only lay them on a few sunbeds, if someone comes more people then they themselves have to take out the mattresses from the piles piled on top of each other and open umbrellas for themselves, the staff stands nearby, chatting with each other, they don’t even consider it necessary to help. The mattresses are dirty and partially torn. The sun loungers and umbrellas are partially broken, there seem to be a lot of staff, but no one cares about anything, there is no owner in the hotel and therefore everything is collapsing 2) large garbage often floats in the sea, I don’t know if it is the workers’ duties to remove garbage from the sea, but really It is so difficult to catch even large debris, it is very unpleasant to swim. On the beach, garbage is removed, but not efficiently, there is often garbage between the sun loungers and garbage vases are not cleaned regularly 3) in the dining room (I dare not call it a restaurant) there are a lot of waiters, but there is no sense in them, several people are constantly standing and chatting with each other friend, often the cooks also come out of the kitchen, they gather several people right in the hall and chat, they are very negatively disposed towards the guests, they seem to smile, but if you ask to bring something they make a face or you have to wait a long time before they bring it. Several times it happened that we weren’t allowed to sit at the table that we wanted because we didn’t want to reserve it after the previous guests, so they swarmed us in a crowd and started yelling no madam and started pushing us to other tables, the first time this happened I was scared , I have a question: why do they tell me where I should sit, or do I want something beyond natural, I like to sit by the window and I don’t understand why, having paid money for a vacation, I can’t do this, because you see, the waiters are not so comfortable and is this a service??? On December 14, for breakfast, I decided to insist and sit at the table that I like and just walked over and sat at the table that I wanted, but you won’t believe it, a crowd of 5 people rushed in, started screaming, grabbed plates from the table and started moving them to another table, but they didn’t let me I should sit at the table I wanted, I was completely shocked, this is the first time I’ve encountered something like this, that the waiters forcibly forbid me to sit where I want, and for 1.5 hours several people stood and did not do their job, but performed the duties of security guards and they didn’t let people into the back of the hall, we ate for 40 minutes and not once did they come to us, they didn’t even remove the dirty plates. The staff is not at all focused on vacationers, for several days in the evening it was stuffy and most of the people went to the veranda, but there were not enough tables in the half of the veranda that was open, they asked us to serve in the closed part of the veranda, a crowd gathered again and began to pull us into the closed hall, and at the same time, they have a habit of yelling loudly, as if I was deaf or stupid, I have a question for the manager, how problematic is it to reserve several additional tables on the veranda if vacationers do not want to sit in a stuffy room? Also, the waiters are constantly quietly taking food for themselves, thinking that they are not being seen, pouring tea and coffee, and several people at a time go to their back room, and this is at the height of the working day, this is also considered the norm. On the tables, the salt shakers were either empty or everything was packed into one lump so that the salt could not be shaken out. For lunch and dinner, they don’t put paper napkins on the tables, of course there are rag napkins, but after I came across a napkin with dried food residue, I doubt the hygiene and am afraid to wipe my mouth with them. The staff is terribly lazy in the bar, the coffee machine ran out of coffee, I asked for a refill and waited 32 minutes, it’s terrible to refill the coffee machine for more than half an hour, yes, I would fire such workers in 5 minutes, in the bar the bartenders work very slowly, they don’t even consider it necessary to wipe the counter , she's all sticky and dirty. After the rain, chairs and tables are also not wiped down, I had to take paper napkins and wipe them myself 4) It’s stuffy everywhere in the hotel, this is the first time I’ve encountered such savings on guests, in the dining room, in the lobby, at the reception it’s stuffy everywhere, in the elevator it’s basically a torture chamber , although the elevators are very good and modern, the management skimps on ventilation. 5) the cleaning in the rooms is not of high quality, I clean only visible places, there is dust everywhere in the room, since I am allergic to dust, I had to wipe it myself and this is the service of a 4* hotel, in the bathroom the curtain is not cleaned at all, with each cleaning it is simply raised, but there is hair and a lot of mold on it, the shampoo and gel dispensers are dirty. 6) in the dining room there is a good range of dishes, the products are always fresh - this is undoubtedly a big plus. But often it is prepared so unpalatably that it is impossible to eat. You can’t chew dishes made from pork or beef, a question for the chef: have you tried stewing, boiling or frying the meat longer to make it soft, I couldn’t eat anything but chicken because my teeth hurt after eating this meat. Are boiled vegetables often served almost raw? Almost all the dishes are not brought to taste. I don’t understand how other vacationers rate the service at 5, I would give a maximum of 2, this is because we Russians value ourselves little and that’s why the service staff behaves rudely, but we tolerate it and that’s why tourists from other countries don’t come to this hotel. I have a question for the owner of the hotel, why do you allow such an attitude towards us, do we pay less than vacationers from other countries or our money is somehow not the same, there is absolutely no desire to come to this hotel again after such a boorish attitude. I saw several reviews similar to mine, but I realized that they don’t change anything and don’t want to change, they only do unsubscribes, there is no interest in guests coming again. On the positive side: the hotel is near the airport after a 9 hour flight, 5 minutes and you are at the hotel, you were quickly checked in without any delays, the staff at the reception works quickly, we arrived at 14.10 so we were quickly sent to the dining room to eat, the Russian girl Svetlana who helps the vacationers is very smart, everything calmly explains, thank you very much. Another big plus of the hotel is the animation team, if it weren’t for them the holiday could be considered ruined, I especially want to mention Goga, he’s just an energizer, where he has so much energy, a very positive person, he has very positive energy, he lifts the mood just with his presence . I would like to say a big thank you to the animation team for your hard work, as it takes a lot of effort to get us together and make us move. Special thanks to the dance team, a very professional team, beautiful numbers and costumes, they didn’t miss a single performance. The hotel area is well-groomed and cozy, I constantly clean it, only here I saw that people were really working and not pretending. The pools are clean, the water does not smell of chlorine. The beach is good, fine sand, the descent into the sea is smooth, the only thing in the sea is that there are not enough breakwaters since the sea is not very calm and it is not always possible to swim due to strong waves.…
