Caravel Zante

We had a wonderful couples massage experience with Nora and Marina. We are feeling very relaxed.

Unfortunately, I feel I have to leave an honest review of our stay at TUI BLUE Caravel because, in our experience, this hotel is nowhere near the 5-star standard it claims to offer. For us, it felt much more like a 3-star hotel.

We experienced issue after issue throughout our stay, and although there were some positives, there were simply far too many problems to justify the 5-star rating.

🚨 DO NOT DISTURB DOES NOT MEAN DO NOT DISTURB 🚨

This is something I really want to highlight, because it was one of the most unacceptable parts of our stay.

The DO NOT DISTURB signs appear to mean absolutely nothing at this hotel.

On the day I was extremely unwell and spending the day in my room, the maid entered my room THREE times despite the Do Not Disturb sign being displayed. On the same day, the mini-bar attendant entered once.

On another occasion, I was standing in the room completely naked getting ready when the mini-bar attendant walked straight into the room despite the Do Not Disturb sign being on.

On another occasion, I was actually on the toilet when the mini-bar attendant came straight into the room.

And it gets worse.

On another day, we deliberately left the Do Not Disturb sign on while we went to breakfast. When we returned, the room had been cleaned despite the sign clearly being displayed.

So what exactly is the purpose of the Do Not Disturb sign?

Guests should be able to expect privacy in their own room. If the sign is displayed, staff should not simply enter unless there is a genuine emergency or the guest has given permission.

Walking into an occupied room while someone is naked, using the toilet or simply wanting privacy is completely unacceptable.

This isn’t a minor inconvenience — it’s a basic privacy and guest-safety issue.

For a hotel claiming to be 5-star, this is yet another area where the standard falls dramatically short.

🎭 ENTERTAINMENT

The entertainment was, quite honestly, awful and incredibly boring.

For an all-inclusive 5-star hotel, we expected a much better standard of evening entertainment and something that would actually give guests a reason to stay around the hotel at night.

Instead, we found the entertainment extremely underwhelming, repetitive and lacking atmosphere. It certainly didn’t feel like the entertainment you’d expect from a premium 5-star TUI resort.

🍽️ FOOD & DRINKS

The main restaurant was probably the highlight. The food was nice and the restaurant itself was pleasant, although the selection became very repetitive during our stay.

The Culinarium was a completely different experience. Staff were rude, there were wasps swarming around the area, and on one occasion the snack bar served cold, hard food, including food that appeared to have mould on it. Completely unacceptable for any hotel, let alone one marketed as 5-star.

The drinks were also extremely inconsistent. Every time we ordered the same drink, it seemed to be completely different. Soft drinks were regularly flat/dead, while cocktails were either ridiculously strong or completely flat.

🥤 WATER

Another major concern was the water.

Tap water is served inside the rooms and in the restaurants. When asking for bottled water, it was made to feel like this was a huge inconvenience.

When we questioned the water being served, we were told it was tap water rather than fresh filtered/bottled water.

🛏️ THE ROOMS

This was probably the biggest disappointment.

We specifically paid for a sea-view room.

Our first room, 308, was in a block with only a partial sea view.

We were then moved to room 221, which did have a sea view, but the condition of the room was absolutely disgusting.

There were what appeared to be sperm stains on the headrest and outside chairs, mould between the doors and dust everywhere.

We were eventually moved for a third time to room 303, which was much more suitable and finally gave us the sea view we had actually paid for.

However, even this room still wasn’t properly clean.

There was mould on both sides of the room, and the balcony appeared to be in a very poor and deteriorating condition.

The shower was also bizarre — it would only produce hot water when turned towards the cold setting.

After having to move rooms THREE times, we really shouldn’t have still been finding these kinds of issues.

🦟 WASPS

Wasps were another ongoing problem.

They were swarming around the Culinarium/snack bar, and on our final day my in-law actually had a wasp in the ice in her drink.

That is simply unacceptable.

🏨 GENERAL MAINTENANCE & CLEANLINESS

The hotel generally felt poorly maintained and not properly cleaned.

The bushes and outside areas weren’t maintained properly.

The Bali beds were broken.

The air conditioning inside the hotel was leaking and dripping onto people.

The outside pool toilet area has four steps with no non-slip mats. We actually witnessed a gentleman slip and fly down all four steps.

That could have resulted in a very serious injury.

🏊 THE INFINITY POOL

The infinity pool is salt/sea water, which isn’t necessarily a problem in itself, but the condition of the pool was disappointing.

It was not clean and there was algae present, which again added to the feeling that the hotel simply isn’t being maintained to a 5-star standard.

🤢 ILLNESS

I also spent an entire day of our holiday in our room feeling extremely unwell and sick.

Obviously, I cannot say for certain what caused this, but given the issues we experienced with food, drinks and general hygiene, it certainly didn’t leave us feeling confident.

⭐ OUR OVERALL EXPERIENCE

There were some positives. The main restaurant was lovely, some staff were pleasant, and the location and views are beautiful.

But beautiful views don’t make a 5-star hotel.

We paid a premium price expecting a premium experience, and unfortunately TUI BLUE Caravel simply did not deliver that for us.

Three room moves. Cleanliness issues. Mould. Stains. Broken facilities. Wasps in food/drinks. Inconsistent drinks. Repetitive food. Poor entertainment. Maintenance problems. Safety concerns.

There were simply too many issues to overlook.

THIS IS NOT A 5⭐ HOTEL IN OUR OPINION.

Based on our experience, we would rate it closer to a 3⭐ hotel.

We paid for a 5-star experience and unfortunately, we didn’t receive one.

TUI and hotel management seriously need to look at the standards being offered here, because guests are paying 5-star prices and deserve a 5-star experience.

10/10 for anyone looking to have a lovely & relaxing week away. We attempted to peel ourselves away to see some of the Island, but we just couldn’t leave! Spa is also recommended. Back, neck and shoulder treatment by Nora was amazing!