Hotel Dobrudja — Hotel in Balchik

We usually avoid going on holiday at pick times but this year we didn't have choice. As a child I spent many summers there and I love to take my children as well because the resort is clean with well maintained gardens and beach. I chose Dobrudja this time because it isn't far from the beach but its turn up that we were located at the end of the beach strip''Neptun'' and we had to walk 20 min to there,not so happy about this. The first row of beds were always busy since 6 AM so frustrating. I spoke with the person responsible for that part of the beach and he said people can't occupy beds by putting towels and not be there but few times he had arguments with holiday makers and give up on that rule so bare in mind you will never be on the first 2-3 lines unless you get up 5 o'clock in the morning to reserve. ||We paid for 2 double rooms but they give us apartment. This is a good tip to slash half of the price for apartment but I can not assure you they will offer you the same deal. At first was happy that we will together in apartment. Everything in there was old and broken and furniture is brought from here to there,nothing was matching. Bathroom so dirty and let down feel like a horror movie. I asked the cleaner 1 morning to pour bleach in the toilets,so dirty and stained,in the afternoon when I saw her she apologies and said they don't have it until next week. I wonder what kind of hotel is that is they DON'T have Bleach. So cleanliness is below 0 there. Behind rails with heaters haven't been clean for decades so deeply dusted. The shower curtain was small and guess what,water was all over the place when you wash.||BEDS were comfortable and sheets white and clean,towels OK,toiletries in place,enough storage and balcony which was dirty as well. There was a lamp shade over the children's beds which was full of cockroaches and few more of them running around the room and corridors,very unpleasant views.||FOOD - surprisingly the food was much better than our expectations and we really enjoyed have our dinners and breakfasts there. Every day choice of cooked meals and grilled meats,lots of salads and fruit. For breakfast freshly prepared eggs,pancakes,juices,hot drinks,fruits and many more. ||WI-FI not good I couldn't be bothered to use it. Tried few times and give up.At least they don't charge for that.||Last but not least I booked room for my parents to stay with us for few days and this is when I realize that could be worst than the apartment we get. As soon as we open the door and get in there was a horrendous smell of nicotine. What was that?!Seriously?! Smoking policy is below 0 as well and the stink is horrible, luckily my parents spent there only 2 nights.||All in all we had good holiday but because of the weather and the sea. The hotel is very let down and overpriced for what they offer in return. Would I recommend it?! NO,NEVER!!!! Price look cheap but experience is horrifying. I would rather sleep in a tend next time. I have few pictures of prove for you to consider,have a look please.||Would we go back again as a...

We were booked into this hotel whilst attending a conference in the city of Varna. The conference organisers must have been having a joke. It turns out that the conference speakers REFUSED to stay there due to the condition of the rooms and were moved to another hotel. No such luck for us, the delegates. This hotel may once have been the Grand Dame of soviet Russian holiday hot spots but no longer. In fact I visited this hotel about 20 years ago whilst carrying out Needs Analysis consultancy for a major UK tour operator. It failed then and still fails. Absolutely nothing has changed since that visit 20 years ago. There has been no investment and the hotel, together with the general resort, has been allowed to fall into disrepair. Added to which, lots of cockroaches in the bathroom and bed bugs reported by some of my colleagues, with visible bites on their arms and bodies as evidence.||On a positive note (well, I've got to say something nice!), the beach and some local facilities are very good. The beach is groomed every night. But why, oh why can the owners not re-invest some cash? They made a fortune after the privatisation process, when most of the ordinary workers really lost out. The unacceptable face of post communist fat cat capitalist business.||For many reasons, unless you are desperate for a cheap holiday I would avoid this resort, and in particular this hotel, like the plague. Unfortunately, with destinations such as Turkey, Egypt and North Africa now out of bounds Albena and similar resorts are now selling out through the cheap European and former Eastern bloc...

This year we decided to go to Albena and after i looked on the internet for some hotels we chose Dobroudja. Shortly , we were not too delighed but no dissapointed either. W e stayed in a room with balcony, at the 8th floor and the view was pretty nice. The room was big enough for 2 people, the furniture could be better (and could be worse, too), i didn t look for the little bad things that could exist , the tv was quite small and there weren t too many chanels you could watch, this i call insignificant details, after all we were on vacation so we could exclude the tv totally||I liked the bathroom because it had bathtub (not shower) so i could sink with some aromatic bath salts.....still feel those relaxed moments||Another plus is for the elevators, there were 6 of them , they didn t block, didn t squeak||The restaurant where we served breakfast and dinner was big, the food was for everyone s taste, always fresh and various ||The pools- the one from outside was a normal pool, the inside one instead....with mineralizated warm water good for rheumatic diseases and diseases of thr nervous system, there was a third smaller pool for kids||There were some things that deserved a minus but i am used to see the glass half full so i will not mention them, we went on vacation to relaxe not to get pissed off||To conclude although we do not use to go twice in the same place, we like to go in different places, to see different things, i wouldn t say no...