Ambre — Hotel in Isle Mauritius

What can I say? Staying at Ambre was the amazing experience ever! I do not understand any of the negative reviews on here as for us it was perfect. We've been home over a month and miss it all so much. Upon arrival we were welcomed by a lovely man (can't remember his name as we were exhausted at the time!) He made us feel so welcome and seemed genuinely excited for our upcoming wedding anniversary. He gave us a free premium meal at La Plage restaurant to celebrate. The welcome drink was divine and definitely well received! It's a shame it wasn't available to order at the bar at a later time though. The beach was stunning. Yes there was seaweed, or kelp, on the sand, but it's a tropical island, what do you expect?! It didn't take away from the incredible views or the ability to swim in the beautiful Indian Ocean. I would strongly suggest investing in a pair sea/beach shoes as there's a lot of coral and sea urchins in the sea. We had an amazing meal in Dolce Vita on one of our first nights. Riaz went over and above to make the meal special for us, even adding additional items (half a lobster and king prawns) to my mixed seafood platter. He couldn't do enough for us and from thereon in, always welcomed us and stopped for a chat whenever he saw us around the hotel. We ended up having a few meals there and enjoyed every one! We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in Mauritius and had the most amazing meal in Dolce Vita where they decorated our table with fresh flowers and gave us a complimentary cake. Now onto the beach. Think of postcards of Mauritius and that's exactly what you get at Ambre. There were more than enough loungers to go around with options of shade or full sun. There were also day beds which were incredibly comfy, just be careful you don't fall asleep in the sun! The coral bar was the heart of the hotel with Aza being the main man. An absolute gentleman who always looked out for us and kept the drinks topped up with a smile and a hug. People often complain that drinks are watered down at all inclusive hotels, but we didn't find that at all. If you are looking for a stronger cocktail, ask for a double, Aza and his team are more than happy to accommodate! The entertainment was good and varied, with traditional dancers, singers, and bands. It did get busy though, so I'd suggest getting there early to get a seat. It was a little annoying when people were smoking or vaping during the entertainment which went unchallenged by the staff. The main restaurant was great with lots of choice each night. At breakfast, Juanito made the best omelettes and greeted us with a fist bump and smile. Deena and Shelia were so lovely everyday. Sheila heard me coughing one day and brought me a drink of hot honey, lemon and something else to ease it. Nicoletta also made sure that we had fresh coffee, and always greeted us with a kiss and hug. We particularly loved the Ti Bar with its relaxed vibe and of course, the resident dogs playing in the sand. Nikhil and the other man (sorry I can't remember his name) were so friendly and helpful, often going in search of the elusive Guinness which is on the all inclusive menu but not always available. Sitting at Ti Bar and feeling the powder white sand between my toes whilst watching the giant bats fly between the trees and the fish jumping out of the ocean, all whist sipping a Mai Tai cocktail was truly one of best memories of staying at Ambre. Overall, I can't recommend this hotel enough. If I had to find a negative it would be that the floor tiles are super slippery after it rains. We saw a couple of people fall, one actually broke her arm, so if visiting in the winter, be really really careful on the steps and...

NOT 4 STAR EXPERIENCE.

How are there so many good reviews ???

The positives:

Bed is large and room is overall good, shower pressure is very good. Italian restaurant @ lunch & dinner is fantastic although not sure if separate owners, all staff in here are amazing! Room cleaning by Ram is perfect. Some staff are very nice and can’t do enough for you. Aqua teachers good. Great pool. Surroundings are attractive & the beach lovely.

Everything else:

Check-in very chaotic and unorganised, 45 minutes sitting in reception asking who was in what room and filling info in on an iPad, very unnecessary, our holiday bookings should have already been your system. No drinking water offered - this should be an immediate offering after a long day travelling. Meant to check in at 2, nothing ready until 2:30. Then it was clearly rushed, our room was not fully clean, mini fridge was not stocked, hand soap & shower gel were not replenished & there was still dirt & dusty parts of our room. Also took additional time for our luggage to arrive, this should have been there before us.

No one at reception told us anything about how the hotel works with different restaurants etc .

Everyone kept getting illness/funny bellies at various times. Flies all over the food everywhere (especially beach lunch) isn’t helping.

Drinking water (or lack of) process here, who wants to keep refilling glass bottles especially near a pool area? The alternative is old reusable plastic cups. Not sure the drinking water was even safe as hotel bottles it themselves.

Incredibly uncomfortable sun loungers. Would expect a so called 4star to be cushioned.

Asking the room number constantly is very annoying. Why not use wristband / card like everywhere else in the world? Why do you need to keep asking which package we are ??

Lunch buffet is awful, there is no variety and the smallest I’ve ever seen. Never seen an All Inc food with such little choice.

Pool service is bad, offered a drink once a day and still get it wrong. Own brand drinks are weak. Mojitos are ok. The milkshake tastes different every time. Near the end of the holiday frozen daiquiri suddenly became supplementary ?? Come on .

When you change your pool towels you are always given dirty ones, do not believe for a second any of these are washed regularly. Also why are the bath towels the same colour as pool towels ?? People kept being sent away with wrong towels it’s a joke.

No wonder there are so many good Google reviews. At the beach/seafood restaurant they came round and asked everyone to positively review the hotel there & then!!! Some lobster wasn’t cooked properly. Then they want you to rebook again with the supplement menu. It appears desperate to ask for reviews constantly.

Several days of rain & they have no preparations in place for drainage . From a safety POV it is terrible we saw 2 people slip over & 1 required medics. Then evenings the chairs are soaking wet unless you ask for them to be dried. Also the public drinking area is dirty.

All power in room went off 4 times across different days !

Customer service is hugely lacking, even basics. Manager wasn’t really bothered when we raised a few issues. Got a small room for late checkout would’ve been 120€ for the privilege otherwise.

Holiday package was over £4000pp and could’ve had a better time at a 4 / 5 star closer to home. Even booking the hotel direct is over £330 per night if you do All Inclusive!! Really not worth anywhere near that. Disappointing!! So many better...

Nice resort But !! Great location and lovely people. Plenty to keep you entertained with simple entertainment at night and free glass bottom boat and water sports on site. The two bookable restaurants were excellent and food and service in here is fantastic.

Now for the But. Room No:524 Room was very outdated even with an apparent recent refurbishing, expected better. Hot water eventually, but need to run the shower for extended period before use. Raised a complaint regarding an alarm that sounded several times during both day and night. No apparent reason and no explanation provided. We had a letter left outside our door to take everything out of our room safe and leave it open so a scheduled service could take place. Offered limited safe space at reception but I had to decline as I had expensive cameras, watches, passports, money etc etc and didn’t want the inconvenience of moving all my valuables or having them with me all day on the beach, After all I am on my holiday and was hoping for a stress free vacation and never come across this before. Apparently it was not just a general service but total replacement of the room safe. After long discussions at reception it was agreed that this work would take place after we checked out. Common sense really. Didn’t stop them sending another letter a few days later though which I ignored. It would appear that rooms around us were having work done, possible room safe replacement and the sound of drilling and sawing was heard. Multiple power outages on most days, one while working on the building and plunging the bathroom into complete darkness as I was in the shower. Not good and very dangerous. Room TV signal is less than useless. None existent by the end of our stay. I could stream Netflix faultlessly on my iPad. Maybe a wifi TV update would be better. Mice seen in the reception area and bar on several occasions. During one breakfast in the main buffet we were trying to eat and being canvassed for several minutes about an evening food event. Extremely bad manners while eating. Possibly a flyer left in the rooms would have been more appropriate.

My biggest complaint at breakfast time was the distinct lack of someone dedicated to provide coffee/tee and top ups. This became worse as the days went by. After completing a provided resort questionnaire and outlining a few things I was contacted by senior management and asked if would like to meet for discussion, I declined as it was our last evening and to be honest, didn’t want the hassle. I was offered a meal in one of the bookable restaurant but again declined as I was only giving an honest review and not trying to gain something for nothing. That evening, we ate in the buffet and after providing my room number, things changed (Obviously flagged up) and we were visited at our table by several members of management. Annoyingly not what we wanted and not the thing to do again while trying to eat an evening meal. Seems to be normal at the Ambre. We had an apology by the buffet manager and advised that things would change regarding the morning service level. The very next morning, our last day, I was shown to a table and waited 9 full minutes for a cup of coffee, and it was my wife that went and found someone and had to ask. I had finished my breakfast by this point.

Overall not what I was expecting and seems to go against the majority of reviews. Maybe we were unlucky, but the alarms, power outages and lack of coffee was mentioned by others...