Phoenicia Holiday Resort — Hotel in Constanta Metropolitan Area

I can't even begin to express how incredible our week at Phoenicia Holiday Resort was! My family and I, along with our dear friends Andrea and Andrei and their girls, just returned from what I can honestly say was one of the best family vacations we've ever had. Everything was absolutely SUPER from start to finish!|Location and First Impressions|Phoenicia Holiday Resort is perfectly situated in Mamaia Nord, just 150 meters from the beautiful Black Sea beach. The moment we arrived, we were struck by the sheer size and beauty of this place - 100,000 square meters of pure vacation paradise! The resort has been welcoming families since 2010, and you can really feel the experience and attention to detail that comes with over a decade of perfecting the family holiday experience.|The check-in process was smooth and efficient, and the staff immediately made us feel welcome. What impressed us most was how family-oriented everything felt from the very beginning. The girls were already excited just walking through the lobby, and Andrea and Andrei were amazed by the scale and quality of the facilities.|Accommodation - Spacious and Perfect for Families|We stayed in the three-bedroom superior apartments, which were absolutely perfect for our group. With 420 apartments spread across the resort, there's plenty of space for everyone without feeling crowded. Our apartments were modern, clean, and incredibly well-equipped. The kitchens had everything we needed (though with the all-inclusive package, we barely used them!), and the air conditioning was a lifesaver during those hot August days.|The girls loved having their own space, and Andrea and Andrei were thrilled with the quality of the furnishings and the attention to detail. Each apartment felt like a home away from home, with comfortable beds, plenty of storage, and beautiful views. The Wi-Fi worked perfectly throughout our stay, which was great for sharing photos with family back home.|Beach and Pools - Pure Heaven!|The private beach access is simply outstanding! With over 600 complimentary sunbeds, we never had trouble finding the perfect spot. The sand is soft and well-maintained, and the Black Sea was perfect for swimming. The girls spent hours building sandcastles and playing in the waves while we adults could actually relax and enjoy some well-deserved downtime.|But honestly, the pool complex is where this resort really shines! Eight different pools, including an Olympic-sized pool, an indoor pool, and various pools for different age groups - there was literally something for everyone. The girls were in absolute heaven, moving from pool to pool throughout the day. Andrea and I particularly loved the river-like pool, which was so unique and relaxing. Andrei spent quite a bit of time in the Olympic pool getting his laps in, while the rest of us enjoyed the more leisurely pools.|The pool areas are beautifully landscaped and maintained, with plenty of loungers and umbrellas. The lifeguards were always attentive and professional, which gave us peace of mind with the children around.|Dining - All-Inclusive Excellence|The all-inclusive dining at Phoenicia Holiday Resort exceeded all our expectations! The main restaurant, Kasttane, offers an incredible Swedish buffet with such variety that we discovered something new every day. The quality of the food was consistently excellent - fresh, flavorful, and with options for every taste and dietary requirement.|What really impressed us was how well they catered to families with children. The girls always found something they loved, from familiar favorites to new dishes they were excited to try. Andrea and Andrei, who are quite particular about food quality, were constantly commenting on how fresh and well-prepared everything was.|The specialty à la carte restaurants provided wonderful variety throughout our stay, and the lobby bars kept us refreshed with an amazing selection of beverages. The staff in all the dining venues were friendly, efficient, and always went out of their way to accommodate special requests.|Entertainment and Activities - Never a Dull Moment|This is where Phoenicia Holiday Resort truly sets itself apart! The entertainment and activities program is absolutely phenomenal, especially for families with children. The girls were entertained from morning until night with specialized playgrounds, diverse sports facilities, and the most wonderful animated characters that brought smiles to their faces every single day.|The resort really understands that a successful family vacation means keeping everyone happy - children AND adults. While the girls were engaged in age-appropriate activities, Andrea, Andrei, and I could enjoy some adult time knowing our children were safe, supervised, and having the time of their lives.|The evening entertainment was fantastic too - family-friendly shows that kept everyone engaged, from the youngest to the oldest in our group. We particularly loved the themed nights and the way the entertainment staff made everyone feel included.|Staff and Service - Exceptional in Every Way|I cannot say enough good things about the staff at Phoenicia Holiday Resort. From housekeeping to restaurant service, from entertainment to management, every single person we encountered was professional, friendly, and genuinely seemed to care about making our vacation special.|The housekeeping staff kept our apartments spotless, the restaurant staff remembered our preferences after just a day or two, and the entertainment team knew all the children's names by the end of the week. This level of personal attention really made us feel like valued guests rather than just room numbers.|Value and Overall Experience|For a 4-star resort of this caliber, the value is absolutely outstanding. When you consider the quality of accommodation, the extensive facilities, the excellent food, and the incredible entertainment program, Phoenicia Holiday Resort offers exceptional value for money.|But beyond the tangible amenities, what really made this vacation special was the atmosphere. This resort has mastered the art of creating a environment where families can truly relax and connect. Andrea and Andrei commented multiple times on how stress-free the entire experience was - everything was taken care of, everything was available, and everything just worked perfectly.|The girls are already asking when we can come back, and honestly, we're already looking at dates for next year. It's rare to find a place that exceeds expectations so completely, but Phoenicia Holiday Resort has set a new standard for what a family vacation should be.|Final Thoughts|If you're looking for the perfect family resort on the Romanian coast, look no further than Phoenicia Holiday Resort. Whether you're traveling with young children, teenagers, or a multi-generational group, this resort has everything you need for an unforgettable vacation.|Andrea, Andrei, the girls, and our entire family give Phoenicia Holiday Resort our highest recommendation. Everything was super, just as we hoped it would be, and so much more than we expected.|We'll definitely be back, and we'll be recommending this amazing resort to everyone we know. Thank you, Phoenicia Holiday Resort, for giving us memories that will last a lifetime!|Highly Recommended For: Families with children, multi-generational groups, anyone looking for a comprehensive resort experience|Best Features: Multiple pools, private beach, excellent all-inclusive dining, outstanding entertainment program, spacious family accommodations|Would We Return:...

Before we get into the review, note that there have only been 177 reviews of this hotel (at the time of me writing this), which has been operating for a long, long time and have had thousands upon thousands of visitors over the years.||We were looking for something different for our trip to Romania this year and decided to spend some time at the sea. We looked at various hotels around the area and considered Eforie Nord, Eforie Sud and other area further south like Olimp and Saturn and everything in between. After much deliberation we decided to experience a 'proper' summer holiday and to stay in Mamaia, and eventually settled on an all-inclusive 7 night stay at Phoenicia Holiday Resort.||We flew to Constanta and took a taxi to the resort. Check in was great - we would like to thank Mohamed and the reception team for a smooth check in process. We were a family of four with luggage, tired children and earlier than the check-in time but our room was already ready so we made our way to the 1 bedroom apartment.||The complex is large and was clean (it had been raining on our arrival) and we made our way to Smarald building (all buildings, I understood a few days in that they are named of course after jewels). Our room was clean and spacious, with a sofa bed already made for our children, we have towels and extra linen available.||The room itself was fine and we had air conditioning and a balcony, where you can see the sea in one direction and lake in the other. But. since we didn't spend too much time in the room it was not a problem for us.||The week we stayed was very, very busy - possibly the busiest period as it was also Saint Mary's day (?) and possibly some other National Holiday so there were a lot of guests. The food hall became incredibly busy - if you do not go early then it's difficult to find a table but we always had somewhere to sit in our preferred areas. There are different seating sections and we often stayed in the same areas.||The food itself was great for us. Because of the size of the complex and so many guests, the food is spread out quite a lot but after a few visits you get familiar with where to find eg the changing dishes each day (in the main entrance hall), then there is the separate BBQ type food (chicken, pork, sausages), salads, bread and pizza, drinks dispensers, another corridor for pasta, chips and kebab-style depending on the way (kebabs or wraps for instance) and also fruit, and desserts/sweets.||We would like to thank the service staff for the great job of clearing, cleaning and preparing tables. I managed to speak to 'the boss' of the team on the last day and expressed our gratitude. What a great team and I expect many guests do not appreciate or Thank them very often.||Of concern to us though, was the amount of food we saw go to waste. We always, always tried to leave empty plates so that food did not get thrown away, but we saw so many families and groups of people taking food unnecessarily - more than then need or could eat - and then the staff had to clear away so much food. Please, if you go to an all inclusive resort, it doesn't mean you should consciously waste food.||The pools were great - we naturally gravitated towards the pool with splash park features and our children loved to spend hours there. We could sit and relax and watch the children play and soak up the sun!||The beach was pretty busy too, and could be difficult to find chairs nearer the sea unless you go very early in the morning. However, it's the same with the pools as people come and go over the course of the day so you will always find a chair somewhere.||You are given towel coupons from reception which you can use at the towel hut near the beach, and can change them over your stay. We returned our towels at the end of the week, got tokens back and returned them to reception when we checked out.||We did not take full advantage of all-inclusive drinks since we are not heavy alcoholic drinkers, but being able to use the All Inclusive Bar was useful, plus there is another bar at the pool 'high up' where you can get the same drinks.||We were fortunate to have a very hospitable cleaning lady on our floor who provided extra linen when we needed. and we told her not to worry about cleaning too often. We did not know her name but we are grateful to her and the other cleaning team for our room on fourth floor Smarald ;-)||There was also other entertainment and kids activities but our children didn't take part (since they don't speak Romanian either) but they really enjoyed their time at the pools and in the sea.||The only things to mention is that some areas can be slippery with water and after cleaning - you must take care not to slip! Also, since many guests are in groups, you often see people taking chairs from other tables which meant many tables only had two or three chairs. It would perhaps also be good to put some signs up for the food, because in many cases I didn't know what I was eating! It would also be good to consider some signage to encourage people not to take more food than they can eat, to avoid so much food waste.||It was a very, very busy week but we had a great time. The staff were great: thank you reception team, room cleaning team and restaurant/kitchen and service teams! You made our...

For a first time family visit the overall experience was quite good. The room was spot on (Superior 1 bedroom apartment) for a family with a 1yr old. The room had good amenities and had a minimalist interior design - perfect for kids who like to roam around - very few things that could break or injure them. The seaside view was the best - great way to see the sunrise in the morning.

The only downside in the room is the fact that you have to bring your own amenities - they only provide soap in a fixed dispenser so you can't really take it to the shower.

The facilities for children are great - they provide a nice open playground next to the beach where children could roam around. They also have kid's pool and at 5pm they have a foam party which is always over crowded.

They also provide towels for the beach but the best bet is to bring your own if you don't want to queue for a towel. Next is their own private beach where you literary have to hunt a beach chair - most people will put their towel on to claim a seat and then leave. Although they claim that the beach chairs are not reserved, in the morning you have to wake up early to claim your place with the towels, otherwise you will end up sitting in the last lines of beach chairs.

There are however a few things that I have found to be quite annoying during my stay, such as:

Although the restaurant provides breakfast / lunch / dinner as a buffet (swedish style buffet) and the variety is quite big, the quality of the food is sub par - more like a "push the tray" / "self service" restaurant. They also have 4 areas where live cooking (they prepare the meal in front of you) happens, however these places move at a snails pace, almost as if they don't really want you to use these facilities - one example is at breakfast where you will have to stand an average of 15-20 minutes for pancakes - since the staff only cooks 4 of them at a time and do not stock up... In the last days of our stay we went to eat out since the food choices never really change.

Typically you will find:

For breakfast: Food for 0-3 yr old age group - we didn't try any - didn't inspire something very good for the kid Cereals with milk (don't think Nestle / Kellogg type) rather than off the shelf knock-offs of the main brans Variety of scrambled eggs: plain, with cheese, with vegetables or with ham Fried chicken livers (don't know why this is served at breakfast) Some boiled sausages (like you would find in a hot dog) Salad bar Pita with cheese (pizza dough with cheese and baked) Variety of bread

For lunch: Variety of 4 soups to choose from Various oven baked steaks Some on the spot barbecued steaks (chicken breast, romanian mici and pork steak) - tried it - really bland meat, no seasoning what so ever Salad bar Pasta, shawarma (really dry - you would find more decent ones in any other dubious place) fries and pan fried anchovies)

Another annoying thing at Phoenicia Holiday Resort is the upsell of the All Inclusive upgrade. If you want to order a drink at the beach bar or the poolside bar you will find out that you can't... they do not take take credit cards nor cash. You can only order something if you have the correctly colored bracelet... Thus you sort to going to the nearby stores to get your drink and go back to the pool with a plastic bag in your hand full of drinks.

If you can get over these issues, Phoenicia Holiday Resort is awesome and we will definitely go back next year where we hope some things...