Ocean Paradise Resort & Spa - Zanzibar — Hotel in Unguja

Our stay at Ocean Paradise Resort was booked through Tour Compass and Zenith Tours arranged our pick up/drop off for the airport and the excursion tours at the hotel. My wife and I agree this is the best hotel we have ever been to - I will go into further detail below. ||Accommodation: |We were in room 200 which always brought a smile or laugh to staff when giving our number for reservations because it was the furthest away room and last number on the list. Despite this there were no complaints from us at all. |The room was completely round with the bathroom offset to the side - it was an interesting layout I’ve not seen before but made for a calming feel and plenty of room. |The bed was large and comfortable. Bathroom was clean and shower was powerful. Ample storage space and a safe which was locked to the wall on a PIN code was inside the wardrobe. The balcony was large and nice to sit out on - we had the ‘sea view’ which in all honestly did not show an awful lot of ocean but was nice given it was on the first floor, which my wife always finds safer/more comfortable. |The room comes with a fridge which is restocked daily with water, beers and soft drinks - for all inclusive you can take drinks at your leisure without further payment. |The room is cleaned daily and there is a turn down of an evening between 19:00-21:00pm. |Our room was towards the rear of the hotel on the hill which did take a fair walk to get up to with some steep steps - we didn’t particularly mind (a welcomed walk after a large breakfast or dinner) but did speak to other guests that found it difficult. The alternative to this is huts surround the pool earlier and fronting the beach - I assume this is some kind of upgrade at a cost, if so be wary that the only rooms of this nature with a view are the ones directly on the beach, otherwise your balcony/seating area will be looking at the rear of other huts. |||Food/drink:|Breakfast was near reception in an open air restaurant. I’d argue it’s the best breakfast buffet I’ve been to at a restaurant, and will get to why dinner was too shortly. Breakfast included: a juice station whereby a server mixes fresh fruits of your choice into a smoothie, fresh fruits, pancakes/waffles and pastries, egg station, hot meats like sausages and crispy bacon, breads and dips like honey and Nutella and jams, cold meats and cheeses, yoghurts and cereals. This was between 07:00-10:00am. |Dinner was at a restaurant facing the pool and stage area. Every night was a different theme (Mediterranean, Italian, Swahili, Indian, Ocean, Asian, BBQ) which included ready made food and live cooked food like kebabs. Every night there was a pasta station whereby you can chose your pasta and amount then everything you want it to be cooked in. |We were half board so didn’t have lunch but daily by the beach they would have a BBQ and other foods for your lunch, which our friends used and said was very nice. |Every day between 16:30-17:30pm there is a late lunch at the beach restaurant where you can have fruit, cakes, pancakes and tea/coffee regardless of your package. |This beach restaurant also did evening meals which was not included in and package meaning you have to pay more - this seemed to mainly be used for people celebrating occasions and I never saw more than one or two parties using this restaurant. Our friends celebrated their wedding anniversary - they chose between lobster or steak and had a special cake made for them. |Given we were half board and you may also chose this option drinks were around $3 for a soft drink, $5 for beer (large bottle) and €10-20 for a cocktail. |Overall food was excellent and there was a lot of variety. Although we were only at the hotel for one week I can’t see it being repetitive given the 7 day rotation of meal themes. ||Entertainment: |The hotels entrainment team are good fun. They organise volley ball, ping bong, billiards (a snooker table with pool table balls, requiring much more skill than I possess), basket weaving, aqua fit etc and are happy to get involved throughout the day. |Every evening at dinner there is a band with some kind of show in between. The bands were all great and it was nice to eat dinner with live music. Some shows included acrobatics, dancers and my particular favourite was a Maasai performance. |At the bar nearest reception there is lovely terrace seating and a large material screen with a projector showing movies like jumanji or live sports like champions league. ||Pool and beach: |The hotel has one large pool with some parts going down to 2.4 metres for the diving school adjacent to it. The pool was very clean and not full of chlorine. For eager swimmers there was not clear lane / straight line for lengths but you can make do and find spots to use when it’s not busy. Pool has a swim up bar too. There aren’t an awful lot of beds around the pool, maybe around 20 beds in all, but we personally opted for the beach every day because it was beautiful. |The private beach is around 15 metres in depth with beds dotted under exotic trees or wooden shelters. It is white sand and really makes you realise you’re in an island paradise. The hotel boarders a public beach which is directly on the water (no more than 10 metres from the water at high tide). The water is lovely to swim in and at high tide there are no worries about sea urchins - only when the tide is further out do you need to be more cautious. Something worse noting is their are ‘beach boys’ who are mainly Maasai men wanting to taking you to their nearby stores or others selling massages and jet ski rides - this can be a little tiring but they’re happy to accept a firm no and will start to recognise you during the stay - they’re not allowed to speak to you when you’re behind the hotels wooden fencing due to the hotel security preventing this. ||Others:|The hotel has a spa building which offers massages, nail art and hair treatments at a reasonable cost. Inside this building is a small gym and a sauna/steam room and jacuzzi. |There is a small supermarket/corner store around a 20 minute walk away and a pharmacy a little further. The hotel has a shop with basics sold inside too. |You cannot use cash inside the hotel - everything extra is billed to your room and paid by with card on leaving. |The hotel is around 1-1.5hrs from the airport. ||Excursions: |We booked our excursions via the Zenith Tours rep. We did the dolphin tour, the safari blue and the Stone Town tour. |Dolphin Tour at Mnemba island - this was a half day tour which promises a good chance of swimming with dolphins but no guarantee. We got lucky and swam with a pod of about 10 dolphins. There are a lot of boats and you will need to be quick getting on and off the boat to see the dolphins. The tour includes a stop off at a sand bank (this is weather permitting and due to the tide we couldn’t go) and snorkelling at the reef. Snorkels are included. We left around 07:30am and were back at the hotel by midday. A great opportunity to swim with dolphins in the wild. |Safari Blue - this is a whole day (08:00am till 17:00pm) tour. On this tour we enjoyed a sandbank, swam in a mangrove forest, snorkelled on a reef, had seafood on the beach and saw an ancient Baobab tree. This was my favourite excursion, I would highly recommend it to anybody who likes snorkelling, the guide and captain are happy to let you spend as long as you want in the water and enjoy fresh fruit on the boat in between swimming through shoals of fish. |Stone Town - this is a whole day tour and a great tour for learning about the history of Zanzibar, including the slave trade. We spent hours walking looking at architecture, learning about the history of the island and the islanders current culture. If you enjoy history this is a tour for you. ||In conclusion I would highly recommend this hotel to my own friends and family, and to you if you are reading this review. We had no complaints an all, it is a fabulous place to stay and enjoy the beautiful island...

My friend and I stayed at the Ocean Paradise for the end of our first trip to Africa. After visiting 4 other places and being quite busy for 9 days the only thing we wanted upon arrival was a serene, calm stay where we could relax and unwind. We arrived early (11am) fully prepared to wait until check-in at the pool or beach. The service representative at the front welcomed us with fresh juice and forms. He said we could check in early at no additional cost because our room was ready. I mentioned to him we had an evening flight on our last day and asked if we could check out at 1pm. He said “sure no problem 12:30, 1:00 is ok. Hakuna Matata”. I asked him if we would be charged any fees and he said “No no Hakuna Matata”. Now if you don’t know that translates to no worries. So we Check in and head directly to the beach. Once we get towels and find chairs we head out to the water only to be met with groups of local people (mostly men). They greeted us and within moments we were surrounded by 8-10 men asking where are you from? Come to my shop. Let me take you on a tour. Let me see you hair, etc. My friend and I were a little thrown off because it happened so fast. We walked back up to our chairs and noticed this was happening all over the beach. We decided to lay out for a little and try again in a few minutes. We tried again but of course the same group returned. We explained that we didn’t need any tours, souvenirs or excursions and that we actually preferred to be left alone. When we started to walk down the beach, they followed us. This happened every single time we went to the beach during our stay (minus when we went down to see the sunrise at 6am). And quite frankly it was annoying and made walking along or going to the ocean undesirable. Now let’s talk about the facilities. Overall this hotel is extremely dated and is due for some renovations as others noted this place has way too many steps and quite frankly isn’t accessible for many people. We stayed in a hut and the beds were way too hard to enjoy a comfortable nights sleep, the bathroom was long with a narrow shower that was in need of a new shower-head. The water pressure was non-existent the temperature was inconsistent but mostly lukewarm at best. The patio area outside was nice but I could tell it was never cleaned. Lastly each night the hotel offered turn down service which is nice but our room had this awful stench which we figured out our last night was bug spray. They came to spray our room at 9:15ish pm and we were packing so we asked them to come back. They initially said no but when we saw ants they returned. They said to wait 5 minutes before coming back. When we went back in the odor was disgusting. It burned my eyes and made it nearly impossible to fall asleep. The gym had two treadmills and two bikes and one weight set. The space is clearly not used often because it’s dusty in there and the towels we used during our stay piled up. The bathroom next to the gym looks like it’s in an abandoned building. The first day I went in there to wash my hands the water took a second to come out and first came out in short spurts before finding some consistency. Of course there were no towels or paper napkins to dry my hands. The food for lunch and dinner is a C at best. The quesadilla I ordered at the beach had tomato sauce instead of salsa, with dry chicken and hardly any guacamole. We also tried to order mojitos and they were full of sugar and lemons (mojitos are made with limes). We ate dinner once during our stay and were extremely underwhelmed with the lack of flavor and there weren’t any traditional African foods offered. The breakfast was also terrible. There were lots of pastries, waffles and carbs were offered and of course beans (gross). I am thankful there was an omelette station. I ate an omelette each day. Overall I give this “resort” a D (which is generous) and would not return nor would I recommend...

I think it's only fair to start by acknowledging that, in many ways, this hotel is a fantastic honeymoon spot. The grounds are beautiful and meticulously maintained, the superior garden room we stayed in was lovely and peaceful, the beach is stunning and the staff are universally helpful and professional. But as honeymooners, we found the experience was significantly undermined by the chaotic evening dining experience. I would seriously urge any honeymooners to think twice if they want their evenings to be special while staying in Zanzibar. ||In short, it is basically impossible to have a romantic, intimate or even particularly quiet evening meal here - the cornerstone of pretty much any honeymoon. It is all the more galling because it feels completely avoidable and the result of bad management choices. You can have the most quiet and serene day at this hotel, but, come 7pm, all the guests are bafflingly herded into an overcrowded dining area crammed next to poolside and your stay goes from feeling like a slice of paradise to a budget Benidorm resort. ||My wife and I are not particularly picky hotel guests, but we do value having meals where can properly talk to each other, especially on our honeymoon. Well, at Ocean Paradise nearly every table is laid so your seats are facing outwards, not towards each other, creating a strange atmosphere where all the guests are basically staring at one another. The tables are crammed far too close together and, if you don't get a poolside seat, you are forced into an overflow area at the back which I can only compare to a prison canteen. It makes it extremely challenging to make any of your dinners feel special or intimate on a honeymoon because little thought has been put into the dining experience beyond simply fitting everyone in. ||This becomes all the more puzzling when you go to breakfast the next morning and realise there is a second perfectly serviceable dining area on an upper floor. Why not make use of this too in the evening to reduce the chaos, and perhaps offer a more 'adults only' dining option away from children and noisy poolside entertainment? It feels like a complete own-goal for a hotel that is otherwise such a top honeymoon spot. ||The upshot of this was that my wife and I ended up spending a significant amount of money on taxis most evenings to go to somewhere a bit more quiet (The Island Pongwe has a lovely quiet restaurant around 20 minutes away). This was frustrating because it all felt so avoidable, if only a bit more thought was put into the dinner experience at Ocean Paradise. It also lumbered us with a lot of extra cost when we were expecting an all-inclusive week, which was annoying. We were kindly offered a bespoke honeymoon meal in a quieter spot for one of our nights which was lovely, but not enough to offset the shoddy general dinner experience. ||We felt completely unprepared for this given the volume of positive reviews about Ocean Paradise, so I think it is something that other honeymooners should bear in mind should they be considering staying here. I'm hopeful the hotel will see this feedback as constructive because it is so close to...