Alcazaba Vive Lagoon Restaurant — Restaurant in Casares

Extremely Unsafe – Avoid if You Value Your Safety

I recently visited Vive Lagoon and was shocked at how unsafe it is, especially if you have children. In the massive lagoon, I only saw two workers covering the entire swimming area — with no real supervision. The deepest part is at least 4 meters, yet lifeguards were either absent or distracted. One blonde lifeguard spent most of her time on her phone, and the brunette lifeguard was extremely rude and unprofessional, with zero communication skills.

At the kayaking area, there was only one person stationed on the dock. She simply blew her whistle at people — there were no lifeguards in kayaks ready to respond if someone was in trouble. If anyone drowned, there would be no way to reach them in time.

My own experience was terrifying: I was given a life jacket that was way too big, which is a huge safety risk. While kayaking, my kayak flipped. I looked for help — the lifeguard wasn’t even paying attention. I tried flipping the kayak back over, but it flipped again, leaving me under it. When I surfaced, my oversized life jacket had risen over my head, barely held by the straps, making it hard to keep afloat.

I struggled to swim back toward my family’s boat, almost drowning in the process. Only after I was clearly in distress did the lifeguard notice — and instead of helping, she just whistled at me. I was then told to push the heavy kayak back to the dock, which took me about eight exhausting minutes. When I finally got there, the brunette lifeguard was angry and incomprehensible, and the blonde lifeguard rudely told me I couldn’t kayak again.

This was not only humiliating but a serious safety hazard. There were no proactive rescues, no lifeguards on the water, and no attention to guests’ safety. I strongly advise against visiting Vive Lagoon until they hire competent, trained lifeguards and take safety seriously.

If you don’t believe this information check the pictures of the kayaking resort and the swimming area most to all of it has no...

A 3 stars FAMILY-UNFRIENDLY place with tons of NOs and DONTs + a RIB OFF in all respects. Its business model in a nutshell: maximum profit for minimum service and quality. No sunbeds for kids (you come in with 1, 2, 3 or 4 kids, you only get 1 sunbed per adult, that's it, kids can rest on the floor like dogs since pets are not allowed anyways), no swim rings permitted, no ball games allowed, no access to the private part of the lagoon (which takes about the half of the complex in size), no paddle or hydrobike after 7 pm in high season, no food or drinks from outside (not even the smallest nuts or dates), no access to the fitness room, no, no, no ... and, for God's sake, don't. Along with the tons of hilarious restrictions, come super cheap solutions that cut on the comfort of clients but maximise on the pocket of the Lagoon's owner, e.g.: One little sun umbrella serves 2 sunbeds, therefore you end up with a pretty nasty sunburn in the end or you share one sunbed with your husband or wife and your children for the rest of the day (namely the sunbed covered by shade, which can only be one at the time in best of the case). As for the personnel: indiferent, bored, unfriendly at times. But I wouldn't judge mainly on poorely paid them, but on the profit-obsessed management of the place. The ugliest thing of all is that Alcazaba Lagoon PUTS CHILDREN LAST, but it allows them in for profit reasons: each kid has a monetary value, which must be exploited at most. Shame on you and your business model, Alcazaba Lagoon....

Alcazaba Lagoon is a great place just to have a day away from the busy beach and tourist areas. There is plenty of parking about 100 yards from the entrance and the Lagoon looks amazing as you approach. It didn’t seem overcrowded which is just what we wanted. After being seen to the sun loungers we got settled in and thought about ordering drinks. I was surprised to find they didn’t offer waiter service at the loungers, definitely missing a trick here but they have a small bar for cocktails etc. Seemed to be a wait each time we went up as only one member of staff serving, need two on at least. Both the children’s pool and larger lagoon were good for swimming. The availability of water activities was good however a very concerning downfall was the life jackets. We were given 4 life jackets of which 3 were broken i.e. the fasteners and zip broken so I had to ask for working ones. Come on, this is completely unacceptable and on children’s jackets. A few other issues included broken furniture and a ridicules amount of toilet facilities. Two toilets for the men in a filthy state with no loo roll and blood on the floor and sink after a guy fell just outside the toilets breaking his nose! The ladies had just one toilet, I have no words for the lack of toilet facilities.. 3 toilets in total and you wonder why there are lines of people waiting, not good. Overall we had a nice day but based on the price it should have been better. We would consider going back once improvements were made as it could be so...