Meliá Tortuga Beach - All Inclusive

Meliá Tortuga Beach Resort & Spa offers a relaxing and enjoyable vacation experience, particularly for those seeking a beachfront retreat with diverse dining and activity options. With some attention to maintenance and service consistency, it has the potential to provide an even more exceptional stay. Massive shout out to Fred! He made our trip extra special by delivering excellent customer service - a great guy who's always smiling.

Staff was friendly, Food was delicious and we enjoyed the pool everyday!

Booked this looking fur a lazy week in the sun and that’s exactly what we got! Bit of confusion on arrival at Sal airport as hadn’t purchased visas but easily organised after a short wait. Our arrival at the hotel was straight forward having arranged a private taxi. Check in was simple and we were given our room card and printout with hotel plan and basic info. Out bags were delivered to our room. We’d booked a 2 bed apartment which was lively and cool due to the air/con, large, clean and simply furnished. Double room, twin room, kitchen & 2 bathrooms with a lounge area- ideal! Patio doors onto a large terrace was also great. Rooms cleaned daily. The grounds are big and well kept, a main pool with bar and adjacent pizza restaurant with music all day and plenty of shade and loungers. We stayed by the quieter pool again with shade and loungers slightly away from the main pool . Pool towels are available to exchange daily. Food was plentiful and enjoyable in the buffet Spice restaurant- we didn’t enjoy the food in the other restaurants on site to be honest. Drinks are plentiful at the lobby bar, pool bar, beach bar and Kate bar. Beach is lovely with loads of loungers but not much shade so very hot! Staff in the resort were great- all friendly and helpful. Be aware though of mosquitoes!! I was lucky but a high number of guests had really nasty bites- this wasn’t just at this hotel, it was everywhere so take loads of antihistamines and sprays in case. We also had a lovely massage in the spa - very reasonable at €35. There is very little outside of the hotel - the town of Santa Maria is about a 20 minute walk but beware! We got approached by numerous men saying they were a security guard at our hotel and would show us the best place to shop etc. They recognise the a/inclusive wrist bands and this is how they try and get you to go to a shop where they become quite assertive and try and charges ridiculous prices- best to just avoid or ignore them! Overall, we had a great week relaxing in the very hot sun- just what we wanted 😊

Currently here and the best part of this hotel is the beach its located on. Sadly the food is shocking and repetitive. The hotel whilst clean is in need of a big overhall as tiles are missing from the pool and the shades and sunbeds are in dire need of replacement. The hotel lobby bar has a few seats but thats all and not enough. If you want peace dont sit around the main pool the music is far too loud and to the point that it plays over my own earbuds! Some of the staff argue in front of guests which is unprofessional. Sadly my mum nearly choked to death on her first night and when I shouted for help the resteraunt manager just stood there and stared not knowing what to do, clearly not trained 😒 huge shock, luckily for my mum a trained ex cabin crew member came over and saved her. I would not stay here again and 5 star this is not! At best 3.

Lots of potential, but that's were it ends! We flew out as a family with our 11yo son the end of August and were excited to travel slightly closer to home after a couple of years of long haul flights. Easy enough to get a taxi form the airport, at 10 euro and it was money well spent, within 15mins we were at the hotel checking in. The check in process was good, staff were attentive and the whole process took a matter of minutes before we were shown to our room/suite. The suite was of good size, aircon in the lounge and main bedroom, kitchen area and while the furniture was dated, it was perfectly conformable/useable. Throughout our 12nights the room was cleaned and towels replaced daily. We had heard some horror stories form people staying at the same time as us, ranging from cockroaches running riot in their rooms as well as being bitten by mosquitoes. We saw numerous people with huge bites covering legs and arms however we kept the doors and windows shut in our suite and the hotel also gave us a massive can of bug spray!!! We spent most of our time by the quieter pool as our room was quite close, yes the pool is tired with numerous mosaic tiles missing but its perfectly useable and we enjoyed our pool days. The sunbed wars started around 7am mind and if you didn't have one by then you would struggle. This did ease towards the end of our holidays through as most of the UK families had left. The beach is good, its never busy and the water is crystal clear, the sunbeds do seem a long way form the waters edge mind, there's a handful of sellers but they didn't pressurise and once you had said no they moved on swiftly. Thats the good....the food and drink are awful!!!!!! The buffet has a good selection of various dishes, which seemed to repeat most days form breakfast through to dinner......however the food was borderline awful. I would suggest to steer clear of any chicken cooked on the bone as in my experience it wasn't cooked through! Sprouts seem to be a regular special (as were Iceland style chicken nuggets and squid rings) at all meals and as for the drinks, if you like your fizzy drinks flat then this is the place for you!!!! Throughout entire stay we didn't get a soft drink that had fizz, they were terrible across all the bars. Going AI you normally have several speciality restaurants, this is no different at the Tortuga, however all they served was pretty much the same rubbish that you get in the buffet!!! So much so that when we ate in the secret garden (which we had high hopes for after waiting a few days for availability) we were met with chicken nuggets as our appetiser with mayo squirted on the top, the same chicken nuggets that had been on offer every day in the buffet since our arrival!!!!! The Italian near the main pool was probably the worse though, although the Cabana was equally as bad which was a shame as if you ignore the occasional smell of drains is actually in a really nice spot on the beach front. My wife is a vegetarian and spent 12 evening meals pretty much having veg lasagne as it was all they offered, gets a bit boring after a while! The funniest time was when we booked to eat in Spices which is described as "World Cuisine" however when my wife asked what the veggie options were she was met with a blank look, then escorted to the main buffet so she could choose from there.......more sprouts! Both my 11yo son and myself became ill after eating at the Pasta Nostra which lasted a good few days so that added to our disappointment of what turned out to be a real let down of a holiday, on the upside our room as close to the pool to ease the frequent trips to the toilet!!! In summing up, the resort is a 3* at best, the foot and drinks are awful, if I could score the food on its own I would struggle for 1 star (watered down spirits, flat fizzy drinks), food and drink forms a large part of any holiday especially if you go AI and this place simply didn't come close to delivering. Couple of quick positives, my son used the hairdressers to get braids put in, the lad on the reception was really good, very helpful and the service was good. Also, if you are looking to do any tours speak to Mr King, he's normally down at the beach bar and wears a yellow polo shirt. Be careful of the overly positive reviews on FB, lots of these appear to be from people that own apartments on site, hence honest/poor reviews damage their rental potential!!! The place has potential but we couldn't get past the really poor food hence we wouldn't go back and wouldn't recommend this to anyone, its the only holiday that we contemplated coming back early from.

Disappointed to say the least. Rated as a 5* probably is in cape verde but 2* in ours. The whole hotel needs a refurbishment, very tatty around the edges. The swimming pool is dangerous, and the sunbeds are broken. Food is on another level,disgusting,half under hot plates,half not. Luke warm but there is a microwave!!!!! What's left over is there for breakfast.....sprouts!!!!!! Drinks are definitely watered down. Some staff are sooooo miserable, but others are lovely. Our Rep Kelly was fab, very friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient. Beach was beautiful and the sea but ruined by the beach boys who constantly hassle you. Ok, hol if you don't want to do anything as there's nothing around. Trips are something of nothing!!!!!

Travelling as mum and two adults daughters. When we arrived at the hotel, check in was easy and I was impressed by our suite which was spacious, had a double bedded room, two single bed room, lounge area, bathroom with bath and shower over the bath, and separate walk-in shower room. There was a large balcony overlooking the main pool. The grounds are not really suitable for anyone with walking difficulties as the paving is all cobbles. The location is lovely. A very nice beach at the back if the hotel with its bar and restaurant. The Secret Garden restaurant and bar also has a good ambience. Food in the Spices buffet restaurant was varied, but often cold, with cold plates. The first issue that we had was with the safety deposit box, which was not locking. I had to report this 3 times before someone came to fix it (on the 3rd day of our holiday). As it only required new batteries this could easily have been done much more quickly. Our second issue was non-relacement of towels in the room. It became apparent that when showering (in both of the shower rooms), the floors were flooded and we needed to use our towels to mop up. I managed to get some floor towels, but all the wet towels were taken away and not replaced on more than one occasion. The main swimming pool is 'the party pool' and has a swin up bar. It is where the games, aqua aerobics etc happen but the music is so loud and 'thumpy", it reverberates around the complex and is very intrusive. It meant that we were unable to relax on our balcony. Many of the sun loungers around the quieter pool were broken and dirty, to the point of being quite dangerous. I reported this to reception who did get someone to find me a more decent lounger, but broken ones were left around the pool. The pools require a lot of maintenance. There are many tiles missing. There was evidence that the bath and shower in our suite was not being cleaned, and the bed linen was only changed once in the week.

Great holiday location, food was great quality and quantity in main restaurant. Speciality dining was disappointing in terms of menu choices. Staff were very helpful and friendly. Location itself is a little tired, and needs some attention. Many sun loungers were broken. Main pool included very loud music however another pool is far enough away for peaceful relaxation. Antonio was extremely helpful with arranging tours. Seeing the Lemon sharks and see turtles was spectacular.

Just got back from a week at the Melia Tortuga Hotel & was mostly a positive experience. The beach was incredible, loads of choices of bars & restaurants (4 al a carte places available) loads of different pools & the grounds all very well kept & nice to walk around. The staff were really nice & friendly (especially the Gambian security guard he was awesome) had a nice massage in the spa (they offer discounts every day by the pool) it’s easy to get a taxi from outside the hotel & costs €5 to go to Santa Maria! Really liked the beach bar for cocktails! Buffet restaurant had loads of options & food was decent. Could always get a sun lounger no problem tho the towel guy never seemed to be there when I needed to change mine. A few negatives- I didn’t like that on arrival the receptionist didn’t really tell us anything about the hotel she was just trying to push us into paying €50 per day for VIP tickets (this apparently included access to other hotels etc I told her I’d like to see the hotel I’ve already paid all inclusive for first but found her pushy) I found the food I had twice in La Cabana beach bar had undercooked meat (My cheeseburger wasn’t just pink in the middle it wasn’t cooked & I had a chicken sandwich & the chicken wasn’t cooked properly) my wife & I are currently at home with bad stomach’s. It could just be bugs but I never get ill in that respect & am this time read a few reviews saying similar. The girl working in the gift shop could maybe learn to smile more she seemed really grumpy when we went in. Not really the hotels fault but the “looky looky’s” on the beach selling stuff were quite irritating & didn’t leave you alone until you bought something (5 fridge magnets I’ve come home with 😂) and also not really the hotels fault but sure more could be done to prevent the amount of mosquitoes around the place. We are both covered in bites & that was while wearing the wristbands & spraying the Deet bug spray on too! The entertainment what we saw was Ok but wasn’t much of it they had shows at 9 for one hour then that was it tho the guy playing the piano in the bar by reception was incredible. The music by the pool was the same songs every day & a lot of it awful & way too loud (I’m not an old person I’m 42 & been to Ibiza several times) Overall was a decent holiday I’ve never been back to the same hotel as I like to change to different places but on the whole would recommend.