Blue Sea Costa Bastian

Blue Sea Costa Bastian – Overall Review

We recently stayed at the Blue Sea Costa Bastian in Lanzarote for 7 days. Unfortunately, overall, we felt that the hotel did not live up to how it was advertised, and there are several areas where we believe improvements are needed.

Food & All-Inclusive

The food was probably one of the biggest disappointments. There was a fairly limited choice, and we did not feel that the overall standard was particularly good. Unfortunately, we also suffered from stomach problems for a large part of our holiday, which made the experience even less enjoyable.

The all-inclusive drinks selection was also quite limited. There are two cocktails of the day available, with six cocktails rotating throughout the week: Strawberry Daiquiri, Sex on the Beach, Piña Colada, Tequila Sunrise, Mojito and Blue Lagoon.

Unfortunately, the standard of the cocktails was poor. If you’re looking for good-quality cocktails, I would recommend heading into Costa Teguise, where there are plenty of bars offering much better options.

Bars & Service

Another major issue was the availability of the bars. It seemed that there was only one bar open at any given time. During the day, the pool bar was open and served the drinks included in the all-inclusive package. After 3pm, small snacks such as toasties and chips were also available.

However, the queues were extremely long. On several occasions, we experienced waits of around 20 minutes just to get drinks.

There is also a limit of two drinks per person per visit, which makes getting drinks for a family particularly inconvenient, as you effectively have to bring everyone with you to order a full round.

Reception was another area where we experienced long queues. It often felt as though there simply weren’t enough staff available to deal with the number of guests.

Rooms & Housekeeping

The room itself was reasonably comfortable and adequate, although there were some unusual housekeeping expectations.

Guests are expected to keep the room very tidy, including having clothes hung up, shoes neatly stacked and towels hung on the appropriate pegs. If these things aren’t done, we were told that the cleaners may refuse to clean the room.

We also noticed that the cleaners would enter the room and switch off the air conditioning, although we weren’t given an explanation as to why. This was particularly frustrating given the warm climate.

Swimming Pools & Sunbeds

The swimming pools were another disappointment. During our stay, they appeared very dirty and cloudy, and the pool surrounds were visibly worn, with chipped and battered areas.

There also didn’t seem to be a particularly large amount of space around the pools for the number of guests staying at the hotel, meaning sunbeds could be difficult to find.

Location & Accessibility

One positive is the hotel’s location in terms of accessibility. It’s a relatively quick journey from the airport, followed by a short walk down to the hotel.

The surrounding area of Costa Teguise itself is excellent for tourists, with plenty of restaurants, bars and places to visit. We really enjoyed exploring the area and found plenty of good options outside the hotel.

Overall

Unfortunately, despite some positives, we would not currently recommend the Blue Sea Costa Bastian.

The hotel has potential, particularly given its location and the excellent surrounding area, but in our opinion it requires significant investment and refurbishment. Improvements to the food, cleanliness of the pools, bar service, staffing levels and overall hospitality would make a considerable difference.

We hope the hotel makes these improvements in the future, because Costa Teguise is a great destination and the property could be much better than our experience suggested.

Excellent stay at Costa Bastian! Check in was simple, cared for by Pleasant staff. Arrived late but the restaurant was still open for us to get something to eat. Rooms were decorated modern & were clean & tidy. I like to watch BBC News or listen to music on the TV but ours was not working. Reported this to reception & a lovely guy was sent to fix it straights away. TV could not be fixed so the next day I got a brand new TV fitted. Next day the lever on the bath tap which you pull up for the water to come out of the shower broke. Reported this to reception staff again & a man was sent straight away & replaced the whole tap unit…. Problem solved! Nothing was to much, if there was a problem it was sorted there & then. Food was good & a bit repetitive but there was always something to eat even for really fussy eaters. In a corner of the dining room there were 2-3 chefs constantly cooking fresh fish, steak, chicken, pork, pulled pork, pizzas, Paella, eggs in the morning who did a fantastic job! The restaurant was good & we never had a problem getting a table or wait for food. Puddings we brilliant (I loved the strawberry & chocolate mousse) Restaurant was clean & tidy & always had staff who cleared tables quickly & who took your own used plates away once checking with you that you were finished. Bar staff worked hard in the bars although during the day at the pool bar you had to queue but not for long! Pool……sun beds we chained so no one was able to put their towels down. Sun beds were unlocked at 10am & whilst busy with people wanting beds everyone seemed to get one so there was no shortages. Pool was not as big as we thought & you were limited to what you were allowed to do. At times people got wrong for jumping in the pool, you were not allowed inflatable or soft balls unless it was a ball on a elasticated string which you could buy locally. This took the fun factor out of the holiday as SOS-lifeguards were forever blowing their whistles to stop something. Kids with inflatable rings had to be in one of the small pools which weren’t deep enough to use a ring & even with an adult you were not allowed inflatable the big pool with inflatable. Although no balls were allowed in people the hotel rep/ entertainer could organise pool basketball which I found contradictory. Even these events were just offered now & again so unless you were really young there was not a lot to do for the older kids. My son was 14. Location was good. We like to be just on the outskirts of the towns we stay at. Costa teguise was approx 30min walk if you are up to it but the heat was to much for us to walk in so when we went to the town we got the reception staff to book us a taxi which came within 5mins. Taxi fare was about €4-6 with the bonus of good air conditioning. Overall I thought the hotel was worth the money, All staff were pleasant & friendly.