Ambre A Sun Resort

We’ve recently returned from a big trip to Mauritius with my husband, my in-laws and myself, and I’ve been debating how to write this review because, overall, we did have a good holiday… but unfortunately, the hotel just didn’t live up to the expectations we had going into it!!

This was a very expensive holiday for us, and it’s taken us around a year and a half to pay it off! Because of that, we probably had higher expectations than we would have had for a cheaper holiday! We did spend a long time looking into our trip before hand, looking at reviews before booking this hotel and genuinely couldn’t find a single particularly negative review. Almost everything we saw was incredibly positive!

We’ve stayed in quite a few All Inclusive hotels, mainly Adults Only, and we thought this would be a great introduction to that type of holiday for my In-Laws. I think unfortunately, we may have been slightly spoilt by some of the places we’ve stayed previously though.

Food This was probably our biggest disappointment. The main buffet restaurant lacked variety, particularly at lunch and dinner. There was very often boiled rice, sautéed vegetables, roti/chapati and various curries, with relatively few alternatives. We had read previous reviews mentioning that there was a lot of curry, but people generally said not to worry because there were other options available. There were, but we still found the overall choice quite limited!

Temperature was another issue. Not many of the dishes were kept warm and there also wasn’t a microwave to go and reheat like other places offer. The Indian Evening is the only evening where each dish was kept consistently warm and so this was more of a frustration that it could be done! It just wasn’t executed all the time with other dishes available.

We were also surprised that seafood was an additional cost, considering Mauritius is famous for it. We were more than happy to pay, but given the overall price of the holiday, we expected some seafood to be included!

There were two other lunch options…the beach bar and the Italian restaurant. The beach bar wasn't quite what we expected either, we had imagined more of a grilled/barbecue style offering, but the choice was essentially chips and a couple of dishes, but these weren’t very warm either. The Italian restaurant was by far the best lunch option. Everything was cooked to order, so the food was hot and freshly prepared. In all honesty, without this option at lunchtime, our experience with the food would have been a lot worse!

We’ve previously stayed in hotels where the buffet hasn't had loads of choices, but what they do offer is done really really well and kept hot! So this is not about us expecting endless options at all!…just better variety and a hot temperature for a 4 Star All Inclusive!

Room and Hotel Itself Our room had recently been renovated and we really liked it. It was modern, clean and clearly benefited from the refurbishment, so we genuinely have no complaints about the room itself.

The hotel grounds and overall setting are also lovely. It's a beautiful place and there are certainly plenty of areas that look very nice.

However, when you start looking more closely at the overall experience, we felt it didn't quite match what we'd expect from a 4 star property at this price point. This isn't about expecting somewhere ultra luxurious or being fussy, we've personally stayed in other hotels where the overall finish, presentation and attention to detail felt considerably more polished so it’s just our honest opinion!

Service The service was probably our second biggest disappointment.

The staff were generally pleasant enough, but we found the service to be quite slow and inconsistent. There were often plenty of staff around the bars and restaurants, but they would sometimes be standing around while queues built up.

There were also a number of occasions where we asked for something and were still waiting 10 minutes later. For example, I asked for Parmesan for my pasta twice. In the end, I gave up because my food was getting cold. On another occasion, a member of staff took half of my drinks order and then walked away mid way through getting them. I waited another five minutes before someone else came over to take the rest of the order, and then waited again for the drink to actually arrive. There were also little things that happened repeatedly…one plate being cleared while the rest were left, one drink being brought while another was forgotten, or having to ask more than once for something.

That said, I don't want to paint every member of staff with the same brush. There were a handful of members of staff who were absolutely fantastic. They were hardworking, attentive, friendly and genuinely seemed to care about providing good service! They stood out precisely because of how much effort they put in, and they really were an asset to the hotel! Miguel is one who stood out for us, he was so friendly, caring and professional, he made our time at La Plage restaurant amazing!

Drinks We actually have very little to complain about when it came to the drinks!

The cocktails were made fresh rather than coming from one of the pre-mixed machines that seem to be increasingly common in AI hotels, which was a big positive for us. My In-Laws are Wine Drinkers and they both loved the Wine here, one of the only places they’ve been where it’s consistent and good, but I think that’s because the Wine is bottled rather than coming from one of the taps that you would usually get!

The beach bar and lobby bar generally provided a better experience than the pool bar, where we found the service particularly slow.

We also loved the seaweed straws offered. They were a small touch, but they were genuinely impressive…they felt almost like plastic while being a much more environmentally friendly alternative!

Activities One thing we thought the hotel did particularly well was the included water activities. Being able to use the kayaks, paddle boards, windsurfing equipment, snorkelling, glass-bottom boat and pedalo without paying extra was fantastic. It meant we could try different activities without having to worry about additional costs, and this was definitely one of the highlights of the stay for us!

Overall I want to stress that I personally had a good time! Mauritius is beautiful, we enjoyed being away together as a family, and there are definitely positives to the hotel.

However, I also completely understand why the other members of our group came away feeling disappointed. Perhaps the biggest issue is that the hotel simply didn't live up to the expectations created by previous reviews we’ve seen and the price. We had spent a lot of money on this holiday, and after reading so many overwhelmingly positive reviews, we genuinely expected something more!!

If you're looking for a pleasant hotel in a beautiful location with a good range of included water activities, decent drinks and a recently renovated room, there are certainly positives here…but if you're paying a premium and expecting a polished 4 Star All Inclusive experience, we'd suggest managing your expectations!

For us, it was a good holiday rather than a fantastic hotel experience, and we left feeling that the hotel was good, but not quite as good as we'd been led to believe. We do not regret going here, and I want to stress that this is not a case of “do not go here!”…we certainly made some lovely memories and did enjoy ourselves, but based on our previous All Inclusive experiences, we wouldn't consider this hotel particularly good value for the price we paid!

The massage was amazing. The therapist Reena gave some amazing tips for my health as well. Totally recommended. Great experience 😊