Pine Cliffs Ocean Suites, Algarve

We are concluding a week stay here; We have elite tier status with Marriott and were disappointed in this stay - The food all around was way below expectations, and way below the simple quality we cook at home – from steaks at Piri Piri to simple fajitas as Corda; I wish we didn’t do Half Board – and the resort needs a serious uplift in chef skills – import new chefs If needed, what was served was not acceptable, and simple recipe tweaks could have delivered so much more - Ants in room from day 1 – we had to ask for our place to be disinfected, but it seems like a common problem – if that’s the case – please spray between client changes and/or often - Screaming children everywhere – ruining the atmosphere at the pool and at dinners. It’s not the resort’s fault but we beg the resort to make simple tweaks, the resort could deliver a huge change for guests – eg - for the biggest dining areas – please separate where families with young children sit vs. adult only / families with teenagers. Jardim and Portofino were the worst. There are 8 pools – could you make several 15+ or introduce etiquette rules? - Would echo guest prior reviews on being nickel and dimed; The resort loves to talk about having water sports – but all of them cost extra money and sometimes significantly – 15 minutes on a jet ski was some insane amount; Taking one group gym lesson – 15-20 Euro; Half board doesn’t cover water/drinks; Lots of extras added on – left us with a further bad experience; You can do much better - If you want to sit on the beach every day – the beds were packed like sardines. Avoid. Widely, staff were lovely and helpful; albeit Portofino restaurant team were completely scattered; Grounds beautiful, rooms well cleaned excluding the ant issue; Easy to get around the resort. In the round -incredibly expensive and experience delivered not commensurate with cost

This is now our 4th time staying at the Pine Cliffs and it was good. We stayed in a 1 bed apt on Pine Cliff Gardens which was perfect. The size is great and the apartment was well equipped. Housekeeping cleaned our room to perfection every single day – thank you. The only niggle that we had was there was no full-length mirror – we couldn’t believe it. I had read this two years ago but thought better that PC would have done something about it, but no! So plan your outfits before you leave ladies as you will have to use the balcony patio doors to see what your outfits look like! Please correct this PC, why have such beautiful apartments, that are very well equipped and you forget such a basic thing like a FULL LENGTH MIRROR! We flipped between the pool & beach most days. Pool, we had no trouble getting beds but staying here previously there is an absolute need for an adult only pool & again have left this feedback before but of course nothing has been done about it. Ocean suites pool was much quieter and has a bar where you can get drinks. Beach, you must get there early to get beds, but they did put out deck chairs and umbrellas if people did struggle. Mare was closed due to the storm, so it is waiter service only and toilets were porta loos. The beach staff need to do more to not let non residents use the beds. We saw on three occasions people just using the beds. One woman even took an umbrella as the people weren’t sat here! The beach guys saw this and did nothing to move them on. I know you can’t educate people on manners but maybe there needs to be some security down there and someone more senior to alleviate this problem. Food is fine still lack of veggie options, but the veggie burger is still excellent. There are better places around and the best coffee shop over the road that do-good sandwiches for lunch and so cheap too. None of the above would put me off staying here again. It is safe, clean and the staff are mostly accommodating. There is an IKOS opening shortly and I do think this will have an effect on PC, so they do need to start to up their game a bit!

Awful not 5 star other than the prices over crowded no space by the pool or the beach, We have been awake for 4 nights with people above shouting and scraping furniture and the resort management are unhelpful. It’s not a 5 star resort in any way. I suggest go elsewhere.

i have a son who sudferes from poor mobility. As a result we went to great lengths to organise in house transport provided by the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel had tin ears when supposedly assissting with transport which included not turning up when transport had been booked. Interested in taking your high end money but not providing the service paid for. We almost missed opur flights home as a result of there incompetence

Overall, my family and I had a very enjoyable 10-day stay at the end of July. I would particularly recommend Pine Cliffs to families looking for a resort where there is plenty to do without needing to leave, while still having the option of taking day trips to explore the surrounding area. This review includes my opinions on the following categories and certain things I wish I’d known before my stay. Arrival and First Impressions: When we first arrived we were dropped off by our transfer at the main reception. Staff were friendly and did point to some key locations we would need on our map, such as our closest breakfast spot, pool and the tennis courts. However, because the resort is so large and it was our first time there, we didn’t feel like we fully understood how everything worked until a few days into the stay. They did ask if we had any questions and helpfully answered the ones we did but it's sometimes hard to know exactly what to ask. In my opinion, the welcome experience could really benefit from a leaflet being given to guests that explains the sports, ordering food, the towel cards and anything else. This was not too major of a setback as we did eventually get the hang of how things worked and people who had been to the resort before certainly seemed to know but this could just be a nice touch for newcomers as their website/app was also quite basic. Accomodation: The resort has a large variety of different accommodation but what we went for was almost an apartment style, ours specifically was S614. This had a large living area with sofas, a tv, table and chairs as well as a full kitchen and a washing machine. We were staying for ten days so being able to wash swimsuits and having some more affordable meals at home definitely came in handy. There was a small shop on site of the resort as well as a bigger mini mart just outside the resort that was around a 20 minute walk from us (though this would depend where you were staying within the resort as it is quite large). Cleaners also came to clean the room daily, although given our room was more apartment style than hotel style we did find this a little bit excessive as they would also stay for around 45 minutes. Of course if you were in you could ask them to come back but it could be a bit of a hindrance if you came back and they were already there, which happened to us a few times after breakfast. This may not be a problem for everyone and I understand it’s part of the more luxury experience they try to offer but I think perhaps the time taken could be reduced daily and a deeper clean could be done every few days. Pool: There were several pools across the resort and upon checking in your nearest one should be pointed out to you. Our closest pool was the biggest so it was quite busy but you are welcome to use all pools if you’d prefer to walk further to a quieter one. You get given a towel card and give these to the towel huts to retrieve your towels and at the end of the day you return the towels and get the cards back which ensures fresh towels daily. Although the resort says that sunloungers shouldn’t be reserved, in practice we found that people were putting towels down as soon as the pools opened. If you pop your towel and items down before having breakfast you have a better chance at a good spot but it’s not absolute sublounger wars as if you turn up later there will still be some available just maybe not in your desired spot. There were large areas of grass beside most of the pools where there were always plenty of sunloungers available. It is a family resort so the pools could be loud at times but this is to be expected. You can also order drinks and food to your sunloungers or order at the bar. We enjoyed several pool days and I definitely think it was a key part of our experience. Beach: Additionally, there was the beach if you fancied a change of location. There were plenty of sunloungers available when we went and though the resort restaurant was closed for construction there was another restaurant around a 10 minutes walk down the beach, although it's worth considering there was a short wait time. People were walking around the beach selling things but were respectful. There is also a sunset bar overlooking the sea that I would recommend for the views in the evening and a variety of drinks. Sports: A major reason my dad picked the resort was its paddle courts and training programme and from what I believe many others also pick this resort because of its wide range sports amenities. He found the coaching very good even for beginners and enjoyed his time playing. The resort also had many tennis courts, a golf course and a football academy. These training programmes were of an additional cost and could be booked alongside the holiday itself but my dad ended up adding an extra session once there. To avoid disappointment booking courts for tennis or paddle should probably be done at the beginning of the holiday as they were consistently busy throughout the day. Breakfast: Our breakfast was included in our stay and was buffet style. There were seats inside, outside and some on decking right on the water which was beautiful. On occasion there was a short queue to check in but different members of your room were able to attend breakfast at different times which works well for larger families who are up at different times and doing varying activities. Upon being shown to your seat they would ask for your tea or coffee order and bring it to you. There was a large variety of sweet and savoury options with meats, fruits and pastries as well as two ‘egg stations’ where chefs would make any type of eggs you liked, including omelettes, fresh to order which I thought was a nice touch. I definitely enjoyed the breakfast experience. Dinner: For dinner time there were a variety of restaurants within the resort which you could book for an additional fee that you pay at the end of your stay. Upon checking in it was recommended to book these restaurants at least 24 hours in advance and I would definitely agree and even say it’s worth booking sooner, especially if you want a specific time slot. For example, we wanted to book the Italian restaurant and there was no availability for the last three days of our stay. This makes sense as I can imagine the Italian being a popular choice for families, but if you have a specific restaurant you’re really eager to try you should definitely look at booking at the beginning of your stay because you may need to wait a few days for there to be a reservation available. For specialty restaurants we tried the steakhouse and the Japanese restaurant. The steak was absolutely delicious and the Japanese restaurant had lots of different options, I would definitely recommend both. We also tried non speciality restaurants for lunch and even dinner once without a reservation and really enjoyed that too, as well as the burger van for an easier, more casual meal. Nearby: However, if you fancy leaving the resort there are also a couple of restaurants nearby. If you walk out of the restaurant directly opposite there is a small strip of restaurants next to the mini mart. We tried the one at the end at the right and didn’t make a reservation so had to sit inside but did enjoy the food and the change. If you turn left and walk around five minutes outside of the restaurant there is another small strip of restaurants which we tried one night and also enjoyed. If you want to book an uber to somewhere else this is quite easily accesible. We went to Vilamoura for a night near the marina and there were a few nice shops and restaurants, we went to the highest rated one on tripadvisor. We also went to Albufeira in the day and did enjoy the larger variety of touristy shops and a meal, it was a bit busier as there was an Irish rugby game on but wasn’t as rowdy as it's been described to be at night. We went late afternoon/early evening to the Albufeira marina on a separate occasion and enjoyed a boat ride there where we did see dolphins and then got dinner after, I would definitely recommend this for a day trip.