The Navigator - Palm Oasis Alvor

Excellent quiet location Brilliant staff Good entertainment programme Clean room Good food Will be back

A very pleasurable 10 night stay in the Palm Oasis. The location of the hotel is within close proximity to the centre of Alvor, roughly a twenty minute walk, which is not too strenuous. The hotel itself is relatively small in size, but big enough to facilitate the needs of guests; however, additional sun loungers would be beneficial. The pool is a good size and there is an infant pool too, with an inflatable slide for kids, which is a good touch. The bar offers a good selection of refreshments and ice creams, perfect to keep cool, including decent house wine and sangria on tap. The rooms are somewhat dated, but nice and are cleaned daily. There is no kettle for those that wish to know. The catering is decent, albeit repetitive, as expected with an all inclusive hotel; however, it does vary daily and there is an additional afternoon snack bar. Staff are very approachable and friendly, particularly the poolside bar staff and young lads on the bar upstairs. A special mention to Cris and Patricia of the events and animation team, who run the daytime entertainment on their own, excellently, with full engagement and interaction for all guests in a genial and professional manner, including a good selection of activities and music offered. The evening entertainment could be better and the bar upstairs, although chilled would benefit from a later closing time and music to aid the ambience. Overall, I think we would, as a family, definitely return.

Just came back from our holiday. Just wanted to advise people not to pay extra for a town view. We decided not to get a pool view in case it was noisy so paid £10 extra each for the town view. You get to look out at a derelict hotel site. It’s not quiet either as the cars park below the rooms and people gather and talk loudly at all hours. Apart from that the food is nice, staff nice and the rooms are a bit dated but clean. It is the kind of place you getting what you paid. Also entertainment is poor. One night a man on a keyboard for an hour playing anlternate English, Spanish and Portuguese music and one night a man with a guitar and that was it.

We have just returned today from a six-night stay at the Navigator Palm Oasis. Firstly, the positives – and there were lots of them. The restaurant staff were friendly and welcoming, and the lovely ladies running the pool bar were always cheerful and hardworking. Our room was adequate, fresh, clean, and had a lovely view overlooking the pool. The housekeeping staff did a fantastic job each day, leaving the room spotless and refreshed. We booked a Junior Suite and have no real complaints. Some guests may find it a little basic, and the mattresses were quite springy and could perhaps do with replacing. However, we had everything we needed. A kettle or some tea and coffee-making facilities would have been a nice addition. The hotel was peaceful for our first five days, and we slept very well. We are a SEND family, so the quiet location, lack of overcrowding, and relaxed atmosphere suited us perfectly. We always managed to find a sun lounger and space around the pool. There is a small games room with pool, air hockey, table football, and a claw machine (€1–€2), which was great fun for the children. The swimming pools and gardens were lovely. My children particularly enjoyed both the children’s pool and the main pool. As it was still early in the season, the outdoor pool was a little chilly, but that certainly didn’t stop them swimming every day! The indoor pool was warmer and a great alternative. The location is around a 15–20 minute walk from town. We used Uber several times, which was very affordable and only took around five minutes, so this wasn’t an issue for us. The hotel also operates a shuttle bus service, which is a great option, although it does need to be booked in advance. Now onto the negatives. When we arrived early after being awake since 2am, we were told we would not be able to use the all-inclusive facilities until 3pm. This is something I have never experienced before. Even when rooms haven’t been ready at other hotels, we’ve always been allowed to use the restaurants and facilities. The children were particularly hungry by this point, so we ended up eating at a local restaurant. We were told there wouldn’t be enough food available for us and that we should have informed them of our early arrival. However, I believe this information had already been provided as part of our booking through Love Holidays, including our flight times. Perhaps this was simply a misunderstanding, but a little flexibility, empathy, and understanding for two tired children would have been appreciated. We were allowed drinks and use of the pool, which was something, but waiting from 9:30am until 3pm was difficult. The food was okay. There was always something to eat, but it lacked variety at times and could have been warmer. Small improvements could make a big difference – for example, providing a sauce to accompany ravioli or tortellini, or offering a simple pasta and sauce option for children. A small children’s food station with some familia

Lovely hotel, no max rush for sun beds, plenty available at gone 10am. Rooms clean and good size. Food really nice plenty of choice. Drinks good nice cocktail menu. Pool large enough. Free bus to town snd beach four times a day. Only complaint is staff all seem miserable.

Its a shame as this hotel could be so much more! My husband booked this last minute for my birthday and not our usual 5 star resort we are used to but thought why not for a quick 5 night getaway. The hotel is clean and not to big so easy to get around. Our Room was a twin overlooking the indoor pool and outdoor pool and bar area, which was ok. room was spacious and I liked that it had a bath. Room was cleaned everyday with towels being replaced every 3 days unless you ask for them. There is no towel service so you need to bring your own. Overall the hotel look and feel was good for the price! The food though was not good. Breakfast only meal we did enjoy. Very limited choice unless you like to live on salad with nothing else to go with it. Same fish, chicken and beef dishes with rice, potatoes (chip) with either broccoli, carrots or Cauliflower for both dinner and evening meal. They do put on snack time where there was a choice of burgers and hotdogs but we found bringing that out at 4 o'clock was too late if you were then having to go in for food between 7 and 8:30 as these were the seating times. The pool bar served drinks and ice-cream and the 2 ladies that were there all day were lovely. The only bar they have for the evening is upstairs and is too small for the amount of guests so goodluck in finding a seat. There were 2 young boys left to serve and not really knowing what they were doing and both myself and my husband noticed the difference in the strength of the Drinks as the holiday went on. They got weaker and weaker as if watered down that we asked for a straight shot of peach snaps and it was no where near the strength we had had the first night we arrived. I believe this is because they want to entice you to buy the premium brands to the left of the shelves. As a quick break it did the job but we wont be back to this particular hotel.

We booked all inclusive but had to eat out everyday as the food is so bad! I would not recommend staying here! It’s also a bit of a walk to the town

Will start with the good because it’ll be short, the room, drinks and service at bars were good, now onto the bad! Food was terrible, and the main thing that stood out was a young girl was I her room alone having a nap and maintenance had used a card to scan into her room and just let himself in. Wouldn’t go back to be honest

We stayed at this hotel for a week with my 3 children. I will start with the best part of this hotel and that is the staff, they we always happy and friendly to us, always happy to help when needed and they all work very hard to give you the best stay, thank you so much. Next was the hotel, beautiful and clean and easy to find your way around, the pools were a little cold however they were great for all size children and they had a lot of fun. The food was really good, a small buffet with lots of choice, we all agreed that breakfast was our favourite with pancakes, eggs, bacon beans etc we really did enjoy our meals. If I was to pick something that was not great I would say was the entertainment at night it was a person singing in the corner of the bar, me and my husband liked this but the kids just got bored and ended up in our room a lot in the evenings, also the cocktails were not great but being part of the all inclusive I understand they are a quick drink to make. Overall I would definitely stay again we had a fantastic holiday and we all came home shattered but happy 😁