We have just returned from our 5th visit to the Marhaba Palace and we are already looking forward to returning in 12 weeks time for the New Year celebrations.

The hotel and grounds, as always, were spotlessly clean and well kept.

Having discovered that the restaurant had changed to all buffet service for evening meals, we were apprehensive about whether or not we would enjoy mealtimes as much. However, we found that this worked out better for us as I was able to maintain my low-carb diet and my husband was able to try a bit of everything! Also, this enabled the hotel to put on theme nights. The Italian night was wonderful, though not so low-carb! and the Oriental night made a pleasant change. However, for us, the Tunisian night won hands down for the great food and the cute little traditional red waist coats the waiters wore. We had the same waiter (Komel)as our last 2 trips and he continued to provide the same wonderful service, despite not serving our main course. It was lovely to be able to see the chefs at work and to be able to commend them on the great food!

We have never been able to find anything to complain about when it came to breakfast, but we were stunned that they had managed to improve it further. The addition of biscuits, pancakes and fried 'eggy' bread was brilliant, if not damaging to the waistline!!

Even though this was our 5th visit, it was the first time we had eaten in the A La Carte restaurant. This is an experience not to be missed. The food was wonderful and varied and the service provided by Adel was faultless. The bill came to only

Returned from 2 weeks in tunisia 02-10-2005, stayed at the hotel marhaba palace half board basis was excellent, cleanliness high standard.

Hotel food very good a good selection of different dishes, hotel location was perfect 2 mins from beach and 5 mins from town centre.

Hotel staff were excellent looked after you very well nothing was too much trouble for them, entertainment was a little scarce I have just booked another 2 weeks for 19-02-2006.

22/8/05 Just back from 2 weeks at the Marhaba Palace in Port El Kantoui. Smart hotel in comparison with others in the area but overall a pretty low key fortnight.

Good bits : If you travel with The Thompson group then the rep Emma is World Class and can sort most things without any fuss. She has been a rep on Tunisia for several years and knows the ropes well. There is a reps night of entertainment held at another hotel as a chargeable trip and if you book it you will find that Emma has one of the best singing voices I've ever heard in a holiday resort.

Hotel staff generally friendly and helpful. When you check in to the restaurant for your first sitting you are allocated a table and waiter for the duration of your stay. it works well 98% of the time. Meals were buffet style.

Rooms are tidy if a bit small - we were 2 adults with 11yr old child and the first room offered was a bit cramped. Emma was instrumental in arranging a move to something a bit better which was good. Fridge in room was most welcome.

Prices cheap in the local gift shops especially if you factor in the exchange rate which at the time of writing is 43p to a dinar. Like a lot of holiday places the Tunisians like a good haggle and you can achieve good value if you have a bit of front.

Good pools and the beach is seconds away - pure golden sand and chargeable but at reasonable price watersports.

Bad bits : Hotel entertainment is close to non existant especially for kids. There is no in house entertainment staff so if you rely on being kept amused during the evening forget what the hotel has to offer. There is a mini zoo, small amusement park and water park all within walking distance of the hotel but that only takes up a few hours of your time. If you take your kids to the zoo watch out for the perimiter fence which has sharp spikes right at kiddie level. Your local health and safety bod here at home would slap a closure order on the whole street, but the Tunisians don't seem to care too much bout it.

Hotel food is pretty bland and repeated often which is not good news if you are there for more than a week. Although I expect a foreign kitchen to cook using different oils and ingredients to the uk leading to a few tummy upsets I can honestly say that I had more than my fair share of loo roll. If you plan to escape to the nearest town for a quick Big Mac or KFC then dream on cos they don't exist here. Outside resturants are cheap but service is slow and portions of food small - a legacy of their french origins.

Not the hotels fault but the taxi drivers are maniacs and their cars are overall a poor standard and small ( Renault Clio as example). Avoid if you can.

Overall Holiday: Not the worst fortnight I have had by a long way but pretty disappointed after some reports I read about the Marhaba Palace. Several people return year after year. I must have missed why.

Overall Tunisia : Once you venture outside the tourist area of Port El Kantoui then its a crap hole - no kidding. The nearest large town, Sousse can only be described as a sewer with unswept roads and rotting rubbish laying around for weeks on end - hold your breath cos it stinks. Considering Tunisia has been an active tourist attraction for more than 30 years Im a bit amazed at their lack of development. Airport particularly poor if they have more than 5 flights about the same time to contend with then they just cant and dont cope. If you dont like being constantly touted for taxis, eating and tourist nick knacks then avoid Tunisia. We will !

Me & My parents came back from the Marhaba Palace a week ago, having yet another awesome 2 week holiday there just as good as last year.

The hotel hasn't changed a lot since last year apart from the evening meal now being all buffet, where as last year the main course was waiter service, which me & my family preferred, but this didn't make our holiday unenjoyable, we still enjoyed ourselves just as much.

A lot of the staff from last year were still there, and they welcomed us even more, they made sure everything was okay for us & we had a great holiday. I think this was due to our tippings, be warned though don't over tip them as they will expect it every time (We found that out last year) We usually tipped up to the next dinar say the bill was 6 dinar 400, we gave them 7 dinar, they seem pleased with that. (1 dinar = about43p)

The sunbed commotion by the pool hasn't changed as you still have to get up at 7.30am to secure yourself some sunbeds (unless you do some chattering & tipping with the pool lifeguard), luckily for us we are beach people & we didn't have much trouble, by tipping the lifeguard who puts out the sunbeds on the beach & leaving him a towel the night before and you can have a lie in, as he does it for you. He's a lovely man & was trying to teach me Arabic - not the easiest language. I'll stick with English & French.

The beach is gorgeous, we found it to be not as clean this year as last year and found a bit more rubbish, but there was a big tractor come along the one day & clean it up, so I assume it is cleaned. The water is lovely too, didn't see so many jellyfish this year as I did last year, although I did get stung both years if you do, just run to the beach bar & ask for some tomato or vinegar or wet sand & then rub it into the sting, works wonders. There is another way but its a bit more tricky for the ladies!

Watersports on the beach is fantastic, we bought these tickets for 200 dinars (about

This hotel is definitely not a four star. The only thing I have to say about this hotel is to pay attention to negative reviews, we did't and went ahead and booked it. It was the holiday from hell.

We got huge compensation when we complained and produced 60 different complaint photographs of raw chicken, room flooding (four room changes all verified as wrecks by independent witness) etc. etc. etc. etc.

If you go to this hotel take the pillow cases off the pillows and see what you are sleeping on, yuk!

This was my first time in Tunisia and I absolutley loved it! The Marhaba Palace was great value for money, and the staff and Tunisians in general are very friendly.
I am 20 and stayed there with my mum (a young 48). Couldn't fault the food, breakfast was lovely thanks to the "egg lady". And I looked forward to dinner every day! Admittedly, the entertainment was very poor, but I've always been told that bored people are boring people, and my mum and I still managed to have a right old giggle and made lots of friends despite this.
The rooms were always kept nice and clean, and such a lovely touch they made with your bed clothes.
Location is fantastic, with Port El Kantoui and few minutes walk away and right on the beach front.

The general feel to the Marhaba Palace is relaxed. If you want cheesy shows and silly games, this won't be the hotel for you. There were lots of day trips to
go on, and definatly take advantage of the Sahara Trip.
You will have to be up verrrry early if you want a sunbead with an umberella!!
I found that there were alot of young couples, families with children, and unlike seen in other reviews didntseem to find many elderly. But this could be to do with the time of year.

And the porter who looked like Jerry Lee Lewis was fantastic!

Overall, I would definatly recommend this hotel, although it won't be to everyone's taste. Most people we met there have been going for years (as we probably will do aswell).

This isn't Spain (thank goodness) and the culture is very different. But if you are able to accept the way of life in Tunisia you will be fine.

We have just returned from a two week stay at the Marhaba Palace Hotel. The hotel itself is impressive, if a little dated in places. The rooms were comfortable with great balconies, air conditioning and a very handy fridge.

We spent most of our time at the beach, which was kept quite clean and the water was crystal clear. The lifeguard did his best every day to provide us with chairs and friendly chat.

We were however surprised and shocked at times at the staffs

Had heard many differing reports on this hotel. But we were pleasantly surprised when we got there.

The room was spotless. As were the public areas of the hotel. Our maid was excellent.

The food at night was a bit hit and miss and the breakfast was uninspiring.

The lifts were erratic, we and several others got stuck.

The pool bar staff were good fun, their service was fine. The pool areas and gardens were very well looked after.

The entertainment consisted of a karaoke night and the hotel band.

My boyfriend and I were a little apprehensive about Tunisia as we had heard mixed reports but we were pleasantly surprised as none of our concerns were realised. Overbearing shopkeepers however were very much a reality. They don't seem to understand that their harrassment technique is not a marketing success!

Marhaba Palace is a lovely hotel with an impressive foyer and surroundings. Our room was spacious and clean if a little dull-looking and perhaps not quite up to the 4* standard.

Breakfast/evening meals were plentiful if a tad underwhelming, yet still value for money for what we paid for the holiday as a whole. Having said that, we appeared to have paid a fair bit less than other couples we spoke to (less than half in many cases) so our view would be less positive had we paid more.

The staff were pretty much faultless although at times we wondered how much of their motives were 'tip-based' as opposed to 'customer-service based'. They will even ask you for English money if you find yourself without Tunisian Dinar!

There is definitely a big 'sunbed scene' around the pool and unless you are up at 7:30am or willing to give the pool attendant a back-hander the night before (as is apparently common practice) then you have little chance of claiming a spec. If you prefer the beach however, you should have no such problems.

Overall we would recommend this hotel to anyone contemplating staying in Port El Kantaoui but bear in mind our view is swayed by the fact that we got ourselves a bargain (

This was a fantastic hotel and I think the best in Port El Kantoui! The hotel was spotless, and the staff are really nice and helpful.

The location is brill, really close to everything you could ever need. The only thing that was a bit of a let down was the American Bar. There wasn't a thing American about it! Also the Entertainment in the hotel was very limited, but if you go out at night there is loads to do.