Frank
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Hotel Riu Karamboa , Boa Vista - Cape VerdeFirst Choice Flight from Manchester.
The plane was cramped with little legroom considering the time we were on the plane. Our outbound flight was delayed and we spent quite a while on the tarmac (whilst being refuelled) and our flight was very turbulent arriving at Boa Vista 2 hours late. We were on board the plane for a total of 7 and three-quarter hours. The entertainment system was dated, not everyone got a decent view of a screen. The only included meal during this entire period was 'breakfast' which was a kind a mush, possibly scrambled egg and mashed potato - with a sausage in it . I recommend you buy your duty free on the outbound flight as you may find (as we did) they have sold out on spirits if you wait for the return flight. There’s nowhere at Boa Vista to make a value for money purchase. The return flight was on schedule and took 6 and a half hours. The time difference to Boa Vista is BST minus 2 hours, the take off/landing times on the tickets for the inboard/outbound flights looked odd because it didn't make it clear that times were local times.
Arrival, Transfer and check in.
Only 10 minutes queuing time at passport control and only 5 minutes by bus to the hotel. Fortunately we had pre ordered our Visas on line as per the hard to find info on the ticket pack. The hotel check in was very quick indeed, but with language difficulties with certain receptionists. The best plan is to relax and have a drink and await the porters taking your cases to the room. Quite a few people didn't like their rooms (based on location and view) and immediately returned to change them; most were dealt with immediately others were urged to wait until morning. The resort (and it is a resort not a hotel) is massive and some apartments are a good 300 yard walk from reception (but its quieter out there). Many have North facing balconies (as ours did) so catch the
North easterly wind but see only early morning or sunset sun. Most have a sea view or part sea view. They are on three floors and there are no lifts.
Rooms
Rooms were excellent, spacious, clean, well equipped and ours had a huge comfortable bed made up of two large beds pushed together. The wash area is open plan with the bedroom with a clear view of the shower from the balcony, but there is a door on the loo. Plenty of 220v sockets, a 50 channel TV, 45 of them non-English speaking (mainly German). BBC world service, CNBC, TCM, Fox and a couple of film channels are mainly English speaking. There is a mini-fridge (not mini-bar), you fill it with water from reception. Just to clarify, there are no tea/coffee making facilities. Even if there were, you'd have to borrow some sterilised milk from the buffet. Calls to the UK from the room phone will cost you £3.50 a minute, but most people found their mobile phones worked ok (except mine.. on Fresh).
Resort/hotel
Ok I'm disabled and can't walk too far without rests so I apologise if my review dwells on the resorts shortcomings in this area.
I estimate the site is 800 metres long by 400 metres deep, front to sea. Its seems to be designed to maximise your walking distances as most paths seem to curve around areas of no man's land so people with walking difficulties might struggle a little. There are no rest points or seats to help until you get to your destination. No shuttle service is provided (except for luggage) which might help such people. There were a few wheelchair users at the site, obviously coping one way or another.
The main building which contains all the main facilities is split into 2 storeys. The first floor houses the reception, 3 bars, shops, Internet room, 2 public loos, disco and the Stage. Access via an indoors route to the ground floor is by steps only at opposite ends of the stage. On the ground floor is the Oriental restaurant (BUDA), the main buffet restaurant (Santiago), Cape verde Restaurant (Barlovento) and just outside is the Mogambo Karaoke bar.
Note that the only public loos are upstairs, so you have to leave the restaurant or Karaoke bar and traipse upstairs a good way to use the loo!
There is a ramp about 50 yards long from the rear of the first floor reception that gives access to the main grounds and pathways to the pool etc. and this also leads back to the ground floor restaurants via a circuitous route back in to the building.
Restaurants.
The main buffet restaurant Santiago is where you can get breakfast, lunch and dinner, very much on a self service basis. There are areas outside if you prefer to dine there and can find a vacant table. Tables big enough for 4 outside at breakfast have to be created by dragging 2 tables together. The staff are mainly plate and glass collectors but will clear up and set a table for you - and at breakfast provide a cup and saucer and ask you what hot beverage you require. If you say Coffee they will get you a pot, but not tea, that’s self service, and you may not like it anyway with sterilised milk. You will not get cutlery, at breakfast you get your own, as you will everything else. First go get your juice and cutlery otherwise your hands will soon be full. The range of Breakfast foods is very good, all the ingredients of an English breakfast are there including HP sauce, the bacon quality is variable but passable. Breads, croissants, jams, fruit, hams cheeses, cereals are all there and some would say it’s the best meal of the day.
At Lunch your table will have a knife and fork, and you will be offered a glass of water, gas or no gas. Get your own beer, soft drink or wine. Time to choose your meal. If you have soup don't forget your spoon.. and your roll and your side plate and butter and knife !
There’s plenty to choose from in the buffet, you can always knock up something you'll like from the large range of salads, pastas, pizzas or whatever is being freshly cooked. The fish was always popular (especially swordfish) and of course chips -and sometimes you need to be prepared to queue for whatever is popular and being cooked or carved while you wait. Something alcoholic to drink ?
The best part is the beer. Its very good and on draught, self service in this and all restaurants and bars. The wine was not so good, my companions thought that the white wine was awful, red wine not good, rose’ wine drinkable, but its a matter of taste at the end of the day.
We were there for 2 weeks and it has to be said that it got a bit monotonous trying to make up something different after a while when 80% of the stuff is there every day both at lunch and at dinner. But I always enjoyed the salads and the soups, fish and poultry from this restaurant. There was always a dazzling array of sweets and ice creams to finish off the meal too. Children were not forgotten either as there was a special counter for them with burgers, toasties and pizzas and chips. Hygiene standards in all the restaurants were high and no one in our party suffered any tummy upsets during a 2 week stay. As always with self service buffets the greatest risk was from other holidaymakers handling food, particularly bread and putting it back for you to collect.
Specialist restaurants ( 2 sittings 7pm or 9pm).
Buda
Billed as an Asian restaurant, but I didn't see any Indian food. So I would call it oriental. Sushi - Chinese rice, sweet & sour, spring rolls, mild curry, spare ribs and lots of lovely dishes. Definitely the best place to eat, make sure you book immediately - you have to wait 3 days and (I suggest book again next day even though you've not been yet!) there is no limit to your visits. The wine was better quality too!
Barlovento
Cape Verdian Cuisine, it has to be said wasn't very popular amongst our party. Very fishy dishes , shellfish oriented dishes, but give it a try you might like it. We didn't.
Las Dunas
This restaurant by day is what you might call the Pool/beach restaurant as it is placed in that area. You can get a late continental breakfast here as well as most of the lunch choices you would get in the buffet. You can also in the late afternoon get snacks like Frankfurters, burgers, toasties and chips, self service beer, wine and soft drinks and coffee all from self service machines. This is where the toilets are if you are using the pool or the beach (and you may already have walked a hundred yards from the beach to get here). These are the ONLY toilets unless you want to trek another couple of hundred yards or more to your room or the main building. You are not allowed in Las Dunas with wet swimwear though!
By night this is the African Restaurant. We found it no different to the buffet in terms of service, all self service including cutlery but there were plate collectors and whilst there was supposedly a different and better choice on the menu, some were not actually available when we were there, for example the Tanzanian beef was gone - just the gravy remained, and no more was forthcoming.
In general the specialist restaurant experience (although good) wasn't what I anticipated, maybe because we were on the 9pm sittings. Strangely, the menus inside the restaurants were printed in 4 languages, none of them English. You had to go outside to read an English version! On other All inclusives we've been on with specialist restaurants you got waiter service and a structured multi course meal and could take your time and make a night of it, make it special. We soon learned that these seemed to be first come first served events, just put what you like on your plate whilst its there - otherwise you might never get any, or have to wait for some more to turn up. For example in the Buda somebody took ALL the spring rolls- about a dozen and walked off with them. Only by seeing a chef and asking were these eventually replaced. We witnessed this behaviour in other restaurants too. Generally, the whole thing was over and done with in about an hour and staff were clearing stuff away wanting to go home just after 10pm. We felt rushed really.
Bars
What can I say, there are plenty of them, and in many cases you could serve yourself from machines. There were a variety of cocktails to order from the bar alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and the spirits were full strength though not brands I've heard of. As said before the lager (Strela) was fine. Tonic water was of variable quality/taste, bar to bar and day to day. The glass collectors were very efficient, if you put your glass down with half an inch of liquid in the bottom it was gone when you blinked. 2 of the bars were within earshot of the stage (its all open plan on the first floor), some may think that’s good - others won't.
We preferred the Karaoke bar (Mogambo) simply because it was quiet before 10-30 pm and well away from the stage and was a good laugh when it got going. The Thompson reps frequently visited - and of them, J.B could often be conned into performing. The reception lobby bar was the most comfortable as there were settees to sit on, and was away from the stage - but it was hard on an evening to get a seat.
Entertainment.
The kiddies show on the stage was very good indeed, but was exactly the same night after night, the children were taught to dance to a medley of children’s and party songs. They even had the Hokey Cokey! The stage shows were what you might expect, the animation team dancing and miming to musicals such as Grease, and it seemed popular but it wasn't brilliant. You couldn’t fault them for effort though; one chap was on stage fully dressed up in a cowboy suit one moment, five minutes later he was in civvies running the Karaoke in the bar downstairs.
Staff
Were great, extremely friendly and in large numbers. They worked hard to make our stay enjoyable. Because we never had a fixed table anywhere and there were no assigned waiters just a myriad of glass and plate collectors and we and never saw our maid we didn't actually get the opportunity to build up a rapport with any specific member of staff during a 2 week stay and therefore deciding who to tip became a problem, which is a shame because they all deserve more opportunities for gratuities.
Excursions
The Thompson ones were very expensive and also disappointing, and not much to choose from for me and my bad back. The trip to Fogo by air cost £235 and was later cancelled anyway. Whale watching was not available (none to see). The Catamaran trip, which appeared to be the only suitable excursion for people with back/disc problems cost £40 for a ride on what turned out to be a small 12 seater fishing boat (albeit double hulled) without a sail. We were all crammed like sardines on the upper deck in the baking sun, no room to move about, and due to it being small and top heavy the rocking was quite pronounced and in hindsight in my opinion, not suitable for people with disc problems. Add to this the fact that we had to be ferried to and fro in a 6 seater rubber dingy to where it was anchored, and as a result of this my wife suffered an accident whilst disembarking at the harbour steps resulting in her being dangled in the harbour resulting in having her leg trapped, grazed and bruised in contaminated water, hence a formal accident report was filed.
My friends were able to participate in 2 different quad bike excursions available at the Scuba Caribe beach hut and reported them to be 'ace'. They thoroughly enjoyed their 3 hour bouncy, dusty rides (scarves as dust masks required) to see some local villages, the shipwreck and the magnificent Santa Monica beach.
Our friends wanted to do the walk along the beach to Sal Rei but on the day they picked, there was a sandstorm blowing down the beach, face on making it an unpleasant experience. So we all went by Taxi €10 each way per car from the hotel, it’s a set price and the driver calls back for you. We later found out (too late) that there is another set trip costing €60 per car which takes you to the shipwreck, then back via Sal Rei and the driver waits while you look around (it doesn’t take long).
Pools
Absolutely great, we found it best to wait till mid afternoon to swim, giving it time to warm up in the sun, when the water was lovely and warm. You could choose to sit near the music if you liked, but the pool is so large you can get far away from it if you want some peace.
There are 2 large Jacuzzis incorporated into the pool as well as a swim up bar.
Sunbeds
There are plenty of them - and small parties shouldn't have a problem finding them. More difficult if you want a group together and you want a parasol as well. Only one in 4 sunbeds had a parasol so there were people 'reserving' those sunbeds early at both at the pool and the beach.
Beach
It has a Lovely golden sandy beach with fixed parasols each associated with 2 beds. During a 2 week period we only saw a green flag for 3 hours, otherwise it was yellow, meaning paddling and strong swimmers only. There were some big waves preceded by a strong pullback and undertow, so caution is required. Despite appearances there were no lifeguards on duty, the observation tower was never manned and the only employees looking at the sea were the Scuba Caribe staff watching kitesurfers and the occasional floating craft like Kayaks. We never witnessed anyone using a pedalo during the whole of the 2 weeks. It was windy every day, some days with strong gusts and you could feel and see the sand in the air, not that this spoils ones enjoyment of the beach. There were always sufficient spare sunbeds to use as windbreaks, this was 'normal practice' but very occasionally the sunbed attendants would come out in force and remove any sunbeds used as windbreaks. This resulted in 'discussions' with holidaymakers who disagreed with them enforcing the rule (and there is a rule forbidding use of sunbeds as windbreaks). The next day it was all forgotten and everyone reverted back to 'normal practice'. The sun was very fierce and directly overhead at noon, so good sun protection is needed in the deceptive cooling breeze.
Hotel Shops
Incredibly expensive , But some people did fancy a change and bought stuff not on the menu like € 2.50 for a packet of crisps, €4 for a Mars bar, €5 for a small tin of tuna, €19 for a bottle of wine. Essentials such as €20 for suntan lotion - you need to bring with you, as you do all your pills and potions and hygiene items which are charged at unbelievably high prices.
Wellness centre.
There is a Sauna and 2 Jacuzzis, bookable free of charge. One Jacuzzi is cold ! Also gymnasium and massages are available.
To sum up this is a good value for money holiday in a high standard of accommodation with lots to do for the fit and able bodied, and ideal for just chilling out with near guaranteed sunshine and plenty of inclusive food and drink. In my opinion two weeks is too long on this island for people unable get a break from the resort and go on excursions elsewhere to see and experience something new and affordable to relieve the boredom. Unfortunately the island, the hotel and Thompson’s don’t appear to be ready for that yet.
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Silverpixie (Admin)
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A great report Frank, especially from a disabled point of view. 
I always find it odd that a lot of these AI's ignore the fact that its essential to be able to get to a public toilet quickly when people are liable to get tummy upsets on holiday. The same comment has been made in regard to the Caribbean and Egypt too.
I have also made suggestions in regard to size of these resorts and providing mobility scooters for hire by less able folk. The hotel management said it had been considered but they thought that it would possibly be abused by people just too lazy to walk and not very safe with the large amounts of alcohol sometimes consumed. They pointed out that all airlines have to carry them free of charge where there is a real need.
(which is OK if you have the room to store a small one for travelling and are prepared to take the risk of it being damaged)
Glad you had a good time though, would you go back again?
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Frank
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I wouldn't go for a fortnight unless there were some safe boat trips to the other islands to give me a break from the boredom of being cooped up in the same place. The excursions currently are by air and very expensive £230 each for a day and other excursions like 4X4 tours or Quad bikes although great fun for others ( and allow you to see the Santa Monica Beach ) would stress my back too much. Even the catamaran trip which elsewhere would have been on a large broad based boat with a sail turned out to to be a small cramped boat with too much rocking.
So if there were more to to see and do for me, yes I would go back.
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tonyW
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Nice report Frank.
Is your wife OK after her dangle in the mankey water?
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Frank
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Yes thanks, the dinghy wasn't tied up at all as she stepped off and this wave caused it to drop 4 feet. She had a leg graze about 14 inches long due to being trapped between the dinghy and the concrete steps as the dinghy bobbed back up which at first she tried to conceal and pretend she was OK due to embarrassment, but I was worried that she might get blood poisoning on what is (in terms of medical facilities) a third world island, and we still had 10 days to go. We had a bit of a scene at the quayside when I had to insist she showed me the injury so I could dab some antibacterial fluid on it immedately. We got back to the hotel 30 minutes later where we could clean it up properly and although grazed it wasn't bleeding, so didn't get infected.
That didn't prevent anxiety though and the Thompson rep got a full report with photographs of the scene and an accident report was filed. The graze became a bruise which is only just fading. other Holidaymakers who witnessed it filed complaints about health and safety. As advised by the Thompson rep, I've just sent off a letter to Thompsons legal department.
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Tango Bunny
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Great TR Frank
It's a shame they didn't cater for disabled peoples needs,I would have thought First Choice/Thompson would have been more on the ball in that department,though I suppose considering this is a fairly new holiday destination they haven't quite got to grips with it yet.....still there is obviously room for some improvements.....all the time I've known you Frank I never realised you were disabled.....at least you didn't let their short comings ruin your holiday....sounds like you had a good time
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Frank
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Well while I'm not a wheelchair user I'm what you might called walking wounded, I'm constantly looking for a sit down, even though I'm capable of getting there as fast as most. I don't think Karamboa understands there are such people at the moment judging by the site and the way they run things. I hope they read the reviews here and on other travel sites and wake up to reality. 
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Acorncup
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Very interesting report, Frank, thanks for taking the time to write it.
I'm glad to hear that Mrs Frank's leg has healed up OK, I bet it was a big fright for her, and painful 
I know Thomson's have been promoting Cape Verde....but it does sound as if the resort needs a few adjustments........
I didn't realise it was so far away, either
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