We booked a family holiday for myself, husband and two children (17 and 14) at TUI MAGIC LIFE Africana for the start of October. This was our first time visiting Tunisia and the first time we'd ever stayed at a TUI MAGIC LIFE hotel. We were very happy with the flight times (no travelling in the middle of the night) and were very pleased to find a stand with two TUI Reps at the airport as soon as we landed. They directed us to the transfer coaches where we were introduced to another Rep called Aladdin. He gave us some basic information and advice, such as not drinking the tap water, and we were told about a meeting for new guests at the hotel which would inform us about excursions we could go on outside of the hotel complex. However, we missed the meeting (we weren't really looking at doing any excursions, as they came with an additional cost), but did get tracked down a few times by staff during our stay, trying to sell us various trips. Thankfully it wasn't a hard sell and not too intrusive. It was obvious that there was more than enough to keep us busy at the resort and we weren't keen to leave the safety of the complex. We hadn't realised when booking that we were going to be given adjoining rooms, so that my husband and I were still close to the children. It worked out really well as we all had our own space, plus the added benefit of two bathrooms and two toilets between the four of us. There was simply a door separating the rooms, which was extremely convenient. The first thing we noticed on entering the bedrooms however, was a very strong smell of gloss paint! It seems that someone had painted the luggage racks in both rooms with a gloss the day we arrived! We therefore couldn't use them until the paint had dried and thankfully the smell subsided by the second or third day. It was so bizarre! The beds were incredibly comfortable but the rooms' fitting and fixtures could definitely be improved upon: Our soap dispenser was literally hanging off the bathroom wall (before coming off completely) and the bedroom fridge doors were hard to open as they didn't really fit in the cupboard they'd been plugged into. On our first morning, we went into the Magico restaurant for breakfast and I was astounded at the incredible selection of foods on offer, including freshly cooked pancakes with more toppings than you could wish for! There was something for everyone and I was delighted that the same high standard and selection of food offering was replicated at every mealtime. We did book meals at the three a la carte restaurants during our stay, but in all honesty, none of them were as good as the buffets at the Magico restaurant. The Downtown restaurant was quite a disappointment - it is supposed to be American cuisine, but most of the dishes weren't American and there was little to no atmosphere. Incidentally, the Turkish restaurant had the best starters (soups) and desserts, whilst the Italian restaurant did the best mains, in our experience. We stayed for one week, spending our mornings by the pools, having lunch at the outdoor cafe and then heading to the beach in the afternoons. We took part in Aqua Aerobics most mornings, as well as some of the poolside games and the TUI song and dance became a daily ritual! The music coming from the Radio shack was always lively in the mornings and then chilled out in the afternoons. The entertainment staff were incredibly attentive and always tried to ensure everyone was joining in (if they wanted to). The staff went out of their way to play table tennis with my 14 year old son almost every day, and the food and drinks staff were equally attentive. They literally memorised what drinks we ordered so that on future visits to the cafe they would bring us our drinks without us even needing to ask! My husband had a beer on the first day and as soon as he'd emptied it, another one was immediately brought to him! The same thing happened every day after, without him even ordering anything. We couldn't believe that they could remember individual tastes with so many people staying at the hotel - just amazing. Entertainment was of a very high standard. The amphitheatre shows were as good as anything you'd see on stage in the West End and were followed by evening entertainment at the Captain's Bar, which included karaoke, discos, live music, and a fabulous belly dancer! There was additional entertainment during the day, such as a Zumba party and a foam party on the beach. We always had something to do. I will mention some negatives, being that some of the activities my 14 year old son wanted to take part in, such as football and a football-themed poolside game, were only open to over 16s, which seemed very strange. However, he, and other under 16s, were allowed to take part in the end, so I think this policy really needs to be reviewed. Similarly, there some was confusion over my 17 year old daughter using the adult pool, which expressly states that it's for over 16s, so we thought she'd be fine, but because she was wearing an under 18s wrist band, a member of staff told her she had to leave the pool. We explained that she was over 16 and that maybe there ought to be a wristband for the 16-17s age group so that their age is more obvious. We later spoke to the Entertainment Manager who said that this had never happened before and perhaps the member of staff who'd spoken to us was new. Either way, my daughter was entitled to use the adults pool, so it was fine. Another thing we could have done without was more than one member of hotel staff hitting on my daughter! Asking for the young guests' personal information such as snapchat and social media accounts shouldn't be allowed and the hotel really should have a serious word with their male staff about this! Just a word about leaving the hotel. We had paid for late checkout given our evening flight, but found out on the day we were due to leave that this only applied to one of our rooms, not both! We all wanted to use the shower and room facilities before we left and were told that we could keep both rooms after all to make things easier, but I think this needs to be clarified at the time of booking. Our return to the airport wasn't ideal either. Our coach was over an hour late collecting us and we had no information as to its whereabouts or estimated time of arrival, leaving us all in the dark and quite stressed. We'd have really appreciated having a TUI Rep with us while we were waiting in order to give us up to date information, and hope that the this is something that can be implemented in the future. The weather at that time of year (early October) was perfect (around 27-31 degrees) and we wouldn't have wanted to go during the sweltering summer months. I couldn't imagine the holiday being as enjoyable with so many more holidaymakers there either. It was a perfect holiday for us and we are already looking into booking another TUI MAGIC LIFE stay next October, at a different destination this time. Thank you to everyone at TUI MAGIC LIFE AFRICANA for making our holiday so special. The staff go above and beyond to give their guests a great experience and are to be highly commended :)…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.