Holiday Apartments in Carbis Bay

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• JACQUELINE - Verified booking

  Overall it was a well located property, lovely sea views, good parking and nice modern decor.

  However, considering the 8 hour window allowed for extra cleaning (which is inconvenient especially when we can't park at the property and aren't notified when if it is ready early), there was no evidence that anything other than a quick clean had taken place. Looking under the beds to check for belongings before we left, we found the floor to be thick with dust and a previous guest's sock. The en suite shower didn't drain well, and we discovered that was due to the trap being clogged with hair/slime which we cleaned out. The jacuzzi bath ejected a ring of hair from one of the jets when we first used it which was rather grim. The lamp in the living room did not work, and the towel rails did not work electrically and only worked when the central heating was on. It was disappointing because on a hot day we would have still liked to have dry towels! We concluded these had perhaps been switched off for some economy reason. When operating the central heating we noticed the Hive controller was flashing as low battery, and it ran out after a couple of days. We bought new batteries for it. The beds were rather uncomfortable! Very very hard pillows which were also lumpy like sleeping on a brick, the duvets were very thin and also lumpy. I was looking forward to using the binoculars which were advertised, but they didn't seem to be there. I assume for some covid reason, but wish I'd known. The bin arrangements were not clear, we had to work out where the bin store was. Glad there was recycling though, that's good. Arrangements for returning the key were vague - nothing on your correspondence about where to return the key, we assumed back in the key safe as collected - however a document in the apartment stated to ideally leave it 'outside the property' - no key safes evident anywhere. Overall these problems didn't impact on our enjoyment of our holiday, but we feel attention to detail is lacking, and these issues are small fixes. Inconsistency between your info and info at the property is also something which could be improved. We would definitely return to this property, the view is amazing and it's a nice complex. Could something be done about the check in time? For example a system where you can let us know when the apartment is ready, or an estimated time? Even if that was later in the day at least we would know. It's gruelling to be hanging around for hours when in fact we could have been unpacking earlier than 5pm. I would appreciate your feedback, Thanks Jackie Gotham

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• Kirsty - Verified booking

  Overall we enjoyed our week in Carbis Bay.

  The good points for us for the apartment were the comfy beds, the proximity to the beach, well equipped kitchen and the nice touches such as beach mats and body boards for use during our stay. The sea views are impressive and great that you get that in the front room and main bedroom as well. We were a bit unsure about booking this property because of the negative reviews mentioning the cleanliness. Unfortunately, the property wasn't clean enough for us either and definitely needs a more thorough clean going forward. The towels were stained, there were quite a few dusty areas and most of the kitchenware felt sticky so had to be washed before being able to use items. The main bathroom had an unpleasant smell. On the last day of the holiday, the apartment below experienced a leak coming from our apartment (Sykes called to let us know). We were told that an emergency plumber was on his way and would be there within an hour so we left the beach and we waited in for 5 hours for the emergency plumber to come but no word from anyone about what was happening. In the end we went out as a family in the evening after no communication from anyone and received a phone call while we were out from Carbis Bay Holidays to say the plumber was going to let himself in with a key in 10 minutes time. I know it couldn't be helped but I wasn't comfortable with this. We were told we couldn't use the main bathroom for the rest of our stay, we could only use the en suite which was inconvenient and ruined the last day of our holiday. As I say, there were some good points to Amethyst but we won't be staying here again in future.

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• Karl - Verified booking

  Overall, this is an amazing apartment with breathtaking views of Carbis Bay and the surrounding coastal towns.

  We had only three minor points of feedback: 1. The shower water pressure was weak, and the pressure buttons did not seem to adjust the power. Although the shower was functional, it took longer than expected. 2. The WiFi signal was quite slow, running at about 10 Mbps at times. This occasionally caused lag when using the television and phone simultaneously due to low bandwidth. 3. There was some noise from the neighbors upstairs. While this isn't something you can control, it's worth noting that they were often loud, with frequent banging, even late at night, and constant stomping. However, these minor issues were insignificant compared to how pleased we were with everything else. The location is excellent—just a 2-minute walk to the train station. The apartment was well-equipped with all the essentials, including a television with Netflix and Prime Video. It was clean, cozy, and felt very homely. We would highly recommend this apartment for couples or families looking for a coastal getaway. There are many great places to explore nearby (St. Ives being an obvious choice), and it’s wonderful to have such a beautiful and comfortable place to return to. The beach is just a 10-minute (steep) walk downhill—a fun journey that certainly helped burn off the amazing local food. The beach itself is beautiful, and we thoroughly enjoyed spending a whole day there during the week. We will definitely recommend this apartment to friends and family and hope to visit again in the future.

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• Adam - Verified booking

  We had a toxic gas leak from the fridge in the apartment at Dolphin Watch, that could have been deadly.

  The Company were swift in replacing the fridge for us (although I had to help....assisting with the lifting down stairs of the old fridge and the lifting upstairs of the new one. We also had a faulty toilet, this was not rectified. When I tried to engage with Carbis Bay Holidays about our experience and the stress of the toxic gas leak, they ignored all my emails for over two weeks. When I got through on the phone to ask why my emails had not been answerd, they advised me that the owners of the property would offer no apology or compensation of any kind, as they could not be 100 percent sure that the fridge had been leaking toxic gas. After all the research I did online I can be certain it was a gas leak....I can also be certain that the cleaner must have smelled it too when cleaning before our arrival - but she did nothing to report it to anyone. Overall I found the customer service of Carbis Bay Holidays to be very poor - not returning any of my emails. And the attitude of the owners to not offer any form of compensation or apology for our stress and inconvenience, shows them to be rather miserly in my opinion. I would avoid Dolphin Watch for this reason and I would not be inclined to book again with Carbis Bay Holidays or indeed Sykes Cottages, their new owner.

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• Thomas - Verified booking

  Broken front window (opening).

  Filthy windows and not what we expected from the superb online pictures as advertised - this is what sold us the accommodation, but every time you looked out of the window you were drawn to this. The windows haven’t been cleaned in months. Broken toaster (9/21 comments in Visitors book) so has been for sometime and not replaced. Broken blinds (both rooms). Towel radiator inoperable. Screeching kitchen cold tap. Bedroom TV inoperable. Had to buy Fairy liquid and hand wash soap in St Ives as none. Double bed lumpy. Shower dirty internally. Apartment needs updating. Shame in the fact you can always tell when the owners do not use it themselves, needs TLC. Upside: Excellent area to explore Cornwall, beach super and very practical area to explore with young child. Scenery and wild flowers in May a delight. However £1400 for a week is not reflective value for money, prices have increased and many owners using COVID as an excuse to double prices. Would like compensation.

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