Visiting Mombasa is a favorite thing to do for me during my holidays. Settled for Sarova Whitesands resort. My mind was amazed from the point of arrival to the checked in time. The level of professionalism, customer care & the ambience will make you feel safe. Don't get me started on the friendly environment, you will be received with smiles. During your stay, you may run into the employees whether on walkways or any other areas, they too will politely greet you with a smile. You can't help but feel at home. The food is delicious! I was more than impressed at the wide range/choices of food served at the buffet. From sea food, to vegetarian dishes.., every dietary needs is catered for. Might I mention the lovely live performances at dinner. Those amazing voices & music will serenade your soul. You will have no choice but to finish your serving.


I love clean spaces. I found the rooms extremely tidy. The house keeping team do an excellent job. The swimming pools are very well maintained. The restaurants ( Minazi, lido) & Coco's bar are places you should check out. Except to be surrounded by a lot of beautiful nature.Trees, fish, birds, the beach...ohh, how I miss the breeze.

Onto entertainment. I have booked with several hotels in Mombasa over the past years & in terms of staying entertained. Sarova will take the prize. My days were filled with so many fun activities. I would love to recognise the amazing animation team. Titus, Brian, & colleagues. They will keep you occupied with lots of learning. Water polo, salsa, Zumba, board games etc...please never stay idle in your hotel room when there is a lot to do!
Lol, God knows how I got myself singing Karaoke! By nature, I keep to myself, but as I said, the animation team will make you feel like you are part of them. You will feel comfortable, safe, & happy. at the same time.

Did I mention I picked up new skills! I love swimming, I love the ocean. I am great at snorkelling but hadn't tried scuba diving ever! At Sarova, I took on the opportunity. Levi was my teacher /trainer. I learned so much from him in a short period of time! Both theory & the practical bit of Scuba diving are taught. Levi pushed me out of my comfort zone and I am grateful for his patience while I was learning. My first drill went great. I loved the experience so much that I signed up for the full course. It was a more extensive experience in comparison to the baby steps I had picked up while learning basics of scuba diving. I learned new tricks, the sign language used, & the proper way to use the equipment. I can not tell you how proud I was of myself. The joy of passing an exam in flying colours came right back. The lifeguard on duty, Francis, was extremely helpful too. The gas tank got heavy at one point and I didn't know if I could carry through. The encouragement from Levi, & Francis. Not forgetting the cheers from the friendly guests sitting by the pool played a role in my learning. My morale was boosted & I aced it.

I could go on & on but I'm sure you get the picture. Everyday had a highlight. Four days of pure bliss. So why don't you relax, sit back & make that reservation. You will enjoy your stay. Sarova is the place to be

You can watch an in depth review on YouTube by visiting Luxury Vegan Travel.

We booked 2 rooms for 6 nights via American Express Travel who used Expedia for the final reservation.

I received the usual confirmation email which contained the ‘Hotel’s’ Confirmation Numbers. However, when we arrived, the Hotel advised that they had no record of these bookings. We called American Express and eventually we were given 2 rooms. The Hotel implied that it was not there error and when I returned to London I made a formal complaint with American Express. Once the investigation was completed, it transpires that it was the error of the hotel.

Not being able to locate our room meant we were given rooms far apart instead of being close together (I had emailed the hotel before my flight and had no reply from them).

Worse, it meant we were given temporary rooms for the first night and we were then asked to change rooms again the next day. This was so frustrating and poor.

On day 3 I decided to check my bill as I didn’t want any nasty surprises when checking out and it is a good thing I checked as they said my bill is over 300,000 KSH! I was so upset that these problems continue especially as I had paid upfront directly to American express.

Anyway, on day 4, they rectified this and finally we could start our holiday which was for only 1 more full day before checking out.

Dining

With respect to food, I am Vegan and my family are almost Vegan. We had spoken to the chef and informed them of what we don’t eat. The chefs would then prepare meals for us and serve us directly at our table. However, many of the dishes were repeated. For example, we might have eaten the leftovers from the previous meal. This gave me the impression that the food is almost always NOT fresh and is most likely reheated. This is NOT 5*.

Rooms

The rooms are generally small for a 5* property.

They provide soft drinks (2 x coke, 2 x sprite and 2 x Fanta) every 3 days together with 2 x cashew nuts. This is in addition to the daily water bottles. This was a nice touch.

WIFI

The Wi-Fi is very poor. It will be difficult to stream or download video. It was quite difficult in making WhatsApp calls as well.

Facilities

They have a pool table but really, they need to throw it away! I had to lift the table to get all the balls out and then when I broke-off, most of the balls went onto one side of the table and many of them went into the same corner pocket due to the in-balance.

However, the swimming pools are very nice and kids will love it! If you are someone who wants to be away from kids, they have a dedicated pool just for adults at the other end of the hotel (near the spa).

Beach

The beach would be nice especially as the water is so warm! However, the hotel does not clear away the seaweed and the seaweed was so much that the water looks black almost – see my video on YouTube at Luxury Vegan Travel.

Staff

The highlight of this hotel has to be the friendly and helpful staff! They are so nice to talk to and are very friendly.

I won’t ever be going back!

Old world big rooms, nice ambiance, but the staff were wonderful. The staff at the live counters at buffet went the extra mile to serve great food. Comfortable rooms, great sercive. Will go back again for sure.