The Dome Hotel: Tired hotel in a decent location
by XenosUK
Our sea-view room was on the first floor and had a decent sized terrace which would probably be quite pleasant for sitting out on in warmer weather, but the rooms on the floor above us had smaller terraces which, being north-facing, would get very little sun even in summer and many were directly above the hotel bar and restaurant, which meant that you looked down onto the green-felted roofs, complete with aircon units, so not exactly a marvellous vista.
The room itself was fairly small ant the facilities pretty basic for what is described as a 4-star hotel. I'd personally put it at around 2-3 stars. There was a TV and a small minibar, but no tea and coffee tray (which I suspect is common to most hotels in N Cyprus) and the complimentary toiletries were limited to shampoo and soap - not even a box of tissues in the bathroom. It was clean enough, but somehow looked tired, especially the bathroom with its 80's style yellowy-peach suite and discoloured grouting between the wall tiles. One of the light fittings wasn't working on our arrival and we pointed this out to the porter, but nothing was done about it. We tried swapping the bulbs around and found it was just a dead bulb and so left it out on the dressing table for 2 days. The first day the maid just put it back again and the second day she removed it from the room, but didn't bother bringing a new one!
Hotel staff were friendly, but the service was somewhat haphazard. They were keen to re-fill your wine glasses at dinner, but not so keen to serve tea and coffee at breakfast and we mostly had to get our own from the urns provided. We also spent a good 10 minutes in the hotel bar one afternoon without getting served - despite the fact that there were only two other people in there - and we eventually got up and went to a bar across the road.
Breakfast is the usual hotel buffet style and there was a good choice with a few hot dishes plus plenty of cold cuts, fruit, cereal and breads. We had paid for B & B, but our tour operator, Green Island Holidays threw in free half board during the winter months, so we ate in the hotel restaurant on a few evenings. Again the food was served buffet-style and was plentiful, but it was pretty bland and uninspiring and I certainly wouldn't pay extra for half board if I stayed there in summer - there are far better reasonably-priced choices at the local restaurants.
The Dome Hotel is Cyprus's longest established hotel and I have to say that in some respects it looks like it. It is situated on the seafront a minute or two's walk from the harbour and only slightly further from the main shopping area, so overall I'd say the Dome is a good base for exploring Kyrenia and N Cyprus, but just don't expect it to live up to its rating
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