The Mora Zanzibar

Service was good and great experience

Having stayed at luxury, all inclusive hotels at least 30 times over the past 25 years in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean, the Mora was overpriced and paled in comparison to many in my experience. I purchased what the Mora marketed as an “ocean view” room. But the room really doesn’t even qualify as a partial ocean view room given the vast distance from the water and the view which was 90 percent obstructed by a massive pool bar and lounge area and palm trees as you can see for your self in the photo. From most of the rooms it’s a day trip to get down to the beach. Check in was ridiculous. I arrived at 1:30 and the room was not ready until 5PM. Then when I showed up for dinner at 7PM at Jua Grill, I was told that I had to have a reservation. However, reservations can only be made one day ahead and are released at midnight. Serious. So, very early the next morning I tried to make dinner reservations. Nope. All gone. Apparently people stay up until midnight and grab the reservations and/or the system is not transparent. How strange and, in my opinion, not in keeping with the atmosphere of a true luxury hotel. The only available dinner restaurant for those who cannot beat the clock to grab a dinner reservation at one of the two sit down restaurants is the Horizon, which has a dinner buffet. Given that breakfast is a buffet at Horizon and lunch for most necessarily is yet another buffet at Horizon, it might be nice to have an option other than a third buffet meal at Horizon. My first full day I wanted to grab lunch at about 2PM on the beach. Unfortunately no food is offered for those on the beach or those at the pool. In my experience this is highly unusual for a beach resort. So, I walked up to the beach restaurant. And, I was turned away. You need a lunch reservation for the place in the sand just off the beach. Unbelievable. The hotel could easily have two nightly seatings at each restaurant. Moreover, neither Jua or Jikan were full when I dined there. Both open at 7. There were plenty of empty tables. See photos I took in Jikan at about 8:30. Moreover, even if the restaurants were crowded, there is plenty of room to add additional tables. Bottom line. It appears that the hotel is trying to steer guests to Horizon which apparently is a lower cost dinning proposition for them. So, if you don’t want to be relegated to the mediocre dinner buffet, you should put your foot down with management and request a dinning experience commensurate with the price you are paying. Having said that, don’t expect too much from either Jua Grill or Jikan. The food at both was hit or miss. I have never seen so many menu options and beverage options at any all inclusive hotel offered for a premium. Yes, it’s common at some all inclusives to have some items offered for an additional price such as lobster and grain feed beef. But, this is too much. Brands of alcohol which are common place at even lower budget all inclusives were not included here and were sold for an additional fee. I’ve included a photo of the beverage menu at Tikan. As with many hotels, be careful in planning activities through the hotel. I devised a one day itinerary to visit multiple places on the island. I had all stops, exact routes, and driving times noted. The Mora quoted me $390 USD. No thanks. I contacted a number of licensed tourist drivers on WhatsApp and ended up paying only $110. Same exact vehicle as the Mora. They almost all use officially registered Toyota Alphards. I asked about a snorkel trip through the hotel. They quoted over $80 USD PP. The professional dive shop just down the road which goes to the same spots as the Mora (I went scuba diving with them) quoted $55 PP. You can get it as cheap as $40PP from the guys on the beach. The service is friendly and attentive. Having been in Tanzania for about three weeks I appreciate the friendliness and kindness of the locals. However, I did not appreciate being asked personal questions by some staff which crosses a red line that no person in the hospitality industry should ever cross.

Stayed at the Mora on honeymoon and was lovely place, all staff so welcoming. Would highly recommend

I didn’t even stay here, but they made me feel at home. We did the mermaid experience, got to see the resort a bit and was even offered a free ice cream by a manager. He was very polite and kind towards us which makes me just imagine how nice the rest of the resort is. Would highly recommend it based on my few hours with them!! The beach is fantastic we chilled there after the mermaid experience, soft sand, close to dolphins and a very nice resort indeed if I come back I will choose this place to stay as it seems lively with many games and sports to keep us entertained!!

If you are looking for the perfect family break, the mora zanzibar is the perfect hotel, we were there for 7 nights and we really enjoyed it, from the food to the room, everything was perfect, although food choices are not always perfect but the manager, ashok went an extra mile and prepared our choice of food, the star of the hotel was sophia, from the kids club, she looked after our 5 year old daughter so well. If you are looking to go for a good rest with all perfect amenities, the mora zanzibar is your perfect choice.