Lack of atmosphere and entertainment

[Mark]

My first post on the forum ‘bus service and entertainment’ had that much response I have decided to put this one on, solely about the lack of entertainment. I apologize for any repetition in advance.

The general view I think is Fort Knoks are first and foremost builders in the business of making money from this rather than the tourism trade. So we have ended up with a very nice apartment block with some facilities on, much like you would get in Britain.

But that’s not what we have bought them for we want holiday apartments, that when we visit we have a great holiday that makes us want to go back again and again. Not to mention renting them out to people and wanting them to go back. I fear at the moment anyone who rents one of us will be very disappointed and will not want to go back, and will put other potential renters off with there views. I have already been putting friends and relatives off going there yet. Hoping that more bars and restaurants will open and the complex will try to complete with Sunny Beach for entertainment. However I have seen other Fort Knoks complexes and they too look like they have no atmosphere.

The focus needs to be on trying to entertain the guests and liven up the place. Someone commented that there was more atmospheres on the moon and they would not go back, but would rather stay in Sunny Beach. They like me, also felt let down by Fort Knoks.

I have spoke to the manager and he talks about having plans for the place and trying to rival Sunny Beach. But we have all been sold these apartments thinking that all the bars and restaurants would be there and open. Only to find we have to go to Sunny Beach for any type of entertainment or nightlife.

When I was there the one and only bar/restaurant that was open, shut at 10pm and made no effort to encourage people in or keep them in when they where there. It was the same boring thing every night no wonder no one went in, I went to Sunny Beach every night even when I couldn’t be bothered because there was nothing else to do. What do they think people go on holiday for? The bar itself needs some lessons on entertainment simply serving drinks is not enough. Although I haven’t been there I believe Packos Bar down the road is a good night and maybe they should base the bar on theirs.

I think part of the problem is Bulgaria is relatively new to tourism compared to Spain etc and maybe all this upheaval and change is coming a bit to quick for them.

[Di and Sean]

mark u are correct ,,again , part of the problem is the lease for bars and restaurants ,are sometimes only one year ,people are little scared investing in such a venture ,because of this...i believe that the complexes will come good ,if fort noks do good deals on the leases,,,,,,,,

[leigh & andrea]

Hi mark,
You're right this is a common problem amongst all the Fort Noks sites.

I have an apartment at Privilege and although it was slightly better last year some of the owners wanted to arrange a race night and bingo night, they were going to supply what was needed. However the manager was very unhelpful and would not allow it to go ahead!

Another thing I have heard is that the rents on the bars are expensive and this is why I believe the uptake on them has been slow.

I personally don't think the problem is that Bulgaria is new to tourism as the first time I visited on a package holiday was around 1980 when it was still communist run! The problem is like you said Fort Noks are developers and not involved with tourism and are not interested now they have our money!

My thoughts! Leigh. www.fn-owners.co.uk

[panorama]

Hi,
We are going to our apts in Panorama in July and we are dreading the boring evenings sat in the boring bar/cafe, lets be honest you can't really call it a restaurant!! We are hoping things have improved from last year but if not we are planning eating out EVERY night in St Vlas and Sunny Beach were there will be more atmosphere/entertainment. Paco's bar is excellent for live music and a it has a limited menu but the food was good and it is a lot cheaper than our cafe. It's a great shame that Fort Noks cannot be bothered doing anything to improve our facilities in any of the complexes.We met some lovely people in our complex and in our neighbouring complex Marina, but listening to the same 3 CD's night after night became torture. We should have happy hours, special boards,maybe live music once a week/fortnight. More plants in big tubs would be nice to give us more colour and paint the underneath of the chipboard lean-to roof (lets be honest they didn't push the boat out with that roof). If people don't speak their mind and let Fort Noks know how they feel then the place could die a slow death.I dont want loud music every night but once in a while it would be nice.
Cheers.

[leigh & andrea]

Campaigning Fort Noks does work on some matters. Last year we organised a campaign through the fn-owners site to get the lazy river at Privilege tiled as it looked shabby with flaking paint. We all emailed Fort Noks and eventually they agreed to do it. We have just had confirmation that it is being tiled at present.
Organise yourselves and tackle one problem at a time and some things may get done.
Good luck Leigh.

[gill1962]

one of the reasons we bought on panorama, paying more than we could have done else were, was the facilities the complex offered, enough facilities to keep you going for a good few nights. So was totally dissappointed with what we found when we got there. I e-mailed Julia at the end ofthe season, asking about the missing facilities, she said that come the season of 2007, everything should be up and running. So when i go out in may, i am hoping to find a few more things on offer, or else it will be back to spending money travelling to sunny beach, but we didnt buy for that.

[panorama]

Hi gill1962,
We too like you hope to see more improvements in the complex this year ( last year was awful ). But I wouldn't hold your breath, last year we went down to Privilige and Messambria of an evening and there wasn't much improvement in theses complexes either and they have been open for longer. Fort Noks must trawl through this forum every single day monitoring our comments but still they don't inform us of any improvements. To be quite frank I don't think they have any improvements in mind. I noticed in the advert for the GRAND resort that they are advertising that it has a lazy river running through it with a boat bar/resaurant in it ( I thought the lazy river was at Privilige). Is there really going to be a lazy river or are they pulling the wool again like they normally do? They promised us at PFB that we would we have 2 bars an Irish bar, 2 resaurants, pool with wave machine ( I was there for 3 weeks last year and I saw it work once) and where is the artificial waterfall? Probably stored away with all the artificial promises.

[milenad]

pool with wave machine ( I was there for 3 weeks last year and I saw it work once) and where is the artificial waterfall? Probably stored away with all the artificial promises.

Dear panorama, how come you've been at PFB for 3 weeks and you haven't seen the waves working? The waves are running for 10 minutes every hour from 10 am to 5 pm.
As for the artificial waterfall - you know that developers can make changes on the go. This change was made an year ago due to safety reasons, so there is no point in asking about it again. You still have your 4 pools and jacuzzi.

[panorama]

My point is why are Fort Noks still advertising that there is a waterfall when quite clearly there isn't one and there never will be one.

[milenad]

Dear panorama, the line about the artificial waterfall will be removed from PFB's description.

[panorama]

Hi milenad,
Thanks for your reply. I think it is a good idea to remove it because it won't confuse future purchasers. I am very happy with my apts and all I want to do is to work alongside FN and fellow apt owners to make PFB a great success. Sometimes it may come across that we are constantly moaning but once the complex is established fully I think that we all collectively will be very happy. Lets hope this season is a great success.
Cheers.

[Gilly]

there are 3 pools at pfb !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Still waiting for creche facilities irish bar and beach to be done properly
roll on 2007 for these ???

[yorkie]

Don't hold your breath, Gilly!!

I'm sure that the Irish Bar and Creche will only come about when visitor numbers increase to make them commercially viable. This will only happen when there are significant increases in reasonably priced flights. As for the beach, we were over at Messambria at the end of January and much of the beach at the bottom of the steps from PFB has been washed away and if you use the beach you will need to take care of the falling rocks. It does seem that there is a significant amount of sand movement from year to year as the beach outside of Messambria has widened since our previous visit in September.

It would be nice to hear the official line on this topic from someone at FN.

[Gilly]

this is true the beach gets washed away each winter but there is a simple soloution -
1 put in proper breakers from pfb past messambra
2 you can also get plenty of sand if you use a dredgeing boat to bring sand to the shoreline .
wat F Noks should of done is instead of having the large grassed area outside F block is to bring boundary back 5metres and made a larger beach .

[panorama]

Hi there,
I myself love the beach but I think it could be a lot tidier with regards to the amount of litter on it. Would bins strategically placed be the answer? I have picked litter up on the beach but never noticed any bins to put it in. My only complaint with regards to the beach is the steps from the complex that leads down to it. I have no problems with the steps myself but my father came on holiday last year and he isn't too good on his legs and he found it impossible to get down them. To be honest if they were in the UK they would be condemned, I think they look as though they are a temporary measure which were thrown up in a day. No thought or consideration has been paid to older or disabled people, parents must also be worried about young children using them. We are looking to take a young girl who is wheelchair bound to PFB on holiday each time we go but because of the step problem we will never be able to get her down to the beach. How do other people feel with regards to the steps?
Cheers.