The Blue Water

This hotel was pretty good in many areas, but let itself down in a couple of minor things. The tamarind juice and cold towels on arrival were certainly very welcome. The reception staff are all friendly and very helpful. A mistake was made with our room allocation, which the lovely Kushani soon recognised and then upgraded us as an apology - all dealt with very swiftly. So, our suite was lovely. Very spacious and tastefully decorated/furnished with beautiful views across the lawns to the sea. The beds were comfortable and we were delighted to be able to use Netflix & YouTube in our room. The pool was absolutely divine and the morning aqua sessions were very enjoyable. We found, on a half board tariff, that the food was inconsistent. Some days it would be very good and others not so much. Of course the Sri Lankan food is quite spicy, and there was a fair amount of choice if you didn’t want spicy food, so we definitely didn’t go hungry, but often we found the meat was very poor quality, gristly and chewy. We avoided meat for most of our trip. The evenings would always see a little entertainment taking place outside the dining area - always very pleasant music or singing. The spa was ok, not the best ever as it was a little on the expensive side, but the ladies in the spa were lovely and very skilled. Overall I think the hotel went above and beyond to attempt to make our stay an amazing one, if the food had been better I’d have awarded a higher rating. That, and the intimidating men, waiting at the beach gate/fence, trying to hard sell things (trips/souvenirs etc) to us - really the hotel should move them on.

We stayed 8 nights in this beautiful The Blue Water Wadduwa and celebrated New Year 2024 at the Gala Dinner. Gala dinner at the Hotel is good but let me tell you how it works: hotel team and waiters wait when you get drunk and then they will bring you incorrect bills for alcohol (more expensive) that you didn’t order and expect you to sign the bill without checking. If you sign the bill after your signature you have no chance to correct it after hotel team’s mistake. Politics of the hotel is: guest has the money anyways and pays for everything, even for mistake of waiter (hello dear Sandun). See photos how it looks like, you have to check team for every bill and be very persistent to correct the bill or to cancel things that you actually didn’t order. We stayed with breakfast and dinner included and paid for lunch and drinks. Thanks waiter Rameesh for good service. If you want to report problem to higher management of the Blue Water - be ready to meet toxic communication and disrespect in person. Higher manager let you know in disrespect way that if you are woman you have no voice to talk to this MR super important manager even if you paid money and he threatens you: behave good or I will bill you straight away without additional checking (we paid all bills in the end and nobody apologised, just argued with us). The Blue Water Hotel doesn’t have private beach so be ready for public beach with no lifeguard. We had emergency in the ocean and woman from our hotel was hit by the wave and had muscle shock. So we guarded her to hospital with hotel's representative and no one ever said thanks to us for help. Only thing management says to you: dont talk to local people on the beach, they are dangerous. But the irony of the story is opposite. You cry for help and the management don't care, they don't know first aid rules or CPR neither they have medical room within the hotel. They only follow burrecreacy and place rules of not swimming in the ocean, which is fair too. But local people are friendly and did a lot of good things for us, so they delivered fast pizza from Pizza Hut, because hotel was crowded due to new years holidays we waited 2 hour for our lunch or the locals told us more interesting things about Sri Lanka in comparison of "exursion guides" that provides The Blue Water - they hardly spoke english or russian at very expensive tours that we took from them (we booked private exursion for 6 people in minivan). Anyways main manager said he doesn’t care about reputation of the hotel in any community (I speak Russian and English) and it’s OK if I share my true review anywhere else. After all adventures there was flooding at hotel and our room (night before checking out) and in the morning they presistently asked 5 star review on Tripadvisor, even the room wasnt cleaned fast and we had to remind few times about it and they treated us as guests in very unwelcoming way. Which is sad because hotel is built by famous srilankian archritecturer Geof

Simply an amazing experience. Checked in during the Avurudu season with family to relax and enjoy the holidays. The outfit and the environment was so amazing and surely the architecture brings in a city away from city atmosphere. Have been to the Blue water hotel many years ago and this time around see a glaring change in how it operates from the little points on service levels to cleanliness and the freshness. Kudos to the General Manager - Mr. Gihan Fernando for making this change visible. The check in experience was so smooth and ideal for any guest after hectic drive. The team at the front office lead by Mr. Srimal seem to have carved the level of hospitality to showcase it finer points for its guest to experience the pleasure. The room was quite nicely done and spacious with all required aminities for a family with 3 kids. More importantly the view from the room was so amazing with a pool front to the garden and the sea beyond all. Kids enjoyed the stay so much felt so homely. Not to forget the lovely food spread it has to offer to the guest which is purely value for money. You have nice variety of offerings suiting all circumstances. Credit to the Executive Chef Mr. Anil and his team for the delightful experience. Not to forget the high standards of hospitality by Mr. Priyantha and Ms. Tharaka from the F&B team at the restaurant. Highly recommend this property to anyone which is now one of my ideal choices for a quick retreat as it’s only 45 minutes away from Colombo. Thank you Team Blue Water for all the super hospitality offered and surely hoping to return when an opportunity arises.

Really disappointed never been to a hotel and not want to return but sadly this is the case with this hotel. On arrival we had a lovely welcome and was shown to our room. We had booked for 2 adults and a child so was surprised to see only a double bed. When I asked where my child was expected to sleep there was a choice of in the bed with myself and husband or a cot, he is six! I asked for some bedding so he could sleep on the sofa that was in the room. Lucky my boy found it funny he didn’t have a bed and slept ok on the sofa. All inclusive wasn’t great very limited. I would like to think staff knew we had paid to be all inclusive and nothing was ‘ free’. The buffet didn’t cater for children. I had to pay extra for fries and pizza, each time I had to explain that I knew I was all inclusive and there would be a charge. Signing for drinks was a pain, sometimes you had to wait around others chased back to your seat and then other times told not to worry. When my son cut his finger in the baby pool, it was reported he had a pat on the head, I sorted with a plaster. Things picked up on our last day but it was too little too late for us. Such a shame as the hotel has so much potential to be great. Most things had been reported to guest relations but the limited menu, buffet and signing paper wasn’t going to change so made the best of it.

The staff was friendly and courteous overall the service was satisfactory when it comes to food the buffet was alright but taste wise it could have being better. However the deserts were not that great there same thing was there. We stayed for two nights so seeing the same desert was not that great. We enjoy the place.

This is not a 5*, only 3*. The hotel needs a refresh. All inclusive was a hinderance, it was very limited. The buffet food was very good, but again limited for children. No chips, pizza, chicken nuggets etc, unless you paid. Not enough sun shades at the pool. The management need to look at other 5* Hotels around the world, and in particular All Inclusive, and see how they are run. We were there as a large family group for a family wedding. The organisation was very poor. We did speak to the Management Team on numerous occasions, they tried to make amends by offering us a free meal in the Chinese, but it was all too little too late. This was on the evening before we departed. Instead they offered 7 of us one Cocktail of our choice, FOC!! We will definitely not be returning. We would like to say that a few of the staff did go above and beyond - Aruna (Pool Bar) and the Pool Boy, who gave you the towels etc.