Author: Aviva

Review of Passover at Mazagan Beach and Golf Resort in Morocco. The short story is that we had an amazing time. The longer story now: Mazagan sits on roughly 320 acres with 15 miles of beachfront. The hotel and its grounds are simply stunning. While there were close to 900 Passover guests the grounds and indoor hotel spaces didn’t seem overcrowded. There was an abundance of activities for adults and kids including: gorgeous pool, surfing, horseback riding, camel riding, bungee jumping, rock-wall climbing, go-karting, archery, paintball, and beach ATVs. The place is teeming with staff members who only want to please and take pleasure in your enjoyment of the resort. There is, of course, a language barrier with the staff which some people got frustrated with however, you are in Morocco it’s not Miami. You need to adjust. The Spa is also terrific with rooms overlooking the ocean, great treatments and traditional Moroccan hammam. The rooms are a nice size and neat with ample space for clothing including a large chest of drawers. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the towels. The towels, from the beach towels, pool towels, spa towels to the room towels were amazing. The weather ranged from the high 60’s to low 70’s. Because the sun was blazing hot it was hot in the sun and cool in the shade. So now on to more specifics: Kids club - my experience has been a kids program run through the Passover program but this was not the case here. Here you were to drop your child off at the hotel run kids club which while different seemed to be enjoyable for some kids. The staff was attentive and the activities engaging. But certainly different than a traditional Passover program kid’s program. The tea room - had a nice selection of cakes and cookies and a limited selection of candies. No hot food, no ice cream, no fruit dried or fresh and no nuts or chocolate. Really nothing special, but it was adequate, set up nicely, staffed and clean (except for the hands in the bowls, but there is not much you can do prevent that). Breakfast - The breakfast spread was good although could have benefited from additional omelet makers (only one) and actually edible pancake/waffles. One of the recurring challenges was that each day there was an excursion to a fabulous city in Morocco but instead of providing pre-boxed lunches people have to assemble their own from the breakfast foods which made breakfast frankly unenjoyable as you watch families pack food for what seems like the end of days. So if you are just there for breakfast you may wait 1/2 hour for inedible pancakes (they make them on the spot lest they turn to lead immediately) as the 8 year old is collecting 20 for his family. Lunch - Lunch tended to be a large BBQ buffet but heavily heavily fish laden. Now in thinking about the food offerings I think you have to keep in mind that this isn’t an American program and that what we might expect in terms of food offerings isn’t traditionally offered here or expected. There was a large variety at the (almost always meat) buffet lunch. Many many varieties of fish including freshly grilled fish that was caught that day. If you don’t eat fish your choices were more limited although there was usually and meat or chicken dish and salads. The salads could benefit from a lighter dressing hand and less stuff just thrown in – like cheeses (at dairy meals) and meats (at meat meals) and fish. Further, lines and crowds around the food stations and buffets were long and deep for the first half hour. Children’s Dinner – was usually hamburgers and hot dogs and some pasta or fish and potatoes. Again adequate. Dinner – Dinner service was, frankly, unique and surprising. Dinner usually began with a large buffet of salads and finger foods or an assortment of salads on the table. This was followed by lamb, chicken, beef that was served table-side by the waiters. This was a time-consuming process. No side dishes were served with these proteins. I am told this is typical in Morocco although I wasn’t convinced. The food was fine and sometimes very good. Menus on the table would have helped so we would know what to expect. Entertainment – Each night of Chol Hamoed had some sort of entertainment during dinner which including singing, a caftan fashion show, bingo and more. Mimouna – there are no words to describe the Mimouna. It was a spectacular event with local performers, camels, horses, cotton candy, moufleta, fresh donuts, pasta, breads. It was simply extraordinary. This was a great experience. We had a wonderful pesach.