A Night at the Palace – The Palace of the Lost City – Hotel Review – Mzansi Life & Style by Mishkah Roman-Cassiem

My first experience of the Sun City resort was back in 1989. I was 15 years old, it was the first time I had ever gone anywhere on holiday and it my first time on a plane. I had the opportunity to see the resort many times since then, but I’ve never stayed at The Palace of the Lost City (the most expensive hotel within the Sun City Resort) until last month, when I was invited to enjoy #ANightAtThePalace.

It all started on a Thursday morning in late July, where I, and a selected handful of bloggers, influencers and journalists, met for a private room breakfast at the Sun International owned Maslow Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg. We then hopped on a bus for the 2 hour drive to Sun City, in the North West Province of South Africa #RoadTrip!

Once we arrived, we were warmly greeted by Nicole, the PR for Sun City Resorts, before being treated to an ambrosial lunch, served at the plush Plume Restaurant.

Tummies full, next up was an experience that could easily put me to sleep – a back, neck and shoulder massage at the Gary Player Health Spa and Beauty Salon situated in the Gary Player Country Club. I highly recommend any relaxing massage, where the “knots of the week” are worked away by the flexible fingers of the therapists at this spa.

A quick “forty winks” was just what I needed after the massage, and I was glad to finally check in to my residence for the night.

Dinner was served at The Grill Room, within the Crystal Court, at the Palace of the Lost City. But before that, it was time for a few snaps.

This was the scene that greeted me when I arrived back at my hotel room.

I was really knackered so the lovely gown was not on for long before I jumped into the lush bed, and then it was off to slumber land.

The next morning, I was up at 8am to get some more snaps of the beautiful surroundings and of course, to enjoy the delicious breakfast, served in the Crystal Court.

These are the steps that lead to the adult pool and the Valley of the Waves.

Fellow bloggers and I (the one with the hat)

Before long, it was time to head back to Johannesburg.

In summary, the experience was awesome, but some small things that irked me included:

We were not shown to our rooms, and I had to lug my bags to my room myself, which is quite a distance from reception.
The Grill Room forgot to serve one person at dinner, so by the time we were all finished with dessert, she had still not received her main course – a big faux pas for any restaurant – and when she did get her food, it was not what she had ordered.
The waiters at breakfast were not always sure what they were serving, eg. the lady at the breakfast reception offered us what she thought was cappuccino, when it was actually hot chocolate, and the waiter was not entirely sure what California Rolls were (sushi).
Even though the safari decor is obviously part of the Palace, I feel like a little sprucing up is much needed. Someone in our party observed that she was there 15 years ago, and everything still looks exactly the same.
A little extra staff training and some new carpets may just be what is needed to make this 5 star hotel even better – just some constructive criticism.

https://www.suninternational.com/palace/