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[2019] Hotel Krønasår

Some thoughts from me after staying there for a couple of nights.

The hotel itself is stunning. I know many (including myself) thought it was too similar to Bell Rock, but it does have a very different feel. The entrance is stunning, the staff uniforms looks great and it feels like a very sophisticated hotel. There's only three lifts in the hotel, it could've probably done with another one to improve wait times at busy periods.

Rooms
The rooms are HUGE, the biggest standard rooms at EP I'd say. We had one with two double beds (essentially two sets of single mattresses as is the way in Germany), with a bench at the end of each bed, a desk with a chair and a further reading chair. There's still space on top of that for two luggage stands and a wardrobe. The bathroom is great with a separate toilet - handy for groups!



Stupidly we left our window open and the lights on one night resulting in us returning from the bar to a rather large (yet hilarious) fly invasion into the room. So don't make the same mistake if you're staying yourself! We had a room in the main building where reception is, and despite the noise from downstairs could not hear a single thing with the huge room door shut. My only complaints would be that they need something on the walls above the beds. In the bunk/double rooms the Rulantica map is placed on that wall, but as ours was longer it was put on the opposite wall beside the desk. The solid headboards are a bit annoying if you want to sit up in bed too, although easily solved with a pillow against it I guess.

Food & Drink
We managed to try both of the hotel's restaurants on our trip. Tre Kronen was on our first night, and was absolutely brilliant. I was concerned the restaurant looked a little plain on photos, but on visiting it's much nicer in person. They've added some emblems to the walls since the preview opening pictures which help finish things off. The service was brilliant, nice and relaxed and didn't feel too "stuffy". There's option to sit outside in the Summer months too. An amuse bouche of breads and crab meat was served which was delicious. For starter I had pork belly with kohlrabi and beer mustard sauce, which was probably the best I've ever had:

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For mains I had black angus flank steak with lentils and grilled cabbage. Again this was lovely, with the lentils especially being exceptionally tasty!

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Dessert was vanilla panna cotta with strawberry sorbet and rhubarb compote. I'm normally not a huge rhubarb fan, but it was lovely, not bitter and the freeze dried strawberries provided a nice crunch

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Onto Bubba Svens, and this is a huge restaurant of a similar size to the Harborside buffet in Bell Rock. However, unlike Bell Rock this is a la carte restaurant. Again this looks much nicer in person, and offers a nice casual atmosphere along with a bar if you just want to pop in for a drink. It has probably the best beer selection in the hotels on resort (even more than Bar Erikson), with plenty of bottled beer options. The menu again is predominately fish but there is some great alternative options too. Starters weren't great at this restaurant, so we skipped those and went straight for mains.

I went for a Danish burger which I was imagining would be a few slices of pork. But no, this was a MASSIVE slice from a pork roast with a ton of crackling and crispy onions on top. This was really nice, and I'd certainly have it again:



For dessert I had the ice cream waffle which was scoops of strawberry, stracciatella and vanilla ice cream with marshmallow on top. If you've got a sweet tooth this is absolutely amazing (I could eat a tank-load fo the marshmallow alone!). It's extremely filling though, I didn't manage to finish it!



There's also a late night offer between 10pm and 11pm of chicken wings if you're feeling hungry while having a drink.

Breakfast is also served here for most guests, with suites being in Tre Kronen. There's the usual selection from breakfast at the resort hotels, along with Scandinavia options such as a few additional salmon options, Kalles Kaviar and crackerbreads, meatballs and...mixed veg of all things. They also offer speciality coffees on request too, with our group happily grabbing a macchiato each morning.

Bar Erikson is the main bar for the hotel. It's split across two floors, with the top floor further split between bar seating and the cafe. Although it felt a little bigger than the photos, I still feel it's nowhere near big enough for the hotel. There's loads of outdoor seating, but during the winter months that's not going to be a very attractive option! The bar also seems way too small, meaning they can't really fit many staff behind there to keep up. We grabbed a cocktail after our meal in Tre Kronen and was informed there was a 20 minute wait for them to be made as they were so busy. Hopefully they'll work out a way of making this a little quicker in future by maybe utilising other bars too. It was first opening night after all, so teething problems were to be expected.

The outdoor seating areas are great, and there's a few seating areas with outdoor sofas which are very comfortable. There's no hiding the construction at Rulantica directly opposite during the day, but at night with the very nicely lit fountains on it's great. They're clearly making efforts to finish the area of Rulantica facing Kronosar as soon as possible, so in a month or two it'll likely not even be noticeable.



There's a few speciality cocktails offered. My favourite being the Nord/East Mule with a spicy ginger beer and aquavit. I'd quite happily drink these all night!



Location and Transport
So there's no hiding the fact that the hotel is far away from the theme park. However, the shuttle service seemed to be well operated and we saw no issues on our visit. The shuttle operates every 30 minutes throughout the day up until late at night, rising the every 15 minutes when the park opens and when it closes. We didn't find ourselves crammed onto a bus, and the bus stop is just to the left of the hotel as you exit.

My thoughts
So there are some faults with the new hotel, the bar being the main issue that we saw on our stay. As a group, I think it's safe to say we'd love to see the back of Bubba Svens developed into a further bar area to ease the problems with Bar Erikson. I wasn't keen on the cafe area upstairs, and I'd prefer this to just be converted into further extended space for the bar too. Not that I used them all that much, but it's a shame there's no hotel pool here too, hopefully this is something that'll be added in future.

That aside though, I absolutely loved the hotel and has my favourite rooms on resort. Overall though, it's probably my second favourite behind Bell Rock at the moment. With Rulantica being developed, and the future likely holding a second hotel I'd be tempted to say this would become my favourite area to stay, even with the location being further out.
 
Craig's post sums up my thoughts about Krønasår very well indeed, however I will post some details myself.

I too was slightly concerned that Krønasår may feel a little similar to Bell Rock; on a quick view the overall design of the building seem similar with a couple of large blocks joined together by smaller blocks and a lake with fountains at the back. In reality it feels nothing like Bell Rock, it is unique. I've also seen it said that there does not seem to be much theming in the hotel (by EP's standards) however again I just cannot agree with this. Krønasår feels very Scandinavian.

I absolutely love the hotel lobby, it is stunning. The skeleton of Svalgur hanging from the roof down towards the ground is quite a feature and the ceiling above shows the Northen Lights at night. I also love the little seating area to the right of the main entrance.

Our room was in the main hotel block and it was huge! By far the biggest and most spacious room I have stayed in at a theme park hotel, helped of course by the fact we had two double beds rather than a double bed and a bunk bed. The bathrooms are great and the seperate toilet is practical.

In terms of culinary offerings. Tre Kronen, the fine dining restaurant, is wonderful. It looks much better in person than in the photos and the food on offer is sublime. The pork belly started in particular was first class. You can tell that Europa-Park have put the best and most experience staff in this restaurant, the service was excellent with all the food being brought to the table at the same time so no-one is left waiting and your waiter explaining all of the dishes to you.

Bubba Svens is a more casual restautant with a family friendly menu and is also where we had breakfast. I really do like it in here; yes it is large and airy however it does not get too loud and it just feels really relaxed. It is also fulled to the brim with theming! Food was again exceptional; I had a delcicous steak. We enjoyed watching the Champions League final in here on Saturday night with seats right by the bar.

Next is Bar Erikson. Now what is there is very nice however it just is not big enough. Seating will not be an issue in the summer months as there are plenty of outdoor seats. I am worried about a lack of seating in the winter though or when it is raining. Then there is the issue that the bar itself is just too small to cope with a full bar. I have never had to be told of a 20 minute wating for cocktails at a Europa-Park bar before! It was opening night though and I am sure that they are aware of the issues. The menu in Bar Erikson is pretty good, there are less cocktails than I expected but some of the cocktails unique to this bar are very nice.

Even with the construction of Rulantica it was lovely sitting outside and enjoying a cocktail or two. The fountains on the lake help distract from the construction noise during the day and at night they look like a mini World of Colour.

Overall I was very impressed with Hotel Krønasår. It feels luxurious and one thing that was noticeable was the quality of pretty much every fixture and fitting throughout the hotel. Nothing has been done on the cheap. There are still some issues to resolve however I am confident that these issues will be addressed over the coming weeks and months.

Once Rulantica has opened then the hotel will take on a very different feel and be much more complete. I am hopeful that an additional bar/cafe over at Rulantica will take some of the strain off Bar Erikson. I am also very excited to see how this area of the Resort develops over the next 10 years.
 
I stayed in a double standard room and I wouldn't say the rooms are any bigger than Bell rock, in fact they felt smaller with limited space for cases. We had a room with bunk beds in. They are all finished to a good standard though.

Bubba Svens is MASSIVE. Perhaps too big? It feels very open and is ok for a group of you to dine, as a couple though, it just felt too open. I had the steak and chips and it was very nice indeed. I think the park are aiming for guests to come out of Rulantica and choose that for dinner.

It's worth noting as above that guests are free to just use the bar in Bubba Svens. I think this was put in as a contingency.

The bar does seem very small and was't very atmospheric during the day. At night however, I loved sitting out the back with a drink. It has a nice feel to it with the multi coloured fountains.

Overall, the hotel is finished to a very high standard but as expected it feels very isolated. The buses were bang on time though throughout. One night, we were stood outside Bell rock waiting and the doorman gave us a shuttle to Kronasar as he was going that way....well played.

It's a lovely hotel. Take the hotel on it's own and it would be fine but it will always be compared to the other EP Hotels.

It does really suffer from not having a standard pool though. I noticed guests all going to Bell rock for a swim, meaning the pool there was very crowded. Yes, I know Rulantica is coming but no one wants to pay to go for a casual swim.

Perhaps their next hotel will address this or they could retrospectively add a swimming pool. I also noted that the hotel entrance was very crowded at 08.40 after the bus arrived.

In summary,I think Kronasar is really there for a 1 or 2 night stay to utilise the waterpark. As I always go for 4 nights, I wouldn't necessarily book again because I love the resort feel of the other hotels and bar hopping.
 
I stayed in a double standard room and I wouldn't say the rooms are any bigger than Bell rock, in fact they felt smaller with limited space for cases. We had a room with bunk beds in. They are all finished to a good standard though.

Looks like the two double bed rooms which we had are a lot longer than the bunk bed rooms going by that. Certainly looked it on the fire plans in the rooms.

Agree on the pool front. Although I don't tend to use them all that much, it's crazy they didn't add one considering the majority of the other hotels have them.
 
I don't know if a pool is necessary. When you habe been the whole day at Rulantica do you really need a swim at the hotel?

True, but that assumes that all Krønasår guests are going to visit Rulantica which may not be the case. And even if they do visit Rulantica it will likely only be for one day which causes a problem for those staying 3 or 4 nights who want access to a pool.

I am sure they will be studying guest feedback both before and after the opening of Rulantica and will add a pool if necessary.
 
There’s got to be a reason behind these two rather obvious oversights. This isn’t exactly EP’s first rodeo, so building the right facilities to accommodate the right number of people seems like a basic concept issue they must have addressed.

I understand the “you’ve got Rulantica” argument to some degree, but as others have said, that’s not appropriate for anyone wanting free access to a pool and not a water park. The knock-on effect can only be that the other hotel pools will become more crowded (and the same for the bar situation). The only explanation I can see is that EP believe that this will be offset by guests from those existing hotels not visiting the hotel pools and instead going to Rulantica. Seems like a bit of a gamble though, and not really aligned with what we’re used to seeing in the usual strive for guest satisfaction.
 
I raised the lack of pool in my feedback after the stay.

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Perhaps they're just going to "suck it up" until the next hotel gets built and then have a bigger pool there?
 
Wow, didn't take long for the menu to change, and it's changed quite significantly. I can only assume that they had a fair amount of negative feedback.
 
The new menu looks a lot more “accessible”. I’m not sure whether I like that or not. An interesting change nevertheless
 
There was very little in the way of “normal” dishes containing meat and you’re right, there was a bit more fish and seafood. Perhaps there was just too much herring for the German palate.

I’m actually surprised they changed it so much given that there remains other EP restaurants with slightly exotic foods. Having said that, there is definitely a lot of middle of the road stuff.

For the selection to change so drastically and so quickly, I’d guess there has been a tidal wave of negative feedback or just low custom. This is the first EP Hotel not to have ready access to a buffet, offering something for all. I wonder whether that’s having an effect?
 
I'd have thought the menu would need to be more 'normal' given the restaurant and hotels location. It's ok to have exotic menus in the park and other hotels because all the other restaurants are close by, so if you don't like it you don't have far to go.

If the Kronasar restaurants feature all exotic dishes, and people don't like them, there's nothing else for people to eat nearby. So you'd have to get a bus to the other hotels. I'm guessing this is why they've tamed them down a bit.
 
We stayed for 4 nights in June and we only had breakfast there (which was fantastic) while I do eat different foods from around the world and certainly not someone that eats loads of burgers and chicken tenders. I don’t eat fish and only thing on the menu that appealed to me would have been the steak. We ate dinner at Colosseo, Silver lake saloon and at two different places at Hotel Bell Rock.

While we were there lots of people were catching the bus in the evenings to the other hotel resorts.
 
For the selection to change so drastically and so quickly, I’d guess there has been a tidal wave of negative feedback or just low custom. This is the first EP Hotel not to have ready access to a buffet, offering something for all. I wonder whether that’s having an effect?

They have actually brought in a buffet in recent weeks. I'm surprised the Danish burger has disappeared considering pork roast features on the buffet menu!
 
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