Having holidayed in the Caribbean a number of times we decided to give Mexico a try as we do get a bit “buffet’ed out” into the second week of our stay, & Cancun offered a good selection of restaurants outside of the hotels.
We booked with First Choice & as the flight was early on the Friday morning we decided to stay overnight at the Sofitel at the Gatwick north terminal. This too allowed us to make use of the day before check-in & baggage drop. We were a bit surprised on checking in at five pm that we could not get a window seat as they were all reserved? The girl at the check-in was very unhelpful & rude when we queered this. …
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Posted in: Hotel Reviews
Firstly, I am a very fair, understanding and accurate person when considering all of the facts, so read this with confidence. We as a family have been to Cuba before and are very aware of the cuisine.
On arrival we were allocated 4 different rooms until we found one acceptable. (poor start) on the first day we noticed the two pools were different colour, one being normal and the other greenish, it appeared to be in need of some chlorine.The other most astonishing thing was that the hotel main area was constructed on a swamp like area and stunk unpleasantly, as you will imagine most activity went on around this area, walking to the restaurant, bars and so on.
The beach however was fantastic, however this was not created by the hotel only the Lord above.I must say that from the lobby area looking down onto the pools it does look very nice, but so did my first wife, looks are Not everything.
Well here we go– Food for breakfast finding a table was one of the most difficult things to do, then most mornings if not all we waited for plates, then we would wait for some bacon then we would have to wait for eggs/omelette, which resulted in a coldish breakfast. ( unacceptable ) During the first week the coffee machine did not work properly and functioned fully about 3 days, however on the second week it functioned 4 amazing times.But still the coldish breakfast, we did vary our approach but the results were the same.
Lunch, guess what ? it was very similar. However in defence of the hotel I must mention that the evening meal was even WORSE. Most evenings tables were not available and you had to be very assertive to get one, for example hang around a family that were nearly finished from their meal.You had on average 1 waiter to approx 10 tbls, (very poor )
All of my concerns were taken up with the Director general personally after 3 days, I did explain to him that with more staff these issues would be resolved, ( very simple really ) he thanked me for my contribution and opinion and DONE absolutely F A – means nothing in English last word is all and first word rhymes with duck.
All of the above mentioned concerns would be resolved if the management done their job correctly. Truthfully the waiting staff were put under so much pressure and also it was obvious that staff were needed around the kitchen area as well.
Choice of food was terrible, which resulted in my evening song every day : I feel like chicken tonight, thats an English advert.
I must say though, in the other eating areas the food was edible and the waiter service was far better, with a staff table ratio of 1/3.
I could mention so much more but feel you will get the drift from the above.
We have heard that this hotel will be closing for 2 yrs whilst they revamp it, i would suggest changing the management.
After speaking to one of the waiting staff it was made clear just how the management take a cut out of the staffs tips, which I strongly disagree with. IF I wanted them to have anything it would be something more like a warm fluid type that i experienced on the toilet.
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Posted in: Hotel Reviews
Lonely Planet’s lightning guide to the South Pacific Island of Fiji.
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Posted in: Destination Videos
Lonely Planet’s lightning guide to the Pacific island of Hawaii just off the coast of the USA.
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Posted in: Destination Videos
In this video, I travel to the Island of Cyprus down on the Mediterranean, where perhaps surprisingly, Greek is the main language. I came to Cyprus to hang out with my friends and to go to the wedding of my friends David and Andrea. In true “me” fashion, I go exploring and have a BLAST.
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Posted in: Destination Videos
Travel to the fabulous island of Mykonos in Greece, where the wealthy play, the decadent flourish and the beautiful people languish. Visit the beaches, travel the streets of Old Town, visit the Wind Mills and enjoy the sunset.
Editor Note: Those are not my words incidentally!! Greek mythology has it that this Island is where the battle between Zeus and the Gigantes took place. See? You learn something new and totally useless every day!
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Posted in: Destination Videos