courtng

It is very hard to say what the PP/PT will be like next year as it DID have many problems this year, though by the sounds of it some were addressed some were not

Hopefully FC will have read this site (they are certainly aware of it) and will take notice of what we, the money payers are saying (though I do doubt it very much)

At the end of the day you really have to think about what you, personally, want from your Holiday... The place is HUGE, and it is, unfortunately all BRITISH, you will be hard pushed apart fromt the weather to know that you are in a foriegn country The pools in the complex are the best I have ever seen and the rooms are lovely, or at least they were, can't vouch for what they look like now going on the way the rest of the hotel was being treated by some of the guests
We were there in the height of the season and there WAS a problem with sun loungers and more importantly shade... the whole hotel was packed to capacity and I honestly can't see this getting any better whatever they do next year! there was in the region of 4-5000 guests there and that sheer volume in it's self causes problems and queue's!!! It certainly sounds a much better place out of High Season.

If you have small children that you want to keep amused for the duration of your holiday and don't mind being in a Butlins enviroment, then this may be just the place for you...if not steer clear

Oh and the food... whilst not altogether uneatable, not exactly 4* either, watch what you pay for this holiday as you may well find yourself eating out a lot and paying for extra's that can really run away with the spending money.

My personal opinion is I wouldn't go back to this Hotel if I won the hoilday in a raffle there are much better 2/3* hotels out there for a lot less money with much better company I would rather spend a fortnight in Iraq than another 2 weeks with 80% of the guests I encountered this year

Hi Shell, thanks for your reply, its good to get some positive feedback after all the negative things that have been reported, we are going next July so it will be very busy but hopefully they will have ironed out any early season problems by then. Our children are older than yours so will probably amuse themselves most of the time. Did you try out the pools? the word was that they were freezing which we couldnt make out, perhaps you could let me know, also the other thing that concerned us was that people have been saying how much things cost, but surely most things are included within the 'all inclusive' price?

Don't worry about the pools in July... we were there in July and they were like a bath, really warm and refreshing!

most things are included within the 'all inclusive' price?

Unless they change it next year all that was on the AI was meals and pool snacks, drinks as in Coke, Lemonade Etc, Tang (The soft un fizzy fruit flavoured drink), and then Beer, Gin, Vodka, Raki, brandy oh and Tea and coffee and wine. There was no whisky of any sort included nor was there any 'softer' spirits like Peach Schnapps etc. You had to pay for Turkish Coffee, Hot chocolate, any other spirit, cocktails, and branded Ice creams (everything was very highly priced ) You could get AI ice cream from the beach bar, as far away as they could put it, up till about 4.30ish. We have always done AI and always in 4* hotels and this was the worst we have ever come across for what was included!!

Be careful of the Beach cos even if they do lay "golden sand" it is still going to be very unsafe for children and adults that are not strong swimmers as it shelves very quickly and very deeply!!!

If your children are older they will proberly have a ball

hi courtng, what date in july are you going? we went in oct and had a really good time so we have booked to go in july because the pools are supposed to be warmer
we thought the food was nice but they have sacked this years catering staff and are getting new ones (including chefs) for next season so maybe food will be even better!
the pools were fantastic as were the rooms and the kids clubs.
we didnt think the shops were that expensive althought we did take lilos from the uk because they were cheaper. the only things we bought was bottled water which was 1 lira for a big bottle and crisps for the kids for in the evening when they got a bit peckish.
we went shopping in saregarme and got some good bargins and the locals were friendly. the market also came to the hotel every tuesday which was good.
i personally think that first choice will have listened to all the complaints and will get them sorted by next season (hope so anyway) i hope the queues wont be to bad for bar and food, we always went to the early supper between 6.30 and 7.30 with the kids, it wasnt so busy and the food was always fresh and hot!
anyway i'm sure you will have a fantastic time as will we
let me know if you need to know anything and i will try to help.

oh the mozzies are a problem so go well prepared!

Hi all, thanks for all the info, it sounds like it is getting better and better, thankfully!! Seeing as I have made the bookings for 3 families I dont want them to feel that I have let them down !

Keep the positive comments coming !

Johngibbo33 - we are going early July about the 10th (I think) what about you?

hi courtng, we are going on the 24th july for 2 weeks, it shouldnt be too busy when you go because the kids are still at school, we would have liked to have gone end of june but the schools were being funny about time off!
we too are going with another family so hope its at least as good as last year if not better
by the way the free icecreams were lovely and you can have as many as you like

i went on holiday to the PP IN July the pools were fab the kids clubs were brill but the rest is NOT THERE AS PROMISED BY FIRST CHOICE - no safe beach for the kids or playpark or sandpit or disco at that time (NOT THAT I WAS INTERESTED) or good food or no queues or a bit of adult entertainment - but things are changing and yes its an all british resort but everyone knew that before booking - not quite on a cheap scale but to call everyone else that did not meet your requirements rif raf - is not right - as you said in previuos posts - lakia world too expensive/ PP fantastic time for what we paid for -so why are you blaming the clientele for your poor holiday - i lay the blame sqaurely at the feet of first choice and no one else - I WOULD NOT RETURN TO A HOLIDAY VILLAGE nor a first choice holiday AND NOT BECAUSE OF RIF/RAF AS you say but because first choice did not provide what they said they would therefore aggrevaiting many customers - changing things on a daily basis to not free ice cream/ or towels/or time of booking a la carte restuarants and increasing the numbers and sacking the entertaiment staff and sacking the catering staff - did not help my time at PP- but obviusly helped future clientele- but you can not change the beach the remoteness or the mosquitos so i will not be returning- but all RIFF RAFF are not necessarily well off - helen

Hi Johngibbo33, You went in october and next year you are going in the first two weeks on the main holidays you will see a very differant PP, if i was you call FC customer services and ask them to put on you requests garden view block3 as we had a room 3118 and we never heard any children running up and down, we took our towels down around 6-6.30am and went back to our room and got up beetwen 8.30am and 9.00am, but if you get a pool view in block 1, 2or 3, you will not get any peace as we heard lots of poeple with pool views complaning about the noise after midnight and in a morning you have no chance of getting up late due to the noise from the pools, as for the weather and pools, it was beween 38-44 in late August early sept, so July should be hotter, when you come back please give us any photos of anything new and tell us if the food is any better than this year, the one thing that annoys me is why did FC not deal with the food problem when they where having all the complanits early in the season, we went on holiday in 1998 with Thomsons, and the hotel we went to had complaints about the food and they dealt with is right away. luckly we had only just arrived when the Thompson customer sevices togethr with the main island rep and chef where going around the restarant taking notes, and the nest day the food was a total turnaround from the night before, all FC have to do is try and get their customer services right and they could be the top TA in the country, they need to learn from their mistakes and deal with problems right away.

hi bellingham, the food was nice when we went in oct so maybe they did do something after you left, we went to bulgaria last year with first choice and the food was terrible, we lived on crisps and chocolate from the hotel shop because the hotel was in the middle of nowhere, makes you wonder why we took the risk with the p/p, p/t dosnt it glad we did though cos it was great when we went.
beginning to wonder if we've chose the right weeks though if its that hot . never mind we'll just have to stay in the shade, at least the pools wont be freezing! me and the baby didnt go in the pools this year because they were so cold
didnt realise you could request where your room was!
will defo post report when we return! will also be checking this site when the hotel opens again, is it may it opens?

Hi Johngibbo33, If you want a quiet room like we had, just ask FC to request a garden view, ok you look onto the road and builders yard , but at least it quiet, where was your room this year, also did you know that most of the ground floor rooms have larger bathrooms as they are for the disabled, our room was on the first floor, lets hope they soet the mozzie problem out ready for next year. If you get a seaview room they are the wost for mozzies, because when we where their alot of poeple with these rooms had lots of fmozzies in theri rooms due to them being on block 3 facing the swamp land and sea. If you can afford a Jacuzzi suite thse are the best as you get your own privite pools.What type room have you had, we had a family room amd most of these type where in the qiet area anyway.

hi bellingham, we had two select rooms in the p/t, we had booked interconnecting rooms but when we arrived the rep very abruptly told us there wer'nt any in the tropical (nice of them to tell us before we left uk hey!) anyway eventually after everyone else was sorted out they managed to give us two rooms next to each other which was ok because my daughter is 16 so she and my 12 year old had one room to themselves and we had the three youngest in with us, it was a bit cramped but we managed
the room faced the big pool but we were right at the end of the corridor so knowone bothered us, we did see kids running around the corridors when we were going to bed though!
we did have mozzies in the room (despite having plugins) i got bit worse than everyone else though and the baby didnt get bit at all (thankfully)
i do hope they can do something about them for next season although what is there that they can do? did you get bit much?

Hi we went July 14th -27th and it was HOT

We actually took a thermometer with us this year as every year we would sit there and say "wonder how hot it really is" so this year we done it (sad hey ) anyway it was hitting 47 - 50 dgrees at about 11am in the shade

So plenty of sun block I think, I know I would never go to Turkey at that time of year again,it was too hot to enjoy

We went on 21st July for 2 weeks. Yes it was very hot, but if in the water you didnt feel it at all. Although the beach was weedy, I spend several afternoons there with my book, as there was a lovely breeze and it didnt feel hot at all there.
Also in the shade, it was fine.

We had a quiet room room 1026, ground floor looking out onto garden. Never had any mozzies in the room at all, but never left the patio doors open.
No noise at night, in fact the 2 rooms next door were empty for the entire fortnight.
Hope you have a good time john gibbo

the mozzies at this place will never be sorted unless they spray the place. It's built by a swamp and nature takes them there, full stop. The beach was advertised as a gold and sandy beach in the brochure last year. We love beach holidays and to be honest the beach was awful. Turtles nest on this beach so how they can change it I do not know. By the way, don't let your kids in the sea because the currents are unsafe and it shelves very quick. Pools great, food awfull, entertainment awfull, weather great, would I go again,No.

thanks susien, when we went there were alot of sun umbrella's was it easy to get one in july?

No...there were like Hen's Teeth

John gibbo

There were not many umbrellas, but where we sat there were 2 or 3 just on the ground the whole fortnight, had to keep stepping over them.noone took them or used them.

A few were getting broken when we were there, so maybe they will buy new ones for next year. if they are few and far between, suggest perhaps you get one on the first day, and then hang on to it for the fortnight!!

The beach was never advertised as golden and sandy in any of the FC brochures!

good idea about hanging on to an umbrella, when we went in oct we had one each and there were loads just lying around and we got a towel each every day