Roo,

Just got back from a week in the Marhaba Club with my wife and two small sons (5 and 3).

My initial feedback would be DO NOT rely on the Thompson holiday rep (Anita) for anything helpful. She and her predecessors had many complaints and have received more from us. If you are not going with Thompson then don't worry.

The hotel itself is nice enough. Reasonably clean. Any repairs (we had a blocked sink) handled immediately. The concierge more knowledgable and helpful than the rep and the main swimming pool is faultless. The guys on the door will do anything for you but would be glad of a small recompense ( I confess we did not oblige). The Marhaba Club is in a complex with a few other hotels that all share this pool. We went out and about on a daily basis so don't know how full the pool was through the day but by 6 it was empty (closes every night at 7.00pm -maybe that's why !). The beach is large and many umbrellas but the sea was rough when we were there (check the weather before you go).

TIPPING: some would say the most annoying part of the holiday. You are almost expected to tip every single time someone is helpful (apologies for any offence to anyone else reading this). However, the guidebook we got said that chambermaids are not expected to be given any tips, so we didn't. the only tips we actually gave were for the concierge on leaving since we had to get rid of all TND before leaving the country. A few 100millemmes should be fine (current xchng 1GBP=2.5TND approx). one guy at the airport wanted to push my suitcases to the check in desk. I politely said no thank you and he was starting to get shirty because, obviously, he wanted some money out of it. Not everyone on Tunisia is the same I hasten to add. We met some very nice helpful people when trying to find our way around Tunis.

SUGGESTIONS: for things to do with a 14 year old boy, from the Marhaba Club I would try the Sahara Expedition (which we did not go on but heard great things about) which takes you on a 3 day trip. The food is OK, if you like chips, salads, meat variety, solid breakfasts and nothing too fancy ( we stayed half board). Any other trips would depend on your interests.

Happy to talk more if you like

regards

Hia Spiderman
Thank You for posting, sounds a bit daft, but was the money easy to work out ? I have read mixed reviews on the Sahara Expedition, to be honest I think my son wouldn't be to keen on, but who knows, teenagers, hey hahaha.
Thanks again.

Roo

Roo, hi

Actually it was pretty easy to work out. Just divide by two and take off a bit. In the week we were there. It never really changed from 2.5TND to 1GBP. Most of the stuff we were looking at was around 25TND and below, so 10GBP and below. Start with 25 is 10GBP, so 12TND is about a fiver and work around that.

As for the other way, for tips etc, 1TND is around 45p. doesn't sound like much of a tip from our side, but is a large tip for most 'services' you might receive. You will most probably find your pockets filling with 100millemme coins (large brass ones -incidentally it works on 1TND is subdivided into 1000's [hence millemmes] not into 100's like our pounds and pence, that made my head spin for the first morning!!) these equate to about 4.5p. They are good for tips in bunches of four or five, and if you plan to buy fresh fruits/veg etc.

just as a footnote to the previous, do please WATCH out for people eager to physically show you how to get somewhere by taking you there. We got caught out on this in Kairouan, he took us very quickly through the narrow streets and then finally, just outside the grande mosque, rushed us into shop to try and buy a carpet (they even closed the door behind us and got out the rugs). I was having None of it after that, we got out for the price of about 5TND so even then, pretty cheap!

kind regards

Spidey

You may like to print out the 'cheat sheet' from the following link

http://www.oanda.com/convert/cheatsheet

I always do this and then laminate a few copies to take with me, as so many people find them useful. I do the Euro one as well, as 'Duty Free' at the airport is priced in euros.

Thanks a lot for that link aslemma, will be a great help to print off and take with us this year.
5 weeks and counting!!!!

MJ

Thank You so much aslemma, will take a few copies with me

Can I just add that you should tip the chambermaid at the end of the holiday! We gave her 10TD which is nothing to us... To give you an idea the manager of a hotel in Tunisia earns approx £85.00 per month! If you are going with Thomson and you get a rep called Lee, he is brilliant. Very informative and very helpful... You will find Tunisian people very friendly and will go out of their way to be helpful.

We requested a ground floor as I have a heart condition and there was no lift for the two floors. (I can't manage stairs). We arrived about 1.00am to be given a room on the second floor, we politely told them what we had requested and why and they changed our room immediately. We ended up with a much bigger room

Thanks for that Donna, I ws wondering did I tip the cleaner at the begining of the holiday or the end, but you have answered my question
I have also read, (can't remember were now ) if you have any football shirts, the Tunisian's love them, so will be going through sons clothes and root out the footy tops that he no longer wears, some one else may as make use of them
Roo

p.s yep, we are going with Thomsons