Hotel ------------excellent
Resort-----------very busy,jury still out.
Airport----------horrendous
Stayed at the Riu Helios Palace,all inclusive.The hotel was really good,Modern,very clean,staff very friendly and food really good.Had e. mailed before we left requesting a pool view and our mini bar fiiling as we would be arriving late.Arrived to find both requests had been taken care of which was great.A cold beer and straight to bed.Will give a full review on the hotel's page.
The resort was really nice to walk around in the daytime but at night was so busy it was sometimes like trying to walk through a football crowd.Lots of restaurants and bars where you could stop for a cheap drink.Lots of shops and stalls where you could spend your money.The beach was busy but very nice and the sea lovely and warm.Spent a day at the aqua park which was fun.Even had a free shuttle bus.
Now to the worst part of the holiday-The airport
.Our flight was delayed one and a half hours.Arrived to find the passport control area heaving.Took the advice of a previous forum member and made for the farthest queue which was shorter and much more organised.(Thanks for that).Still took about 30 minutes to get through, then the fun really started.Only two carousels for all those flights!Our flight eventually came up on number 2 then went off again.Then it came up on number 1.A few cases came through and then someone noticed his case was on number 2.People were dashing between the two trying to get their cases off.It was total chaos.It must have taken over one and a half hours between arriving and leaving.On departure day we booked a taxi to take us to the airport to avoid all the hassle with the coach.Arrived to find hundreds of people queing out of the doors.Managed to get inside to check the departure boards but our flight wasn't yet showing.Eventually our flight came up as desks 10 and 11.Managed to squeeze our way to the other side of the hall only to find the desks still being used for a flight to Stockholm.Went back outside and joined the rear of their queue along with another couple who had the same idea as us.After about 20 minutes we were approached by a Thomson rep who asked which flight we were waiting for.When we told her it was the Doncaster one she informed us in no uncertain terms that we should join the back of the queue of coach passengers that had arrived and had been queing further back down the ramp into the airport.When we explained that we had made our own way to the airport she still insisted that we join the back of the queue and that it was up to her where we had to queue.After telling her where to stick her clipboard
we eventually reached the check in desk which had changed over to our flight.With only two cases on the belt the system decided to break down with no one in much of a hurry to fix things.After what seemed like ages things started moving again and we eventually checked in.Because of all the hold ups luckily ther were no queues at passport control and we escaped to the cool of the roof terrace.All in all a very enjoyable holiday.Would i go again?Only if the airport is demolished and a new modern one built
Regards
Sharpy
