Dont dare to post anything negative on the Facebook group. It may be deleted or worse you will be booted off the group

It does seem to be a case of go on the facebook page for positives and go on tripadvisor, holiday truths etc for the negatives.... all very odd if you ask me.

Well we are here at the HV at the moment - having a great time - no complaints at all and no sign of any bugs!

That's brilliant news!!!! not many times do we get positive news on holiday village holiday truths!!! have a fab time

I've just read this thread from the start, (all 16 pages!) and hope everything is ok there now.

I'm due to fly out on 14th Aug for seven nights with my partner and our four year old son and will make a point of putting some feedback on here when I return.

I can see the points made about booking through agents, me and my partner have travelled Australia never booking anywhere until we arrived in a town we liked. Unfortunately things are not always so easy when you have children to think about.

The main reason we booked through an agent is convenience, we just wanted to pay someone to sort everything out so all we have to do is turn up and relax and have a good time with our son. We have never booked all inclusive before so will see how we go.

Fingers crossed!

Anyone else who is there or just got back got any feedback to give?

We go on 14th as well with 2 small children.

The feedback from the facebook group seems positive. All the same the dettol, hand gels etc are coming along with the sun screen!

Probably will stick with bottled water too even for the teeth brushing.

we may see you there!

We are still here, having a great time. We've got a standard family room in the activity side. A few of our comments would be:

* Brilliant for the kids - activities and entertainers really earn their money and the slides / lazy river is great.
* The relax area is brill - swim up pool and all the pools gradually slope down rather than the straight drop to waist height on the 'activity side' - so better for the younger kids.
* Weather is v.hot indeed - air conditioning in rooms is great - you will need it!
* Free wi-fi in the room if you bring a laptop and an ethernet cable.
* Food is good - I wouldn't say it's brilliant - but it's no better / worse than the HV in Lanzarote / Algarve where we've been before.
* The restaurant has only a small indoor eating (air con'd) room and the rest is outside with no cooling equipment - I have to admit, it's bl**dy hot - but then again, nobody forced me to book to go in August !
* A few people have complained about broken glass around the pools - well if there is any, we haven't seen any and would say that on the whole, the place is spotless and very well cleaned.
* Sun beds - if you are on the activity side and prepared to get up at 7:30am (which I am not!) to sit on a sunbed until 8am (when you are allowed to put your towels down!) then have an extra couple of hours in bed and go and get one at the 'relax side' - where there's plenty!

ps - I could go on further, but I won't. I will leave you with one final comment - it really can't be that bad here when Vic Reeves and his wife and kids are staying here too. They are having a blast too ! Hope you all have a great time !

Koocmj wrote:

We go on 14th as well with 2 small children.

The feedback from the facebook group seems positive. All the same the dettol, hand gels etc are coming along with the sun screen!

Probably will stick with bottled water too even for the teeth brushing.

we may see you there!

Hand gels and Dettol on our list as a precaution

Holiday

I just wanted to reassure anyone on here due to be travelling here any time soon. I have been here since Wed 4th and am pleased to report there are no ongoing health issues - but, more importantly, much of the negativity on this thread seems unnecessary IMO. I have been impressed with the hotel, the staff (both entertainment and general hotel staff) and think they are all working very hard here.ÂÂÂ
What some people fail to understand is that a 5* all inclusive is always going to be inferior to a 5* hotel. We are in the deluxe side and our room is clean, well designed and modern. It's not the biggest I've stayed in and not the smallest. Balcony has nice view of the pool and restaurant.ÂÂÂ
Across on the active side there is a small playground, great waterpark with slides, lazy river, numerous pools and  / loungers galore.ÂÂÂ
The restaurants have all been fine so far and the staff and food standards fine.
It's not perfect - some of the decor seems rushed to meet the deadlines and poorly finished. There should be water provide for free in the minibars especially in this heat. No big deal though as there's always a restaurant or bar nearby who will give you what you need.
Sun loungers are at a premium but there are just about enough - the issue is more with the idiots who habitually put their towels out and then go elsewhere for the day.
The FC staff deserve special praise as they work extremely hard to keep kids entertained and then do the same for the adults later on.
All in all I'd say this place is pretty bloody good and much of the negativity on here comes from unrealistic people or those impossible to please folks we a know!
Anyone coming out here soon will have a great time.

PS - apparently the illness was caused by a blocked pipe that ruptured and leaked sewage into the water supply. They do now say to put nothing down the toilets but we aren't prepared to do that as we have a 2 year old with us and a bin full of crap isn't ideal. Thankfully most people have said the same and I think the toilet paper downgraded to the stuff that seems to dissolve on impact with water

Swisdom, I'm sure some ex-pat that lives over there will be on quick enough, but please please don't put anything other than human waste down the toilets. The systems over there just can't handle it, and if what you say is true, that I fell ill because one of my fellow holiday makers was either too ignorant or too 'icky', then I'm not a happy bunny.

As for your 2 year old, I've also been there in that situation and I can confirm that younger kids learn the process a lot quicker than the adults, and in my experience they aren't too keen to open the bins and have a rummage around, saying that, my toddler was a girl, dunno if boys are more inquisitive?!?

I am with you on that one, no one should put toilet paper down the toilet and if it's too icky for people then there are plenty of other countries to visit. My son is now 7 and he copes with it fine and he coped with it fine when he was 3.

All seems fine here now and we have just had a great first week with no problems that couldn't be sorted. If you're coming here, the worst is behind you.

This is the 21st century - if they have such atrocious sewage systems still then they really ought to advise you when you book your holiday.

I'm not leaving a bin full of pooey paper when my inquisitive 2 year and 1 week child is around.

It's nothing to do with ignorance - it's about hygiene!

Greece is not the only country to use fly bins, the older hotels [including 5 star] in parts of Cyprus have them as do several other eastern countries, which would you prefer a fly bin which is emptied daily or gallons of raw sewage eveywhere

yasus
wizard

I'd have preferred to know before I went and booked!

I'm not alone in feeling this way and whilst I accept that two wrongs don't make a right, I'm trying to protect my daughter.

The Queen's Room at Knossos is supposed to be the first flushing WC and was constructed in 1700 BC. The water was supplied by a slave with a bucket of water which he then chucked down the pan. Unfortunately the soil pipe was only 2 inches diameter then and things have not changed much in the last 3700 years.

It is very expensive to dig up drains when they get blocked by paper and other materials and this work causes a lot of trouble all round. It is amazing how soon you get used to a fly bin and we find trouble looking for it for at least a week when we return home (the bin, not the slave). The practice is certainly widespread in both Greece and Turkey. In 30 years travelling in both countries, I don't remember seeing any other method of disposal.

Fair enough Swisdom, you are your kids parent, and only you know what's best for them.

Personally, I was aware of the greek islands way of working before I first visited over 20 years ago, it didn't stop me. It's perfectly hygenic as long as we all wash our hands(as I'm sure we all do). As an aside, I mentioned before we done it with no problems with our 2 year old, the secret is, don't let them play alone in the toilet.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your hols!

A few comments for swisdom.

When in Rome....................... If you think having to dispose of paper in a receptacle is bad, I would like to see your reaction to a true Turkish squatter where there is no toilet, just a hole in the floor and no toilet paper at all, just a faucet 6 inches or so off the floor. You squat, do your business, wipe yourself with your left hand and then wash your hand. Turks and others consider sitting on a toilet highly un-hygenic (which it can be) and wouldn't consider sitting on one. This is also why you only eat with your right hand.

In most of Greece sewage is handled in a septic system. In most of Greece the pipes used are of smaller diameter than you may have at home. As a result, EVERYONE puts paper in the paper disposal, NOT down the toilet. Their kids survive just fine obviously, as will yours.

If the cause of the issue was indeed as you have been told it was, caused by a blocked pipe that ruptured and leaked sewage into the water supply.", then as already mentioned, all those who got ill have a fellow tourist to thank. It can happen AGAIN if YOU refuse to follow local custom.

When I lived on Rhodes, tourists flushing used feminine products that blocked the pipes were probably the number one cause of blocked pipes. Being a tourist who unwittingly does this is one thing, but being a tourist who ignores signs or what they are told and insists on flushing everything is simply being ignorant and selfish.

If you spent some time going around outside of the hotel and eating in various places you would find that in many of them, toilets have no toilet seat. That's because Greeks also until relatively recently used squatters and there is still the odd one around the island. They won't sit on a public toilet, therefore a toilet seat which is more likely to harbour germs than the porecelain bowl is not necessary or hygenic. It annoys me slightly to read something that implies others are not as hygenic as those of western society. WE are the un-hygenic ones.

Re 5 star all-inclusive vs. 5 star hotel, I think you may have hit the nail on the head there. Most people who frequent 5 star hotels do not frequent all-inclusives and vice versa. The 5 star applied to an all-inclusive just doesn't have the same meaing as in a 5 star hotel. That's a good distinction to make. It's a 3 star hotel with cheap food included. If everyone set their expectations accordingly they would have no problem.

Re, "There should be water provide for free in the minibars". Why? Rhodes has far better drinking water than you get out of your tap at home. Rhodes water comes from Artesian springs, not from a river that industries dump into and that then has to be treated and have all kinds of chemicals added to make it drinkable. You do not need bottled water on Rhodes. Turn on the tap.

Re, "Sun loungers are at a premium but there are just about enough - the issue is more with the idiots who habitually put their towels out and then go elsewhere for the day." Again, I'll repeat what I've said before. There is NO RESERVATION SYSTEM for sun beds. If a sunbed is not obviously in use, it is free for you to use. Throw their towel off it and lie down. IF (and it is a big if) someone comes back and says you are on 'their' bed, simply tell them they are mistaken and if they have an issue they should speak to hotel management. There is no need for it to become confrontational if you know how to handle it correctly. This is nonsense that would simply not be tolerated in other parts of the world. It never fails to amaze me that people don't have the b*lls to ignore this nonsense and use a sunbed that is not being used. I have this picture in my mind of a bunch of people all standing around 20 empty sunbeds saying to each other, 'oh those inconsiderate people who put towels down, what are we to do?' Answer, grow some b*lls.

Re, "much of the negativity on here comes from unrealistic people". I guess you are referring to all negative comments other than those concerning the behaviour of First Choice in regards to the outbreak of illness. If so, I tend to agree with you. The behaviour of First Choice regarding the illness however is un-defendable. They lied repeatedly and put people in the situation of having to risk their safety or lose their money. They have done so repeatedly in various HV locations around the world and have been sued for huge amounts of money as a result. They have LOST those cases and THAT tells you they are in the wrong.

Is there a bidet in the bathroom? If so then it's more hygienic to use the bidet to 'clean yourself' then dry with the paper and pop it into the bin.

If not and your concerned, buy some sandwich bags and pop your paper into one, tie it up and pop it into the bin.