Holiday Village Resort

[GROGAN]

Kids club

Hi all.

Great thread

Caz we are flying out on the 30th april so if u are there for 2 weeks we will be there the second weeks. We are a group of nutters lol.

Can anybody give me any information regarding the kids clubs.

We went on holiday a couple of years ago with first choice and my kids have a bad experience of the kids club. All that happened is that they took them to the back of the hotel and played card games with them in a deark grim room or coloured picture. My kids are now saying that they dont want to go to kids club.

I would like some info on the activities they do to reassure the kids.

Also there are 4 children in our party 3 of them being my boys they are ages 7 6 and 4.

I believe the kids club gets seperated into 3 groups with the middle group getting split up even further. I am dreading it if the 2 7 year old and 6 year old get to go to the same kids club and my 4 year old is expected to go on his home. they are very close brothers and if this happens my 4 year old will be very upset and will not go to kids club on his own.

I would be greatful if anybody has any info on this.

Thanks

112 days to go and counting lol cant wait.

 

[darwenlass]

kids club

hi,
i dont know if first choice do the same as thomson but my son had to go down a kids club, my youngest had to stay in his something to do with insurance for them.

hope this helps

 

[GROGAN]

thanks

i hope they dont get split up. they will be devastated. it will be no kids club. which means no peace lol

 

[darwenlass]

i know what you mean, my hates people dressed up and last year it was thomson the dog so all he wanted was a hotel with no dog it took me ages to suss out what he meant.

are you looking forward to going???

 

[forcath]

Hi all

we jsu returned from a fantastic week (Dec. 28 to Jan4) at HV.

The rooms were great - the bar fridge has pop, beer and and 2 bottles of water replenished each day. There was a hair dryer and iron too. The maids did a great job.

There were alwys lots of towels and chairs on the beach. The pools never seemed overly busy but we spent all our time at the beach! The bar on the beach is finished but not the restaurant - they are working very hard to get this done (they said 3 days but I think that is Dominican time)

I highly recommend the horse and carriage ride ($20 US for 1/2 hour) The driver was very knowledgeable about all the surrounding areas, he takes you through all the resorts in the area.

We did get to the Italian and Mexican a la carte restaurants, and both were great.

It was a fantastic vacation and a great resort. No complaints from us.

I do have a couple of suggestions if you are travelling with young children. Ours (ages 1 and 3 ) did have upset tummies and the scoots. They did not have any ginger ale or apple juice, only powdered juices, so we had to buy soem gator ade for them at the little store ($6 US). You should bring some powered gator ade with you and maybe some crackers (couldn't find any of these ) and some arowroot cookies. Dried toast just didn't cut it.

To all of you that are going down in the next couple of months - have a great time and like everyone has said - remember you are on vacation so relax and take it easy. I am envious of you..........

 

[darwenlass]

thanks forcath,
did you have a family room???
if so was it ok????

it is nice to read some better reviews now.

 

[GROGAN]

yes yes yes.

It seems that the people who are just returning are having a great time.

Maybe the initial opening teething problems are settling. Glad to here some positive reviews.

Thanks all for you r reviews it is so easy to forget us all on your return. Thanks

Keep them rolling in good and bad

 

[GROGAN]

Cant wait to go just wish it was sooner. april seems so far away

 

[GROGAN]

Hi forcath

What type of room were you In

 

[acemebaby]

great review

i guess its not all bad after all nice to see something positive

well cant wait to get there leaving on the 11 th already packed and ready

woohooooooooooooooo

 

[forcath]

I did not have a family room and did not get to see one...the people I spoke to who had one seemed very happy with it.

I had a room with one king size bed.......the room was very spacious.

 

[Mbomber]

Christmas/New Years never great

Hi All,

I have been reading this thread with great interest, as I am visiting HV in February.

One thing I have noticed in my travels and visits to various message board forums is that there is always one consistent feature to Christmas/New Years vacations: mayhem.

It makes no difference if it is a cruise ship or resort, they always wind up being overbooked, the staff get overworked (and they work for next to nothing, not to mention they are almost always resentful that they are serving others who are having fun at a time when most prefer to be with their families). And tourists tend to have higher expectations because it is a Christmas/New Years holiday, the price is much higher, and it is much busier than normal so people have less tolerance for things. That is not to discount any of the negative reports coming in, but for the most part with this new hotel, all the preliminary complaints have been over the Christmas/New Years rush. Regardless, the problems are no doubt very real to the people who experienced them. The fact that the hotel opened during this time makes it even worse as there are obviously wrinkles to work out.

It seems that those who avoided the Christmas/New Years rush are returning with much different perspectives. I hope that the reviews continue to improve. I would suggest you go to another website like cruise critic and read the reviews of any ship over the same period of time and you will find some consistencies (plumbing, sickness, overbooking, rude staff etc.) if you are having doubts about booking this holiday as I have at times reading through these posts.

I am curious to know if there are any here on the thread who stayed in the Royal Suites area, they do not seem to have been discussed yet. Would love to hear about it. Any idea what % of the 290 rooms are located in this area?

Looking forward to a great time, I got a super deal that will no doubt be at least $400-500 higher per person next year as I suspect the cheap prices were to attract people there to spread the word. Can't wait for February, and thanks to all of you who reported your trips to us who have been sifting through any and every piece of info about this hotel. Keep the info coming!

-Mbomber

 

[bonita70]

I really think it all depends on what you expect out of your holiday we only paid $597 each, which is sooo cheap I am going with an open mind & I can't wait we are very relaxed people I just want the sun, sand & cold beer. Whooooooo only four sleeps left.

 

[ann brown]

Hv

We just got back on Jan 4 from a 2 week stay at HV. and we thought it was almost great.We stayed in the royal suites and it was everything the brochure said it was.The juzzuci room was 8 by 12 just off the bedroom,the bedroom was 20 by 10 by it's self. The bedroom had a king size bed ,writing desk ,lot of closet space with a mini refridge which was stocked daily with water,beer and soft drinks.The grounds are well kept.The food was good and lot of it. The adult pool was always full and the thing we like the most about it was if you weren't a royal suite quest you were ask to leave and were refused drinks at the pool bar ,we seen people being taken out by security.The adult resturant was not opened (temp.bar ) which sucked .The resort caters to families with children as for there was no entertainment for adults unless you wanted to put up with kids running around until after mid night. The adult bar was full of young adults (18- 23) and some younger drinking and than they started playing loud rap music which drove the over 40 crowd out.The staff was excellent including resturant and maid service.All in all we had a great time but wouldn't go back again because of the fact it caters to families and not adults. we think.

 

[cbear]

Wow two good reviews in one morning! Now I'm starting to get excited! 12 more sleeps!

Has anyone stayed in a family room?

 

[jolyn]

Great Thread. Can't wait, 5.5 sleeps....leave early morning Jan 13 from Toronto. We have a group of 17 going, 10 adults and 7 children, ranging in age from 2-7, we'll be hanging out at the wave pool. It's nice to read some good reviews coming through......see you there

 

[silkyswan]

Hello all, we're new to this site..Not much has been mentioned about the Royal Suites???? Has anyone stayed in the Junior jacuzzi suites? What are the rooms like? We're really worried as the reviews are not really good. Dissapointed as there is no adult entertainment, in the first choice brochere,it states "proffesional uk acts" !!! Spoke to first choice and they said everything is up and running and that was back in november!!! Ann Bown, you stated the adult only restaurant wasnt open,did they tell you when it would be please?? Has anybody got any pics of the Royal suites and area??? Where do the adults go at night if its all for the kids?? Thankyou, nicola from uk.

 

[dahabs]

OMG 2 good reviews....They must work for the hotel!!!!just kidding..it's nice see that at least some people had great time..

CYA all on the jan 11

Go Habs Go

 

[loritoop]

Ann Brown

Do you have any pictures you can post?

 

[silkyswan]

Reconstruction

Can anyone whos been to Hv tell us how much construction work is still going on pleasearanoid: Any feedback would be much appreciated..Thankyou