Holiday Village Resort

luv2travel · Jan 3, 2007

Lizzie,

I never said that that YOU told me not to go. On the contrary, if you read my post you will see that I agreed that everyone has a right to thier opinion. I was referring to some earlier postings which point blank tell people not to go. I'm sorry you had a bad vacation. Seems like there are some plumbing promlems which will hopefully be corrected very soon. It is unfortunate that no one told you that there would be plumbing problems before you left, but I cant really imagine that ANY tour company would have the time or inclination to do that. There are still a lot of people who are having positive experiences with the resort.

wonderland · Jan 3, 2007

Hey guys, is my mistake to upload my own pics there, and i don't know how to edit it, so I delete the whole photo album, that's why you guys can't see it for now. I will try to upload them again, it just takes time...be patient.

planner · Jan 3, 2007

Wonderland - email the photos to me and I will upload them for you. NO problem

consultantdr@gmail.com

Critters · Jan 4, 2007

Wonderland....The pictures are slowly showing up, I don't know what I did...perhaps my internet is really slow up here in the North....LOL

I don't think they were deleted.

C Critter

aranoid:

wonderland · Jan 4, 2007

Because I am uploading the pics, that's why they slowly coming up

wonderland · Jan 4, 2007

wonderland · Jan 4, 2007

wonderland · Jan 4, 2007

wonderland · Jan 4, 2007

wonderland · Jan 4, 2007

wonderland · Jan 4, 2007

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r208/wonderland123photo/DSC00589.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r208/wonderland123photo/DSC00590.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
Finally, I got all my pics uploaded here, hope they are helpful and enjoyable.

Critters · Jan 4, 2007

Thanks so much Wonderland! They are great! Is that a lizard on the table??? My husband assures me that lizards are common,and is used to seeing them in his travels, however I'm not a fan of reptiles..... I just hope I don't find one in my bed!!! Uggggggggggggggg!!!
Critter

lizzy31 · Jan 4, 2007

cons.....
1. self laundry is shown as a brochure facilty- the laundry room is not up and running which personally for me resulted in heavy bills having to use the hotel laundry service which is very pricey...
2.If you are not staying in the Royal suites then there is 2 pools available the wave pool and main pool- the slides are for children not adults so attracts mainly children-the main pool is shut for activities all day and part of it is sectioned off for childrens swimming lessons all day-no swimming after 6 pm.......
3.If you are not staying in the royal suites then the jacuzzi available is payable in the spa.......the brochure states jacuzzi,steam room and sauna....the steam room is up ad running but the sauna and jacuzzi are not working........
4.in the 3 rooms i was in there was no alarm clocks-not good when you have early morning trips planned..having asked for one we was told there was none available...
5. several families including ours had no hot water which posed as problem when your feet are covered in sewage so had to shower in cold water........
6.facilities such as internet,playstation and watersports equipment -all had problems.the people giving out watersports equipment are there hit and miss...the man who runs and issues internet tickets was off resort so spent a day waiting to be able to use the internet...also although you pay deposit for playstation the games are rented seperately..the man who rents the games out is independant so if he is not on the resort you will find you have the console but no games and in our case that was 2 days.......
7.reps are available to listen to problems but that is after the families before you have all had their problems listened to-no real help can be given apart from an apology and a customer report filled in.....
8.bedding is changed every three days-in our case this is not so good when the AC does not work in the room and the bedding is sticky.........
9.only 4 of the Tv channels are English all the rest are in Spanish.....
10.the spa does not accept credit cards so if you are like me and prefer to carry a credit card instead of money be prepared!! not only is it the spa -most of the things requiring payment is cash only -take extra money with you because most things are in cash apart from trips...
11. trips booked in the hotel are over priced-if you go off resort to an agent you will be charged half the price for exact same trip an still be picked up from hotel reception.....
12.the beach is nice,however there is a shortage of loungers so if you want a lounger be sure to get there early......
13. the shutters in the bathrooms did not close so when we showered people walking by could see in to the rooms...
14. the main buffet is not up to standard there is flys all over which does not help that thet keep the doors open...the family next to us was reporting ants in salad....most times we had to wait for a table to become free....the a la carte restaurants served food that could be found at the mai buffet...nothing special.....
15. there is nothing for adults and teenagers to do on a night...if teenagers are between 15 years and 18 years then they are stuck....the teenagers club accomadates upto 15 year olds but then again my 15 year old was not iterested in most activities ie...construction nights(building objects out of straws)........
16.the gift/convenience store is overly priced it is very expensive! it is inependant not owned by the hotel so can charge whatever they like.....
17.out of the 8/14 times that our room was cleaned it was cleaned at 6pm (ish) on an night which is ackward when you are waiting to shower before you go eat...when waiting on toilet roll...or towels....etc....very hit and miss at cleaning rooms and often late evening....when the mini fridge is empty you need to ask or stock...
18.building work still going on in the dark at 10pm.......
19.only 4 pcs are available or the use of the internet so be prepared for a pc to become free....dissapointing that they do not have wi fi........long waits for access...
20.telephone cards are available to call home that cost 15 dollars but be aware that not many minutes are given and a charge is taken off for connection...
21.when it rains the resort floods -staff work hard to sweep water and mop the tiles but the tiling is extremely slippy....lots of people fell over...the tiles dont have grip and are smooth......also it rained in our room when it rained outside and this was a huge complaint amongst other families not just ours......
22.....i agree with what people say about no matter which resort you go to there will be mosquitos and ants however this resort is over crawled with them(take into consideration nests have been disturbed because they are building) we had an ant nest on our patio.....more time should be put into removing nests and fumigation needs to be taking place!
23.fixtures and fittings are not all in place (they ran out of concrete) kerbs ,steps and fittings (some) are very loose so take caution !!
24. there is no lighting in childrens rooms(family rooms) very young children will find this frightening...rooms are very dismal and dimly lit...

lizzy31 · Jan 4, 2007

Thanks for your reply luv and yes we all have our own opinions and in my case i feel that honest from the travel agents would not have been better...
In my case i because of the size of my family and time of year i travelled it was an expensive holiday..........
I had heard rumours that the resort wasnt ready before i travelled and was "assured" that they was just "rumours" and that it was up and and running smoothly by the travel agent...

I have travelled to carribean, europe,australia and most of the usa and rating the holiday village as 4 star is very over rated in my opinion when i have stayed in better 2 stars..

on a more positive note i believe that if they pull their finger out holiday village could look better for the future but they sure have far to go...

if it was just myself experiencing the problems then it could be percieved that i was unlucky however this was the vibe amongst most of the families and looking at other posts people have many same dissapointments as me...
i hope you all enjoy your holidays and with any luck all the problems may have resolved by the time you all travel...
best of luck and happy holiday!
i will answer any questions if people have any unanswered ones.

Bevlarry · Jan 4, 2007

wonderland was the room pics for the adult only or are they the standard rooms

IrishColleen · Jan 4, 2007

The photos are fab, I am pleased to see Adriano doing his 'Fire' tricks as usual and also caught sight of Elvis and Carlos at the bar. Reassuring to know that there are some of our friends there still. We have just over 5 weeks to our trip and we are looking forward to it. There does seem a lot of kids around though. However, we went to the Gran Ventana in the summer while Jack Tar was being Refurbed and there were tons of kids there as well. It seemed really enclosed and small compared to the wide open spaces in Jack Tar. We are meeting up with our long time friends from Boston in February as we have done for several years. They have had to travel to Toronto and then POP to get there!!

Sobourge · Jan 4, 2007

Hey Deb! I will be there from the 9th until the 16th ...

Hope we can exchange notes!

See you there!

Soph

rdsanson@shaw.ca · Jan 4, 2007

laundry suggestion and other items to bring

Hola everyone, thank you so much for the awesome pictures and all the reviews...good and bad. I appreciate the time everyone is taking to update the rest of us on HV status.

Just a quick note about laundry. Whenever we travel, we pack dishsoap and wash our own clothes. Pack DISH soap though, not actual laundry soap as this assures no white marks are left behind. It works like a charm and saves the money of sending laundry out or even paying for washing machines. Just thought I would share.

We are still very excited to be going but I am taking all the reviews seriously and just trying to pack some extra things to help us through some of the potential problems. So far we will be packing, dishsoap, small book lights (to read when kids are in bed, sounds like there is a lighting issue), a small alarm clock, bug spray, small boogie board for my son, sandtoys and extra snacks for the kids....is there anything else someone else will be bringing that might be helpful? Not sure what to pack to address the sewage problem!! We thought we might bring our own towels for the beach though...is that necessary? Also wondering if the rooms actually do have a blow dryer?

Our only concern is the food to be honest, just because of our kids (almost 6 and 17 months) but we have all had the travellers diahrea vaccine, so hope that helps! We don't mind sharing the table with little lizards, we loved all the lizards around in Mexico...one of the reasons we are going to a place like DR . Although, if you have an aversion to lizards, I can understand not wanting to share your meal with them!! (Like me with spiders!!)

Anyway, those of us who cannot or will not be changing hotels, lets make the most of it. The things that go wrong will make great stories when we come back!!

Cheers!
Dawn

jyc · Jan 4, 2007

Very disapointed...

We are a family of four plus my son's girlfriend and we have been reading this thread from the beginning since we booked to HV.

We booked back in August for a week during the Christmas Holidays.
So we were there from December 26 to January 2 ,2007.

The resort was supposed to have been renovated to 2006 standards.The place still looks like a 1980's resort. More like a camping ground !
Even better a mini-golf.

Plumbing problems,hot water shortage ,air conditionning going down.But this was all fixed the next day.

The staff do not have the infrastrutures to help them give us a better service.

My wife and i booked a deluxe room thinking it was just bigger and nicer ,but what were not told before we got there is that our room was in the "Royal Suites" and our kid's room was in the regular section.That wasn't very practical since they could not have access to the " Royal Suites " section.

Food not that great ,lack of variety at the buffet.

House wine too sweet both red and white.Bottled wine the hotel was selling was expensive and you must add a 26% tax.

The Mexican Restaurant was great ,the Italian we could not get a reservation and the Oriental was the same night all the five of us were sick so we had to cancel.But we heard the food was excellent at the Oriental.

Ho yeah ! The Carribean was not finished .

This was our sixth trip to as much resorts this year only .

So if you can cancel your trip to HV do it. Because there are so many nicer places to go to .And for the same amount of money.

Thank you

wonderland · Jan 4, 2007

hey, you are right the lizard is on the table of buffet restaurant, but small one, doesn't hurt at all. And the room shown from my pics, it is a standard king bed room room.

Holiday Village Resort

New member

New member

.............. ?

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member