Holiday Village Resort

[grimsbygal]

Originally Posted by juliesept99

hi grimsbygal do you live uk or canada, we travel to holiday village end of september but come from grimsby uk

hi there julie yeah we are from grimsby too....i been readin this site and its quite scarey at times eh we are travellin oct 15th...we been to the costa del sol holiday village and that was awesome.....we have a 14 year old son comin and we cant wait!!!..i am going for my 40th birthday!!!

[grimsbygal]

Originally Posted by ginam

hi grimsbygal when in oct do you go

hi ginam,we go oct 15th.....in time for my 40th birthday...when do you go?

[bonita70]

Hello All
We were at HV January 11-18 we weren't sick but we did hear of a few people that were but who knows if it was a bug from Canada or something down there it could be either. We did find the water much calmer down the beach we were amazed, it is worth the walk to see.
Bonita

[Goonergal]

Sorry, I don't know how you add pictures. Are they of the Royal Suites?

[Goonergal]

Originally Posted by boogiewgirl

i wanna put pics how do i do this.?

Sorry boogiewgirl, I'm just getting used to using this forum and I meant to answer your question

[x-charm-x*/]

Originally Posted by boogiewgirl

I have had gastro before, and believe me this does not feel like a bug,, it must be a BIG BUG.
l0l
i believe we were there at the same time charm, i was there between 16-23 january. 2006

erm i was there from 7-22 jan 2007 although i was there last year but stayed at gran ventana. i think the same as you to be honest. my gran came with us & she has been rushed into hospital too & they are saying she has got e-coli whitch i think not 100% a type of blood poisoning. but while we was there my brother & step dad had something like gasticituos with pains up there back too.......what ever it is it not good
charm xx

[IrishColleen]

Knyuli - Maximo is not there anymore, he is working in Gran Ventana up near the Plaza. He likes it there and decided that he would not come back when the hotel reopened. We stayed there in the summer when Jack Tar was closed for refurbishment. It was ok, but it felt very 'enclosed' after the wide open spaces of Jack Tar. Adriano, Elvis, Carlos, Franklin, Rapael are all back and also Lorenza who was working at the beach bar before the hotel closed. I am sure there are lots more of the old staff working there in the restaurants etc as well.

I read that the entertainment is not good, and is run by English and Canadians. I think they should be employing as many Domincan people as possible in the hotel. Also you could be anywhere in the world if the entertainment does not have any local flavour!

Can some one who is there have a look and see if there is still an Irish Flag flying outside, green white and gold! We brought our own over for freddy last year! We may only be a small nation, but we like to be recognised! There are no direct flights out of Ireland, and there are never very many Irish Visitors there, so they didn't fly our flag. But we like to be recognised- we may only be a small nation, but we are very patriotic!

Knyuli, drinks are on us when you arrive on the 15th Feb!

[snowolf]

Originally Posted by boogiewgirl

i wanna put pics how do i do this.?

send them to the planner and she has been posting them. everyone is looking forward to seeing them.

[backtothe cold]

We have just returned from HVGB and after watching this site before we left really wondered what we were letting ourselves in for!

Our arrival at the resort was really unremarkable, and I mean that, we were never welcomed, "have a nice stay"etc infact throughout our stay the front desk staff were very unhelpful. We only checked in with 4 other families so they weren't rushed off their feet or anything!

Our room was very small for the 3 of us, but clean and well equipped and had all the sundries, shampoo, soap, sewing kit etc. we saw no evidence of insects and throughout our stay didn't even see a mosquito didn't use our bug spray once. our balcony door wouldn't lock but it was fixed quickly. The room was cleaned daily although the fridge was never restocked and we had to phone to the "very helpful reception..."daily to ask for bottled water.

The Kid's Club has been mentioned over and over, it was great , our 6 yr old had ablast and he was looked after by competent, caring employees. We had booked him into group swimming lessons and was lucky enough to have 5 private lessons. Lisa and Steve, the swimming instructors were great and a real asset to the resort, going out of their way to be friendly and always lots of fun. I would recommend the lessons our son who was a very weak swimmer after the 5 lessons got his 25m certificate.

The beach was pretty but the undertow strong and we would not let our little guy swim. Never noticed a lifeguard on the beach either. The beach bar was nice but Juan could have been a little more charismatic. Make sure they cook the burgers thoroughly that you order, ours were always pink and sent back.

We opted not to do any of the tours with the resort as we felt they were over priced and took the advice of someone on this forum and booked with Manuel on the beach. His Safari tour was marvellous and considerably cheaper than the resort's and also took you on a short hike up a river to some spectacular waterfalls, the guides were great and their cliff diving finale not to be missed.

Now to were we feel the resort has serious troubles. It's restaurants are very disappointing, the a la carte's offering a very unique interpretation of the speciality food and the main restaurant a disaster. The fact that they allow smoking everywhere is terrible. The waiters are run off their feet, they have no time to bus tables, serve beverages or just offer a friendly service. The food is very disappointing, although initially it looks like there's variety, after a couple of days you realise the variety is the same every night. We have been to 5 all inclusive resorts and this is by far the poorest in the catering capacity..We were all sick and infact still are on our return, it's a common conversation to have with people "Have you been sick?". My 6 yr old was very ill and that is a first for us at an all inclusive. I know that we are in the Dominican Republic but this resort is owned by a well known european company surely they have some health and safety practices. We observed the bar staff throwing dirty ashtrays down a sink right next to the huge ice container and my husband observed the cleaning staff washing the men's urinals and then using the same cloth to wash the taps and sinks, no wonder everyone is sick!!!

The entertainment in our opinion was fine and although childish it was fun. I still don't understand why during the children's dance so many adults felt it necessary to smoke cigars and cigarettes.

I could comment more but feel you have got the picture, I will be contacting Signature and doubt we will go back to HVGB. Oh yeah, just one other thing I would seriously question the alcohol content in their drinks...

[SunFollower]

We are 2 families from Toronto travelling from March 8-18th, with 2 girls aged 14, 1 boy aged 12 and one girl aged 12. They have us in standard rooms as well, and say it should be fine for us. We tried for family rooms, but they were all taken.

My Dad's family is in Wales (Penley), so nice to see your posting come up!