Due to not being on 'unlimited' internet, I dare not face the wrath of me bill-paying father. When I...
Due to not being on 'unlimited' internet, I dare not face the wrath of me bill-paying father. When I'm back at uni I'll either have broadband or unlimited, so Ill be back then.... thanks. DAN
Member since:07.09.2000
Reviews:147
Members who trust:126
Well, I suppose this is the last of my travel related ops. I have done where I went, with what airline, the travel insurance company I used, and now the travel company. I suppose I could do an op on the camera I used to catch the scenery… and the other kind of scenery, but I will have to see if I can find the instruction manual first!
Finding *******
Anyway, a mate that I went on holiday with did a search on Yahoo for a cheap holiday, and came up with Greek Tourism Travel (GTT). GTT had a nice website, easy to navigate, and the prices seemed fine. (281 GBP each) We booked through them, and it turned out GTT were a subsidiary of Golden Sun holidays. This was a good thing, as GTT were not known to anyone we spoke to, whereas Golden Sun at least have a reputation… whether it was good or bad depended on who we spoke to.
Getting *******
Anyway, the invoice came through within a week or so, and the tickets a couple of weeks before we departed. Everything nice and good, except they did not charge us travel insurance (see previous op) which did turn out to be just a small pain in the ass (maybe just a tap rather than a full blown kick up the jaxxie) as that was soon sorted.
Before ******
We
got to the airport, handed in our tickets, boarded, flew, got off, collected luggage (remembering we flew with JMC, and not Golden Sun, so that part of the holiday does not apply to Golden Sun) then stepped out into the airports meeting part to meet our representative, the first part of our Golden Sun experience where they were actually doing something more tangible for us.
That was the first mistake I made on the holiday, but keeping with the promise of making everyone we met smile… we went to the JMC people, who laughed AT us, then pointed us in the direction of the Golden Sun people. Met with beaming smiles (fake or not we didn’t care) we were told where our coach was, and we were soon boarded.
After Meeting *************
We did wait quite a long time in the coach which was slightly annoying as we were waiting for our luggage for a fair while, but we were soon on our way to St. George, on the way being told about Corfu, some of the places of interest, and some ‘rules’ such as not flushing your bog roll down the toilet… see Corfu op!
After the forty minute coach journey we got to our apartments (Jimmis) where we were quickly dropped off and efficiently shown to our room (no checking in or anything) where we found an envelope with details about out holiday in. So far, I was impressed with Golden Sun, no real delays with anything, straight into our room, and something to look at whilst we lazed around for the first half an hour.
Present *******
The envelope included a small map of the area, where our welcome meeting was, the other Golden Sun apartments, and where the pool was. Oh, and some details about some activities we could do, so we could have a gander then, before we mosied off to the welcome meeting the next day.
Staying *******
The apartment was very nice. I say this in a "I looked at other apartments and laughed" type way. I visited the apartments of one friend out there, and she had a very small place compared to us. She was only sharing with one other person, and there was three of us, but even so, it was very small. We were allowed into the apartments of one of the other studio’s, but the other place was… well, the people we met, they got shouted at for attempting to bring people from other apartments into theirs… something about not respecting the owner or something. Luckily we could bring people back to our place… which proved very handy.
The apartment itself had a large kitchen area, six foot by three (ish) and a nicely sized bathroom too, with two bedrooms, two beds in each, with a double balcony, and a small space in one room into which we could move the table. Two chairs were with the table, and two stools accompanied the mirrors and tops, one in each bedroom. Four plates etc. were available for us, and two hobs with a fridge. Oh, and a shower curtain, which, like a kettle (that we did not have) is said to be rare to have in Corfu, as you sit on a stool in the shower, and so the shower curtain is said to not be needed.
Welcome *******
The welcome meeting the next day was held a five minute walk from our apartments, and that is where we met our rep. She was very nice, very friendly, and knew exactly what she was talking about, having been in Corfu for the past seven years. Yes, reps want you to sign up to stuff, but she was great, and seemed to be able to answer all questions everyone had, both at the welcome meeting and throughout the holiday. We also received a free glass of Ouzo from the bar. I hated it. Our cleaner did not turn up when she was supposed to, (I think we left the key in the door and so she could not get in) so we asked the rep to ask her to come in, which she did, and kept in contact with us about it, saying that she had spoken to the cleaner, and she would pop in at some point, and then said to us when she was in to clean.
Giving ******
The offers that Golden Sun gave us to do on holiday included a club night, scuba diving, a day at the aqua-park, coach tour, shopping trips and more - see opinion on Corfu for full list. The range that was available was very comprehensive, and there seemed to be enough for everybody to chose from. The club night and the day at the aqua-park were the two we chose, and both were organised well, with the coach being more or less on time on both occasions.
Going *****
Our coach was on time picking us up from the end of the holiday, and was thank-fully air-conditioned like the one which took us to St. George. That was basically the last act of Golden Sun, as, when we were dropped off at the airport we were in the hands of JMC airways (see op) who… well, there was confusion!
Overall *******
Basically, Golden Sun were not there to keep us entertained. The three of us do not like to be tied down, and we were able to do as we wished, aided by Golden Sun who provided us with activities when we wanted them. I cannot really fault the company as the whole holiday went fine. Got tickets fine, apartments was good, everything out there was fine… five stars surely.
Rant ****
The problem with opinions in these categories is that, unlike i.e. CD opinions where everyone listens to the same thing, people will experience different holidays, and have different expectations with their differing circumstances. I therefor believe that, this on opinion is not enough to make a good decision. If you want to chose a your operator, look at companies which have many reviews about them, and then the law of averages will give the company a score based on several opinions. - slightly off topic, but that is my viewpoint on these categories. You may ask why I then bother to write an opinion in the category, and the answer is, I wanted to contribute to the overall picture for the consumer, not just to tell them my experience was fine.
Then ****
In a sentence Golden Sun in my experience "Allowed me to have a good holiday, and provided me with everything I needed, and were represented by a good rep."
Ta
DAN
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Advantages: Um, sunshine - no thanks to Golden Sun. Disadvantages: Cut two days off our holiday, no information, no customer care, misinformation at best. Appauling service. No compensation as yet.
Discobunny 11.05.2001 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Golden Sun
Jul 31st, 2001
(Aug 1st, 2001)
very helpful by (97%):
helpful by (2%):
somewhat helpful by (2%):
