Advantages: a more relaxed holiday Disadvantages: not enough discounts
I have used first choice as my tour operator several times. Having travelled with them to such places as Majorca, mainland Spain, Greece and turkey for my annual two-week holiday with my family. Their holiday brochures are well illustrated and prices are very competitive. On arrival to our destination airport, the reps are always well dressed and helpful. First choice welcome meetings are full of fun, and very informative. Although their tours and ...
veraboy 07.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of First Choice
Advantages: Clean, large rooms in hotel Disadvantages: Poor reps, poor quality and service in hotel,
My wife and I used First Choice in May 1998. At the time, we had a 4 year old daughter and my wife was 6 months pregnant. We had selected to go to Salou, to stay at the Hotel Venecia Park on all inclusive basis, due mainly to the fact that it was all inclusive (this was the first time we had gone abroad since our honeymoon in St Lucia, which also was all inclusive) and it had a kids club.
Our troubles started on arrival at the Hotel. We arrived ... ...an issue as during the first week, we had a number of rain/thunderstorms which knocked the power out - the consequence was my wife had to walk up six floors and I had to carry my 4 year old and pram.
The pools were dirty and the nearest toilet was through reception, down 2 flights of marble stairs in the basement,next to the restaurant. This soon become a joke - the hotel staff were constantly shouting 'no water' - the consequence of this was that ...
sdwatson 13.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of First Choice
I travelled for the first and last time with First Choice this year.
I booked a last minute h/board for a week in Majorca. My boyfriend gets told when to take holidays and only gets a few days notice, so we always end up on last minute bookings.
When we arrived in Majorca we went to the desk and she said your taxi is waiting over there. I immediately knew there was something wrong, a taxi..how come nobody else.. I said I specifically booked a young ... ...Eclipse which is owned by First Choice. Explained how upset we were and no ways could we stay there. For breakfast we had a choice of tomatoes, sliced oranges, cheese or bread, cereal.....what type of food was this ?? Clearly for the pensioners.
We had to pay 5,000 pesetas admin fee for a transfer to Magalluf to self catering, lost half board, another 6,200 for a taxi. We were skint as we didnt budget for having to buy our food. It was the most ...
annemarie 26.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of First Choice
Advantages: No problems whatsoever Disadvantages: No organised children activities
We travelled with first choice as a family to the Grand kaptan hotel in Alanya, Turkey. The holiday was booked through Lunn Poly.
Prior to departure, our flight details were changed three times. However, despite our initial worries, this caused us very little inconvenience. In fact the actual flight itself was excellent and at a reasonable time. The change in return flight actually gave us an extra day in the resort.
Upon arrival we were met by ... ...with other tour operators. The transport to our hotel was not too far from the terminal building and the mini bus itself was very comfy with plenty of room. The rep on the coach explained everything clearly.
The welcome meeting was very well organised and gave us many useful hints. There was talk of excursions, but by no means the heavy sell we had encountered on previous holidays. The rep even advised us to think about what we wanted rather than ...
WFCfan 02.12.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Choice
Advantages: EFFICIENT, HELPFUL AND FRIENDLY Disadvantages: NONE
...TRAVEL COMPANY, I CAME ACROSS FIRST CHOICE, AND BOOKED THE FAMILY HOLIDAY THROUGH THEM. THEY WERE EFFICIENT, FRIENDLY AND FOUND ME A REALLY GOOD LAST MINUTE DEAL FOR MY FAMILY OFFERING A BIG DISCOUNT FOR THE CHILDREN. THE OPERATORS WERE SO HELPFUL, THEY RESERVED MY SEATS ON THE PLANE SO MY CHILDREN WHO ARE FLYING FOR THE FIRST TIME WOULD BE ALTOGETHER, THEY DIDN'T CHARGE ME ANY EXTRA FOR BOOKING, OR CHARGE ME A CREDIT CARD CHARGE,i HAD FREE INSURANCE ...
First Choice sells large numbers of packages and is firmly seated at the budget end of the holiday market. A recent trip to Zakynthos (a very pleasant Greek island) was pretty good in most respects, except for a final detail.
The booking was for seven nights, but on the day of the last night guests in the self-catering apartments were told that we would have to vacate the rooms at 4pm in the afternoon. A coach would then pick people up from a nearby ... ...to sleep the night before was very disappointing and spoilt an otherwise enjoyable trip. It seemed very unfair that some last minute mistake on the part of First Choice meant seven nights were reduced to six without even an apology, let alone an offer of compensation. People understandably felt cheated. ...
...the other contibutors views on First Choice was interesting and somewhat strange to me who for the first time booked a 2 week holiday with them this year.
My partner and I booked the holiday well in advance with a well known High Street agent at a very competitive price. The information was clear in the booklet and there were no hidden charges - even when we requested to fly from a small regional airport.
All the holiday documentation arrived on ... ...were there to greet us and everything was professionally organised. The hotel was comfortable and First Choice were on hand whenever we needed them.
I appreciate that this is just one example and who knows maybe I was lucky but I will certainly conider this tour operator in the future. ...
Advantages: Cheap, friendly and cheerful, good for last minute hols. Disadvantages: Cheap, poor standards on the flights, pushy reps, expensive excursions.
...and the last two times, First Choice have been the lucky tour operator! The most recent time was in May 2000 and we went to Skiathos (see separate review of destination). On that occasion, I noticed how the majority of the late availability holidays were with first choice. Does this say something about their brochures ? I don't know. Anyway, on both of these occasions, the destination was Greece, and the accommodation was almost identical, in the ...
Advantages: cheap, sometimes you get lucky Disadvantages: awful accommodation and location for clientele
I know, I know - pack and dash and you get what you pay for! Having arrived in Tenerife and being allocated on arrival, my friend (young, free and single like myself) and I were informed that a) we were being placed in the North of the Island (very quiet) and b) the transfers we had paid for were not apparent and we would have to find our own way there (approx. £40 cab fare). Having negotiated with one of the reps she allowed us to board the minibus ... ...no cost (1 plus point!)
Having arrived at our resort, we were horrified to find our accommodation, which was not in the brochure, was on top of a restaurant and other shops and clearly not the 3 key we had been promised/paid for. The room was tiny, although clean, and the shower resembled something out of roman times!
I think it is disgraceful how tour operators can allocate holiday makers to hotels they do not feature in their brochures, which ...
Advantages: Hotel was excellent Disadvantages: No Customer Service (easy fix)
...STATEMENT OF PREMIUM HOLIDAY BY FIRST CHOICE SHOULD BE MORE OF A CONFERENCE LEAGUE
The hotel is not named as all cock ups are down to First Choice.
To make it worse got back to find that my car that was parked in a "secure silver car park") at Bristol had been used for Grass tracking had covered 3/4 of a mile and the passengers window had been left slightly open during worst weather for weeks. In addition car mats are covered in mud. I cannot pin ...
stevemcmullan 12.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Choice
Advantages: ? Disadvantages: Special Needs totally disregarded
...chose a holiday from the First Choice Tropical Brochure,(Nov 99) we are avid travellers and have been to the Caribean several times before, we chose what looked like a lovely complex on Margarita Island Venezuela, when we booked the holiday we informed the Travel Agent that we had special needs in the party of five, one being a child with spina bifida, that we would require ground floor rooms, 1 triple=2 adults and child 1 double, we also paid to ... ...I took junior aspirin! and First Choice were contacted, they needless to say denied they had been told of special needs, good advice from a friend lead to a Subject Access SDearch under the Data Protection Act (remember this info) which confirmed they were contacted, letters to and fro and now finally a court case: WE WON. Breach of contract. So I advise this: Book the holiday get everything in black and white, take the brochure with you, if you ...
Bickle 05.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Choice
Advantages: NONE Disadvantages: To many to mention
I booked a holiday with First Choice last min. What a Mistake.
here is a copy of the letter I sent to them it makes interesting reading. I got £130 compensation.
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am writing to you to complain in the strongest terms possible about a holiday my family & I took 19/08/99 with your company.
I booked a 2 star apartment in Sillot Mallorca via ******* Travel In *****, Lincs.
When we arrived at the apartments in Sillot we were devastated ... ...first thing we noticed was that our small boys bed was in the kitchen area, then that there were not any curtains in this area and that a very loud disco was blasting from down stairs(we were directly above it & opposite another one & this was 4.30 in the morning). We then went in to the main sleeping area and found that although this area had curtains these were hanging off the rail. Then on closer inspection we found all sorts of other problems. ...
diver233 04.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Choice
Advantages: good resort Disadvantages: poor service
...went to Alpe d'Huez with First Choice.
Anything that wasn't under the control of First Choice was excellent - the weather, the skiing, the resort bars and restaurants.
Almost anything under First Choices control was poor (except the food in the chalet which was pretty good).
The rep oversold the excursions and couldn't help with anything that didn't make First Choice more money; although we'd booked at the last minute we were advised to buy our ... ...turned out to be £50 more expensive; the water heating in the new purpose built chalet couldn't cope; advertised facilities in the chalet were missing; the departure coach was very late (but still managed to arrive at the airport unbelievably early for the plane) - which was very late in departing; there was no rep support at the departure airport - and the plane was so late we missed our last connections at Gatwick.
But worse ... we had reason ...
thewholetruth 28.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Choice
Advantages: A well organised travel operator Disadvantages: Sometimes use other companies aircraft
...JMC I decided to try First Choice, basically as the hotel I stayed in with JMC always had a First Choice rep there every day whilst JMC's was never to be found.
However, I have now used First Choice for our last five holidays and find that their level of service suits our needs.
I have booked on line and also at their Travel Agents in East Kilbride, strangely, I could get better deals in the Travel Agents than online, but watch out for the credit ... ...found the whole experience of First Choice to be satisfactory, from checking in at Glasgow to we return home.
At the resort we were met by friendly staff and shown to the correct bus. If I had a gripe it would be when we booked to Lanzarote and were staying at a Premier 4 star hotel - no rep was on the bus, only the mad local driver!!.
I now book a car from First Choice and make my own way. The hire cars are always new or nearly new and at a good ...
tangosierraone 07.05.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Choice
Advantages: none Disadvantages: try and rip you off.
...couple of years ago with first choice. It was an all inclusive resort and very nice but there wree some stupid things. First drinks on the plane wre not free (not even non-alcoholic ones) this may not be so bad for short flights but for 8 hours plus you need a bit more than a drink with your meal to survive. You also had to pay for headphones!! so where is the all inclusive you ask? and IO though the holiday started from when you got on the plane. ... ...cab and so booked through first choice. (not they get you into these things before you have got the lay of the land so to speak). First choice did not appologise and said they were not trying to compete with British Airways and Kuoni when I complained but my main complaint was that there rep LIED to us about the trips. I will never travel with them again and know other people who feel the same ...
cefa 26.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First Choice
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