... (A review has been written on this if anyone is interested who hasn't read it!)
After scrolling through teletext and expedia, it appears that they do not sell this hotel as part of their packages, eventually we came across the Thomson website, where they DID!
A bit about the Website Service
Thomson, ... Read review
A review by burtybookworm on Thomson November 24th, 2008
Author's product rating:
Food Quality
Satisfactory
Customer Service
Friendly and attentive
Punctuality
Satisfactory
Space
Fairly Comfortable
Value for Money
Good
Advantages:
efficient, helpful, good service, good website
Disadvantages:
they didn't send our tickets in time !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Due to my boyfriends tax rebate, we decided to treat ourselves (after losing money on our first holiday) to a week away somewhere fairly hot in November. I was told by bf that with the money we were getting, we could stay in the best hotel we could find.
After settling on a holiday to Tunisia, I went on to Trip Advisor to see what the best rated hotels were, and this is where I came across the Riu Palace Oceana in Hammamet, Tunisia. (A review has been written on this if anyone is interested who hasn't read it!) After scrolling through teletext and expedia, it appears that they do not sell this hotel as part of their packages, eventually we came across the Thomson website, where they DID!
A bit about the Website Service
Thomson, as most of you might be aware, are one of the larger travel agents in this country selling holidays around the world. I won't bore you with the other stuff, if you aren't aware of the details, then a visit to their (very) comprehensive site should answer some questions for you -
www.thomson.co.uk
Just to say that this website is really quite excellent, Thomson sell holidays to almost all destinations across the world, they will give you a brief outline of the country/area you are interested in along with some recommended hotels. Once you have the hotel you are interested in, there are lots of pictures, a video, a full list of facilities, location details, map, their rating and probably most importantly, the guest rating and very honest reviews of the hotel. (I've read some quite damning ones of other hotels, so I can say that they are fairly honest. Plus the Oceana hotel was truly excellent, so they got that right too!)
At this point, boyfriend and I were certain this was the hotel for us. We could have booked online, but then he realised that one of his fireman buddies wife worked for a local Thomson's and so suggested that I call her and see if we could get it any cheaper.
Branch Service
Obviously, because our husbands/boyfriends are friends I had an excellent service from the woman at this branch! As well as knowing what hotel we wanted and knowing the rough dates we wanted to go, the transaction between myself and the travel agent went smoothly. She ran through all the details with me about the hotel and the area, we did get a slight discount from the online quote but not much as it's a premium hotel, and I paid by credit card (waiting for the rebate money to come through meant we had to risk it!!) I was told that we would be getting the confirmation through the post, but she gave me a reference over the phone and said I should call her if I had any further questions. An important thing to note is that she did not push me in to getting the insurance. She told me how much the insurance was but then also told me that it was very likely I could get a good deal elsewhere online - although this may have been again as we had partners in common and she felt like being more friendly!! The details from the Thomson branch came through a couple of days later and I filed them away for November.
The Holiday
The morning of the holiday arrived and as you can imagine, I was extremely excited! My last week off was last Christmas and after a hectic six months working on Britain From Above as well as the upset of our aborted Sorrento holiday in July, I desperately needed a break, so I was literally jumping up and down on the bed with excitement! I'd made sure we had everything in a plastic wallet ready as we had to leave for the airport at 2.30am the next morning, so I had the information sent to me by Thomson, our parking details, passport and our insurance details. All ready to go!
That is until my boyfriend picked these bits up when I was rushing around at 2 in the morning. He gave me a look and said "Have you read this properly?"......
Basically, I had assumed that the information that was sent through by Thomson was an E-ticket - It had a reference number on there but it turns out it was a Thomson reference number and actually at the very bottom was the words that made me heart sink - "should you have not received your ticket 2 weeks before your due travel date, please contact us giving your reference number." By this point I was distraught, annoyed with myself and very very upset! I had NOT received any tickets through the post and as I had stupidly not read through everything I had NOT called up to chase it!
We decided to get in the car and drive to the airport anyway - I had not been in this situation before so I wasn't sure how we would get it resolved. Boyfriend was laughing because every time we book something, it usually goes wrong, and he is so easy going he didn't blame me at all, "Its only money!" he said! Hah!
Anyway, I came across a 24 hour number on the paperwork I was sent, so I gave that a ring. The phone was answered almost immediately at 2.30am by a very pleasant man who listened to what I had to say, and then immediately reassured me that it should be fine, I should just go to the Thomson desk with my reference number and explain the situation and they would be able to issue me with new tickets. If there was any problem, I was to call him back immediately (he gave me his name too) and he said he would do his best to sort it out. Relief! Similarly, when we arrived at the Thomson desk at Gatwick, the man on the desk was extremely helpful and very sympathetic and immediately printed off new tickets for me.
Conclusion
So, some people might be reading this thinking that it was a given that we were going to get new tickets, but I had no idea whether we were or not, I just thought I had ruined our holiday and we weren't going to go anywhere! Admittedly it was our own fault for not checking the tickets, but of course Thomson are partly responsible for not sending the tickets to me also.
As a final note, I'd also like to say that the Thomson flight was on time, efficient, the cabin crew were helpful, there was a good selection of programmes to watch on the flight and everything went smoothly. Also the rep for our hotel couldn't have been more helpful, she didn't push us into any excursions, gave us her mobile number and told us to call her any time if there was a problem and warned us of scams that might happen during our stay. Similarly, when we arrived at Monastir airport upon arrival and departure, we were greeted immediately by a Thomson's rep and taken to our minibus (we were the only ones on it for both journeys which was quite nice!) On our flight back to the UK, the same rep greeted us and told us that our flight was on time. Very efficient and very friendly!
Despite the tickets not being issued, I really cannot fault the service provided by Thomson. Everything from their website, to their staff and service was fantastic and any issues were ironed out immediately. After all, mistakes happen eh, we aren't all perfect!!
Advantages: Seemed to have extra leg room Disadvantages: Could moan about food costs but that is a bit unreasonable
I have never been one to go on package holidays, my parents never went on them and so I have grown up always looking to arrange my own travel and accommodation, in total I have only ever been on four package holidays in my entire life hence I have very little experience of using charter flights. Friends had recommended Thomsonfly as a good option for cheap flight only deals supported by the fact that they also fly from a local airport to me so when ... ...myself at Easter I checked them out and I must say I was very satisfied with the whole experience.
Booking
I booked the flights directly through the website and I was very easy to do. The website is clearly set out and from it you can book either just your flights or a complete holiday package with all the options included of mixing and matching your requirements such as car hire and hotels as well as insurance. The company fly from 20 UK airports ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: nice plane, good food, friendly staff Disadvantages: cramped seats and legroom, but then it is a plane!
...from Alicante to Manchester with Thomson Fly. This was my first time with them since they have changed from britannia, and I have to say I was impressed. We never buy package holidays, and flew out to Spain with monarch, so this was only a one way flight. I have to say that all in all I was quite impressed...
THE PLANE...
Our plane was a boeing 767-300, which I had been on once before when I flew from palma to manchester with britannia, so I knew ... ...say if you are disabled thomson is a disabled friendly airline.
All in all a very good airline, and i would reccomend them to people. I enjoyed flying with them although I do still prefer monarch (scheduled-ZB) above all others.
Thank you for reading and I hope you have found this review helpful. If you require any more information please leave me a comment and I will update the review. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Got away from the mother-in-law! Disadvantages: Rude staff, very cramped seating.
I flew with Thomson last year when I took my family to Tenerife on a package holiday, which I booked through the company's high street travel shop. The holiday was great, but here I am reviewing the actual flights, which were part of the package.
We flew from Gatwick to Tenerife, in the Spanish ruled Canary Islands. The predicted flight time was four and a half hours. THE OUTBOUND JOURNEY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We were due to fly around seven ... ...it wasn't that serious, the Thomson staff explained, after about twenty minutes. The warning light that is supposed to illuminate
in the event of undercarriage failure had failed, and a switch needed replacing. A new part was being flown down from Stanstead, and could we please go back to the duty free area, and wait for the flight to be called again.
No offer of food or drink, just sit and wait for three hours.
We were served a meal mid- flight, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Fab hotel, Fab location in quiet, safe harbour Disadvantages: Not 5 star, and not 'all inclusive'
...location was stunning. However, despite Thomson advertising their 'Gold' holidays as a 5 star 'all inclusive' option, my partner and I felt that our trip was, on many occasions, not at all '5 star' and more importantly, distinctly not 'all inclusive'. The holiday cost us over £2,000 for the week and yet despite treating ourselves to a luxury 'all inclusive' break, we found ourselves hounded with 'little extras' added on to our final bill: 1. Sunbeds ... ...charge: 55 euros
7. Thomson Day Trips We decided to treat ourselves to a catamaran trip, which was described as a 'VIP champagne catamaran cruise'. Hmmm, not sure how Victoria Beckham would have got on with this one. The catamaran nets were out of bounds for maintenance! So no sunbathing on the nets, VIP somehow included 32 people huddled onto hard plastic seats and not an awful lot of room to move around, given the 'out of bound nets'. The ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Price Disadvantages: Unacceptable delays, terrible customer service
...listed as cancelled, so rang Thomson who said that was a mistake, and my parents should turn up at the usual time for check in. The flight was due to land in Doncaster at 7pm. They were told at the airport there would be a slight delay, then told after around 3 hours that the flight was cancelled but they could get a later flight which would make an additional stop at Coventry. On arrival at Coventry they were told that there was no plane to Doncaster, ... ...arrived at Doncaster at 5am.
This is a short version of what was a very long, tiring and stressful journey for my two elderly parents. When they got back they complained to Thomson, to be told they could have no compensation (not even for a taxi home even though there was no public transport available). The excuse for this was that they had accepted the changes to the flight. My parents had no idea they had any alternative, if someone had told them ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Lots of Choice, lots to do Disadvantages: Not many free child places.
...We decided that we wanted a summer holiday abroad this year and picked up a Thomson Brochure. Thomson are a well known holiday operator and have been operating for as long as I can remember. Since they opened a Lunn Poly near us we have been picking up their brochures instead of the usual JMC ones.
Thomson offer a variety of holidays such as Superfamily, Gold, Platinum, summer sun, a la carte, small and friendly, faraway shores, Greece, turkey, cruise, alfresco, Florida, freestyle, weddings in paradise, beach club. The Superfamily one interested me as it was all geared at a family holiday. They choose so many hotels with families being in mind and often these hotels or apartments are where families only can go or for couples only. They also own Skytours so when you get to your destination you will find the Thomson staff grouped...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Price, All inclusive Option, transatlantic crossing Disadvantages: lower level engine noise, tired cabins - could do with a refit
...Thomson Destiny -Tropical Transatlantic Dec 2008
We booked this cruise in October 2007 and obtained an all inclusive deal as our last cruise cost us an extra £600 pound, mainly in drinks costs! We had previously cruised with Thompson last year on the Celebration and think that I actually prefer the layout of the smaller sister ship for a number of reasons, which I will probably touch on later in the review.
The early flight from Manchester to Lisbon was on time and uneventful but on arrival at Lisbon I could only describe organised chaos. In all 5 flights had arrived from the UK with cruise passengers and all landed within a very short space of time and due to a malfunction of the baggage handling system, all the luggage arrived for all the planes at the same time, which had a knock on effect on the rest of the usual embarkation...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Kids Clubs mean restful holidays for Mum and Dad Disadvantages: Not a luxury holiday....Butlins with sun!!
...We have a 6 year old son who needs to be amused all the time and so the priority for our family holidays has to be somewhere that he can go and be amused while we have some adult time to ourselves. We found this on a Thomson Superfamily holiday.
We booked through www.Thomson.com and were able to choose our accommodation and flights separately at a reasonable price. My only complaint was that although you could pay your deposit online, Thomson asked that you ring a premium rate phone number to pay your balance (I posted a cheque!!)
The flight was fine and my son appreciated the sweets with the kids meal. In flight food cost extra but I thought this was worth it as the food was nice and very reasonably priced when the only alternative was food bought at the airport....you can't bring a packed lunch through security.
Airport...
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Production Year: 2006 - Horror - Director: Scott Thomson - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Kristen Kerr, David Chisum, Sarah Laine
Production Year: 2002 - Science Fiction - Director: Jonathan Frakes - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Jesse Bradford, French Stewart, Julia Sweeney, Scott Thomson, Robin Thomas, Michael Biehn, Billy Mayo
Production Year: 2000 - Drama - Director: Francois Ozon - Original Language: French - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Bernard Giraudeau, Malik Zidi, Ludivine Sagnier, Anna Thomson
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