The journey is a bit tiring isnt it? im looking forward to reading your report. Will you get it posted before thursday? as this is when i go
Ive not been for 2 years, so hoping its not changed too much.
Whats the airport like? is it still a nightmare going through about 10 security checks before you get on the plane?

Hurry up we're waiting!!!!!!!!

I am waiting too, I am a first timer off on a week Thursday!

Goa Holiday 18th March-2nd April 2006
Part 1-Not a good start!
We arrived at Gatwick in good time so we could check in early and make sure we sat together- we were a bit surprised to see The First Choice queue snaked around the terminal but it was checking in flights all over Europe as well and there were all desks open so the line was shrinking steadily-we had over heard that a flight was delayed but weren't prepared for the worst-it was our flight and it wouldn't be going till the next day! They gave us a letter and a room in The Sofitel Hotel on the airport terminal as well as dinner (appalling quality), breakfast and £10 of vouchers for lunch the next day- so at least we were relatively comfortable however it was a bit suspicious that a hotel had so many rooms available on site- the official excuse was 'an operational disruption within the First Choice Airways Fleet', with spare time and boredom we had time to trawl through the small print of our holiday insurance and decided it would be best if the delay was a full 24 hours as we could claim for a full day's lost holiday and actually taking to the air a bit after 24 hours later we all thought quietly to ourselves-good! however when we received a faxed letter from customer services which we had to persistently request from the rep it stated that the official departure time was 23 hours and 38 minutes late ( more groans..) and then in bold print-'departure times are calculated from the time the aircraft pushes back from the gate'-GOTCHA!
The flight was excellent, comfortable with good service and edible food and this was standard class-They kindly upgraded our entertainment system so we had free premium games and a full choice of films, although we thought a free drink with dinner should have been a nice touch but didn't materialise.
On arrival in Dunalim Airport the heat hit us a the airplanes doors opened, we had to walk across the runway to the terminal only stopping for a random jet plane to go past just in front of us! We were through customs and baggage reclaim in 20 minutes and clung on to our cases turning down constant requests by porters to carry them for us and found the rep with a welcoming bottle of water and a smile we had pre-booked a Taxi for £21.00 return with First choice (highly recommended) and waited for it to pull up-dam it we let our guard down... within seconds 2 porters had grabbed our luggage and carried it 5 feet to the taxi and then held their hands out expectantly
What have previous tourists done to create this situation!
We arrived at Silver Sands Beach resort 24 hours late but an hour before other guests and checked straight into out rooms by the room boys- what greeted us was a disgusting mosquito filled cell with a view of a cess pit sockets hanging from the wall and an uncontrollable shower that squirted cold water above our head, there was no air conditioning and the bed covered with dirty linen was as hard as a board and on closer examination Was a board!... we nearly cried when I plugged in my I-pod and the plug fell out the wall
....too be continued

Hi Mr Frostie

Thanks for taking the time to post your trip report, sorry to hear of the problems you encountered

When you have a moment to draw breath, please can you post your hotel review HERE?

Many thanks.

Pippy

Oh Dear Mr frostie.....I hope it gets better.....great report next installment please........

concerned now, as we have booked Silver sands for next year

one other point, re the taxi with first Choice, getting your own at the airport (very simple) will cost 600 rps and the return should be about the same, works out at about £16
looking forward to the next instalement and the hotel review (or maybe not!!!)

del949

Hotel report now complete (sorry dont know how too link!)

reading it at the minute, thanks!
del949

HERE it is, and thanks again

Pippy

mr frostie,
many thanks for your up to date info on the silver sands . very interesting.
so much so that I have just phoned first choice and amended our 2 weeks there in feb, to 2 weeks at the Phoenix park (albeit 7 days later).
We looked at the silver sands and saw the bungalows which looked fine but never saw the rooms in the main block, when we got home the difference in price between bungalow and main block was enough for us to take a channce on the main block.
To upgrade to the bungalows would have made it dearer than the Phoenix park.
So apart from being a week later , all it has cost is £84 to upgrade to the PP including admin fees.
Many thanks once again (she who MUST be obeyed is delighted)

del949

Part 2-A walk to the fort.....err Prison! And coffee!

From the disappointment on the faces of the others in our party it was obvious that none of us were prepared to put up with this accommodation, so we trundled to reception and asked for something better maybe one of the attractive bungalows we had seen on the way in...The receptionist was almost expecting us I'm sure and within the hour we were placed in the basic but adequate bungalow accommodation -the room we vacated cleaned again and ready for the guests coming in on the transfer coach! -thank heavens for that Taxi...
The rest of the holiday was one mainly for relaxing so in no particular order I will attempt to include some of the highs and lows however it should be said the longer we stayed the more we loved the place.
The Candolim beach is a vast stretch of sandy beach lined with numerous beach shacks, a first visit will see the Shack boys running to ply for your valuable trade by offering sun beds for which they charge about 50 rupees for all day, you are obviously expected to purchase from their shack! We didn't stick to one particularly but Bobby's Shack, Bay watch and Ceu Mar all enjoyed our custom. The landmark feature is the River Princess, a marooned tanker just off shore which has turned the sea into a violent torrent of crashing waves and currents, no swimming but great fun for jumping the breakers -very dangerous though ,several times we felt ourselves being dragged outwards a very frightening experience.
Early on in our holiday we decided to walk the length of the resort to find our bearings, Aguada Fort was our target and the stroll turned into a hike as it soon became clear the map wasn't to scale! We walked onwards out into the country with impressive scenery and colourful wildlife, The increasingly narrowing road was now going steeply upwards and the beads of sweat were now flowing freely like a stream down our faces-regardless of this we walked on determined to get to the fort...only to miss the turning and ending up at the gates of the prison! Sadly the only way was back up the hill and down the other side where we found The New Sweet Chilli restaurant a very welcome oasis in the middle of nowhere.
We did visit the fort later in the holiday-driven by Patrick our newly found taxi driver, the fort was an impressive structure but the views from it more so, Patrick also took us Peacock spotting and then to the 5 * Taj Holiday village for coffee, this is an impressive complex where you do feel a bit special -the coffee was awful though, a far better option was The Cinnabar coffee house on the main drag- impressive Cappuccinos and superb service, we found ourselves here at least once every day.
The main drag is a busy road lined with many restaurants bars and shops -most used was The Elephant shop for exchange and ciggies and Ferns mini-mart which sold most things, the atmosphere on this street was occasionally chaotic with a mix of bikes, motorcycles, cattle and pedestrians combined with buses and taxis all seemingly going different directions but never seeming to hit each other- by the end of day two we were beginning to love the chaos!...
To be continued.... part 3 is markets and spice

glad you've changed- we've been looking at The Phenix Park ourselves -it looks so much better..

We stayed there last year and it was very good, the only problem was that there was a party of 58 staying there and they said they were going again this year so we booked the Victor exotica, which was also good, maybe better for this year. For next year the VE is AI so we looked at the Phoenix but it was a lot dearer for the same two weeks which is why we finished up at the Silver sands. We had a look around and thought it was OK but only saw the bungalows. When we looked on the web the bungalows were only a bit cheaper than the Phoenix , especially when we added in the coist of Air Conditioning but we thought it would be OK till we saw your report
Anyway, wifey is delighted now, so thanks again...................what a great and usefull site this is
del949

For good coffee , try Chocolati which id 2 mind along the road from cinabar bar. Only downside is that it is not open on an evening.called in Cinabar a couple of times, on the first occasion it was 10.40 and we were greeted with " we can only serve you one drink as we close at 11.00".
Didn't seem to apply on other calls though!

del949

Yes it is a great site - I'm delighted we are going to the Phoenix

Hi Del..glad you got the report quick enough to re-book for The Phoenix?

We haven't re-booked yet but want go in Feb too...What date have you booked?

Only asking so I can see you topless ....and of course to meet the lovely Evelyn again

Ann
X

now going on the 6th march, seems to be about £200 cheaper than the week before.
looking forward to seeing you if you make those dates (topless or not! )

del949

stayed at - well booked at the Silver Sands - I think we actually there about 30 minutes. The poor state of the hotel was only matched by the rudeness of Jewell in the Crown when we logged our complaint back in the UK. Was eventually told by the MD himself that "people like me (ie a regular visitior to Goa) should use tour operators and should book independantly!!

I certainly have taken his advice and wouldn't part with any of my hard earned cash to him and have stayed elsewhere ever since.

The Silver Sands was the absolute pits