First Choice - Viva Holiday Village, Can Picafort, Majorca

Felicity

We are thinking about booking this holiday to take our baby away this summer, he will be approx 20 months at the time.

I have done lots of googling and can only find excellent revues on the venue and staff (well apart from one from somebody who was upset about there being too many children and Germans there :rotfl: ).

Before we take the plunge and book I was just wondering if I could get any MSErs comments if you have been.

Also we are thinking of going self catering rather than all inclusive due to the difference in price and most of the reviews are from people who have paid for the all inclusive experience. So thoughts on the self catering element with a 20 month old would be appreciated.

We are inexperienced at travelling with a toddler but this seems like the best complex we have seen for our perceived needs at the time.

Woby_Tide

We've booked for this June with a 4 year old and a 22 month old when we travel on the basis of the reviews. Went to Sa Coma on the back of similar reviews last year when youngest was 14 months and she was fine

Felicity

We too are going in June of this year with a 19 month old and would be interested to hear any recent reviews.

We will all have to wear MSE badges and give each other a funny nod as we pass in the bar!

We are going self catering too as a/ the difference in price was substantial b/ we are hoping to hire a car and tour the island a little c/ we saw a few reviews of watered down beer :eek: and d/ we don't want to come back having put a stone in weight on! :rotfl:

judy2357

Felicity wrote: »

We too are going in June of this year with a 19 month old and would be interested to hear any recent reviews.

We will all have to wear MSE badges and give each other a funny nod as we pass in the bar!

We are going self catering too as a/ the difference in price was substantial b/ we are hoping to hire a car and tour the island a little c/ we saw a few reviews of watered down beer :eek: and d/ we don't
want to come back having put a stone in weight on! :rotfl:

Have been 3 times to Majorca the first was with 2 of my 3 children and my partner to Magaluf/Palma Nova, the second time was just with my partner and my youngest and last year we went alone as the children are now adults but we love it. Self catering is ideal with younger children much less hassle at mealtimes and last July we visited C'an Picafore and it was lovely there is loads to do and a beautiful beach. All along the promenade there are restaurants and shops, its not so lively as Magaluf but theres still plenty to do. We always hire a car and I believe this is even cheaper to do this year. Its worth visiting Palma and for the children they will love Marineland with dolphins seals etc - this is near to Porto Nous which is a beautiful marina with millionnaire type cruisers well worth seeing. Hope this helps

jolenejolene

Hi,

we went to the Viva Holiday Village last June and are going again next week! It was fantastic - brilliant for families with young children as there is loads to do for them. My kids are 3 and 6 this year and we can't wait. They really loved the kids pool with the many little slides. I must say though - it was very expensive locally last year. I would recommend the all Inclusive. Value for money for sure. The meals are good and so too the drinks (good choice - glasses not plastic cups!!). We had a few drinks on bars and snacks when at the beach etc and found it dear.

Not sure how there can be complaints about too may Germans though!! I think the holiday village is only marketed by first Choice in this country? Still plenty of sunbed saving going on though :rotfl:(Don't worry there are plenty!).

We loved it!

Juniper71

I have just been chatting about this place - lovely to hear that you all think it's a good holiday!

Looking to go at the end of June - very last minute :eek:

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on cost for this - how to haggle the best price or what you would advise to be average cost? Am I allowed to ask that here? Sorry - I am a newbie... Not sure if they you can haggle as First Choice are the ones that own them aren't they...

My husband has got fed up with me not booking and worrying so much and he almost booked it this afternoon! I just shouted, wait wait wait - let me check on Money Saving Expert first!

I just cannot make a decision!!!!!!!

Jenni...

jolenejolene

Hi,

from my experience its hard to get 'a deal' to go here. The best price I could get was from the First choice web site. We booked early to get the free child place. If you play around with the dates and airports you might find something - we did. When I looked there was one date that was £500 cheaper than all the others - even the next day or day before and cheaper than other flights on the same day We booked there and then!! Good job. Our friends decided they would come too for that price (we went with them to the Viva last year) but that pricing had gone!!

Like I said though - I think the AI is the way to go. Especially with the exchange rate at the moment.

Hope that helps?

Woby_Tide

Just came back on Tuesday from here. We booked in January and got a reasonable price. When I checked last minute deals nearer the time (wanting to fly from our small regional airport) on our dates the prices were still pretty similar, on a couple of other dates leaving in the next week(with slightly worse flight times) prices were up to £500 cheaper i.e. £1k for 2 adults 1 child 1 infant for AI which was a bargain looking back.

Fab place though. Had a great first visit.

juliakill

We have booked self catering here in August and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if i can book All Inclusive when i get there? If so how much is it for adults and children? Do you have to book it for the whole week or can you do AI just for the odd day?

Thanks

leesub2002

FIRST CHOICE HOLIDAY VILLAGE, COSTA DEL SOL.

I WANTED TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT, Before going we read all the reviews people have left, Don't make the same mistake as us. Read my one it’s all you need!

After reading so many negative reviews we really were not looking forward to it. So that's why I have to write this to say you will have a fantastic time.

I am writing this now just to let you know how much we all enjoyed our holiday and how we all wish we were still there.

This is my advice,

My family and I (Family of five) went here from the 2nd of June for two weeks.

We have three boys 11, 7 and 2.

The hotel is a 15/20 min bus /cab ride from Fuengirola and benalmadena it’s situated in between both towns, and there is a small beach within walking distance. To get to each town it cost us under 6 Euros by bus and under 15 Euros in a cab.

It’s a good walk to the nearest supermarket around 15mins up and down some hills, but there are two good ones a Kwiksave which sells only English produce and a Spanish one which sells a mixture of both. Both are reasonable priced.

DO NOT BUY ANY THING FROM THE SHOP IN THE HOTEL, It’s so overpriced and I know how kids are, but honestly the Shop is a rip off. Fuengirola is a really nice town and they had loads of shop's there and a nice beach. And all that can be found in the hotel shop can be bought here for half the price, I am not a tight wad, but after spending so much on the holiday package I didn’t want to be ripped off, in the hotel.

The hotel itself is clean, always a cleaner on hand to take away your rubbish.

Loads of places to sunbathe and you will have access to the beach club over the road which is a short walk from the hotel, The boat on the advert is over there the beach club had loads of pools and loads to do for the Kids.

Also want to point out how safe you feel, having kids and being in a foreign country is always a worry. Like anywhere at first you are a bit apprehensive. There is a large fence that goes around the complex ( without being ugly) also really there was only two ways in and both are via a good security team who always checked who were coming in. Really felt safe there. Also the pools are really manned well with the lifeguards. A little girl was in trouble not far from where we were playing a lifeguards jumped in and helped her out within seconds. (I know the girl’s parents should have been watching her) but still it only takes a second just wanted to state the lifeguards were really good.

The hotels rooms were nice but could have done will a better maid on our floor.

The food - we were really worried about this - don’t be! Ok there was a lot of fried food, but they also had a large salad bar with pasta and stuff, fresh fish every day and a different menu every night. We thought there was enough choice to keep all of us happy.

This hotel caters for all inclusive, I wouldn’t recommend self catering, if you are it would have easy have cost us (A family of five) 20 Euro for round of soft drink's each and an Ice cream each. But like I have said there are two supermarkets down the road. Because the Hotel is isolated the shop is going the be overpriced, which it is. (Water is really expensive and so was the bread). Also take your own tea bags, coffee, sugar, washing up liquid, sponge, tea towel etc.

The Hotel staff were friendly , helpful and also on hand to help.

This hotel is the flag ship holiday village for First Choice, it’s got to be good!

The First Choice Reps are excellent and always on hand, they all wear bright pink skirts (the guy didn’t by the way) and you often see them walking around to say hello to show their face’s, But with out being to intrusive. We had a few slight problems and they were on hand from early to late and with bend over backwards to help, excellent customer service from a really nice bunch of girls and a guy. Always had time to say hello and make a fuss of our kids!

Right here is the best bit, the reps that run the kids clubs.......WOW

The kids clubs run sessions from 10am to 11pm and cater for all ages and preference’s now these reps work bloody hard, Try and imaging keeping kids happy and entertained for over 12hrs a day.

The clubs run at various time slots. I don’t want to sound like we tried to get rid of ours in the clubs. At first they were reluctant but because the reps were all really nice and friendly it made it easy for our boys to go off a play, and they made us feel at ease to see them all smiling and playing with the kids, children are not stupid and they would know if someone was genuine or not. My boys would not go off with just anyone.

They had the club activities all around the complex and you could see them playing around the pool, they also had activities throughout the day you could join in with your children, and they had stuff for us adults.

Like I have said they really do work really hard to keep our little ones entertained and they did just that, and some of the kids can be real bad, there was a guy who dressed up each day and ran around the pool with loads of kids chasing him, I saw one child kicking him he still was making all the other kids laugh and joking with them and just brushing the little sod off, I know its his job but he was really good with the children I don’t think I would have had the patience with some snotty nosed kids being a pain. We saw his magic act one night on the stage for our entertainment and he was really good and funny. Just Jason I think he called himelf.

The swimming coaches were excellent Anthony and Holly. Really good with the kids I watched Anthony one afternoon teaching my middle son, along with teaching the other kids he was so good with them. Now it can be really scary for the kids to jump in a pool not being able to swim and also being with a with a total stranger. He was so good with them reassuring them and being firm at the same time, and most importantly making sure they were all having fun, the way he was with the kids was great, but both instructors were really excellent.

Now I now want to mention a few of the kids club reps who really made our holiday Kim, Sarah, Jez, Hannah and Woody really made a difference, THANKS!. We were all really gutted to leave and had the best holiday ever.

It was so nice to sit down all together at dinner and let them tell us what they had done in the day. Also every time the reps saw one of our boys they would come over and high five them say hello and have a joke with them. And I hope they enjoyed our kids company as well as our kids enjoyed theirs..

On the back of this holiday I would highly recommend this resort for families with children.

And Its not a holiday I will forget in a while, my middle boy sobbed and didn’t want to come home, and its all thanks to the reps who made them feel welcome and who worked really hard to keep them entertained. Along with the nice food and hot hot sun.


My boys have not stopped talking about it and can’t wait to go back
I will book up again for next year, can’t wait................
If you have any questions I have not mentioned please email me,
Leesub2002@aol.com

juliakill

Hi, this topic is about Holiday village Viva in Majorca - is your review about a different holiday village?