The Youngs do Sandos Papagayo in Playa Blanca - Day 1

Guest · 27 Mar 16, 04:25 PM

Day 1

Arrived at Newcastle airport at about 7.30 after a mad rush to get up and ready. The better half thought that it was a good idea to set the alarm at 6.30 today seen as we were all packed the night before. Ha all I can say is famous last words.

Me & the bairn were literally sitting on the suitcases shouting up the stairs 'are you ready yet' for what seemed like forever. Turns out he hadn't had a shave or shaved his chest which he said was a necessity! Men eh! They say women take an age to get ready!

Arrived at the airport & all checked in rather quickly really & off we went through to departures. Now after a ridiculous amount of perfume & aftershaves given at Christmas & the fact this trip was all inclusive we figured we didn't need any duty frees & did what most other Geordies seemed to be doing - headed to the bar.

The hubby & the bairn grabbed a seat & I headed to the bar & after being served by the grumpiest barmaid ever in the world I nearly fainted when she asked for 11 quid for 1 pint & a 1/2 of beer & a diet coke. Now I know we are all headed on holiday & in the holiday spirit but come on that's just astronomical & ripping people off. They should be ashamed of themselves. Rant over!

Now I should of said at the beginning that I only booked this trip last Saturday so that was the only reason I booked a Thomas Cook holiday as I am not a keen lover if them ( you will see why shortly).

Anyway ( sorry i tend to wander off) the wait didn't seem that long really & we were soon headed to our little Thomas cook plane for our 9.45 flight to Lanzarote.

Well we climb aboard & the bairn heads the way to find our allocated seats & he finds them of course & he looks up at his dad & his dad looks at me & I look at his dad & he looks at the bairn ( you get the picture) & we all say 'yep I now remember why we don't Thomas Cook it' as they say in the advert.

Seriously we are not tall people, my hubby is about 5'11 & I'm just a measly 5'4ish & so is the bairn nearly ( I know I say bairn & he is only 10 but believe me he's gonna be tall but he will always be my bairn). Anyway sitting in those seats even my knees are touching the seat in front so I feel so sorry for anyone taller than my little self!

Ok I say lets just make the most of it we are going on holiday & this is just a short part of the journey. So we take off & what a bonus the captain says we will arrive 20 mins earlier than expected. Yay!

We entertain ourselves with the iPad, phones & laptop until dinner arrives. Choice was chicken tikka or beef so hubby takes chicken I take beef & ask for the kids meal I ordered at the travel agent. Oh I'm sorry you haven't ordered one said the steward, oh yes I did I replied, ok well we don't have you down & we have no spare so he will have to have chicken or beef. Can I just say this exact thing happened 4 years ago when we went through Thomas cook to Greece. Another reason why we don't Thomas Cook it.

So we ate the just edible plane food & entertained ourselves for the rest of the journey & we touched down 20 min early as the captain had said. Yay! Let me just say it may well have been a one off I don't know but we whizzed through customs & Arrecife airport & had our bags in no time.

Next job was find a rep & to the coach. We eventually see the Thomas Cook reps, all 2 of them that were helping anyone, the guy said follow the path right round & go to bay 57. Well we did as was told & walked to bay 57 & waited & waited. My hubby the typical bloke was like - are you sure he said bay 57. Yes I'm not bloody stupid he definately said 57. Well after waiting a little longer I figure we need to find another rep but hey ho no not another rep in site anywhere so we start the trek back & about half way see a first choice rep willing to help. Oh yeah you should be at 67 as I'm getting evil daggers from hubby & child we go to the correct bay as I'm protesting the the moronic rep in the airport told me 57. I'm sorry I'm not a stupid person so once again this is why we don't Thomas Cook it. Do you see a pattern emerging here!

We get to a relatively small mini bus with a collection of people who are surely all giving me what I think are evil glares for holding them up. If you are any if those people reading this- I am genuinely sorry but the guy did day 57 ha!

Anyway the coach drive is about 30 mins & we pull up outside the Sandos Papagayo Resort & woohoo Thomas Cook all is forgiven it looks beautiful.

The boys grab the cases & I go to check in. Now we go on holiday normally at least twice a year & the lady that checked us in was perhaps the friendliest receptionist that I have come across in Europe. Full of smiles,so nice & helpful. We had upgraded to the Royal Elite Service & she explained well how it worked & where we needed to go as we drank 2 glasses of lovely cold cava. Ahh bliss!

So maps & keys in hand we head to our room in block b, room 318. All I can say is Wow. Our room was spacious with plenty of wardrobe space & with the most spectacular sea view that would take any breath away.

Waiting for us in the room was a cold bottle of cava on ice which we figured we would drink later on our new big balcony.

The bairn was dying to go to the pool so I rummaged through our case to find some swimwear for us all & off we went. Now there are 3 main pools to choose from & after several hours on Trip Advisor I knew we needed to head to the heated one which wasn't hard to find. It was obviously the one with all the people around it ha!

So we chilled at the pool for a bit & we just took in the atmosphere & surroundings we were in really before returning to the room & watch the sunset from the balcony with a glass or two of the nice cold cava that was left in the room earlier. Yep sheer bliss!

So we showered & decided to explore the hotel a bit & eat in the international buffet for tea & we were really pleased with the selection of food on offer & for just once the bairn found plenty of food that he liked & even managed seconds ( I have one of the fussiest children in the world & I have no idea where he gets it from because me & his dad will eat anything)

We then decided to go hunt out the Royal Elite lounge to see what we had paid for.

Well if you are contemplating it & humming & harring I would definitely recommend it as we so far are really pleased. Don't get me wrong the hotel is fabulous without it too as the local spirits that are in the bars are fine but when you go to the lounge you have a free bar basically that you help yourself too if you have upgraded. There is Baileys,Tia Maria, Malibu,Smirnoff, Beefeater Gin, Jim Beam,Single Malts,red wine,white wine,cava to name just a few & we felt like we were in heaven ( we are by no means plonkys but I tell you something we are hardened Geordies haha,we will get our money's worth- we are on a mission )

anniee · 15 Oct 16, 04:47 PM

Did a search for your hotel and found your report. We are thinking of booking here for February and I can't decide whether to book Royal Elite or not. What do you think in terms of �� the upgrade is worth?

27 Mar 16, 04:25 PM	#1
	27 Mar 16, 04:25 PM Guest Guest
Guest Guest	The Youngs do Sandos Papagayo in Playa Blanca - Day 1 Day 1 Arrived at Newcastle airport at about 7.30 after a mad rush to get up and ready. The better half thought that it was a good idea to set the alarm at 6.30 today seen as we were all packed the night before. Ha all I can say is famous last words. Me & the bairn were literally sitting on the suitcases shouting up the stairs 'are you ready yet' for what seemed like forever. Turns out he hadn't had a shave or shaved his chest which he said was a necessity! Men eh! They say women take an age to get ready! Arrived at the airport & all checked in rather quickly really & off we went through to departures. Now after a ridiculous amount of perfume & aftershaves given at Christmas & the fact this trip was all inclusive we figured we didn't need any duty frees & did what most other Geordies seemed to be doing - headed to the bar. The hubby & the bairn grabbed a seat & I headed to the bar & after being served by the grumpiest barmaid ever in the world I nearly fainted when she asked for 11 quid for 1 pint & a 1/2 of beer & a diet coke. Now I know we are all headed on holiday & in the holiday spirit but come on that's just astronomical & ripping people off. They should be ashamed of themselves. Rant over! Now I should of said at the beginning that I only booked this trip last Saturday so that was the only reason I booked a Thomas Cook holiday as I am not a keen lover if them ( you will see why shortly). Anyway ( sorry i tend to wander off) the wait didn't seem that long really & we were soon headed to our little Thomas cook plane for our 9.45 flight to Lanzarote. Well we climb aboard & the bairn heads the way to find our allocated seats & he finds them of course & he looks up at his dad & his dad looks at me & I look at his dad & he looks at the bairn ( you get the picture) & we all say 'yep I now remember why we don't Thomas Cook it' as they say in the advert. Seriously we are not tall people, my hubby is about 5'11 & I'm just a measly 5'4ish & so is the bairn nearly ( I know I say bairn & he is only 10 but believe me he's gonna be tall but he will always be my bairn). Anyway sitting in those seats even my knees are touching the seat in front so I feel so sorry for anyone taller than my little self! Ok I say lets just make the most of it we are going on holiday & this is just a short part of the journey. So we take off & what a bonus the captain says we will arrive 20 mins earlier than expected. Yay! We entertain ourselves with the iPad, phones & laptop until dinner arrives. Choice was chicken tikka or beef so hubby takes chicken I take beef & ask for the kids meal I ordered at the travel agent. Oh I'm sorry you haven't ordered one said the steward, oh yes I did I replied, ok well we don't have you down & we have no spare so he will have to have chicken or beef. Can I just say this exact thing happened 4 years ago when we went through Thomas cook to Greece. Another reason why we don't Thomas Cook it. So we ate the just edible plane food & entertained ourselves for the rest of the journey & we touched down 20 min early as the captain had said. Yay! Let me just say it may well have been a one off I don't know but we whizzed through customs & Arrecife airport & had our bags in no time. Next job was find a rep & to the coach. We eventually see the Thomas Cook reps, all 2 of them that were helping anyone, the guy said follow the path right round & go to bay 57. Well we did as was told & walked to bay 57 & waited & waited. My hubby the typical bloke was like - are you sure he said bay 57. Yes I'm not bloody stupid he definately said 57. Well after waiting a little longer I figure we need to find another rep but hey ho no not another rep in site anywhere so we start the trek back & about half way see a first choice rep willing to help. Oh yeah you should be at 67 as I'm getting evil daggers from hubby & child we go to the correct bay as I'm protesting the the moronic rep in the airport told me 57. I'm sorry I'm not a stupid person so once again this is why we don't Thomas Cook it. Do you see a pattern emerging here! We get to a relatively small mini bus with a collection of people who are surely all giving me what I think are evil glares for holding them up. If you are any if those people reading this- I am genuinely sorry but the guy did day 57 ha! Anyway the coach drive is about 30 mins & we pull up outside the Sandos Papagayo Resort & woohoo Thomas Cook all is forgiven it looks beautiful. The boys grab the cases & I go to check in. Now we go on holiday normally at least twice a year & the lady that checked us in was perhaps the friendliest receptionist that I have come across in Europe. Full of smiles,so nice & helpful. We had upgraded to the Royal Elite Service & she explained well how it worked & where we needed to go as we drank 2 glasses of lovely cold cava. Ahh bliss! So maps & keys in hand we head to our room in block b, room 318. All I can say is Wow. Our room was spacious with plenty of wardrobe space & with the most spectacular sea view that would take any breath away. Waiting for us in the room was a cold bottle of cava on ice which we figured we would drink later on our new big balcony. The bairn was dying to go to the pool so I rummaged through our case to find some swimwear for us all & off we went. Now there are 3 main pools to choose from & after several hours on Trip Advisor I knew we needed to head to the heated one which wasn't hard to find. It was obviously the one with all the people around it ha! So we chilled at the pool for a bit & we just took in the atmosphere & surroundings we were in really before returning to the room & watch the sunset from the balcony with a glass or two of the nice cold cava that was left in the room earlier. Yep sheer bliss! So we showered & decided to explore the hotel a bit & eat in the international buffet for tea & we were really pleased with the selection of food on offer & for just once the bairn found plenty of food that he liked & even managed seconds ( I have one of the fussiest children in the world & I have no idea where he gets it from because me & his dad will eat anything) We then decided to go hunt out the Royal Elite lounge to see what we had paid for. Well if you are contemplating it & humming & harring I would definitely recommend it as we so far are really pleased. Don't get me wrong the hotel is fabulous without it too as the local spirits that are in the bars are fine but when you go to the lounge you have a free bar basically that you help yourself too if you have upgraded. There is Baileys,Tia Maria, Malibu,Smirnoff, Beefeater Gin, Jim Beam,Single Malts,red wine,white wine,cava to name just a few & we felt like we were in heaven ( we are by no means plonkys but I tell you something we are hardened Geordies haha,we will get our money's worth- we are on a mission )