January 31, 2015
Air
Transat/Noli Tours
Re:
Hotel Villa Tortuga
Varadero,
Cuba
and
Air Transat Flights TS750 and TS751
Booking
#15248655
I
am writing you to let you know what my husband and I experienced at
one of your resorts on our recent vacation to Villa Tortuga,Varadero,
Cuba from January 17th to January 24th of 2015.
Our flight (TS750) was late which I understand but on the flight the
service was less than par and worse than anything we have ever
experienced, my husband at one point had asked for a Corona, the
response given was I don't have any, not checking or anything, asking
another flight attendant, all of a sudden there was a corona.
Let
me start by saying this was suppose to be a seven day all inclusive
vacation and with the late arrival we did not get to the resort until
early Sunday morning January 18th. As we arrived at the
resort with approximately 25 other persons we were met by only one
over worked front desk agent who dealt with a long line of check ins.
We were assigned a room that was adequate at best, light fixture
above the tv was broken and one light in the washroom was burnt out
our entire stay, despite asking it to be changed three times. Closet
doors that did not open and fell off the tracks every time we tried
to open or close them. Also no bottle of water in the room which we
had to ask for and never received, we purchased our own at the resort
store!
Our
room number was 2107 and kept clean but the smell from the petroleum
plant in our room caused a headache daily which did not help when
dealing with some of the nasty staff at the resort.
The
second of our experiences was with the 24 hour lobby bar and its
bartender who was at best the worst experience of our entire
vacation. Frank was his name and the first night we arrived he was
busy but the man would hardly wait on anyone and stood there half the
time with his arms crossed and making people wait, at one point and
time he actually just left the bar for about 20 minutes. We got to
meet Frank again on the Wednesday January 21st of our
vacation and we were meeting another couple for drinks before dinner,
the bar was empty, I stood in line behind a young lady and there was
another gentleman that walked up to the bar. The bartender Frank went
to wait on the gentleman first, I told him no, the lady was here
first and then me and then the other gentleman, who agreed with me.
Frank the bartender then crossed his arms and would not wait on any
of us. I went to the front desk and asked to speak with a manager of
Villa Totuga resort and filed a complaint about Frank the bartender,
while doing so, he stood at the bar, arms crossed and making everyone
wait, and then as I faced the bar and the manager back to the bar,
frank proceeded to give me the finger. This was totally unacceptable
to me and saw by others and quite frankly put a huge damper on the
rest of our vacation. I had to go and complain again the next morning
to our hotel rep, Kenia, who was amazing. We received a letter and a
dinner from the ala cart restaurant which we were entitled to begin
with and this was there answer and as we called it, at least it was a
gesture! I feel so much more could have been done to resolve this
matter.
The
resort was very clean and for the most part as advertised, except
there is not 2 ala cart restaurants and not 4 restaurants at all.
There is a buffet restaurant and one ala cart restaurant which
alternates its food between Italian and international on different
nights. The snack bar was not really snacks and pretty bad, closed
during meal times and ran out of the sandwiches they served on half
the days we were there.
Nothing
in this resort resembled the pictures shown except for the pool,
certain bars were never open when supposed to be and the food was
very repetitive and at best warm on the buffet. The steam table
rarely worked or seemed to and service in both restaurants was far
below good. Most days and nights tables were not set that we sat at
and drinks took forever to get at dinner and lunch.
The
beach chairs were not often available and when they were they were
often broken and not useable at all. Toilet paper was a luxury if you
could find it all in any of the public washrooms, most days we had to
go back to the room to use the washroom at least we knew that
washroom was clean, public ones were rarely cleaned at all.
I
feel the service at the resort was mediocre at best, with staff just
there to do a job and expecting tips for nothing at all, we tip when
deserved and tip well. On our last day there Saturday January 24th
we had to check out of our room at 12 noon and did not catch our bus
to the airport until 6pm. According to my calculations we paid for a
seven excursion with your company and did not check into our room at
the resort until early January 18th and should have been
allowed to stay in our room until our departure at least.
To
end our vacation with Air Transat our flight was late by two hours
departing Varadero to Toronto(flight TS751). There was no explanation
as to why ever! At least the flight crew on the way home were
accommodating and helpful.
All
and all I have to say my first experience with Air Transat was not
good at all and I would not recommend your company to anyone. I have
also added this to my facebook and my personal blog and talked to
friends of ours who work within the media about your services and
your resorts which are so falsely advertised. I do believe that a
good 90% of the persons on our bus also complained at the hotel
resort and their services. I will also be forwarding a copy of this
to Consumer and Cooperate Affairs for the false advertising of the
resort we visited. We will never use Air transat again.
Thank
you
