Canto Del Sol Reviews

Well where do I begin. After much deliberation we decided to book a holiday at the Canto Del Sol in Puerto Vallarta with First Choice.

As it was a long haul flight and having read some holiday reviews we decided to upgrade to Premier Class but only if we were guaranteed to be sat together. I phoned the number in the brochure and asked the girl ";will we definitely be sat together because if not then we won't bother upgrading";, she said ";there are still plenty of seats available so you will be sat together, however you might be one on either side of the aisle"; we agreed this would be fine and made the booking. On arriving at check-in the night before the girl said ";you do know you're not together don't you";, she showed us the layout on her computer screen. We were fuming as we were sat one behind the other, so spent a 14 hour journey almost in compete silence as it was not possible to turn round to chat, we couldn't interact with each other on the games - complete nightmare journey. Yes the seats have plenty of legroom but the ones in normal class also have plenty of space. The food was nothing out of the ordinary, chicken, beef or pasta and you have to give first and second choice as they tend to ";run out"; of things, normal class had a choice of chicken or beef. The only reason I would recommend Premier Class if you like a lot of alcohol to drink as this is free well that is until it ";runs out";!! My opinion is save your money for something worthwhile!!

On arriving at the hotel at 9.30, first impressions were good, entrance hall nice, staff really friendly, checked in and at our room in approx 15 mins, room seemed a bit dirty and dingy but it was night time, we unpacked and went for a wander around, everything seemed OK. We woke up early 6.30ish and decided to go for early breakfast and then find some beds and go for a walk on the beach hahahah despite there being big notices everywhere telling people not to reserve beds, they all had towels, books or papers on them, we had to take 2 that were in the shade until about 3 in the afternoon, that was our first disappointment, we learnt that if you didn't have a bed by 8am you stood no chance even though some people didn't turn up until 5pm it was diabolical.

We went in for breakfast uck disgusting, fried beans (re-fried beans by the end of the week), chilli beef, soggy bread, luckily you had a choice of cereal or fresh cooked eggs, we stuck to the fresh cooked eggs, toast and cereal and we were soon to discover that breakfast was actually the best meal of the day!!! If you are fussy about food and like it plain then definitely stay away from the Canto Del Sol. When you arrive - depending on the length of your stay - you are given vouchers for the A-La-Carte restaurant, we ate at 2 of them, the Steakhouse, the food seemed OK but I was actually ill for 2 days after that meal. The Italian (in Villas Vallarta) was really nice and I would recommend this restaurant. We gave the 3rd one a miss.

Once we had settled in we realised we had made a big mistake going to the Canto Del Sol, it was overrun with rude, obnoxious Americans and Canadians, they were loud and uncouth, they treated the staff like personal skivvies, 'bring this, bring me that, I want ex amount of eggs cooked this way', they obviously don't teach manners in their countries as there were none used, no please, no thank you. They put their sun beds in other peoples spaces and didn't like it when they were asked to move. Screaming in corridors at 3.00am, banging doors - absolutely appalling - the staff said they would deal with the problem or they would throw them out, luckily the warning did the trick (on that occasion). On Sat 10th March, students arrived by the coach load, well the hotel changed completely and everything was then geared up to suit beer swilling, dirty mouthed students, we were woken at 2.00am, 4.00am, just what you want on a ";nice relaxing holiday - NOT";. we were so glad that we only had 3 nights left. Canto Del Sol - Puerto Vallarta - NEVER AGAIN!!

On the plus side : Sandra D the First Choice rep was excellent, friendly and very helpful.

The trips she told us about with Vallarta Adventures I would highly recommend, they are worth every single penny. We went to Yelapa, Marietas, Las Caletas and we also did the Dolphin and Seal Lion Adventures out in Nuevo Vallarta. On the trip to Marietas we were lucky enough to see the Humpback Whales and Wild Dolphins it was awesome and something I won't forget in a long time. Swimming with the Dolphins and Sea Lions is great fun and we were in with the dolphins for approx 50 mins and sea lions abt 35, you have to do this it's a fantastic experience. We wanted to snorkel at Las Caletas as there were some lovely fish in the water but unfortunately it was overrun with jelly fish and even though the reps said they were harmless, 3 people from my group got stung so we decided not to bother.

Despite the downside we did have a good holiday but we certainly WON'T be returning, not because of the hotel or staff but because of the Americans and Canadians, it would have been quieter and more relaxing on a tacky 18-30 holiday in Spain!!!