We were contacted twice by Thomson in the week prior to our departure to advise us that our hotel would not have the services of a resort representative. I was asked on each occasion if I had an issue with this.
My repeated concern to each caller was that our evening arrival time in Mahon meant we would be collecting our hire car in probable darkness. I was assured that if we had any problems as a result, we could contact their UK based HolidayLine team.
After retrieving our luggage, We approached the group of Thomson representatives on duty. I was somewhat alarmed that they gave us no help or could provide any directions to our accommodation. In our opinion they displayed no duty of care whatsoever. We were simply pointed towards the Europcar desk and basically told to sort ourselves out. We have never received such a shoddy welcome.
The drive from the airport began in fading light and ended in Ciutadella in virtual darkness amidst standing traffic and Friday night’s hustle and bustle. After asking several people, who unfortunately spoke little or no English for directions, we drove around aimlessly for a considerable length of time before stumbling upon our hotel, an hour and thirty five minutes after leaving the airport, more by luck than good judgement.
As the hotel is on a one way street, we circled it a few times before eventually finding somewhere to park the car. This resulted in a 5 minute walk dragging the cases through the surrounding streets.
We soon settled in and found the hotel spotlessly clean and all the staff were very pleasant and helpful. We booked B&B but were offered a 3 night deal for half board at 14 Euros each per night which we booked and subsequent repeated for a further 3 nights. We virtually had the restaurant to ourselves as we dined just after 7 o'clock but it became more lively towards 8 o'clock. The food was varied each night but there were some regular items on the buffet. There was also some show cooking on offer where you could have your meat or fish cooked to your liking.
There is a pleasant promenade that allows you to walk into the centre of Ciutadella which we did a few times. There are many places to see, shop and eat at in the old town.
There was the usual towels on the sunbed syndrome and there weren't sufficient of them to go round so we never had any time by the pool in our week stay.
Lunch in the bar was cool and relaxing an reasonably priced too.
Once we got the lie of the land, we spent the week exploring the island and navigated our way back to the hotel with ease - in daylight!
We had been initially told that a hire car was mandatory, which we put to good use, but we were slightly annoyed when we found out that there was an airport transfer for Thomson clients on our flight.
- Port Ciutadella Ciudadela
- Port Ciutadella Hotel
- Hotel Port Ciutadella
