Hello Heather,
I left Dora the day you arrived. I would be interested to hear of your opinions compared to mine (see reports I did in the Article System for Dora and a few tavernas).
Two weeks before your transfer from hell (12/5/09, and I suspect from the same Gatwick 9am flight) we were in Plakias in 1 hour 45 mins with a non-stop transfer. Returning on 26/5 it was over 3 hours via Rethymnon and Bali but not as bad as yours. Having said that I agree with you that the memory soon fades as the pleasures of Plakias fill your brain. And you had €180 to spend that would otherwise be in a taxi driver's back pocket! Apparently Olympic contract out the whole of the tranfer process from the airport to Plakias to Monza travel. That doesn't absolve them from the responsibilty but maybe explains their reluctance to address the issue. As with most things it boils down to money I guess.
Only negative to report is that The Troll returned during your absence but most took the advice not to feed him.
Mike
Hello Mike,
I have stayed with Dora on and off for 13 years and although most accommodation has improved with the times , Dora Studios has not. A kettle has appeared in the last 2 years. I am a single traveller and am getting used to being given crap rooms and broom cupboards and the like and this year was no exception. I was given room 7.
The worst possible room at Dora's , first on the left as you enter up the steps.
The minute Sandy gave me my room number I asked to change. These are the excuses I was given :- 1) It is full.
2) The allocation is out of our (whose?) hands.
3) It is the luck of the draw. ( No it is not.)
4) Ask the owner next Tuesday.
And more along those petty lines.
Dora was not full. Rooms 8 and 9 were empty for my first week and a single male occupied 9 for one week only.. He left early morning on the same day that I did. He also provided all corridor users with diverting entertainment as he spent most of his time lying on one of the beds , stark naked and with his corridor door wide open. What was that about
?
My balcony was very, very far from private . One lady accused me of startling her as she had not at first seen me sitting on my balcony and I made her jump. I am not often lost for words but I just drank some more wine and ignored her. She glared at me for the next 10 days.
Towels and sheets are fine at Dora , always have been - but the daily rubbish is not being collected any more and the ouside waste bin just by my balcony was filled quickly as people cottoned on to this. This bin soon began to smell and I bought some air freshener and squirted the bin each day so my balcony was fit to sit out on in the evening. The shower drain in room 7 is at the end of the line at Dora's and stank to high heaven if I closed the door. (Utilised air freshener again)
Shall I go on?. I recall somebody on the forum remarking that 'this is not the 1960's'.
Olympic , their reps., and accommodation owners take note. These things have always been a problem at Dora's so absolutely no improvement there .
As for Monza travel,we are all aware that the British visitors to Plakias are given third class treatment. Monza should never be left unsupervised to just get on with it. They need checking up upon frequently by an impartial third party. The German tour operators do so.
I do not look upon the £180 taxi fare as money in my pocket. I have already paid for my transfer and indeed a single supplement on everything else to Olympic holidays. It does seem to me after all this time that Olympic are taking the mick.
Looked at the Forum fairly often while away and I had certainly noticed the return of the troll. Maybe my posting re- my Peonies will give you a clue. The last paragraph.
Am now coming up to the time of year to look at booking next years Plakias trip. Olympic have become complacent inasmuch as they are now the only package tour operators group from the UK. So sub-standard customer service and accommodation are of no concern to them. If we don't like it we can lump it. At least myself on a .
retirement pension and shrinking income just cannot go the independent route that we always did. I now have no choices left.
Incidentally , KC's also treat single females shabbily .I have been palmed off with the cleaning cupboard and the room above it at the top of the stairs over the last few years. That time I threw rather a loud wobbly at the crowded bar and was moved to the kind of good decent room for which I had paid.
I am already wracking my brains as to how I can do Plakias independently next year. I wish to go for 3 weeks but Olympic will not quote me as they say 'we don't know how the room availability will pan out' That kind of newspeak gets up my nose. I am tempted to say sod'em but I wish to holiday in Plakias in the summer. I never ,ever have this trouble booking winter sun breaks as no one operator has the monopoly as Olympic does.
I'm off now to dead head my flowers before I blow a fuse.
Cheers me dears,
Heather
