Just got back from Phuket!!!

Hi all,

Firstly i would just like to say thankyou to all you lovelies out there who helps us so much in our planning of our holiday to Phuket.

Well firstly flew from Sydney to Phuket with Jetstar (thanks to the nice cheap fares) and must say it was a great trip, smooth flight, good service can%26#39;t complain at all, trip back was great too except it was an overnighter and i couldn%26#39;t sleep at all. (no fault of jetstar though).

We stayed in Phuket from the 11th-25th April and had a fabulous time with my main complaint being the weather...........OH my God it was sooooo hot and humid. Being unbearable at times!! We would love to go back but never again in April.

Stayed at the Holiday Inn in the main wing and it was a beautiful hotel. Excellent location and great service and room was very clean. We didn%26#39;t use the pool in the main wing, we found the other pool much more inviting so used that one. Never had a problem finding a deck chair either.

Second week we stayed at the Horizon Karon Resort and Spa which i found very ordinary indeed. To be honest i didn%26#39;t like it at all. Firstly the lobby wasn%26#39;t airconditioned and we were left sitting there for almost 1 and a half hours till one of our rooms was ready, the second interconnecting room wasn%26#39;t ready till almost 8pm which we were pretty peeved at but fortunately we had one room for the 4 of us till then. The room imo was dirty with dirty curtains (obvious dirty hand marks including food stuck on them) and the bathroom walls were filthy. Tiles were missing grout and some were cracked. It also had a shower curtain (my pet hate). Other people liked this place so this is just our opinion. Maybe we got the dud rooms who knows! Oh and only once was the room ever made up before 2pm even though the ';make my room'; button was on since around 8am.

The food here was Ok but nothing to rave about and the pool edging and rock features had way too much mould for my liking. Needed a good scrub!! A pool to keep your head above the water if not just for the mould but also the cemicals were way too strong. Karon and its beach are really nice, much quieter than Patong. Still the same shops and all but seemed a little more ';up market'; or organised maybe.

After the 4th night here guests were offered to move hotels to Gracelands in Patong (must have double booked the rooms and tried to make way for the coming guests) so we jumped at the chance to move. It included free transfers, 1 hour thai massage each, free dinner for one night and an upgrade to a mini suite (thanks to Sandy and John for requesting the fantastic rooms we got for us).

The Gracelands hotel was just beautiful. The rooms were lovely and pool, service and food at this resort was all 5 star. We were very very happy with this hotel.

Tours we did were Siam Sea Canoe, this was a great trip to the hongs and James Bond Island (very dissapointed with JB Island, nothing there except very greedy and pushy stall owners. The scenery is lovely but so are many other places.

Whitewater rafting, elephant trekking, water fall walk, monkey show, full day trip with Island Safari%26#39;s - well organised, good clean transport. Great day very enjoyable.

Full day trip with Mr Sam. Well he is a true gentleman and very helpful and informative. We learnt and seen so much with him and had a fantastic day. He drove a late model car which was a little cramped for the 4 of us as my kids are adult size but at least it had good airconditioning.

Trip to Phuket town - mmmm Ok but wouldn%26#39;t do that again. Much better shopping at the markets in Patong. Nice to look at dept stores and also the air conditioning was a real relief since it was so hot the day we went there.

Friday night with Richard and the fantastic TA members. This was a fabulous night out and Thanks to Richard and Meguami for a great night. We met some really lovely people there and the BBQ dinner was just awsome.

Songkran with Richard - This was our highlight of our trip. It was fantastic and we all had an excellent day out. Thanks again Richard!! Met more TA%26#39;ers on this day too.

We did plenty of shopping with most items bought at the o-top markets in Patong and shops across from the beach on Beach Rd. We came home with around 50 t-shirts, 200 DVD%26#39;s, board shorts and sarongs. I took a copy of Cathy%26#39;s shopping prices list which was a fantastic help.....Thanks Cathy!!

Well all in all we had a fabulous holiday in a fantastic place, met lovely people, sweated more than ever before, risked our lives every time we got in a tuk-tuk or crossed the street, loved the boxing advertising truck and the ';toooonight'; it was saying, was shocked just a little by bangla road and ate far too much of the delicious thai food.

A FANTASTIC HOLIDAY WE HAD AND HOPE TO GO BACK SOMEDAY!!

Annette %26amp; Peter xx

Just got back from Phuket!!!

Good to hear you enjoyed your trip!!

Your experience at the Horizon Karon sounds awful, hopefully (although it would be unfortunate for you) it%26#39;s not always like that, maybe it was just a bad week for them?

I%26#39;m getting sooo excited now...6 sleeps!! :-O :-O :-O!!

Just got back from Phuket!!!

Glad to hear you had good holiday. Lucky you getting the hotel transfer. We generally go in June when it isn%26#39;t so hot also being the low season you can stop longer for the same price. Richard and Megumi are fabulous people aren%26#39;t they. Don%26#39;t worry once you%26#39;ve been you will always want to return. Bez

Hi Annette,

You are a good girl, posting your trip report already. Glad you liked Gracelands, we had a look at Sandy %26amp; John%26#39;s room and I would stay there, should we stay in Patong again. I can%26#39;t believe how hot it was in April, I%26#39;m sure if we go again we will choose June or July, better value and cooler weather.

Lovely to have met all of you and spent some interesting times together.

Lee xx

Hi Nett %26amp; Pete,

Great honest review. Its good to get a balanced overview of the pro%26#39;s %26amp; cons even if it is from a personal viewpoint or experience. I%26#39;m sad to hear that the Horizon Karon wasnt up to standard.

We are staying there for 7 days in June so i hope its like emmidub says, just a bad week.

Regardless, I%26#39;m looking forward to our trip... Looking forward to meeting up with Phuket T/A travellers in June.

Warren

Hi there Annette and Peter,

Loved your report , what a fantastic holiday, though shame about the Horizon Karon. Glad my price list helped a bit, had the prices changed much and what sort of prices did you pay?

Now its time for you to start planning the next trip

Cathy

Hi Annette and Peter.

Great JBR. I too am taking a copy of Cthys shopping list prices, thanks Cathy.

Thanks for all the hints and advise. We leave in 12 night. Yahoo.

%26#39;Wendy

Thanks for the comments all!!

Wendy,

Have a fantastic time there...your 12 days wait will fly by! ENJOY!

Warren,

I too hope it was just a bad room we got. I%26#39;m sure you will have a great time anyway. This was just our opinions and unfortunately we have been spoilt with nice accommodation on previous holidays so were quite disapointed with Horizon Karon. A bit of maintenance on the place would certainly see it looking much better.

Cathy,

Yes your price list was pretty much spot on. We paid 150 baht for t-shirts, 300-350 for board shorts 60 bath for DVD%26#39;s 100 baht for sarongs. These were our main purchases. Thanks again Cathy.

Annette

Great report. Just a question about interconnecting rooms at the horizon. We will be there in july with two kids (ages 4+6) and have booked inconnecting rooms, but have been told (by the resort manager) that they will not confirm these rooms until we arrive.

Was this the case with your rooms, or were you able to confirm before arriving? We would hate to arrive to find that only two seperate rooms were avaliable, or to share one room with two kids for 14 days (we need a little space!!) after paying for two!

thanks gav

Hi Annette, thanks for your report, and thanks for the bit about the Horizon Karon. We are staying here in October so I hope things sort themselves out by then or they start cleaning!!! Glad you enjoyed yourself.

HI Gav,

We booked 2 interconnecting rooms with our travel agent but they could not guarantee this until checkin time. I did email the hotel a few days prior to ask for a confirmation re this but never got a reply.

We did however get our requested interconnecting rooms being one king size bed in one and the other had 2 double beds in it.

Only the double bed room was ready after a long hot wait in their non airconditioned lobby then the other room was ready around 8pm.

I do hope you have a nicer room than ours but by all means ask to be moved if it is not that great. The hotel was fully booked when we were there so we were unable to be moved.

I am sure you will have a fantastic time there and don%26#39;t forget to look out for the phone at the taxi stand at the bottom of the hill to get a tuk tuk to come and pick you up from the bottom as the hill to the resort is pretty steep especially in the hot weather and after hours of walking and shopping.

Annette