Richard Hilditch
2/5
The Sorrento tour in October was my first holiday with Go Singles, although I have previously travelled with other singles holiday providers, as well as doing a lot of independent travel on my own. My relationship with Go Singles did not get off to a good start. I had booked to go earlier in October to Lake Garda, where I’d been several times before, purely on the back of there being an optional excursion to Verona, which their website said would include a ticket to an opera performance at the Arena. This was very much on my bucket list. So I was not best pleased to discover, close to the date of the holiday, that there was still a trip to Verona on offer, but no ticket to the opera. A check on the Verona Arena website revealed there was not due to be any opera in the week of the holiday.
I therefore took this up with the company. It was too late to cancel the holiday without penalty, and a refund wasn’t on offer, so I agreed to go on the trip to Sorrento instead, having been there before and liked it, so all seemed promising.
It also seemed there were some interesting excursions on offer on the Sorrento tour. The optional ones were to Capri, Pompeii, Naples and Ischia. When I looked at the tour to Sorrento on the Go Singles website, it seemed to suggest that the day trip to the Amalfi Coast was included. As it happened, it wasn’t included – you had to pay extra – and the excursions to Naples and Ischia weren’t offered by the local Go Singles representative, only those to Capri, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. Although the local rep did say the Naples and Ischia trips could be organised for me, but they would be separate from the group with independent providers. That wasn’t what I wanted. I felt there was a clear pattern emerging, of excursions mentioned on the website either not being offered, not being included, or missing a key element, like the opera ticket mentioned above.
The holiday itself was quite mixed. The Hotel La Meridiana is modern, and my room was clean and comfortable, with a stunning view across the Bay of Naples. The staff were lovely, but the food was quite poor, the evening meals being of average quality at best. The group decided twice to go out to eat in the evening, even though the evening meals in the hotel were already paid for.
On the upside, tour leader Terry Lazenby was one of the best I’ve come across over a number of singles holidays. Terry is a good organiser, a good communicator, made sure everyone was happy, and found some great places to eat and drink in Sorrento. He also listened to my gripes and undertook to try to ensure things are improved in future.
There was a final downside; for the return journey to Naples Airport from the hotel only one minibus taxi was made available, even though those of us flying back to Manchester, were on a later flight than those flying to Gatwick. This meant that the three of us on the Manchester flight were way too early to check in for our flight. Spending the thick end of five hours at Naples Airport is not my idea of a fun time. The local rep did offer to put on a second taxi, but this would have been at extra cost, which wasn’t acceptable. Terry did try to resolve this, but without success.
Go Singles need to up their game, most notably by not offering things on their website that don’t materialise. This is at best misleading. The decision to only provide one taxi back to Naples Airport created a strong impression of penny-pinching. Regarding the hotel, I would stay at La Meridiana again, but not on a half board basis. If Go Singles continue to use it, I suggest there needs to be a conversation with the hotel about the quality of the evening meals. I note that in correspondence with me and on earlier visits to the website it was billed as four star, but now it’s showing as only three, which feels more accurate.
I’m sorry to provide a negative review, but I hope Go Singles can learn from this. The location is lovely and the hotel is not without a certain charm. And I’m confident Terry will give it his best shot to try to improve things.
