Questions for others who've been - please answer

[treble]

1, Which tour op?
2. Accommodation?
3. Where did the transfer bus drop you/pick you up?
4. How did you & your luggage get between the bus & your accommodation?
5. Where was your ski hire from?
6. Did you get a map of the resort? Opinion of it?
7. What did you think of Piste Maps/signposting/run labelling

My answers:
1. Thomson.
2. Grand.
3. Down on the road visible in the webcam
4. On arrival we had to find our own way up the road which was treacherous solid ice that day, taking all our luggage ourselves, NOT what I expect when I've paid for 4* hotel. We complained and said we needed assistance on the homeward leg. On leaving, Bus 1 came right to the Grand entrance, but we were on bus 3 which didn't (Don't know about bus 2). They did take our luggage down in a truck, but we had to make our own way.
5, Konachi Appts. Despite asking her to go steady as I was scared of slipping over, the tour rep set off like a longdog and we got left to find the ski hire place ourselves, which we eventually did after asking around. In 2006 the hire was done in the Grand, & this was one of the factors that persuaded us to book into that hotel!
6. Yes - but totally useless - I could do a better sketch in 2 minutes on the back of an envelope!
7. Poor - took all week to make sense of some of it!

Don't get me wrong - I had a fantastic time, but these were issues that spoiled things a bit and though I did put them on the feedback form, I am considering a letter to Thomsons too, so want to know what others' experiences were first. If nobody complains (constructively) they will not realise there is any problem!

The younger, agile folks might think this is all trivial, but I'm not young & suffered a particularly serious ankle break/dislocation a few years ago (not skiing!) and am still not 100% sure on that foot (it's great in ski boots tho as they support it totally ). That's why I was really cautious, being scared of slipping over before even seeing a pair of skis and was totally unimpressed at Thomson's abandoning us on arrival. Another of our party was a senior citizen, and whilst a very accomplished skier, was not at all happy at having to haul suitcase/bootbag/hand luggage up the icy hill. Having coughed up for the 4* hotel, we expected more service!

[PatMan]

1, Which tour op?
2. Accommodation?
3. Where did the transfer bus drop you/pick you up?
4. How did you & your luggage get between the bus & your accommodation?
5. Where was your ski hire from?
6. Did you get a map of the resort? Opinion of it?
7. What did you think of Piste Maps/signposting/run labelling


Hi Treble,

I agree with you on a few points, so:
1. Thomson
2. Konaci Appts
3. Dropped off on road outside reception. Pick up was 100m up road, after it had been snowing heavy all previous night. Was hard enough for me & Mrs PatMan, but for those less able/with kids must have been a right pain.
4. The only way possible was to lug it by hand - again, no fun for those with kids.
5. From 'Elite' in Konaci. Nothing wrong with depot at all, good directions given by hotel staff - but then we were already in Konaci!
6. Same opinion as treble. The supplied map was worse than useless
7. Piste maps are always a bit 'iffy' as its very hard to transfer 3D mountain information to an easy to read format. But the Kop one WAS terrible! I can only compare with Borovets, and the run signs were better than there - this doesn't make them good tho!

The reps were the only downside to this trip, not enough to stop us going back - but enough to ensure that we won't book any trips thru them next year - this way they don't earn any 'extra' from us!

[SnowPloughPrincess]

1. Crystal
2. Hotel grand
3. Dropped off outside reception and also collected
4. I think my bf was responsible for that part :p Can't say i was paying attention, had already knocked back some alchohol \o/
5. Ski hire was missions away down in Konaci square but was funny walking down to it.
6. Got the basic map from the reps but had no desire to look at it or ask for a proper one.
7. Piste map was vaguely helpful but signposting was quite poor. Several times ended up trekking off piste. Advantage was most of the resort being safe for beginners so as long as you didn't go too far away you would always be able to ski down lol

We certainly got the better deal regarding transfers by the looks of it xD The only reason I would not go back to Kop is because I feel I have seen all it currently has to offer so I would want to try somewhere else.

[Munchio]

1, Which tour op?
2. Accommodation?
3. Where did the transfer bus drop you/pick you up?
4. How did you & your luggage get between the bus & your accommodation?
5. Where was your ski hire from?
6. Did you get a map of the resort? Opinion of it?
7. What did you think of Piste Maps/signposting/run labelling

1. Crystal
2. Aparthotel Konaci
3. Dropped off outside the hotel and collected
4. It was only a few metres away from the coach, and I only had a hold all, so I carried it.
5. My board and boot hire was from Elite in Konaci.
6. I didn't look at the resort map as I had been last year so I knew my way around.
7. Piste map/signposting/run labelling was ok, but not brilliant. Lots of room for improvement of the signposting/run labelling. There were several times when I was halfway down a run, and saw a numbered sign, the only problem was, I didn't know which side of the sign was the run because of the fresh snow! So I occasionally found myself off the main runs, but for me it wasn't a major problem.

All in all, I had a fantastic time!

[carlywilson57]

1, Which tour op?
We used Crystal
2. Accommodation?
Konaci Apartments, we were in the loud Ras block.
3. Where did the transfer bus drop you/pick you up?
Drop off was great as we were just outside reception, pick up was not so good, the main problem was that we didn't know which coach we were heading to or the easiest route for about 10 mins and everyone was waiting out in the cold waiting for a bit of direction! When that was sorted, it was a bit of a trek through thick snow, I agree with Patman, must not have been fun with kids!
4. How did you & your luggage get between the bus & your accommodation?
It was 'drag it yourself'! My flatmate took a backpack and whilst at home I was grateful for a wheely case, I was jealous of her when trekking through snow!
5. Where was your ski hire from?
Elite, I thought they were great. And, yes, the fact that they were based in our apartments were a plus point!
6. Did you get a map of the resort? Opinion of it?
The map was useless!
7. What did you think of Piste Maps/signposting/run labelling
Confusing, when trying to work out where we'd been, nothing joined up as we thought so for people without instructors trying to plan a route - good luck!

Overall, fab holiday, if you have kids request a room not in Ras! Definitely take euros for paying for trips - it works out cheaper, I relied on cash machine for Dinar but my bank stopped my card for strange transactions (I assume being in Serbia), so beware!

[PatMan]

Hi Carly - hope ya all got back safely!

I haven't forgotten about 'team' the pic - will get it sent to ya asap!

Cheers

PatMan

[no_snow_in_swindon]

1, Which tour op?
We went with Crystal
2. Accommodation?
Hotel Club A
3. Where did the transfer bus drop you/pick you up?
In the car park at the bottom of the hill
4. How did you & your luggage get between the bus & your accommodation?
With a hike up the icy road. A difficult job when you got a suitcase each, boot bag each and a ski bag each. Would have helped if a snowmobile withtrailer could have helped with the luggage for each hotel whilst we managed the journey up the hill without going arse over apex!
5. Where was your ski hire from?
Our son used the one in the corner of the square which was about two floors down in the basement.
6. Did you get a map of the resort? Opinion of it?
We did but i cant say i looked at it.
7. What did you think of Piste Maps/signposting/run labelling
Piste map was poor, but i thought once you were on the pistes it was well marked.