This may be the weirdest hotel review I will ever write so grab a cuppa and be ready for a story and a half! It’s taken me a while to be able to think about it without crying (almost 3 years as this was in April 2023) but here goes nothing…

Trigger warning : Medical talk and potentially distressing images

Manchester Airport

We love Manchester airport it never feels busy so matter when we go, its very spacious with lots of food choice and seating areas. Security is generally pretty quick too and they now have updated scanners so you don’t even have to empty your bags of liquids or electricals.

I am a nervous flyer at the best of times and I was starting to feel a bit under the weather, if only I knew what was to come over the next 72 hours

Transfer

I don’t remember any of the transfer, I slept the whole way, which if you know me, you’ll know this is not very ‘me’ but I was starting to feel quite unwell at this point.

Hotel

On arrival we were impressed with the hotel from the start, both our rooms had welcome gifts in. Unfortuately they were located quite far apart due to the different room types we booked but we all ended up sleeping in one room anyway.

Family Area Swim-up 1 Bedroom Family Room with Terrace

Double bed and 2 singles in a seperate room.

Our swim up pool was amazing, even though it was still on the cold side it didn’t stop the kids enjoying it. And if you could get the bar staffs attention (and throw them a tip) they were happy to bring drinks over to the pool for you too.

Mixed Area Double Room with Sea View and Balcony

Both rooms had a fully stocked fridge too which they topped up every day. You could even leave them a note of what to leave more of and they would which was great.

Beach

The beach is beautiful, long stretches of sand and enough loungers for everyone.

They have a beach bar and an over 16s section too.

Childrens entertainment

They have a cinema room and a small arcade area – the schedule for the cinema is on the wall outside

The main entertainment area is huge and they have all the Tui Blue shows that are standard across the brand.

Hairdresser

They have an onsite hairdresser – these prices are from 2023 so may have changed since.

Food

The food was so good, especially in the beach front snack bar.

The buffet food was also really good and the selection they had was huge.

The a la carte selection

I didn’t get to try any of these but Gaz very kindly took pictures of everything for me because he knew I would want to write about them. I have no idea whch restaurants they relate too but he said all the food was amazing.

And then the hospital…

After sleeping for 2 days and generally going downhill, I woke up and told Gaz he needed to call the Dr. I was delirious, I was being sick, I couldn’t breathe and I realised I actually really wasn’t very well.

Within a few minutes of the Dr arriving an ambulance was called and I was blue lighted to hospital, I remember none of this journey and I have had to piece it together from the medical report and the emails between my insurer and the hospital.

I didn’t know at the time but not only did I have pneumonia and covid but I was also in septic shock and going into organ failure. And still, when we arrived at the hospital, barely conscious, they wouldn’t treat me until I could give them a credit card to pre authorise or my insurance documents.

It was in that moment I realised how important having insurance was. Thankfully I had the document on my phone and they called them, held the phone to me to confirm my personal information and then took over the call.

Travel insurance should be in place from when you book, this would cover you (depending on cover) if you were unable to travel for any reason or incurred delays/expenses on departure day.

Holiday Extras offer a range of insurances from single trips to backpacking. We are with Virgin and they were excellent during my claim so would highly recommend them, they also don’t increase your policy unless you’ve had 3 claims within 3 years. If you join Virgin Red, we both get 1000 points and you’ll get 3500 points for signing up to a Virgin annual policy.

I had chest xrays, a chest CT, too many medications to list along with 24/7 oxygen and nebulizers. I was so worried about how much it was going to cost us.

The food was pretty good, not that I couldn’t eat anything at first but when I could I enjoyed it, as much as you can enjoy hospital food!

The stages of my recovery.. I was losing the plot by the time I was ‘well enough’ to be discharged

In the end I receieved £398 from the insurers for reimbursement for my flight, hotel, medication costs and hospitalisation. Along with them covering the almost £5,000 medical bill excluding my £75 excess.

Tui….

I have a mixed review of how Tui handled it.

The positives were, they made sure Gaz and the kids were ok, they notified the check in staff I wouldn’t be on the flight and Gaz said the aircraft crew were on hand with snacks and stuff for the kids to help keep them occupied.

However for me they wouldn’t/couldn’t rebook me onto a later flight, nor help me with extending my stay at the hotel. I had to do this myself they did however let me jump on the coach transfer to the airport which was one of the most stressful journies of my life. I had to ask the driver to stop at least 6 times to go to the toilet because I had been so pumped full of fluids, it all had to come out! Thankfully everyone on the coach could see how poorly I was and only groaned a little bit everytime I had to stop again.

The hotel however sorted me a beautiful room at a very low rate when I was dishcharged from hospital, had loads of fruit and water delivered regulary to my room and kept checking in on me to make sure I was ok. They actually couldn’t have been any more helpful if they tried.

Anyway if you’ve made it this far, congratulations! And let this be your reminder to make sure you ALWAYS have adequete travel insurance in place because you never know what might happen.

ChrissyJ xxx