Malta - golden sands. Anyone know anything?

[Jux]

This guy rang a couple of weeks ago offering me 7 free nights in a hotel in Malta and directed me to the site www.goldensands.com.mt. He said it was a promotional thing where we go, have a fab time and tell all our friends - then of course, all our flat-broke friends will just storm the place.

I've looked at the site and it is GORGEOUS.

He rang again tonight; we asked if we could take dd too, no prob.

We pay an admin charge (100 quid for dh and me - not each - and 29.50 for dd) and then for flights. I've just looked up flights for the time around half term. It's almost do-able (on a credit card).

Is this a scam? I'm getting very excited at the thought. We've had such a shit time recently and we could really do with a holiday like this. I haven't had a holiday for over two years, and dh/dd have only been camping in UK for no more than a week each year.

He's going to ring again on Sat to let me know about flights and things. If we go ahead, then I want to give him firm dates then and get it booked.

Don't mince your words for me, I'd rather come down to earth now with a big bump.

OP - anything that looks too good to be true - IS!

What we really like about melliaha bay was at the weekends, all the maltese families would come along and just set up barbeques on there. They were so friendly and used to invite us to join in. We would love to go back for a long and 'proper' stay. My cousins were educated in sliema as well.

But, every hotel asks for a credit card as surety where ever you go. Should you trash the room for instance and do a runner, then they can charge the cost to your card. The hotel don't know if you are nice people or not do they?......

I have read through some of the reviews on trip adviser, I think some people are just born complainers... one fork or knife out of sync on the table and it is a major catastrophe in the eyes of some.

Someone complained that there were stray cats around one of the restaurants, that's life out there on the continent. At our home resort in Florida there are lots of wild animals around - armadillo's, ducks, geese and yes cats. The ducks did come up to us on a few occasions whilst having breakfast outside in the grille bar. Unfortunately some guests feed them so they keep coming back even though there are signs up to say not to. The animals can't read. But the resort is set in and around a huge lake where these animals flock to. There are pro's and cons to every resort it is just that some of the cons are a bigger deal to some.

Only Jux can decide what she wants to do and only she knows if she can pay the credit card back or not.

I would hate Jux to run up a huge credit card bill too.

I don't think it is a case of me wanting her to go...

What I am trying to say is (and obviously I had worded it badly) is everyone is going to have a different opinion and only she can decide. I have only given my view on my experiences on what I have found reading trip adviser and then going to the same place and finding things totally different to how they are portrayed by others.

I don't mind forks out of place; I well remember the stray cats in Greece and Cyprus and a few other places. Local wildlife makes a place more interesting.

I am dithering. I really really want to go. I know why it seems so important for us to get away - we've endured so many deaths in our family in the last two years, dd has been on the brink of suicide - or at least self-harming, our finances have gone tits up, etc etc etc.

It was do-able on a credit card. Since then we have arranged the sale of a couple of my dead brother's guitars and dh will be picking up the cash on Monday or Tuesday. There is loads of dead bro's stuff to sell, it's just a question of getting it sorted out. We will have over a grand in cash to 'play' with and we could keep it for this.

It is such a beautiful and exotic place, the beach looks so wonderful. I know we could arrange to go there ourselves and stay in a cheaper place.

The thing is dh will take this for the 'free' bit whereas if I were to arrange something different where we pay for everything, he won't do it. He'll do this because it's a bit like Fate or Destiny, dropping this into our laps at a time when we really need it. Me arranging something from scratch is too prosaic and he won't be beguiled. He is beguiled by this.

The sensible thing to do is to arrange it myself, stay somewhere cheaper etc. I don't know what to do. If I take the sensible route, it simply won't happen. If I grab this we will get away.

I have had a long chat with dh. He has agreed that we really need to get away (I think he might have read some of this thread).

The flights and hotel will cost about 300 (130+160). If meals, taxis/hire car and fun money amount to, say, 700 then that's one guitar. We will have 400 left from the other guitar, in case.

I've looked on google and haven't been able to find anywhere that will give us a week away for less than that; in fact, the cheapest I've found would come to around 1200 (half board), and we'd still have buy lunch!

DH has decided not to go at half term but in the Easter Hols when the weather will be better.

Thanks for all your advice, comments, information. It has been tremendously helpful.

Bellavita, it looks like we won't be meeting by the pool for a G&T after all. Mind you, I know I would have been terrified of meeting someone from MN in RL!

The poor chap's ringing again at 3pm tomorrow. What's the betting he can't do April?

seeker - I think Ghajn Tuffieh is the next bay (or next but one?) to what's now known as Golden Sands bay/beach?

coolma - Mellieha Bay also v nice. I second your point about the Maltese people coming en famille to any beach area at weekends in summer (maybe spring too?), setting up barbecues, picnic tables etc.

Jux - Mellieha Bay not that far from Golden Sands, and watersports (if that's something you want to do) may be available there if not available at G. Sands (seasonable availability).

My DP urges me to say - parts of Malta can look like a building site, as lots of work on hotels/apartment blocks. But that's mostly in the Bugibba/Qawra/St Paul's area - where most of tourists go (cheap hotels/bars - not knocking it!), in the north-east of island.

I do realise that Malta is not everyone's cup of tea. But, Jux, if you really want to get away, and this is the most affordable option for you in Easter school hols - then my advice would be: just go. It's not paradise, but I think you can have fun.

I've just booked it for mid-April! I am so so so excited.

I have checked so many pages relating to it, and I know we will be subjected to some quite aggressive/nasty sales pitching for at least part of one day. We will hold strong and say no.

The weather will be better in April. We will do some lovely things and eat over-priced food for breakfast, but will wander around Malta and find cheaper (and nicer) places for lunch and supper.

We will swim in their pools and in the sea. We will do a bit of body-boarding with dd. We will look at museums and galleries and architecture.

I have told dd. She is jumping around like a thing-that-jumps-around in excitement. She's never been in a plane before. She said "we're going on a REAL holiday, to a REAL foreign country on a REAL plane".

Have a wonderful time Jux

Thank you bellavita. Hope you have a great time in August.

Hi Jux,

Sorry, I've only just spotted your post as I was looking for info as to whether we need car seats. Anyway, we're going to the same place in just over a week on the same deal. I wasn't convinced by the whole thing but DH misses his foreign holidays and convinced me it's a good idea.

I think both adults have to attend the meeting or you are charged full price for the holiday but we're hoping that they might 'release' one of us if the kiddies play up enough - DS is 2 and DD is 6 months so I don't think they're going enjoy it!

I'll let you know how it goes and any good cheap places to eat, things to do, etc.

Hi Monkeymoe. I thought that we could take dd to the meeting and she could get bored and troublesome enough for them to give up on us. She's 10, mind you, and will behave much better than a 2 yo no matter how much I ask her to be difficult! Do you bf? If you do, you could be really public about it, maybe they'll end up just kicking you out.

I do hope you have a great time. I will keep an eye on this, and await your return with anticipation!

Don't get swept away here - check the small print -get something in writing - don't pay a penny without credit card contract (visa) back up - how did they get your details? - if cold call - stay in the cold UK!!!

Too late JETS. All booked, flights paid. Fingers crossed!

Well Jux, apologies for not posting sooner, but you'll be pleased to know that you won't regret your decision - we had a great holiday!!

Bad points: the presentation. You go for a morning or afternoon for about 2 or 3 hours. It's more like an informal chat, then they take you for a walk around the resort then back to speak to the manager to see if they can reel you in. Just say no if your not interested. They try and convince you but we're in the middle of buying a house and told them financially we couldn't do it, so they said that was fine. And that was that. You also have to go to speak to someone for a Quality Assurance survey. It's a really quick chat with someone who just asks you what you thought of it all.
Also, as it's a 5 star hotel some of the restaurants are pricey but we just steered clear of those!

Good points: lovely resort, lovely hotel. Staff are nice and friendly. Not sure what type of room you have but try and get a one bedroom self catering apartment. We had one and it meant that we could get breakfast and lunch stuff and eat in to save a bit of cash and eat out in the evening. One of the restaurants on site is a pizza/pasta place and pretty reasonable but there's also a place called Munchies on the beach which does hot food and sandwiches and they're well priced too. And both do take out too.
There's a steam room/sauna/indoor pool but kiddies have to be out of the pool by noon. The outdoor pools are lovely but were too cold when we were there. The weather was really nice last week so hopefully the water should have warmed up.
Wherever we ate though, there wasn't much fruit but if you walk up the road from the beach to the front of the hotel there is a stall which sells lots of fresh fruit. There's a deli on site which is really good for basics but I'd go to the town for anything more.

We hired a car because of having two young kiddies but there's a hotel courtesy bus to some of the nearby towns and villages so transport is free but you need to book the day before.

Not sure if you were aware that they sort out your transport from the airport to the hotel but you have to organise and pay for the return journey. The hotel will contact you though to make sure you are aware and have sorted it. I think they said a taxi was about 30euros.

There's no getting out of the presentation thing but there's a kids club where your dd can go to save the boredom. However I think it would be a bit young for her.

All in all, a great time was had. Take full advantage of having bagged a cheap holiday at a fantastic hotel.
I think I've told you everything that might be helpful but let me know if there's anything else you want to know.

Just email the company if you want particular things as they are really helpful. We emailed them so many queries - if we had a self catering room, car seat for transfer from airport etc and they sorted it all.

Oh and take a print out of your booking/confirmation with you as it helps you check in at the hotel.

Have a fantastic time. A well deserved break by the sounds of it. (Apologies for the essay!)

Monkeymoe, thanks for the essay, you get A+! I'm so relieved - we're leaving on Monday and I was getting really worried that it was all going to go wrong and be horrible!

Did you go to any of the other towns? I've heard there's some great architecture and museums there, but I'm being a bit useless about working out what, when, which, where and how.

Really pleased to hear the sales pitch wasn't too bad. I'd read on the i'net that they get really nasty. DH and I have been girding our loins to put up with it, but maybe they'll be nice to us too.

I shall e-mail them now to ask about the room. No idea really what we've got, but I'll try to edge them towards getting the suite. DD practically lives on fruit so we always end up filling hotels with raw food (last time we had a camembert which was rapidly ripening in the bathroom; smell was lovely - we thought!)

I'm so glad you had a good time, and am looking forward to it much more now. Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know.

Mdina is beautiful

Malta is a great place for a holiday. I have been there 3 times and we had our honeymoon in Gozo.

There was a great bus system when we were there (a few years ago and might not be as good outside peak season). The bus fare is very cheap and the buses run very frequently.

Mdina is amazing. Definitely a must see. I wouldn't worry about the weather too much as there is a lot to see.

You can see a forecast here

www.maltaweather.com/fiveday-forecast.html

Enjoy. I am really

I love Malta. My grandmother owns an apartment over there so hope to get back over next year once DD is a bit older.
There is some great places to go and see.
Hope you have a good time.

yeah but don't swim in the blue lagoon

bastard jelly fish stung me

bastard

Ouch! When I was younger I used to be friends with a boy whose father did boat trips to the blue lagoon. We would go out there and the boy would dive down to the bottom and bring all sorts of creatures upto the surface!
Ahh the memories!