Holiday Village Lanzarote with First Choice Holidays

Our summer holiday this year was spent in the 'Holiday Village' in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote with First Choice Holidays.

Holiday Villages are All Inclusive complex's with a focus on entertainment for the kids. You do seem to pay extra for a Holiday Village than you do for a normal All Inclusive holiday and I definitely wouldn't recommend a Holiday Village unless you are going as a family with young kids.
More info can be found here - First Choice Holiday Villages

The airport transfer was about 40 minutes and we were first to be dropped off as this is one of the extra's you pay for.

When checking in, we were offered drinks, snacks and sweets for the kids. The First Choice staff were on hand to put on the wrist bands which saved time.

We contacted the hotel and First Choice prior to our arrival requesting our two rooms were next to each other. They didn't disappoint. We were also given two card keys per room instead of just one. There was a charge for the safe plus a refundable deposit for the key and the air con remote controls.

The meals in the selected restaurants are pre booked by the hotel but the dates/times could be changed IF there was space available.

We couldn't fault the location of the apartments. On the upper level so got a sea view and only separated by a small, private balcony. We were opposite the “Quiet” Pool and only two minutes from the Main Pool.  

The apartments come with a small kitchen including fridge and microwave.

The rooms themselves could have been cleaner (we found a dirty sock and small pieces of toilet paper on the floor in one apartment) and the finishing wasn't great considering they had only been refurbished a few weeks earlier. The safe we were using wasn't bolted down so could have been picked up and taken away and the curtain rail across the door leading to the small front balcony came out of the wall!  We didn't report any of this as they were only minor gripes and didn't bother us that much.

The shower screens are fixed so the toilet/shower room almost becomes a wet room. We were using the hand towels as bath mats so we didn't slip on the tiled floor.

The maid ‘service’ wasn't great. On the second day, she didn't change the towels but did take away our ‘bath mat’.  The towels were changed a couple of days later and the beds straightened but no clean sheets. The towels were changed again the following day so I couldn't work out the trend. Still no clean sheets until two days before we left (which seemed pointless by now). My gripe here is that I was left to make the beds including putting the quilt cover on. I was on the sofa bed so didn't have a quilt but was left the cover anyway!

On our last day as we waiting around the apartment, the cleaner knocked and asked if we still wanted our two insect repellent machines or if they were for the bin. This seemed very dodgy to us. These were left out on the table and as it was clear we hadn't vacated the room yet, we felt she had no right to touch these never mind remove them from our room.

There is free WiFi throughout most of the complex but connectivity is hit and miss.  An ID and password is required from reception FOR EACH device.

There are four pool areas to choose from.

Main Pool - This is where the main activities take place.  Be warned - it is freezing cold. 
The sunbeds around this pool are chained up until 09:00. Lots of people were down much earlier reserving their spaces with towels.  

This pool seems very small for the amount of guests and when the activities start is unusable. The shallow end is roped off for use during the "Twin Tracks" inflatable activity but you do get the use of the deep end during water polo and canoeing!

There is a smaller pool near by for the toddlers which has a couple of slides and a tipping bucket.

Be wary of the lady braiding hair around this pool. We were quoted €20 for my daughter to have her hair braided but charged €25 because “there was so much hair”.

Activity Pool - This is a laned pool for the more serious swimmers and also where the swimming lessons take place.

Mickey Mouse area - This contained a couple of paddling pools for babies and toddlers. There were a few sunbeds in this area.

Whatsit and Doobley from the Widgets poolside

“Quiet” Pool - Don’t be deceived by the name.  This is only the “quiet” pool as there are no activities here. It is far from quiet.  Also very small for the amount of people that were using it. Gets very full very quickly.  The sunbeds here are not chained up but get down early if you want one.  We were told 30 beds had been claimed by 04:30 one morning. I actually witnessed from my balcony somebody reserving beds at 00:30, obviously before he went to bed.

There is a policy that sunbeds can not be reserved. The lifeguard put notices on beds next to us stating this and that the towels would be removed after 40 minutes. This didn't happen as the people ‘using’ these beds didn't show up until after dinner but had reserved them before we got down there about 09:30.

Tex-Mex Restaurant is upstairs

We went to Tex-Mex for our breakfast every morning which I would recommend. The staff are friendly and the food is great.

We used the ‘Green and Grill’ for our midday snacks.  I won’t comment on the quality or the choice of food as I find this is down to individuals expectations. Let’s just say we didn't starve. I would recommend you get here before the rush otherwise you end up queuing and being shown to your table.  It also gets very noisy. It reminded me of a school canteen and found we rushed our food to get out.

We didn't use ‘The Tavern by the Sea’ or ‘La Bambola’ so can’t comment on these but I would highly recommend the Tex-Mex Restaurant.

The ‘Green and Grill’ is also one to visit. Totally different from the snack time restaurant. Be warned, if you order steak you are ordering for the table! My wife and I both ordered a steak and the chef delivered 7! As only one of our kids eat steak, we had a lot to get through (couldn't let them go to waste!). One table did send some of their steaks back as there were too many.

I would like to thank the lady who worked behind the bar at snack time for sorting out a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.

Our two boys joined the relevant kids clubs but only attended a couple of sessions. Overall we (or they) had no issues and the staff were very professional and the kids enjoyed themselves.

The main night time entertainment was indoors in the Blue Moon bar. The bar staff kept the queues at busy times moving but you do tend to get splashed a lot as they bang the drinks down onto the bar. They are clearly only there to do a job and don't make any effort to interact with the guests. There was one exception to this rule as one of the bar staff also popped up in Tex-Mex & El Chef. He always said hello and had a smile on his face. Unfortunately I didn't get his name.

Gizmo from the Widgets and Lois

On stage, the start of the night is aimed at toddlers with the Widget Workshop.  

Ric and Lois doing a challenge

This is followed by i5Live and kids team games (Reds Vs Yellows). Ric and Lois, the team captains, kept us all entertained and there is a lot of audience participation. 

My much coveted Russell the Brussel T-Shirt

Russell the Brussel - Star of i5Live

Most of the reps after providing the nights entertainment

Adult games are next and again there is a lot of audience participation.  Bingo every night at 21:00 before the main act which was usually Ric, Ant, Lacey & Sophie doing various styles of concerts.  The local acts appeared twice...and twice we had early nights!

Overall, the entertainment team were very good and there were no individuals trying to take over that we've seen in other HV’s.

Ric, Ant, Lacey and Sophie providing one of the best nights entertainment as 'Electric City'

The beach is just a two minute walk from the complex.  There are a few restaurants and shops along the beachfront selling the usual stuff.  Watch out for bikes - the riders don’t care if there are people around and they won’t slow down.

Early morning beach

The beach is empty first thing but does get busy by dinner time, although still far from being overcrowded.  There are no sun loungers or pedalos. The water is very clear (and warmer than the pools) and there are a few small fish to be seen.  The water does seem to get deep quickly but is OK for toddlers if they stay within a few yards of the beach.

The beach at early evening

There was an outbreak of D & V going around by our last day but it would be unfair to blame the hotel as we don’t know what the cause was.  We were just glad we left when we did.

Although we enjoyed it and the week went too quick, we probably wouldn't rush back partly due to overcrowding but mainly because we've done it once and there's more of the world to see.

Would I recommend this particular Holiday Village? If you want to experience a HV and the others are all booked up, probably - but set your alarm clock if you want a sunbed!