Opinions about Trabolgan anyone?

G

garryks

Guest
Thinking of heading here for a week in September with a 3 yeard old and a 6 month old. It appears to be ideally suited to entertaining kids, but is it as good as it sounds? It appears to be quite out of the way on the map, not near any main tourist type areas.

see www.trabolgan.com

Thanks for any views.
 
Went there a few times when the kids were a lot younger.

It was very well run when the, I think Dutch people owned it. It was very clean. As far as I'm aware it was sold to maybe Pontins. It is some years since we went last and standards had dropped i.e. things like teenagers running the take away and service was very slow. We were told at the time that it was for sale again so it might well have changed hands again.
Update - just checked the history of Trabolgan on your link and see it has been redeveloped by the new owners so it might be better now. When we priced it at different stages down thru the years it seemed expensive especially if you were booking a week during the summer.

The swimming pool with wave was great and the kids just love that. The bowling and other attractions were good fun.

The on-site supermarket was expensive and you are better off bringing as much food with you as you can manage. At that time their on-site restaurant was also expensive and quite often booked out.

The only other attraction not too far away that interested us was Fota Wildlife Park which is good for the kids.

HTH
 
The LA family have been to Trabolgan on a number of occasions and in fact my daughter worked there for a couple of seasons. There is a new manager there this year ( a personal friend of mine) and he runs a good show , so I expect the same from him in Trabolgan. Apart from entertainment on site there are also some stunning costal scenery in the vicinity all within a short drive. As regards restaurants there is a nice little one in Whitegate and we always did our shopping in Midleton, where there are also some great restaurants. The only downer the last time that I was there was the increased amount of Dubs . Whilst I have nothing against them, they hogged the Karaoke each night sending up requests for each other and generally wanted things ran their way.
 
Re. Opinions about Trabolgan anyone?

We've booked a week in March - 2 of us plus 2 kids (4&2). The website states the kids club as catering from ages 4 and up.

Do you know if they're flexible about this, i.e. would they take 2-year old (3 in July) ? In other words, do you have experience of kid under 4 being accepted in kids club ?

After all, it's a break for us too !

4-year old is in Montessori and we're paying for the privilege. Last week was a week off (mid-term) and now they'll have 2 weeks off in 3 weeks time for Easter !
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR !!!!
 
"Do you know if they're flexible about this, i.e. would they take 2-year old (3 in July) ?"

I don't have any definite info. on this but if they state the age as 4 I would imagine they would be quite strict for either insurance purposes or because they probably base this restriction on that the fact that quite a lot of 2/3 year olds would still be in nappies and therefore require more looking after.
 
I went to Trabolgan in September and it was horrible so horrible that we left two days earlier then planned.
Both my oldest daughter and my husband became sick.
My 5 month became also sick when we came home.
I have to say that the place is unhygenic and the entertainment is the same every night!
I can say that we will never go again and I would advise anybody to go.
It is very expensive and it is not worth it you better of to rent a holiday home in Ireland and go on day trips.
 
Hi Sunshine.
That's interesting to hear. Sorry to hear it was not a great experienc for you. We were there in September also, I started this thread and based on the general feedback thought we would give it a go. Generally we found it good. We booked early in the year so availed of a discount which made it about the same value as we normally spend on a holiday home. I totally agree on your cleanliness point, all surfaces were 'sticky', house, snack bars, play areas. But we tend to be fastidious about wiping hands after being in public areas so we just managed it as usual. Except the house which we gave agoing over before we settled in. We made sure this information was fed back to trabolgan. We got lucky with the weather so that made a difference also i'm sure with us. But we found for our three year old, the park, beach, indoor play areas, and pool were plenty to keep him amused without the need to trailblaze in the car everyday.
 
Sunshine said:
I went to Trabolgan in September and it was horrible so horrible that we left two days earlier then planned.
Both my oldest daughter and my husband became sick.
My 5 month became also sick when we came home.
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I was in trabolgan last September, and thought it was very good. Much better than the place we went to in wales two years previous. Is the fact you family got sick, colouring your perception of the place. Could you attribute this to the site.

I have to say that the place is unhygenic
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I never saw a problem, while i was there, i found the restaurant and takeaway no different than i would have expected.

the entertainment is the same every night!
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Isn't it everywhere.

My familiy and i really enjoyed our holiday, thought it was great value, and would definitely recommend it for anyone with young kids.
 
Went in off peak season, just the two of us, no kids.
The accomodation was disgraceful. Dirty, skicky, uncomfortable. Bed linen smelt of smoke and old perfume.
Ok, I admit its a place for kids, but even if they were having a ball, you'll be looking around the shoe box you are staying in, feeling ripped off!!!
Beckster
 
Absolutely have to agree. We only went for a long weekend this April but the accomodation was extremely dirty. Sticky surfaces would be a good description. The fridge handle was covered in butter for example. The floors were the worst I have ever seen, the table and chairs were disgraceful. We let management know about it and stated that we would never come again nor could we recommend them. It was a pity because their facilities are generally good for children, i.e., swimming pool, go karting, shows for kids, etc.
 
we were thinking of a week there in the summer, i think i might give it a miss and do the holiday home thing after hearing these stories, do they clean the houses after guests have gone home?
 
Hi! They rely on the previous guests to clean out the house so it really all depends on how the previous guests have treated the place. The people who followed us would have walked into a house that had the floors mopped clean (several times) and the tables, chairs and fridge door throughly cleaned. My kids socks were completely black with dirt after been there just 5 minutes so it took alot of mopping just to get it to a comfortable level of cleanliness! As I say it is a shame really bacause the kids facilities are great - maybe stay nearby and use the facilities during the day which are reasonable enough in cost for non-residents.
 
"They rely on the previous guests to clean out the house"....this just ain't good enought when you're paying for it IMO....
 
You are absolutely corrrect and had we known that before we booked we would have gone somewhere else for our short break.
 
just though i might throw this in...... we go to banna every summer (me, my OH and 3 teenagers (12, 14 & 17). We have a ball there every year. The entertainment is brilliant, the houses are exceptionally clean and the area in general is of very good standard.

if you want a family break for the kids and for yourselves i`d defo recommend banna beach, co kerry. Was in Trabolgin twice, not great at all!!!!! Hygiene was definately not on their priority list.
 
"The entertainment is brilliant"

[broken link removed]

Don't think I'd be in a hurry to go there.
 
shootingstar said:
just though i might throw this in...... we go to banna every summer (me, my OH and 3 teenagers (12, 14 & 17). We have a ball there every year. The entertainment is brilliant, the houses are exceptionally clean and the area in general is of very good standard.

if you want a family break for the kids and for yourselves i`d defo recommend banna beach, co kerry. Was in Trabolgin twice, not great at all!!!!! Hygiene was definately not on their priority list.
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Hi Shootingstar,
This is the first time I heard of Banna and I googled it after reading your posting as I'm looking to book a week in Ireland in late August, is it as good as it looks? I'm not really into the holiday entertainment vibe but the kids love all that stuff, is there enough to keep 8 year olds in laughs?
Thanks,
M
 
going back to the point about trobolgan houses being used after the last people without being cleaned, what about the bed linen, surley this is changed???? and i was going to bring a baby to this, sounds disgraceful in this day and age.
 
Hi Olly,

they do seem to clean the bed linen between guests alright. But get this.. when we were leaving outside each house was a plastic bag with new bedlinen for the houses. Staff went around then into each house when guests left at 10am and replaced the linen. I heard the bags being dropped outside the houses at about 6am in the morning. Nice thought that your bed linen has been lying around in a plastic bag for a few hours in a area where rodents wouldn't be out of place. Another joyful thought in our heads as we drove off the premises! never never again.
 
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