Following on from Sarahs TR for our pre-wedding trip to Ulusaba, I thought that some of you may like a TR on our honeymoon to its sister resort, Kasbah Tamadot in Morocco.
The trip was booked via V-Hip Hotels which is a subsidiary of Virgin Holidays that specialises in more upmarket and boutique hotels across the globe. We still would get the 10% FVC discount that we are offered. They were able to book the honeymoon package for us which is headlined as:
- 4 nights accommodation
- Breakfast each morning
- Dinner each night in the restaurant with a bottle of wine
- One private dinner once during the stay
- Traditional Hammam Spa treatment per newlywed
- Private road transfers to/from Marrakech
- Space-available upgrade at check-in
Wed looked at the various rooms on offer, and none of them seemed shabby so opted for the Superior room with the possibility of an upgrade upon arrival, as the next category up was over 20% more. The booking request was made during Christmas week, and deposits were taken from me. Whilst we were away at Ulusaba, I had an e-mail through from V-Hip to say that the room category we had requested was unavailable, so we would need to book the next category up. Somewhat annoying as given the hotel was unlikely to actually put us in the room type we had booked and disappointing that it had taken nearly two weeks for them to get back to me. They offered a further 5% discount, but this still meant more money overall on the cost; and I needed to get the honeymoon booked as time was ticking.
About a week later our ticket package arrived, and I say package as it contains an array of ancillary items such as a travel journal, postcards, selection of luggage tags, and a help card. Not sure what they use to seal the package, I can only presume superglue as it was a royal pain to get into it!
Now many of you will know, LCCs and I do not get on there is more chance of Lord Lucan and Maddie riding Shergar than me flying on Easyjet who were one of the flight options to get to Marrakech. We went for the other option of Royal Air Maroc who had more unaccommodating flight times but were not Easyjet.
So fast forward to Monday 1st February, the day after our fabulous wedding at the Roof Gardens and we are waking up at the ungodly hour of 7:30am as we have a 12pm flight from Gatwich, and we were currently in our hotel in the centre of Knightsbridge. So up early, get ready, breakfast with our families, load up the car with our Elton John-esque luggage and off we go. Making good time we are at Gatwich North Long stay around 10:20, and take the free transfer bus to the terminal.
Upon walking through the door, and looking at the departures board there is a small storm brewing there is no 12:00 flight listed to Marrakech. Out comes the documentation as I swear it is the North terminal we are flying from. Sure enough, on the e-tickets, it states Gatwick North and that would correlate with signage outside the terminal that Royal Air Maroc uses the North terminal. Let me try calling V-Hip to see if they can help, maybe the flight has moved to the South terminal and if so we need to make a quick move over as its now 10:45. So going through the half of a Brazilian rainforest that is in the ticket package, nowhere is the number for V-Hip reservations listed. But there is the little card with the numbers of the various offices around the globe to call for help but no UK office as such, just what appears to be a UK mobile number for the 24 hour emergency line; well the current predicament dictated an emergency to me given the flight was due to leave in just over an hour so I called the number and was greeted with an answerphone for me to leave my message and someone will get back to you within an hour. Absolute genius implementation of an emergency line, its not as if I was calling during normal business hours was it 10:45 on a Monday morning is quite understandably time to be on a tea break and not manning a phone. So we decided to see if we could find someone at the airport to assist, maybe they would know if the flight has moved over to the South terminal as we had taken an educated guess at. Well now that BAA have sold Gatwich off there isnt a member of staff to be seen for love nor money, not even a former perfume seller now security jobsworth. We asked one of the BA staff for help, and they informed us that there was an information desk a level down, so we tried looking for that and some of these now rare airport staff but to no avail. By now we were very close to 11am, so I took an executive decision for us to take the shuttle bus over to the South Terminal to see if the flight was there. Fortunately the transfer didnt take more than a few minutes and now we are standing in front of the departures board for the South terminal. And again, there is no 12:00 flight to Marrakech. Something has obviously gone spectacularly wrong, so out comes my phone and try and think of ways to get this resolved fortunately I had the number for Virgin Limited Edition on my phone, so I called them asking for help and they were able to give me a number for V-Hip. I was greeted by a somewhat chirpy individual that was obviously going to be less chirpy very shortly I gave him our booking reference and asked how they had managed to book us on a flight that clearly didnt exist. He took my number as he needed to speak to operations and promised to call me back within 5 minutes after I explained that time was of the essence. Sure enough, Im called back 5 minutes later with the revelation that our flight has been moved to Heathrow but not to worry as it wasnt leaving until 5pm so we were fine. Oh of course we were, its not as if Im now having half a day of my honeymoon cut away , and the small matter that my car was parked at LGW (as he was happy to tell me that my return flight was still scheduled as normal to return to LGW). Quite simply I was furious, and the last of his chirpiness was chipped away, a manager was duly requested to call me in the next 30 minutes to explain how such an error of this magnitude had happened and what they were going to do to resolve it.
I then phoned AmEx to see if they could assist at all with any further information and help, and they were able to provide the information on exactly which terminal at Heathrow the flight was now going from which hadnt been provided by V-Hip. It would transpire that was the only other flight to Marrakech aside from the flying oranges, so LHR T4 it was.
About 15 minutes later, Im called again by a lady from V-Hip who says they are sorry and that the flight was changed on Friday prior by the airline and they hadnt been informed. Not exactly music to my ears, I explain that my car is parked up at LGW long stay and they then say that they can look at flights with the flying oranges which is quickly muted as I explained my loath of LCCs. There is then talk of taking the bus between LGW and LHR which is not going to happen as I dont do those either. They offer to pay for a taxi between the two airports which is great, but I dont have enough cash on me as I follow the 30 maximum cash in my wallet rule, so they then arranged a paid for transfer via the Virgin Holidays desk in LGW South whilst they look into the issue further. So off we trudge to the desk and wait while a voucher is created and approved, and then were off to LHR in the back of a comfortable Volvo.
I am obviously still fuming that all of this has happened, and that Id got up so early and so too had our families to wave us off. If someone had told me it was now a 5pm flight, a nice lie-in could have been had and then a quick transfer down to LHR instead Im on a wild goose chase.
About an hour later we arrive at LHR T4 to be greeted by another pearl, the 5pm flight to Marrakech was going via Casablanca, which was going to add at least another hour on to our journey. At my calculation we would arrive at Kasbah Tamadot around midnight, so one of our included dinners was well out the window, and given how crap food is on short-haul flights wed need to have a damn good lunch to see us through the rest of the day. Just then the phone rang from the same lady at V-Hip hotels, and was actually starting to show some prowess in getting this problem resolved. I explained the flight routing, and she checked and sure enough I was right with my midnight estimation. She updated me on her progress so far, trying to contact the Royal Air Maroc account manager, contacting Kasbah to give them an update on our new arrival time and re-arranging our private transfers as needed. She asked me to keep any receipts incurred during the day as they would re-compense, and offered to arrange a lounge for us which I declined as we already had access. They were going to continue to investigate whilst we were away and come back to us upon our return so we left them to it, and off for lunch at Caf Rouge given that check-in wasnt going to open for at least another hour.
After much fannying about by the ServisAir staff arranging the tensabarriers in a particular order, the check-in is open and we are checked in with our original documentation and not even of a hint of an apology for the changed flight, but then what is one to expect from outsourced airport staff?
Through fast-track, and into the revitalised T4 departure area where we headed straight to the Deck4 lounge to relax and catch-up on the Internet with the stream of photo uploads from the wedding. I tried to pass some time by looking round the shops, but there really is a huge array of over-priced rubbish in BAA airports nowadays. Eventually our flight was called and we were off to board.
Well Royal Air Maroc is two steps shy of falling into the LCC bucket in my world, when you go to put your luggage overhead and its full of crew baggage, first aid kits and the AV system. Im told I can put my bag under the seat, which is fine, but what about the other one? The stewardess then tells me she will put it in the cupboard which I supervise, and there she is trying to put my bag on top of the bag of bread rolls which are for the meal service. Not to worry, her colleague has managed to find a space overhead for the bag which is so far down the plane Im not sure if it was in its own time zone. Oh well, it looks like the flight might be quiet so I will attempt a rescue mission later and put it next to me. Sure enough, the flight was quiet and bag was safely reunited with me not long after seatbelt signs went out. The rest of the flight passed including the 40 minute wait at Casablanca for the other 2.4 passengers via the help of an IPod Touch. I think I can see why our original flight was changed now as there were no more than 20 people on the Casablanca to Marrakech section including the handful that got on. 25 minutes later the short hop to Marrakech is complete, and so too are the landing cards, and were quickly through immigration and meeting our awaiting driver to take us on the hour transfer to Kasbah Tamadot.
The transfer passed by with the mixture of main roads, and then the final third of twisty bends up through the mountains and we were then there at the resort. By now it was midnight, and pitch black but there were staff waiting there to greet us.
We checked in at the small reception, and I spent a short while filling in the registration cards whilst Sarah had some of the mint tea they had brought for us. It would have been nice if the cards had been pre-populated like they were at Ulusaba, but you cant expect stellar service everytime. Our sole suitcase was collected and we were off through the main building, and past the swimming pool and out towards the garden and then turn left up the pathway to the 2nd Berber tent in a row of 5. As we enter the room, the porter explained that the General Managers had given us a 3 category upgrade to a Berber tent! He then showed us round the room and how to use various items, and I asked when breakfast was served and was told 7:30-10:30 which was ideal for us as we needed a lie-in after that day of travelling.
The Berber tents are very luxurious, and the only room higher in category is the Master suite with its 3 bedrooms and private pool. As you can see from the photos below, there is plenty of space to relax, and there is a TV, DVD player along with Wireless Internet.
Bathroom of the Berber suite
Main area of the Berber suite
Desk/mini-bar area of the Berber suite
The private deck of the Berber suite (all have heated plunge pools)
Complimentary bottles of water are frequently supplied to the room for you to consume, and there are also traditional Berber slippers you can use during your stay and take home with you at the end.
Activities and Excursions
There is a wide range of things to do on and offsite, some complimentary and some incur a charge (some reasonable, some very expensive). There is a good list here from the website we didnt want to do too much and the whole holiday was to relax as such. We did play tennis for a while on one of the two courts available for no charge (and they have rackets and balls you can borrow for free), there is also a table tennis set near the pool which you can use. Around the resort, there is a 24 hour gym you can use if you so wish, plenty of nice comfortable seating areas, two heated pools (one indoor, and one outdoor infinity), a sauna and hammam, and a library/lounge. We spent quite a bit of time in the library as there is a good selection of DVD/CDs you can borrow to enjoy in your room or in the lounge itself. There is also quite a few books that you can borrow and read; there is a nice sign that states that you are welcome to take a book home with you if you havent finished it by the end of the stay, they simply ask that you leave another one in its place.
The wonderful indoor heated pool
The outdoor heated infinity pool
One side of the large library/lounge complete with real wood fire
The other side of the library/lounge
Food
Breakfast is in the morning from 7:30 -10:30 and is a mix of cold buffet, and hot items cooked to order. It was far better than your usual Hilton slop but was not class leading either, the Mandarin Orientals in Singapore, KL, Tokyo and Hong Kong still have the benchmark set very high. The evening food is of a high standard, and warrants the prices that are charged. We were disappointed that we missed out on the Berber feast which happens on a Monday night, but the other nights didnt disappoint especially the private dinner which Ill come on to. As we were on the package, we could have anything off the menu (and they made it clear they could make changes if needed). For the wine, there is a whole page of half and full bottles for the package people to choose from; they are all Moroccan wines but would cost you 20-35 off the normal wine menu. Given each person on the package is entitled to half a bottle per night (along with tea/coffee and water), you can opt for a half bottle of red and half bottle of white. The restaurant manager was great and making suggestions for wines from the list to complement the food choices, and if we wanted to get a more expensive bottle we could and just pay the difference.
We opted to have our private dinner that was part of the honeymoon package on the last night, and the restaurant manager arranged for the chef to see us the next morning after breakfast to go through menu options. Sadly nothing transpired until later on in the afternoon when we got a telephone call from the chef whilst in our room (so not sure what had gone on with our appointment), but we duly wandered back over to meet him where he went through the tasting menu for the evening but explained they were happy to cook something to our liking. So we gave them a rough idea of what we both like in a culinary sense, and a very suitable menu was created. So private dinner was set for 7:30pm (as we had an early start the next day to come home), and the team certainly did not disappoint in any sense. The private gazebo area was set with a table for two as you can see, and a lovely outside fire created in the fire pit, champagne was served and then onto the room for a wonderful personal 6 course meal. Definitely the highlight of the trip for me, and highly recommended for any couple that visit the resort.
The private dining gazebo on the roof
The burning fire pit and pre-dinner drinks
Dinner table set for two in the gazebo
Sarah sat waiting for her amuse bouche.
Spa
There are a wide range of Spa treatments available, along with a number of treatment rooms for them to be conducted in. The full list is here from the website. We had the couples traditional Hammam included in our Honeymoon package which we utilised on Wednesday afternoon it was very refreshing and relaxing. If youre into Spa treatments then they will build you a plan, and I have seen the resort have special Spa weekend packages on before with a number of treatments included.
Staff
The vast majority of the staff hail from nearby, and are very friendly and hospitable. The two general managers Leesa and Kenton are very pleasant and would regularly check to see if we were okay; there was also a very knowledgeable and helpful restaurant manager that knew his wine list well.
Excursion Visit
Now for the disappointing aspect; on the last day we were walking back from the library and contemplating a visit to the pool and I spotted a group of about 15 people together. Initially we thought they were a large group checking in and being shown the resort, but something didnt look right as a number were taking pictures and still had backpacks on. It then dawned that it might be a tour group on an excursion, but thought better of it because surely no high end luxury hotel would do something that stupid. Upon getting back to the room and doing a quick search online, it would appear that they are that stupid, there are topics on TripAdvisor asking about the value of the excursion, there are blog posts with comments such as We got to look around and use their bathroom and imagine what it would be like to spend hundreds of Euros a night to stay here. The level of stupidity is beyond comprehension; as I noted on my comments card on departure, the only place I expect to see non-hotel guests milling around and taking photos is Vegas, and even then they are not allowed near the pool area. What next for Virgin Limited Edition, day trips to Necker?
Tips:
- I think 3 or 4 nights at Kasbah is plenty, any longer and you may start to get a bit bored. Reading through TripAdvisor, there are people that have been here for 8 nights and got bored, especially with the food rotation. When we spoke to the restaurant manager he explained that they had just changed the format for the week, so that anyone staying for a week would get a good rotation of choices
- Id definitely book one of the packages that they do, such as the Honeymoon, Escape or Spa package. These will include your evening meal, along with bottle of wine per person per night. If you dont you will be forking out for meals at the sole restaurant on site at KT given its remote location. Starters were 7-15, Mains were 15-25, Dessert 8-15 (though some evenings had themed feasts and tasting menus that were ~50/head), and bottles of wine ranged from 20 upwards so you can see how you would quickly rack up a bill. On the packages, you dont have to worry about this as you are not limited to any particular food selections. For the wine, there is a whole page of half and full bottles for the package people to choose from; they are all Moroccan wines but would cost you 20-35 from the normal wine menu.
- Explore the resort, we given a short tour on the first morning which gave us a feel for the main areas but as we discovered on the last night, there are lots of hidden areas that are great for relaxing and taking pictures.
- Children are only allowed at the resorts during certain times (primarily during school holidays), so be aware of that if you want to take little Timmy with you.
- If you want to visit Marrakech itself, then do so before coming here as it is an hour each way otherwise, and the private transfers are about 75 each way.
- You are totally isolated as such (aside from the tour group visits), so this may be your thing or may not be.
- Think about your room choice as not all rooms have the TV/DVD player (though they can arrange them to be brought to yoru room). Also some of the rooms seemed to be in strange places like the top of a busy staircase, the Berber suites though are fantastic if you can get one.
Overall we enjoyed Kasbah Tamadot, the only real thing that let it down was the tour group nonsense described above. The few minor issues at the resort can be remedied quickly (the major issues in the UK will take longer, and I'm awaiting a suitable response). Ulusaba has an edge as you know everything is included (except spa treatments) so you dont have to worry as to what anything like that, but then KT is somewhat closer by and would be great for a weekend visit. Wed go back in the future for a relaxing break though (especially if a better airline starts serving the route!).
Thanks,
Richard
