jc6030
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
Hi

I have been looking around for a singles holiday and like the feel of just you, but have also been looking at a company called Solos holidays, they seem to have some very good prices in comparison. But experience tells me cheap is not always best, has anyone any experience of Solos holidays, should I avoid them?

nixon
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hello

And a warm welcome to you, I have my 9th JY tour booked....I have on my travels heard about solos, what I gather but I could be wrong is that they age band the holidays more..where as you can have from 20's to 80's on a JY tour..don't panic this DOES work really well, am now 54 been travelling with JY since I was 48. I have gathered that solos might be more for the lady looking for a other half! Again might be wrong, JY is not a dating holiday company by any means, I am not saying it doesn't happen but that is not the general aim. Also again I have heard there can be some cattiness amongst the groups...again I must say this is what I have heard I have NOT been on a solo tour.

Over all with my 9th tour booked I would like to say when you take in everything that you get with a JY tour I think they are worth paying that extra bit for..Everything is going up in money and that does include holidays.

If I can help you with anything more just ask.

Good Luck and I hope you give it a go, these holidays are great fun.

Cindy.

Mick W
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi,

I'm a JY regular (8 hols done) and have also looked at the Solos site although not done one of their holidays yet. I've spoken to others that travel with both companies and most say that JY choose slightly better hotels and include more excurrsions although Solos is a decent alternative. There are other singles companies out there who i have heard bad reports of.

Although I'm happy with JY its the cost of travelling from the North that is becoming a issue for many travellers £129+ to connect from manchester on top of the cost of the holiday which makes makes it more viable to drive down which can be a pain. Solos I've noticed do a lot of holidays flying from Manchester without the big price difference.

Mick

stu151
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi

I don't know what your interests are, or what level of "comfort" you're looking forward on a holiday, so it's hard to comment. Also how much you are willing to sort out yourself, or pay to have it sorted out for you

Having said that, there are a number of holidays types that do attract a high percentage of singles (although, mostly, they are not run as singles only). Although JY is a singles holiday, if you look back at previous threads you'll see there is a lot of discussion about people who know each other, or are related, coming on JY holidays.

Typical of these other holidays are walking holidays, and "adventure" type holidays. I suspect many of these holidays will be cheaper in total (including your own expenditure while on the holiday, and even with a single supplement), partly because they use lower grade hotels than JY, and also because they include more meals than JY in the price.

If you are willing to room share they become much cheaper, as single occupancy of a room is an expensive part of any holiday

In my experience JY offer a more complete package, for which you pay, of course, but are less flexible than other companies on things like "land only" prices, use of non London airports etc.

Solos are fine, they do age band some (but not all) of their holidays, and include less excursions than JY, but overall I suspect they may be cheaper.

Once you decide what kind of holiday you want, I would suggest you have a good look around at what's on offer, see what type of hotels they use, how many meals are paid for, what activities/excursions are included etc and go from there.

Stuart

sallyc
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi

I have done 14 holidays with Solos and have done 3 with Just You - all have been to long distance locations in an all ages group.

In principle the two companies are very similar. I have heard it said that the people who use Solos think that JY is for an older age group and the people who use JY think that that Solos is more of a dating company. In my experience neither of these are true. I have enjoyed every single holiday I have done and have met some fantastic people. It would seem to me that Solos have begun to restrict their holidays to the far flung places - shortening the length of the trips and increasing the price. A good example is the trip to Australia. Solos only run the trip once every few years and it is normally for 12 nights only. JY do the trip several times a year for three weeks duration.

It is only fair to say that I have already done most of the trips from Solos that I would be interested in doing so have become a convert to JY (I already have two trips booked this year with JY).

My recommendation would be to look at what holiday you would like to do and see which company fulfills your requirements best.

The one area where JY excels over Solos is with their Customer Service. I have been hugely impressed with how JY responds to this forum and to its' customers wishes in introducing new holidays.

I hope this is of some use to you.

Sally

RosieMo
(Member)
I've done several holidays with Solos - mostly things that JY don't cover - walking weekends, short breaks in European cities, etc. They are absolutely fine, I haven't experienced any problems at all with them.

They have a bigger range of holidays than JY (sorry guys, but it's a fact!) Golf holidays, winter sports, tennis, murder mystery weekends and so on.

I don't think they do any holidays by train.

RM.

jc6030
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
Thanks for the replys, What sort of holiday for me??

Well I like a beach resort and the idea of 50/50 round the pool, socialise and the nice visit out somewhere to see some local sites is me, the idea of sweating my perverbials off walking up some mountian doesnt appeal. I have an awful job with quite long hours which means I would like maximum relaxation. Oh and by the way, socialise doesnt mean drinking myself under the table, I had enough of that in the armed forces.:angel:

Any way I am recently single so this will be my first trip on my own and from I have seen in the other posts JY looks nice and socialble,

I quite like Cyprus, been there once a few years ago and really liked it, costa del booze isnt my thing but a nice spainish hotel would be ok, again close to the sea, as I like an evening stroll after dinner and then perhaps some entertainment, in the hotel or otherwise. so thats me, any suggestions, anyone else fancy Cyprus, Oh and the idea of 9 hours on a Plane doesnt appeal either, definitley a short haul traveller. :thumbup:

nixon
  • (Member)
(Member)
Jc

My mums (she died 3 years ago) partner went on the Cyprus tour he enjoyed it and had a very good time if that helps, said the hotel etc was nice.

I have been to Tuscanny, Austrian lakes, and Poland tours all more local, these had a fair bit of sight seeing...

Have you had a good look at the all inclusive tour they might fit your bill, I gather Apulia is popular as well..

I hope you can find a tour that you like the look of and have a good time away.

Cindy.

BGray
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi you should have lots of choice with JY then so - some of the all-inclusive hols might appeal? They seem to have a nice mix of free time with some excursions as well. Solos might offer more hols, but as some others have said, most of their holidays are themed. JY has a much, much bigger selection of touring holidays (Solos only offer a handful of tours, most of which JY already do with better itineraries). Activity hols don't appeal to me one bit, I want escorted tours where we see all the sights, so it's JY all the way for me!

All the best,

Bob

Jaya
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi JC

I would recommend Costa de la Luz if you want 50/50 holiday. The hotel Just You uses is fantastic with its own swimming pool as well as very close to the beach. All excursions are included and most are half days apart from Seville plus there is a full free day to do as you wish.

Jaya

Bosuncat
(Member)
'jc6030' wrote:

Thanks for the replys, What sort of holiday for me??

Well I like a beach resort and the idea of 50/50 round the pool, socialise and the nice visit out somewhere to see some local sites is me, the idea of sweating my perverbials off walking up some mountian doesnt appeal. I have an awful job with quite long hours which means I would like maximum relaxation. Oh and by the way, socialise doesnt mean drinking myself under the table, I had enough of that in the armed forces.:angel:

Any way I am recently single so this will be my first trip on my own and from I have seen in the other posts JY looks nice and socialble,

I quite like Cyprus, been there once a few years ago and really liked it, costa del booze isnt my thing but a nice spainish hotel would be ok, again close to the sea, as I like an evening stroll after dinner and then perhaps some entertainment, in the hotel or otherwise. so thats me, any suggestions, anyone else fancy Cyprus, Oh and the idea of 9 hours on a Plane doesnt appeal either, definitley a short haul traveller. :thumbup:

Only been on a couple of JY trips so far, and not at all on Solo's. I like JY very much. I personally go very much for good hotels and food and I have not been disappointed in the 2 holidays that I have been on so far. I would throughly recommend the Croatia holiday based in Rabac. Some nice trips, good hotel with 2 pools, and the buffet food is very tasty with a wide choice. The hotel itself is a very short stroll outside the village centre, which isn't big but has lots of bars, good restaurants and ice cream parlours. It gets quite busy and sociable down there at night. There is entertainment in the hotel too. I was lucky on the holiday that I went on that the whole group was very sociable and we used to meet up quite a bit in the day time if everyone wasn't out on trips. There was usually someone around to have a drink and or a meal with at lunchtime. Croatian people are so friendly and welcoming and all in all it is a good value holiday.

I have also been on the Cilento Coast holiday with JY. Wonderful, wonderful hotel! It was very early in the season though and there wasn't much in the way of entertainment at night. The village is small with only a couple of bars that I found. Great beach just a few minutes walk away. It's a relatively uncommercialised part of Italy but I loved it and would happily go back.

Like you when I go away I like to relax and of the 2 holidays I found the Croatian one to be more relaxing, but that was only because I had been before so I didnt feel the need to go out on trips.

Hope this helps.

SylviaJ
(Member)
'jc6030' wrote:

Hi

I have been looking around for a singles holiday and like the feel of just you, but have also been looking at a company called Solos holidays, they seem to have some very good prices in comparison. But experience tells me cheap is not always best, has anyone any experience of Solos holidays, should I avoid them?

Hi jc

I've done many JY holidays and a few Solo's. I think the two companies are very similar and like others have said Solo's tend to be a bit cheaper with less included excursions but lots on offer when you arrive at resort. I like JY for the content of their holidays and Solo's because they do age groups. Everyone is different so unless you try these things yourself, you'll never know. And as for dating, I've known more people on JY holidays to form lasting relationships!

Whatever you decide, enjoy.

Sylvia

jc6030
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
Again thanks for the replys.

Croatia the Rabac hotel looks good, i hadnt considered Croatia before.

Question on the excusions, I assume the tours are included in the price, so the optional tours are an extra and as such again I assume thats an additional cost, so how much should cash should I allow for the extra optional tours, assuming I go on them all, the caves one sounds good as does the bbq cruise, in fact all sounds good. 😃

Jean77
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi JC

I have booked Croatia's Istrian Coast for May. Like you i wanted to know about the excursions as there is only one included in the cost of this particular holiday. I asked Ben and he supplied details of all the excursions including the price. So if you go to Ask Your Editor section of this forum and go back a few pages to 15 September, you will see Ben's reply to me.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Jean

Mick W
  • (Member)
(Member)
Croatia is a good choice, although i didn't do it with JY I did it with travelsphere (similar itinery) and fully enjoyed the trip.

A bonus was the cost of food/drink, much cheaper than the UK, don't exchange too much.

Bosuncat
(Member)
'Mick wrote:

Croatia is a good choice, although i didn't do it with JY I did it with travelsphere (similar itinery) and fully enjoyed the trip.

A bonus was the cost of food/drink, much cheaper than the UK, don't exchange too much.

Its a lovely trip!!

jc6030
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
Hi jean

thanks for the tip, I may well meet you in May as I think I will do Croatia as soon as I scrape the money together. 🙂

marks
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi,

I have been on this trip and can corroborate everyone it is amazing. There are several reviews about this trip, including a lengthy one from me under the reviews section.

Thanks

Jean77
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hello Again JC

Just in case you're having trouble finding the post from Ben regarding the excursions, I've just noticed that the last post on that thread was 2 october so that's the date you need to look for in the Ask Your Editor section. Maybe see you there in May!

Jean

jc6030
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
Hi Jean

I found it no problem thanks, If I have read it right we have to sign up for the cruise and bbq before we go as all the others are pay at the hotel.

Have you signed up for it, Hope to see you there, still recovering from xmas financially so will post if and when I do pay for the hol, 🙂