What 666 DialAFlight clients thought of Latin America

We know we can always rely on you.

DialAFlight is normally my first port of call when planning a trip and I have always recommended your company to my friends because I feel I get a very good service from you.

The price reflected the half empty plane. I don’t know the logic. But I went and came back. That’s what matters

Although flight was cancelled which messed up further flights this was dealt with superbly as soon as you found out. Jake was fabulous

First class customer servicec

Fantastic service - many thanks indeed!

Exceptional service - very pleased.

Don’t normally do feedback but on this occasion have no choice as Fergus was brillant. (Emergency flight due to family member illness). DEFINITELY use your services again .

Thank you for an enjoyable journey, see you again in January

Our thanks to Russell for his constant help and support. He is one in a million and will go an extra mile giving us his advice.

Absolutely fantastic trip to Brazil! Thank you Glen for all your help in arranging. The hotel you booked was brilliant. See you again for my next trip!

Thanks to Shane for all his help whenever I rang.

Trip was great and we had no issues - everything worked as planned on the flights we booked with you.

Very helpful and perfect organising

All great thank you

Kieran managed my booking and he is an example of how to do customer service! Incredibly helpful, quick to respond and genuinely interested in trying to help. My trip was not without it's hiccups and Kieran was reassuring when running through the various options. 10/10 and would recommend.

Always a good experience booking through DialAFlight. Great customer service and good recommendations for flights. Pleasingly low prices too. I love the fact I can ring for help/advice if I have any queries.

Faultless as always

You helped a lot and I felt a lot more confident with your back-up.

Harry couldn’t have been more helpful - he kept us updated on any changes and provided us with advice on other aspects of our destination. We always recommend you to family and friends.

Very helpful and efficient

Thanks Mike. Speak again soon.

Anthony was particularly excellent

Great help and assistance from Marshall

The agents were very helpful with excellent service

Thanks Darryll for your help.

I have used Tristan for years now. Always a professionalservice and very attentive. Highly recommend to my friends too. Well done.

Really happy with the service. Fergus was very helpful throughout!

A complete personal service. I cannot recommend more fully the service given by Niall of DialAFlight.

Excellent service as always.

Riviera Maya

On the crest of a Mexican Wave

From tequila-tasting to jet-skis, dolphins and 'pole-dancing' grandads, TV wine expert Olly Smith's family declare Riviera Maya to be perfect and awesome

The Smith family loves nothing more than Mexican food, yet we'd never been to Mexico. So we made a pact to treat our taste-buds to the real deal and head for the Riviera Maya.

After flying to Cancun, we took a 25-minute transfer to the pristine Caribbean coastline and the Grand Velas resort.

Grand Velas is the ultimate balance of sexy paradise retreat and Bond villain's lair. The lengthy driveway goes through dense jungle and everything about it is at once grand yet intimate.

There are high ceilings, big, comfy furniture facing vast jungle on one side and the pools and endless ocean on the other. And it's all-inclusive, with jaw-dropping restaurants and perfectly gluggable local wine.

Fabulous setting of The Grand Velas resort on the Caribbean coast

We took a shuttle bus to Luca, a swish Italian restaurant a short ride through the jungle. We were served excellent pizzas and pasta, but with the effects of long-haul finally creeping up on us, we soon meandered back to our family pad.

With the arrival of our first pink and golden dawn, Ruby, nine, discovered the Jacuzzi in our bathroom. Leaving my wife Sophie and Lily, seven, dozing, I opted for a jog along the tranquil beach.

That's when I noticed the resort's sleek jet-skis. Despite being a huge nature fan and one for peace and quiet, I couldn't resist, with the family, tearing it up like a hooligan on a jet-ski through the shimmering spray.

Ruby and I hooted with glee as we belted around after Sophie and Lily across the turquoise Caribbean swell. We recovered at the resort's swim-up bar, where we sank our first blue Hawaiis, pina coladas and fruit smoothies for the girls.

Remember the all-inclusive thing? It encompasses feeding hungry kids as many snacks as they need to keep them powering through the day. And when you head out for dinner at the resort's Sen Lin restaurant, where we gorged that night on beef pad Thai and miso soup, there's no bill to settle.

One morning we got up early to head to the Mayan city of Tulum. The location is breathtaking, the ruins perched above a white sand beach.

The carvings and stone edifices are the hang-out of leathery local iguanas.

These dragon-like reptiles give the whole place a thoroughly intrepid appeal.

Near the entrance, some elderly local gents in colourful Mayan costume amazingly swung and swirled upside-down from an alarmingly tall pole while playing flutes.

At a crumbly pink shack nearby, Juanitos, we encountered wonderful tacos and local sope (a squidgy pancake topped with spicy chicken), washed down with tamarind water.

Marvelling at Mexico's cultural extravaganza, we made our way to Xcaret Park. This theme park has a tantalising focus on wildlife, history and culture alongside a few white-knuckle rides and an astonishing theatrical spectacular. We swam with Maya the dolphin and learned about the importance of conservation.

The Xcaret theme park focuses on history and culture as well as white-knuckle rides

We also spent time with giant turtles and admired the tiny babies from their successful breeding programme, marvelled at the splendid coral reef aquarium, snorkelled with a moray eel and brushed alongside bats.

But the showstopper came at the dinner, at which the entire history of Mexico was re-enacted in a vast state-of-the-art arena that would make the West End's impresarios groan with envy - galloping horses, marching conquistadors and Mariachis dancing and singing as you're served dinner. Epic.

Back at Grand Velas, Ruby and Lily loved the arts and crafts in the kids' club (I'm still wearing the holiday bracelets they kindly wove for me) and I used the gym every day.

Perhaps the most fascinating element of the visit for me was a Gran Jurado tequila-tasting session. The best tequila is made from 100 per cent blue agave and the flavours vary according to how the spirit is aged.

In the grounds themselves you can spot the most incredible wildlife - terrapins, humming-birds and coatis, which are somewhere between a goat and a rabbit. The ecological aspirations of the resort are laudable and the girls planted their very own tree in the grounds, which they named Chichen Itza, after the Mayan temple that thrived from about 750 AD. The girls also adored their cookery class with leading Mexican chef Ricardo de la Vega, learning how to make guacamole with fried Gouda cheese.

The international cuisine of Grand Velas's restaurants is top-notch, but the local cooking really sent our taste-buds surfing on a Mexican wave. Mexican food, as any fan will tell you, is extraordinarily diverse and delicious, and for spice fans like me, the sheer range of the local chilli sauces is like the world's finest wine cellar just waiting to be discovered and detonated into your face.

The final verdict? The best holiday ever, according to Lily - perfect, luxurious and awesome, said Ruby.

First published in the Mail Online - October 2015

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