We were recommended the Zante Levante speedboat trip by a friend who had been before - and we were not disappointed. We went on the morning trip of Sat Sept 6th up to the shipwreck and through the blue caves. Spiros invited our daughters (9 & 10yrs) to pilot the boat, which they loved. Spiros offers a really humerous commentary and kept us chuckling all day. Our youngest daughter couldn't find her sea-legs and was pretty sick throughout the trip, so I would advise taking a seasickness tablet if you think it might be a problem (thanks to the German couple on our trip who kindly provided one for my daughter, allowing her to enjoy the rest of the day!)

Don't miss this trip - if you go in the morning then you will get to the shipwreck before the hordes arrive on the big boats, and by going out on the smaller speedboat you get to go into the caves and see them properly.

A fantastic excursion - we would have booked again to go to the other end of the island if time had been on our side.

Just got back from the St Denis apartments on Monday. We are a family of 4 and had booked a 2 bed apartment, but were put in a 1 bed room in the new section at the front of the building. After quite a scrap with George and the Cosmos rep, Emma we were finally moved into the room that we paid for - a 2 bed apartment by the pool.

Our first room was immaculate, with nice bathrooms (with somewhere to hang the shower head!!) and as they are so new the decor is still fresh. However the balcony was so small that the four of us couldn't all sit out there together! The room is quite noisy (although not unbearably so) due to it's location at the front of the complex. There is one double room, and two single beds in the living area. Also a table and chairs, but no 'comfy' seating.

When we finally got moved into the room that we had paid for we found that as it was older it was a bit shabbier than our first room, but it was much more spacious. Two separate bedrooms, one leads onto a good sized balcony. The kitchen area was adequate - we eat out every night, but we could have produced a meal in the room if we had wanted to. Bathroom OK, but this time we had nowhere to hang the shower head. Also, when you turn the water on the sewage smell is hideous, but it soon disappears. These poolside apartments are quieter, you can hear a bit of music from the Enigma bar behind, but not enough to stop you sleeping. The bloody cockerel next door will drive you mad in the mornings though!

The maid service is first class. They changed the beds and bought new towels every other day and on the 'in-between' day they come in and make the beds and sweep. They do a really good job.

The pool area is very pleasant. Plenty of sunbeds and tables and chairs, which are all washed off daily. The pool bar is run by Brits, Mick and Leanne. We ate breakfast there a couple of times (full english 5 euros). Also provides snacks and drinks (bowl of chips 2 euros, can of coke 1.50 euros, bottle of Mythos 2 euros). The pool is very deep - the deep end is 2.7m and within a few paces of the shallow end you are up to your shoulders. Nice pool, though! We were there for the end of the school hols and the pool was packed with kids and lilo's - exactly what we expected, but some people seem to be surprised to find kids in the pool during the school holidays!! Our holiday overlapped the end of the school holidays and for our last 4 days the pool was absolutely empty.

St Denis supermarket is not particularly well stocked, but there are other shops within a short distance. The beach is along the road about 100m, but as beach lovers we didn't think it was very nice. Hire a car and go to St Nicholas beach or Gerakas beach for a really lovely day. Tsilivi resort was OK - restaurant followed by gift shop followed by restaurant, followed by gift shop.........you get my drift. Nothing fantastic about it, but OK for a couple of weeks - any longer and you'd be driven mad! Word of warning - there are very few footpaths, so keep hold of the kids!

We made the mistake of booking night flights (never again!) and found that we were put out of our apartment at 12 noon on the Sunday - our flights weren't until 7am Monday morning. We had tried to pre-book an extension to our room as soon as we arrived, but rep Emma said not to worry about it - she would arrange it for us towards the end of the holiday. However when the end of the holiday came she didn't want to know and referred us to George who claimed to be fully booked. He suggested booking into another hotel along the road, but this really wasn't practical. In the end we tried to kip on the sofas in reception until our coach pick up at 3am, but believe me this isn't fun with two small kids and it really ruined the end of our holiday. Motto of the story is don't be fobbed off by a gobby rep - make sure that she does something about extending your room booking at the beginning of your holiday if this is what you need.

Last but not least - the airport.........Can't put into words how awful it is! Just console yourselves with the thought that you are only passing through it, and don't have to spend your whole holiday there! Take plenty of water/snacks and a good book. Due to their new security system we were picked up 4 hours before our flight - the whole system is a nightmare, and one that the Zakynthians will have to address if they want to encourage more tourism.

Beach was OK, but nothing like the clean golden sands that we were expecting. Shallow and safe for the kids, but really nothing special. There are beautiful beaches elsewhere on the island, such as St Nicholas and Gerakas, and these are well worth travelling to. We listened for the Fruit Salad man and Peter is right - it sounds like 'False Alarm' - it gave us a chuckle! Beware though - when serving us our salad he dropped one of his doughnuts in the sand, just shook it and then went on to sell it to a couple a bit further along - ugh, crunchy doughnut!