To wish there was a MN Center Parcs support group?

[BoffinMum]

So I appear to have paid £1000 to stay in a damp bungalow and to be bossed about by unsmiling teenage staff members telling me off or telling me I can't do things, right, left and centre. I feel like I am back at boarding school, rather than on holiday. I've actually had a little cry, I'm so frustrated and feel so fleeced and got at. Hold my hand while I pretend to have s good time, people. I may need gin. And Pombears (which I noticed they sell in the Parc Market).

Well then stick in an opening and closing paragraph and (not sure you can include No 5) send it to them. They might offer you vouchers towards another trip .

I thought it was overpriced too tbh and at the end of the day a customer complaint is free market research.

Hope you are home and happy soon - I'd be mightily grumpy about the grubby bungalow.

I went with dh to Whinfell before we had children. We really enjoyed it, however during the day we left the park and in the evening we ate at the restaurants.

I'm not sure I would enjoy center parcs now we have children. If you don't want to swim all day and are not organised enough to book activities months in advance I imagine its a bit boring. It's very very expensive too. A few years ago I priced up a holiday in one of the luxury cabins over Christmas. It would have been cheaper to spend Christmas in Australia. I know where I would rather be.

Did you tell them about the damp carpet and mould when you first arrived?

Yes Viva, and they came around and said it wasn't damp, that the stains on the ceiling were from where people had swatted flies and where the cleaners had rubbed it off (two swatted flies still up there, btw), and they hoovered behind the bed, apparently. Smelled a bit better when we came back yesterday afternoon but the damp smell has built up again, and is also in the boys' room now.

This will sound a bit snobby now. I think the essential issue here is that I travel more widely and probably have a better sense of what happens in the rest of Europe in resorts, compared to the average CP customer, who probably has a more limited experience of travel,and thinks this is up there in quality terms with the typical Costa package that is their other holiday staple.

I have to say that DS1 adores it here, however, and it's nice to see a smile on his face for a change.

I do think maybe its expectations as well. I've travelled a lot, sometimes to 5 hotels and sometimes cheaper 2 hotels. I've slummed it round Africa and the Far East in cheap hovels and stayed in really expensive hotels here and abroad.

I always expect CP to be nearer the lower end of the scale than the top. It's not luxury accommodation and glorified wooden clad breeze block sheds are going to be damp at times. I expect it to be clean, I expect the damp to be not too bad. I know the pools going to be busy.

Still like it though.

It probably helps that it is literally down the road from me. So its very convenient. I don't know I'd drive for hours to get to one.

I have to agree with you boffin, we've been to 8 different CP locations, all 5* with VIP accomodation.

I never experienced dissapointment in any parc except the UK parc. It was not quality for what we payed. I feel like we had such high expectations because of all our past experiences and the UK parc just didn't match up.

It may be because CP UK is so popular that they don't have to try?

We've never experienced the whole "sharpen your elbows" mentality at any other CP and the staff have always been so accomodating.

The activities staff ALWAYS do their instructions in English for our dc's even if they are the only ones attending who speach English .

I can recommend some really great parcs if you're interested!

*the quality was not up to the standard that it should have been.

Euphemia, in principle, yes of course, but this so called 'break' has left me tired and rather world weary. If they sent me vouchers it would be pointless as they'd probably go in the bin - I don't want to give these people even more money for the crap on offer.

Uptheanty, I would very much like recommendations for European parcs, if you would care to share them. I think it's the sharpen the elbows thing that has driven me most bonkers - well, that and the damp.

Interestingly we booked a week before we came and there were still about 20 bungalows left. Perhaps CP's popularity is waning. If a competitor opened up something fresher and newer I reckon a mass defection would happen.

We were in one of the newer bungalows at Longleat, and it did smell/feel a bit damp. It was lovely, clean and comfy apart from that though. I wouldn't book one of the older houses now. I think the damp is because they don't get much sun. Maybe CP need to thin the forests out a bit.

I preferred Whinfell to Longleat however, and would not make the horrendous journey there again. The pool was great, we loved the outdoor bit as the weather was cracking. But the little kids pool is miles better at Whinfell.

I've been to De Kempervennan and Het hejderbos in The Netherlands. Years ago they were a fraction of the cost of UK parcs but when I priced it up to go this half term it cost quite a bit more when factoring in the ferry.
In general the facilities and activities are similar and the food cheaper. The Dutch customer service was good and all the activities were conducted in English, German and Dutch. However they were significantly down market of the UK ones full of rowdy tattooed Germans.
The place we stayed in at Het Hejderbos was so damp that when I unpacked back home all our belongings smelled of it.
I'll say it again though, the DCs loved it. They would spend 8 hours a day on the wild water rapids.I've looked at all sorts of alternatives recomended on MN and none of them has the same water park facilities, ie rapids.
Perhaps the newer French ones are better.
Although they all started off together the parent company is now different.

Things that would bother me: damp, lack of cleanliness, bad service, rudeness.

Things that won't: won't be using kids club (brought our own childcare in the shape of grandparents and childless dbro), planning on eating in a lot en famille so hopefully restaurants less of a problem, will be fairly happy with cheap, unambitious activities eg bowling, swimming as kids are young and not up to abseiling.

Our usual post DC holiday is the typical middle class cottage in Norfolk or Cornwall (preDC more backpacking adventure). I don't often stay in hotels and never been to a holiday park/ camp before so have little to compare to. 5* service usually embarrasses me hugely and feels obsequious so maybe I am the ideal CP punter!

I think they could put in humidistat fans in the bungalows, thin out the forests, and make it easier to air the properties when people are out and about for the day. That would make a big difference. As would upping their game on the cleaning and customer service. They are complacent.

A solution for us would be to stay in a nice hotel in Bury, and buy day passes, except they have stopped doing those.

Yourlittlesecret, nothing worse than rough Germans at full throttle. What snobby Germans call 'Bauern' (peasants), or 'Ossies' (people of East German descent and therefore also a type of peasant). You have my full sympathies.

Oh I love CP! Been tens of times (twenty times maybe!) through from when I was a baby to an adult with a new generation of small children in the family.

The swimming is great, the playgrounds are great, the forest and car free roads are great for biking and I had so much freedom to go off. We would typically go swimming 3 times a day ( morning , afternoon and at night just before it closed) interspersed with playground and biking. Eat all meals in the chalet. Went with another family always so the adults and children had friends to be with.

I used to spend hours and hours going round the rapids, couldn't tear me away. Now we go with more littlies I enjoy a chance to catch up with family and spend time with my nieces and nephews and take them down the flumes and stuff.

This will sound a bit snobby now. I think the essential issue here is that I travel more widely and probably have a better sense of what happens in the rest of Europe in resorts, compared to the average CP customer, who probably has a more limited experience of travel,and thinks this is up there in quality terms with the typical Costa package that is their other holiday staple

Ha ha yeah, it does sound quite snobby.

I loved CP at Elvedon when we went with Dd as a toddler. Keep meaning to go again. However, I agree about the pancake house!!! Absolutely foul!!!

Pressed send too soon!

You've got to manage your expectations. Enjoy the location and freedom for the children, and make the most of easily assess able swimming and cheaper activities.

Not expect to be staying in a luxurious 5* woodland retreat!