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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask your opinions of Pontins

81 replies

thickgit · 21/04/2017 21:47

We went there today. We came back today. I'm sad that I couldn't cope with it, for the sake of my children. It was supposed to be
a three night stay.
Does anybody have an experience of Pontins?

OP posts:
Excitement2017 · 21/04/2017 22:03

We went to camber pontins in 2013...

Dh had booked it whilst I was in bed one morning and was v pleased with himself as it was so cheap....I read the reviews and felt sick
We went and dh said "go in look around and if it's bad we will leave immediately"
We were lucky. The chalet had just been refurbished and everything was brand new - mattresses beds bedding kitchen utensils the lot.
We had a great time ! The whole place was v run down though so can't imagine what it's like now ...

thatverynightinmaxsroom · 21/04/2017 22:04

There are some cracking reviews on trip advisor.

teacher54321 · 21/04/2017 22:08

I took Ds to camber sands pontins when he was about 18mo with my best friend and DH. DH refused point blank to leave the really skanky 'chalet' apart from going to the local supermarket to buy cleaning supplies and clean it from top to bottom. There was mould on all the windows. The swimming pool was filthy and freezing, the play parks were full of dog poo. It was awful.

Original poster
thickgit · 21/04/2017 22:17

Trust me, I feel terrible. I'll never make a similar mistake. My children are 3 and 6. We had planned on going to the beach, but it was freezing. We stayed for the welcome show which was really poor. I actually upgraded the room, but when we were there it was so hard for me to watch the children playing about on the floor etc. It's highlighted that I probably have some issues when it comes to hygiene.
I actually talked it through with my eldest, saying that there was hardly anything to do and we could go home and do things like soft play and Legoland over the weekend
I am actually contemplating sucking it up and going back tomorrow.

OP posts:
Violetcharlotte · 21/04/2017 22:18

Camber Sands is awful! We stayed at the Haven site there, which was pretty rough, but Pontins looked like a prison!

ThymeLord · 21/04/2017 22:19

Never mind. You can do day trip stuff with them.

Haven is nicer in my opinion. Cheap and cheerful.

leccybill · 21/04/2017 22:19

I sometimes pass a lunchbreak amusing myself by reading Pontins reviews on TripAdvisor. The Southport one is a corker.

Majorgoodwinschickenbeatstrump · 21/04/2017 22:20

Grim! Sorry. This is speaking as someone who has very happy memories of the place as a kid too. Some of the pontins were getting grotty even back then. I wouldn't go now unfortunately, amazed its still going

c3pu · 21/04/2017 22:24

I went to camber pontins.

Never again. It was awful. Filthy. Falling apart.

Should bulldoze the whole place, then napalm the rubble.

The caravan site next to it is paradise in comparison!

blue25 · 21/04/2017 22:24

They are undoubtedly grim. Friend who works in the police knows his local one very well!

DrunkenMissOrderly · 21/04/2017 22:25

Camber sands pontine is awful. I went thinking it couldn't be as bad as all that. It was worse.

MsRinky · 21/04/2017 22:26

Oh god, we had a weekend at Camber. It is referred to as The Gulag. Awful.

Original poster
thickgit · 21/04/2017 22:28

It's reassuring to know I wasn't being dramatic. Thank you! Still feeling guilty, but will learn from my mistake

OP posts:
minionsrule · 21/04/2017 22:37

Never been to Pontins thankfully. To a PP who mentioned the Camber one should be bulldozed - thats exactly what they did to the Blackpool one - we live down the road from that and thank god they did - it looked like the most miserable place in the world - it is now a new housing estate

shockedballoon · 21/04/2017 22:39

We stayed at Southport several years ago when Southport Soul weekender was running there. Can't imagine going there for any other reason as the only reason we were able to tolerate the accommodation was by comparing it to trips to Glastonbury in a small tent...
Spent any time we were in the chalet saying encouraging things like "at least we don't have to walk 5 mins thro the mud to get to a toilet " "there's a fridge and a kettle so we can have an easily accessible brew".
The whole place looks like a prison camp - would not dream of taking DS there!

user1484603141 · 21/04/2017 22:55

I've been doing the Sun holidays for a while now, and before that booked off season. We looked at North Wales and with dh chuntering in my ear booked Pontins. This was for start of July, it wasn't that bad, at least it was clean, but the noise was all the time, loads of children to say it was before holidays. Wouldn't book again tho. We stick to the caravans, we've been quite lucky with those.

HemanOrSheRa · 21/04/2017 23:12

Sweet Mother of God Shock. I have never been to Pontins but I've just read the reviews for Camber Sands on TA Shock. And the photos . I would have come home too.

We like Haven sites. We were at Doniford Bay last weekend - it was really lovely! Cheap and Cheerful as Thyme says.

kel1493 · 21/04/2017 23:15

My family went to pontins southport a few years ago. Was terrible

Ohyesiam · 21/04/2017 23:18

We stayed in camber ( not pontins) and se walked past late one evening, there were security guards pining this bloke down, and we could hear other guards inside on the radio screaming for reinforcements....
My kids wereShock

Fruitbat1980 · 21/04/2017 23:22

I live 15 mins from there. Beach is lovely. Pontins is bloody dire. Sometimes we drive by it and my DH and I will always say 'there but for the grace of God go i' and say a little prayer in reference to fact thank god we live near enough never to go on hols there.
If you ever want a 😵 Moment go read the trip advisor reviews. You did right thing.

WishfulThanking · 21/04/2017 23:28

Awful. Sad
Filthy, depressing, dire. When I went I took my kids and shared with a friend of mine and her kids. I had no idea what was in store for us. If I had not gone with the friend, I might have done a runner like you did too. Honestly, it was grim. I'm We had been to Butlins before and enjoyed it.

3boys3dogshelp · 21/04/2017 23:30

Not sure going back tomorrow would be a good idea? Surely you would just confuse your kids. If you have come home now I think for their sake you should just move on with your weekend and do a couple of fun days out. Kids are adaptable, they've probably forgotten all about it. TA photos look awful - I couldn't have let my kids crawl about there either.

mummysherlock · 21/04/2017 23:31

We went to Pontins Prestatyn in October with dd (5) and ds (2). Hideous place, main entertainment hall and arcade run down and dirty, swimming pool and changing rooms were filthy, going to the accommodation was like stepping onto the set of Shameless and as for the onsite 'restaurant' I've eaten better food in hospital. The only reason we stuck out the 3 nights is we had driven 4 hours to get there.
Never again. Give me Haven any day.

HemanOrSheRa · 21/04/2017 23:33

I was just thinking how awful it must be to travel for hours to end up in a shithole like that sherlock Sad.

Helloitsme88 · 21/04/2017 23:37

I just went to the faff of resetting y password to tell you it's a hovel. Genuinely thought it would be okay. And it was.... it had a bed and once we had asked for it to be recleaned, it was liveable. Okay I'm lying. We paid almost 300 quid. Summer hols. I was pregnant and tired. They don't do refunds. Weather was good. Entertainment was shite. Arcades were fun. We stayed 3 nights. my husband looked after our then 2 year old and I slept. So good to get home

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