Haven Holidays

[Iklboo]

Anyone had any experience/reciews of Haven Holidays?
We're thinking of going later this year with DS who will be nearly 2 at the time.

we went to haggerston castle with dd1 who was 18 mths

it is almost the best holiday i have ever had!

i think we were v lucky with the weather tho - we were able to sit around the outdoor pool every day

the caravan we had was lovely - we went for a gold standard one, but we took our own sheets and pillow for dd1

we ate out once and it was v expensive - from there on we cooked in the caravan, but just bits and bobs, i made sure i wasnt chained to the kitchen!

we also made the mistake of using the on site shop - again v expensive, but after that for anything else we needed we went to safeway which was a 5 min drive away

the swimming pool was great for dd1, we also went on horses, trampolines, the boating pond, and at night time we would wander over to the main area after tea, they would have a little disco on for the children and we would sit at the outdoor bar chatting til about 8 or 9 pm then we would wander back with dd1, put her to bed and sit outside with another bottle of wine!

i fyou are going to haggerston there are lots of great places to visit closeby i could let you know about

there were some down points - the pricey restaurant and shop, the switchies and burger king which you had to pass to get to the main bit, but apart from that it was great!

Yes, pick your resort with care - Caister, nr Gt Yarmouth, is miles better than Clacton, for example. If you search the archives here there have been quite a few threads. I would recommend Caister

OOh thanks. We're actually thinking of Caister cos we love Norfolk anyway and k now it pretty well. PLus we'd do our food shop off site to avoid the costs.
Thanks for the tips ladies!

Message withdrawn

Haven in Hastings was my worse holiday ever. Don't book budget accomodation as it's very budget.

Expect long delays at check in and to have to carry things like travel cots and bedding hired to the caravan yourself. I wasn't warned about that and if I hadn't taken my mum with me and ds I would have been stuck

mrsvern if you book a gold standard caravan the checkout is much much much easier and all the linen is provided etc

easy with hindsight i know

iklboo if you can, go for gold standard

I know that now but no one warned me of their crap check in system before we went. I'm sticking to lovely country cottages next time

Can't go for gold standard cos we're taking our lovely old mutt with us and so we have to book bronze.
Not too bothered about it being basic - we're used to Norfolk Broads boating holidays and they're really basic!

Plus we're planning on going in very late September when all the kids are back at school so I hope the check in might be a bit quieter!

i am sure you can pay an extra fiver or something to get early check in and linen already delivered to the caravan so you dont have to queue for it

check the small print

Thanks np -that's a good tip

We went once to Reighton Sands nr Scarborough - we had a Gold standard van and it stank of smoke,the shower head was broken off it's fixings and the carpet was also filthy and as dd2 was crawling we made them come and clean it.

have to say the staff were very good, they did come and fix the problems,just the clientele......

Perhaps we were unlucky?

oh and we didn't see the sea for the fog all week - not a holiday to remember for the right reasons!

We go on Haven holidays about 3 times a year and really enjoy them,although I'm now thinking of trying Centre Parcs,just for a change.
We have been to Allhallows,Berwick,Burnham on sea,Caister,Church Farm,Cala Gran,Coombe Haven,Golden Sands,Haggeston,Hopton,The Orchards,Seashore and Thorpe Park and enjoyed them all except Allhallows,as it wasn't very lively.
Thorpe Park was excellent and so was Golden Sands,with plenty to do day and night.

I went to the Burnham one in the summer & was very disappointed - it was dirty, everyone was smoking in the children's areas the food was over priced

We couldn't even open a tab at the bar on our CC - we had to pay for each round of drinks/crisps/meal separately which was a nuisence

I thought it was tatty - I live by Caister & have geard good things that's why I chose Haven - but maybe it was a bad place to choose

I'm trying Siblu this year (but not holding out much hope)

I am considering buying a caravan on a Haven site to rent out. Have any of you booked privately direct with owners? They seem to have higher standards than the Havens own teams of cleaners . Because most of them stay in their vans for holidays to they like to keep them nice.

Oh and good thing about Scottish sites all bars will be non smoking now.

Don't go to the Haven site in Tenby. Cramped site, had to park car next to van so no space outside. Fag buts all over the place. Loads of security guards around the entertainment complex, sure they were doing a good job as I did not see anything kick off. However it made the place feel threatening. You had to go thru an array of slot machines, pick and grab machines etc to get to the entertainment area which was horrible and caused contstant arguments with the kids.

Television was not working in van and took a while to get it fixed. Very disappointing and we had paid a lot of money. I have stayed in other caravan sites miles better than that one so be warned!

Like Lucycat we went to Reighton Sands. Only had bronze van but was disgusted. Floor filthy, windows breezy. Activities for 1yr old were poor - chasing round after plastic eggs! Seriously even the older kids were having problems understanding and this was aimed at 1-4 yr olds.

Def wd not go back.

We went to Filey and it was great. However, we did actually spend a lot of time off site, at Whitby, Scarborough etc. however the site was clean and plenty to do.