Sun £9.50 holidays are back from 5th Jan. Am a virgin Sun holiday person. Are there any tips to guarantee a good holiday?

[Notalone]

Due to a mixture of the credit crunch, me being a mature student and DP having had an accident and not working, I am going to see if I can get a Sun holiday this year for us. Ideally we are looking at North / Mid Wales, Southern Scotland and Yorkshire. Are there any fab places to go that we should ask for? Are there any dives to be avoided at all costs? Can anyone share their experiences from years goneby? Thanks!!!

My only advice is that by the time you have paid for any extras (such as linen, heating etc) it might well not be any cheaper than booking directly -- particularly if you are going out of season when the sites often have their own discounts. So it's worth checking online with the sites before you bother faffing with the tokens etc.

First-timers are unlikely to get their first choice of date or park, as some people get priority forms and can book online before everyone else. Get organised, with 2 first class stamps, a cheque or PO for the £9.50 pp (minimum charge of £38 per booking btw), start collecting tokens on Monday, buy the NOTW as well and check for any bonus tokens (sometimes on the bingo card etc). Have everything ready to post as soon as you get the last token. Choose 5 parks and 5 dates.

For advice on parks, try searching for previous sun hols threads on mumsnet, and check out the parks' own websites.

Thanks Meg and Chippy. We are looking at June so hopefully will still make a saving. How would I go about getting a priority booking form - are there any codes or anything similar? I have checked a few of the parks websites but then have also looked at reviews and some have come up really awful (Haggerston Castle and Craig Tara in particular.) Does anyone have any experiences of good / bad sites from this promotion?

Right, off to look for other sun holiday threads now!

Try starting a new thread asking for a spare priority form. You need the unique code from the form, then once logged in, change the name and address details.

We tend to go to the same two Isle of Wight sites, so I don't really know about anywhere else. Park Resorts, Parkdean and Haven are usually fairly reliable but don't expect anything more than the most basic accommmodation with the Sun offer.

Not sure about the other areas but Primrose Valley in Yorkshire is lovely, the pool on the TV ads is theirs, we have been 3 times now and still not done everything that' available.

As other posters have said, it is cheaper to book a haven holiday when they have them on offer for half price. If you pay direct through Haven you pay for the caravan based on what star rating you want, regardless of people going. un hols you pay per person, plus service charges, and sometimes you have to also pay for your entertainment pass depending on the park, which are all in the one price if you book direct.

Haven holidays are ideal if you want a nice family break on a budget, our kids love them

Just been sent this Park Resorts code JS9S0. Their direct quote was £40 cheaper than the Sun offer for the equivalent week/park, and better grade of accommodation too.

I've stayed in Haggerston Castle recently. Didn't think it was that bad - but it was far too cold in the caravan bedrooms - no central heating or radiators in late October. Swimming pool wasn't great their either. Also have stayed in Haven Hafan Y Mor - I thought that was quite a bit nicer than Haggerston - and it has it's own beach and a lovely big pool. If you are happy with travelodges etc then expect the caravan/apartment to be slightly grottier. If you think travelodges are grim, then Haven may not be for you...

btw the entertainment pass covers the swimming pool - at Hafan Y Mor noone cared if you had the pass to get into the pubs/cafes etc, but at Haggerston they could get a bit funny about that at busy times.

Thanks Chippy - can I ask which week you were looking at because I got quite a high quote and couldn't see where to enter the discount code. From the general consensus on here though, Park Resorts do seem to be better than some of the others. I want to avoid Pontins at all costs!!!

One DS - I went to Primrose Valley last year using Tesco clubcard vouchers and it was ok. I asked to be away from the club house when (according to the receptionist) I should have asked for a quiet area instead. We were in a superior plus caravan so I kind of assumed we would have a bit of space but they put us in Oak Ridge where the caravans were really on top of each other. The caravan was fine but the neighbours were horrendous - the would come back to their caravan after 2am with hyper kids and would then spend a couple of hours letting the kids run riot while they carried on getting drunk and talking in very loud voices. The site was nice though and the caravan was spotless so maybe it would have been better if we had been a bit further back.

Total Chaos - Hafyn Y Mor was actually one I was looking at . What is the accommodation like and how close are the caravans to each other?

I had the same problem and rang them (0871 3104336)quoting the code.

BTW there's a token in TODAY'S Sun.

NotAlone - in Hafan Y Mor we were allocated an apartment rather than a caravan. IIRC apartments were in blocks of 4, 2 per floor. The apartment was decent, outside door lock was a bit dodgy though. Apartment had kitchen and decent sized living room plus 2 bedrooms. Small bathroom. All quite adequate. No noise problems. Hafan Y Mor is very nicely landscaped - nice woodland walk, nice boating lake with pub nearby, and a beach. Pool was good too. Don't recall noise being an issue.The local area is good, as you are in between Criccieth and Pwllheli, 2 nice welsh beach resorts.

I've just received my first priority booking form - do I still have to collect the tokens from the paper, or are there codes I can collect online this time? TIA

We've been on 2 sun holidays. I'm sure we got our first choice the first time. We went to Great Yarmouth and the second one to the Isle of Wight. Not sure where to go this time.
I works out alot more than £9.50 though.

you can prob collect codes online, maybe moneysavingexpert has them...i hope so!

just wondering if anyone has a priority booking form they won't be using?

We were first timers last year, and got our first choice date (half-term) AND place. We went to France.

I booked last year-none of my chosen was available so chose online an accomodation and there was an error which meant we couldn't have self catering just half board so almost £300 extra....bvecause i didn't pay it i had to loose my £60. Thanks the sun, that was a weeks wage for me.

We went on our first sun holiday last year (thanks Chippy) Ah, so there are more on offer - we didnt get a priority form though. We are thinking about booking a holiday too - but might just have to buy the sun. Am wondering too about the fact of just booking direct.

Ohh, this is exciting

We looked at booking direct and the cost was nearly £600 for the same holiday.

Why does it end up costing more than the quoted price of £9.50 per person?

nkf, you have to pay for at least four people, and then there is the surcharge for electric and linen - we paid nearer £100 but still cheap cheap cheap

Plus some sites have a surcharge. Plus if you want a "peak rate" ferry. Or if you want to extend the holiday. We extended ours so it was for a week, last year. But you can't do that till you've booked.

Hmm. So it won't cost £40 for three nights.

?

Have you thought about booking with a private caravan owner?
We are planning to go to Haven Kiln Park, and with Haven a superior plus caravan costs £884 in August, but privately we are paying £425, plus we will have to pay for entertainment passes (£27 per adult, £13 per child.)

I found the caravan through this site.
www.kilnpark.com/ there are links for other parks too.

We did go to Haven Devon Cliffs with Sun hols, and it wasn't that cheap in the end, and the caravan was well grotty - and I have no delusions of grandeur.