Anyone else been disappointed with a Haven holiday?

[Chrysanthamum]

We booked a 5 star haven holiday park at the last minute in a really lovely part of England this summer and found it horrendous. We went for a park with lots of kid's facilities as I'm heavily pg and we have a toddler and 6 yr old and we wanted to just be at a pool chillin'.
Our caravan was filthy- toenails in bedroom, sticky carpet, dirty tables and fag butts outside everywhere. We checked out early and were so relieved to be home. We had to queue for 20 mins to get into the overheated pool and then we were put out after 1hr to let more people in. Even the restaurants served disgusting fare with no condiments on the table. Never again! We've had so many fab breaks and holidays all over the Uk often on a budget but this was sooo bad.

The drive to Reighton Sands is fantastic. The bumpy road makes it all worthwhile! You can see videos of it on YouTube if you type in Reighton Sands.

I am still in shock about the poo in the pool.

Come camping at least you will be clean in your own tent.

We went to Craig Tara and hated it. My mother told me I would hate it and she was definitely right. Two of my friends had a bet on that we wouldn't last the 4 nights. We did but it was close. The food was really grim, the chalet run down and not nice, the flashing lights and endless machines were headache inducing. The atmosphere was depressing - queuing in the camp shop was scary stuff. DH stood behind a mother and 15 year old daughter buying drink and discussing which combination of bottles would get them drunk the quickest .

We did complain but got nowhere and the thing that riled us was it wasn't even cheap!!It was quite expensive for the crap time we had.

Hmm, I've been to 3 of them.

Once in a tourer caravan, once in a privately owned [friends] van (so no cleanliness issues with accomodation with those two) and once in a Haven caravan. The one where we stayed in their caravan, all I can say is OMG never again!

It was disgusting!

The site itself (Hafan Y Mor) was disgusting too. To be fair, there had been major flooding the day we travelled down, and unfortunately the site had flooded all over, but Dear God, I wouldn't wish it on anyone!! It was filthy and it stank
The restaurant (and I use the term loosly it was more a school cafeteria) was awful and the food was totally inedible. All in all, it was a terrible, terrible holiday.

We did complain and Haven offered us a free holiday back there - obviously we declined, so they refunded half the cost of the holiday. I suppose you can't really argue with that.

The other two (Marten Mere and Lakeside) were good. Clean, friendly and children loved it

i've tried haven parks on a few occasssions and have always been really dissappointed. We have been to two Parkdean parks, Cherry Tree in Norfolk and Sandford in Dorset and both of these were fantastic. Lovely and clean accommodation, great entertainment, lovely well looked after grounds and good food. These holidays were booked through the Sun £9.50 deals. I would never go back to Haven and would highly recommend Parkdean to anyone.

Oh well so i'm not the only one that hated Haven then! We were actually swithering between Haggerston Castle and Craig Tara apparently the worst two!
We did fill in the questionnaire on haggerston brutally honestly and as I checked us out I did say we weren't impressed so i suppose I didn't make enough noise. We went in early July. Would it be too late to complain now? A small refund would be good to put towards our next getaway. Parkdean sounds promising thanks for tip-I checked out their website.

Agreed, Blackmonday. I have done Parkdean too (Sandford). It was cheaper, the evening entertainment was better, the caravan was better and the site was cleaner. The only thing that wasn't so good was the playground wasn't so hot and the swimming pool was a bit basic. But I wouldn't pay the extra for haven again. I would do Parkdean next time.

AAAH NO dont say that!
We are off to haggeston Castle in October and we are/ WERE really looking forward to it

Is it really bad?

here it is

Lakeside is a lovely site. We booked through haven. We got a brand new caravan in a small circle of privately owned vans

It was spotless, had a fantastic kitchen inc dishwasher.

It was centrally heated and had an ensuite as well as a main shower room

The Gas was piped in from a main tank somewhere so we didnt have the worry of running out of gas either

The kids club here was held in bright area off the restaurant rather than the bar where they are usually held

I would thorougly recommend this site

We have had a few holidays at haggerston as well. I have never found it dirty but we go off peak so they may have more time for cleaning maintenance etc

sunburn..my ds wont hear a word against haggerston...

he is mega excited about going again in September ...he is 4 .. hope this gives you another perspective

sunburn - if it's a cool October I would seriously consider taking a portable heater with, those caravans can get very cold, in the basic caravan the only source of heat was the gas fire in the living room! I didn't think Haggerstone was terrible terrible - but the 5 star rating I think raises your expectations too high.

Sorry Sunburn if I've put you off. October is not as busy so you might be ok - just bring lots of antibacterial wipes! The area is stunning so you can do lovely trips. My kids enjoyed it. What we missed was sitting outside once they were asleep and having a drink and chat which is what we always do on hols but you could bring deck chairs and maybe it'll be cleaner by then.

Another vote here for Parkdean, we go to Warmwell in Dorset, near Weymouth and it is lovely. No caravans on the site though, just lodges but the prices are very reasonable out of season ( we are going end of September). Parkdean spent millions of £££ a few years ago on all of their parks, highly recommended

We have paid for an upgrade to gold standard and this has central heating in.
Can i still expect it to be crudy and disgusting???

We have been to a few - we camped in our own trailer tent on haggy so didnt have a bother apart from the pool which in the changing areas it smelt so baddly of urine i couldnt stop balking. We ddint eat there but loved the surrounding area. We went to devon cliffs a few years back and it was a bit dissapointing but ok, the year after we went to one in somerset - not the big one with all the slides but the smaller one and it was lovely - really nice and clean. The next yr we went to the worst ever - reighton sands - disgusting manky caravan, disgusting manky eateries and club place and even roary was filthy and his filthy fluffy friends who were thread bare. We havent been to one since. We are due to go to primrose value on a bargain break in 2 weeks for just 2 nights/ 3 days and im a bit hesitant.

the last few haven holidays we have had garden furniture at the side of the caravan so sitting outside wasnt a problem

we did Haven at - Devon Cliffs last year and the caravan was lovely - v clean and comfy. Howvever, I didn't enoy the site and TBH we didn't hang around there much at all. Wasn't as good as Butlins the year before.

Did Centerparcs this year which is now officially my fave

I quite fancy Centerparcs but is it not a tad expensive?

it was a bit - we went just for a weekend in June when the DSs had an INSET day but I can't really imagine wanting to go back to Haven or Butlins after it TBH

Well they're doing Christmas packages which look v enticing - CP that is not Haven!

we went to haven mablethorpe in july and the kids loved it.it is full of slot machines but i think they all are at caravan places.we didnt even go on them.the kids did go kart racing, dodgems, trampolening,swimming,archery,fencing, loads of activities.no problem getting into the pool or time limits.we got changed at our caravan though as they're communal chaging rooms with cubicles and thought it'd be easier with the children in the caravan.it wasn't far from the pool though.

the kids entertainment was good and they didnt want to leave. the funstars interacted well with the kids and our eldest one was on stage 4 or 5 times out of the week we were there doig competitions etc.the food was good except for the take away bit in the entertainment complex, very little food for a lot of money.the restaurant was good though and the food nice.i moaned about one of the serving guys and they soon sorted the order out and took the name etc of the guy who was useless.

the carpet in the entertainment complex at night was sticky but they were cleaning it every morning to try to get the alcohol out so they were trying. the caravan was fine.my dp checked it all out when we arrived and said if it wasn't immaculate we'd be swapping caravans.no need to though, it was fine.

we've been to haven at caister in norfolk and mablethorpe and they've both been fine. the entertainment for adults was mainly in house and i wouldve liked to have seen more outside cabaret like they do at park resorts where we've been but to be honest i think haven is mainly aimed for people with young kids so you're not mainly there for the adult entertainment.

essay over.hope you have good holidays.

we've been to rockley park in dorset a few times, caravans have been spotless, site very clean and tidy and the pool/changing rooms very clean and available. Evening entertainment was ok (well kids enjoyed it but they did have a christmas show in July!!) we would def go back, however, we rarely spend a lot of time at the park as normally head to sandbanks or boscombe beach for the day