Holiday Haven or Holiday Hell.......You decide. (Haven Holidays in general)

Member Name: MandyMinx

Product:	Haven Holidays in general
Date:	22/07/03 (1117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Close to the sea

Disadvantages: Silly layout, needed a coat of paint

Having a group of teenagers on my hands, when I am looking for a holiday I need somewhere that can entertain my picky brood, whatever the weather. I need something for them to do, rain or shine and by 'them' I also include my hubby who I think has more child in him than the rest of them put together.

Well we have just returned from a week at Golden Sands Mablethorpe, one of Haven's All action Parks. The weather was good the sea air exhilarating, but was the camp what we expected?.........Read on.

This is the second time that we have visited this particular camp. We went about 6 years ago when the children were a lot younger and I have to say we had a great time. We have also spent a few happy holiday's at the Seashore Park in Great Yarmouth,also a Haven Park but smaller than the one at Mablethorpe and a great favorite with my family.
Haven have 21 parks throughout Great Britain.These parks have been split into 2 categories, All action Parks and lively parks, the idea being that you choose an all action if you want to keep the children entertained all the time and a lively park if you want something a little quieter.As I have already said, the park we chose is an all action park and so we expected just that....Action. I am afraid I was disappointed.

The first thing that we noticed when we arrived at the park was that there had been a big change to the security of the place. Much of the park was enclosed in a rather ugly and rather high chain mail fence. I remember my husband making a reference to Colditz and I laughed and agreed with him at the time. The thing is, this fence was erected in such a way that it meant that many of the facilities were only accessible by walking a long way around the camp. I have to say that I heard a lot of people moaning about this and one old lady in particular was extremely distressed to find that she could not get to the information desk without completing a walk that was clearly too much
for her. We spoke to someone on the camp who said that it was to protect the children. Well, this has to be good, but why they didn't surround the whole camp instead of sectioning off the area's in this really confusing way.

Check in was from 4.00pm onward, rather late for me. My kids are always up and raring to go at the crack of dawn, so leaving home late causes all sorts of problems. I like to check in earlier, and not waste the first day. I understand that cleaners have to get into the vans, but a check in around 2.00pm would be much nicer.


Check in was effective though, the staff were really helpful and we were very quickly installed in our holiday caravan.
Haven caravan's are separated into different categories ranging from the economy to bronze, silver and gold. Our particular caravan was a silver and what we got was a high standard caravan, tastefully decorated, fully equipped and most importantly, very spacious. Our caravan was an 8 berth and there were only three of us, but I do need all that extra space. There were 3 bedrooms, one with a double bed and two with 2 singles. Gladly there were no bunk-beds for the kids to fight over or hit their shins on and plenty of cupboard and wardrobe space. There were two toilets, something I was most grateful for, sharing with the males of my household.
Of course they were self catering, although Haven do have a couple of camps that do offer half board facilities.

With self catering being the only option on the camp, you would expect that there would be some really handy shops to choose from. I have to say I was really disappointed by what was on offer.
There used to be a really nice little chip shop on the site. This has been replaced by a Harry Ramsdens outlet. I personally found them overpriced and offering a very poor selection. They were hardly ever open, well not at the times that we wanted to buy, the restaurant was small, dark and the tiny tables were no
where near big enough to accommodate a family.
There was a grocery shop that reminded me of a corner shop, both in selection and in price. The choice was minimal and everything was so expensive. When I come on holiday I expect to pay a little more, but I do not expect to pay ridiculous prices. A loaf of bread was a whopping 95p for the cheapest offering.We ended up traveling to the town, where there was a really good Coop supermarket.
There was a coffee shop advertised on the camp. We went off looking for it soon after our arrival, as a coffee and danish sounded really inviting. We looked for ages and then when we asked a security guard he pointed out a café we were stood near. It looked nothing like a coffee shop and when we pointed this out he explained that at different times of the day, the café became a different shop and unfortunately we had missed the coffee shop time. I was not happy of course and complained that the advertising said nothing of this.
There was a rather nice bakery and although it was a little highly priced, it had a nice selection of pasties and pies ready to eat.
There was also a sweet shop that was obviously situated with the little ones in mind. Here you could find mountains of sugar and food colourings to work the little ones into a frenzy and the grown ups into panics.


I think what was noticeable about the camp was that it was in desperate need of a lick of paint and a bit of loving care. Some of the photographs in the brochure were either really old, or had been tampered with an awful lot to get the venue and the facilities looking so spark-ly clean and bright. There are two family rooms at this park and both of them were really grubby. The dance-floor in the upstairs room was split in lots of places and the curtains that hung in-front of the stage were old and faded. The new quay area that was so beautifully pictured in the brochure was a actually really tiny and we spent ages trying to work out where th
e photographer had stood to take the photograph that made it looks so big in the book. In the brochure this area had looked like a really lively and entertaining place to be, with snooker and bowling and other fun things to do.
The bowling lanes were old, torn and the bowling itself consisted of 4 lanes with ten pins at the end with pieces of string attached to them to lift them up and down. We love to bowl and were definitely not impressed.
I wouldn't call the camp particularly disabled friendly either, especially if you are on the pushing end of a wheelchair, not with those silly fences making everything so inaccessible.
There were no hairdressers, no gym, no places to pamper. I personally missed them.
The park was not that clean either, no flower beds, no fancies.

The entertainment in the brochure sounded impressive. I am afraid to say that again we were disappointed.
It's not that it was rubbish, far from it. I just felt that there were too many gaps between each section where you were encouraged to 'go to the bar and top up'. The glam and the glitz that was advertised was again a little worn and a little faded. When you compare the shows on offer at Butlins to what Haven are now offering I am afraid Haven trail in a very soggy second. The brand new show for this year was Broadway Blitz. In the brochure there is a picture of glittering costumes and big smiles. What we actually got were faded costumes, bum notes and the same staff that had called the bingo a few minutes before.

The pool was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary. There was no fair for the kids but there was a park. We did manage to pop in and take a look at the soft play area that we had to drag our children out of when we came all those years ago. It too was worn, old looking and definitely needed a lick of paint and some tender loving care.

The staff as usual were excellent, however Haven seem to have abandoned those hugely popular
and much loved Havenmates and brought in their new team of 'Funstars'.
The thing about the old Havenmates and their costumes was that they stood out from the crowd, were easy to find and made a good holiday great. The new funstars don't do this. The purple shirt and blouses mean that they are not easily recognized and there are nowhere near as many of them as there used to be. My children definitely noticed the difference.
When we went to this camp last time there was always something to do, be it a quiz or a 5 a side match or a sandcastle competition for the children. Haven seem to have moved away from the family theme that made it appear so friendly and from my point of view that was a great shame.


So we didn't enjoy our holiday this year? Not at all. We had a great time. The weather was good and Mablethorpe is a lovely old fashioned seaside town with donkey's and ice cream and fair rides and lovely clean sands.
I am a great believer that your holiday is what you make it and we made ours great.
Our caravan was privately owned, so we paid a lot less than many of the families on the site. A silver caravan on the park can cost in excess of £300 at this time of year. They do offer a lot of half priced deals and special offers, but I have to say that it would take something really special to make me choose this park again.
Would I go on another Haven holiday?
I don't know, probably not after seeing how misleading the brochure has been with regard to this one.

My advice to you.

If you are looking for an a cheap holiday, with no thrills, then avoid this one as it is anything but cheap.
If you are looking for great entertainment and all the trimmings, and you are prepared to pay for it.....Go to Butlins.

Check out the Haven web site for yourself.....www.havenholidays.co.uk. You can book online, but you have been warned.

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