Haven (sun holidays) Hidden charges

Kerry39

Hi,
We do a sun holiday every year in september, last year was Rockley Park In Dorset which is a hidden treasure, you do need the car mind, but the park was fantastic. This year off to Weymouth Bay so fingers crossed its just as good as last year.
As for the hidden costs, it does stipulate in the paper when the holidays are advertised the costs which you will be paying.
I always get the bedding and just take a balnket with us just incase its cold, we have had caravans with heating in the bedrooms which are heaven, we normally ring up a couple of days before we go to see what our caravan has and pack accordingly.
If travelling with little tots, highchairs and baby baths can be hired on a refundable deposit, they have always been clean and wellkept. No complaints from us.
The entertainment passes can be a hit and miss, we got them last year and they were worth every penny, the week we went coincided with anxious elephants birthday week and so there was quite a bit on for my daughter. I think at 6 each night there was a character meet and greet and then a little show which got the kids dancing and singing. We have nt needed the passes to get into the pool, but again I think this is park specific so you may be best checking with the park direct.
There is often a shop on sight which we found reasonable, 3 bottles of white wine for £10, now thats adeal!!
Happy to answer any questions from my own experience of Haven.

Kerryx

GrannyKate

We did Craig Tara Haven in Ayr this year with 2 small children. Passes came with our booking - well worth having for the pool which was excellent and used as weather was not good. Only ever asked for the pass at the pool but we did not use much else that was on offer as boys only small and asleep by 7pm. Our caravan had heating which was good - you might need extra blankets if no heating in your van. Excellent and very reasonable supermarket on site although they had changed their hours from the brochure to close earlier in the evening. Caravan was very clean as was most of the site except it got very grubby around the entertainment complexes and the shops. (down to the guests rather than the staff we felt)

exup

hope you enjoy your stay there.

one thing to check is the Haven website (havenholidays.com) for holiday prices as they can be quite cheap when they get closer to the dates. Also you can get offer codes from the Haven site you stay at - if you ask at reception about booking another holiday before you leave - they may give you a sheet with different dates and offer codes on - but phoning up to quote the code they will check your name to see if you actually have been with them during the past year.

Also remember to check the class of accomodation if you are booking. we have just booked a self catering caravan at Mablethrope . and the lowest garde "Standard" 2 bedroom is actually more expensive then the "superior" 2 or 3 bedroom caravans. - the main difference is pets are not allowed in Superior . - but some sites do not allow pets at all . (again check).

I know that with any holiday you can sometimes get a scruffy caravan. but Ive always found the customer services helpful - and usually request a caravan in a quiet spot of the site - i.e. away from the main buildings and they always have helped out .

just-in-time_3

This is the Hastings one. I've been before about 5 yr ago & it was pleasant then. Its easy walking distance to the town. Has anyone been there this year? Any tips for me guys & gals?

pinkpong

We have been doing the Sun hol. for the last 6 yeast and always in the half terms. They are excellent cheap getteway with our 3kids. We never bother with the passes as we don`t like it loud, just vistit the towns or beach ( we are NT members always visit something for free everywhere).
We take our sleeping bags with us, atleast we know what we sleep in.
This october we are going to France Disnylad again, did this 2 years ago and it cost us £200 in all ( accomodation, ferry crossing and D tickets) for 5 people. We went to Disney for 2 days and had couple of days in Paris. Now you could not get that anywhere even if you tried. We had a faboules time and eat like pigs because the French food is just soooo lush!
We even had a free dinner for all of us with puddings once as they messed us about , that`s the way to opologise.:beer: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Scrummymummy_2

We stopped booking the Sun holidays for this very reason.

6 of us @ £9.50 isn't too bad but then add on the entertainment passes, heating/electric charges and it got to be around £150ish which if you look around you can get a midweek break for at a park of your choice anyway.

Friends of ours with only 2 children swear by them but its just not economical for us to do it and at the times of year these breaks are on offer then we felt we needed the entertainment passes as it allows you to use the indoor pool which is a must for us on rainy days.

We found that although we had to take the children out of school on a couple of occasions, the half price holidays which Haven do were much better value.

Scrummymummy_2

Forgot to mention that I've just booked a whit break with Haven using my clubcard vouchers which has saved us over £300.

NAT.B_2

hi weve done the Sun hol's for many years! All along the SouthCoast and IOW

Weve been to perren sands, its out the way on top of a hill with nothing else around unless you walk or drive into Perrenporth, which is a lovely small village.

There isnt much in perrenporth itself either, but the beach is out of this world, I love it and so do the kids.

We alway take our own bedding, but always use the passes as others have said you get use of the pool. we did go to the evening entertainment for the children.( we brought a few bits and took them in on a evening as prices are expencive, altough your not aloud to).

We have been to perren sand twice the first time we got given a dirthy smelly chalet and I moaned we got moved to a caravan. All the others time we have always booked an extra room so we ahve more space. the one we had last year a perran was HUGE and lovely the kids kept asking to go back!

Hope you enjoy it.

kittykat100

We went to Hastings earlier on in the season.
The show bar is a state of the art one....newly built.. and the pool is pretty good too.
They DO check the passes there and we were checked everynight and everytime we went to the pool.

Kittyx

Hardup_Hester

Hubby & I went to Chesil Beach last year on a Sun deal, it cost £72, excluding power, the caravan was owned privately & was so full of knick knacks we could barely move, we had to pay for the bedding even though we took our own. We were unlucky to have a cold spell & so spent £25 in the meters. We won't go back as it was too expensive for us.