Haven Holidays Which One? Golden Sands Or Norfolk Wild Duck Hopton Caister Seashore?

oizafed

Hi, I am new to the forums so please forgive me if I get it wrong! I am interested in taking my family on a haven holiday to use my Tesco Clubcard vouchers.

We live near London and not sure whether to travel to Norfolk - or go a bit further a field and head up to Golden Sands.

The Golden Sands resort looks great in the brochure, on beach front with fab indoor and outdoor pools weather depending... but then is it worth the trek??

As we are not really a kiss me quick chav family (sorry no offence intended but you know what I mean...) , I am not too sure where to go.

We obviously arent expecting 5 star luxury but would like a nice family holiday. I have never been on a haven holiday before.. so any advice about caravans - whether it is worth paying more or if they are the same - and location would be greatly recieved.

I have read loads of bad reports on Haven Golden Sands online but admittedly most of them are not recent - the brochure does say that it has had a £3 million spend. Has anyone been who can verify this?? I have a 4 year old and an 8 year old who love the water, so a great pool would be fantastic. Shame the brochure doesnt show proper pictures....

Thank you for any advise you can offer me.

shaileytuff

Hi

Travelled from kent to norfol twice its a nice drive once to Wild Duck in 2005 with a family group (6 ads 5ch) and the pool was really rubbish just a plain square with a small kiddy pool and 1 slide, may of changed since then but the caravans weren't all that either, we had 3 side by side 2 standard and a silver and i wasn't actually that impressed considering it wasn't mega cheap

Then went to Caister on a sun 9.50 holiday in may 2006, we had apartments to start but walked in and straight out they were awful, had to pay to upgrade to silver caravans which were better but we had ants etc daughther (who was 9m and crawling ) came home bitten to shreds (not sure what from?) this site was on a beack though and yarmouth town is nice to visit with the kids when we got back we complained got discount off next holiday but wouldn't go to a haven again

If you want to use your clubcard vouchers why not try centre parks, i haven't been there but loads of family recommend them and if you go to longleat can use your vouchers for day trips in to there at no extra cost my DD 5 and 2 love it there

Good luck and these are only my opinions and things might of improved

oizafed

Many thanks for your reply. As far as I am aware you cant use Tesco clubcard vouchers for centerparcs, we go there regularly hence thinking of wild duck. From the brochure, it was indeed the pool that has put me off this holiday park though, so thank you for your recommendations, as it is always best to hear from someone who has been. Have you ever been to Golden Sands?

feclmum

some friends went to golden sands last year and said it was great,some other friends went to perran sands which was awful

Kez100

Pretty sure you can't use clubcard for CP.

oizafed

Many thanks to all of you who have replied. No I know you cant use Clubcard vouchers for Centerparcs, but is there any chance you could ask your friends who went to Golden Sands a few more indepth questions. What the pools were like, whether to go for a superior plus caravan and what the cleanliness was like. Sorry to be a pain but they charge over £700 for a week in the summer and you dont get a discount when you use the clubcard vouchers!! So dont want to waste £700 if it isnt up to the brochure expectations. Golden Sands is quite a trek for us with the children, so any more details would be very helpful. It does look really nice in the brochure. Thanks again

simes

If you don't like chavs then definately do not go to Golden Sands.
Mablethorpe is very scruffy and there is very little to do in the area other than going to Fantasy Island ( which has even more chavs).
I haven't stayed at Golden Sands myself but my sister has and didn't rate it at all.

I personally would not pay more for the superior range caravans (all you are getting is posher curtains etc). Its always pot-luck on which caravan you get ( newer one are obvously better than older ones). It would be better to go for a new caravan in a lower range in my opinion ( pay the supplement for a new van).

The area around Great Yarmouth is much better. I have stayed at Caister ( but like most Haven camps in mid summer the club is not big enough for the amount of people who want to go in). I preferred California Cliffs ( which is now a Park-Resorts site).

oizafed

Thank you. Can you tell me when she stayed there. As I understand from the brochure it has had £3 million pounds spent on upgrading it. Was it before or after the upgrade? Also the brochure mentions a great beach is this not the case? Any ideas anyone??

oizafed

... also what was Caister like? Would you recommend that one? Thanks for your help.. I am so very undecided, want to take the children somewhere nice

Eagle_1

We stayed at Golden Sands about 3 years back and I actually liked it.

The beach is a 5/10 min walk from the site, basically just across the road and when we went it had blue flag awards (dunno if it still has), it was a nice beach. On the way to the beach there is a shop which sells buckets, spades, ices etc.

re chavs, chavs are all over the uk so best not go on holiday anywhere in the uk :cool:

We never go bronze in any resort because the standards is not as good as gold or silver, its true you get what you pay for. when we went to Mablethorpe we had a disabled guest with us and they gave us a caravan which was a bit far for him to walk so I went back to see customer services and they moved us nearer to everything. If theres a problem you will find that the staff on any site will try to help so dont just grin and bear it ask for the problem to be sorted. Once we stayed at Haggerston castle and our caravan hadnt been cleaned, so I complained and got a new caravan and for the inconvenience vouchers to spend at the pub or shop. So if theres any problem do go back and see customer services, they want you to be happy because if you enjoy your stay you will want to go back.

Mablethorpe itself doesnt have much to do, theres a few shops, market, amusements etc but you can always travel into skegness which has a nice seal sanctuary, my Daughter enjoyed that. (theres a seal sanctuary in mablethorpe but we preferred skeggy one). Skeggy has fantasy island and a huge market which is nice in the summer months.

When we went the swimming pool wasnt that great, was just a basic pool so maybe they have refurbished it now.

BexTech

oizafed wrote: »

... also what was Caister like? Would you recommend that one? Thanks for your help.. I am so very undecided, want to take the children somewhere nice

Haven't been for some years, but it used to be nice.