Ok well I will be honest with you – we booked this holiday through The Sun newspaper. It was one of those really cheap holidays where you collect the tokens then choose your destination from a choice given to you. You can book a haven holiday online at www.havenholidays.co.uk. There were 5 ... Read review
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Cheerful but definitely not cheap!! - Devon Cliffs
Advantages: great for kids, and lovely views Disadvantages: very expensive
Ok well I will be honest with you – we booked this holiday through The Sun newspaper. It was one of those really cheap holidays where you collect the tokens then choose your destination from a choice given to you. You can book a haven holiday online at www.havenholidays.co.uk. There were 5 of us on this holiday (all adults) and after upgrades and extras it ended up costing approx £9 each – which is not bad at all. And am I glad we booked it this ... ...if we booked it through the normal channels. We stayed for 4 nights arriving on Monday and leaving on Friday.
Directions and Checking in
Directions were sent with the confirmation booking. It was quite a straight forward journey which took about 3 hours. It was straight down M5 leaving at junction 30. After leaving the motorway directions were not too good but we found the resort pretty easily with only taking 2 wrong turns. ... more
Ok well I will be honest with you – we booked this holiday through The Sun newspaper. It was one of those really cheap holidays where you collect the tokens then choose your destination from a choice given to you. You can book a haven holiday online at www.havenholidays.co.uk. There were 5 of us on this holiday (all adults) and after upgrades and extras it ended up costing approx £9 each – which is not bad at all. And am I glad we booked it this way because would be very disappointed and possibly very broke if we booked it through the normal channels. We stayed for 4 nights arriving on Monday and leaving on Friday.
Directions and Checking in Directions were sent with the confirmation booking. It was quite a straight forward journey which took about 3 hours. It was straight down M5 leaving at junction 30. After leaving the motorway directions were not too good but we found the resort pretty easily with only taking 2 wrong turns. We arrived just before 5:00pm as check in was at 4:00pm. Check-in time varied depending on the type of caravan you were staying in. I think off the top of my head they were: 12:00 for Gold standard, 1:30pm for Silver standard and 4:00pm for bronze standard. Check in was simple and straightforward and all personnel were friendly and extremely helpful. Even though check in times are specified you can arrive at any time and use the facilities (or at least that’s what they tell you) but seeing as though you need an entertainment pass to access most facilities which you cant get until you check in it seems pretty pointless. Our entertainment passes came free with our package (and looking on the haven site this seems to be the norm), but if you do have to pay for them separately they will cost you £8.50 for an adult pass. I’m not too sure about the child's pass as there were no children in our party.
The Caravan The caravan was absolutely lovely. It had 3 bedrooms which consisted of a double bedroom and 2 twin rooms, the living room area also had a fold out double bed under one of the seats, which meant this caravan could sleep 8, although this may have been a bit cramped at other times such as meal times etc. The bed linen, crockery, cutlery etc were provided and the caravan also had an adequate size bathroom with a shower. The views were fantastic with the caravan park situated approx 5 mins walk from beach (some caravans were right on sea front), and the views from our caravan window were amazing. There was a beautiful view of the sea. Our caravan had parking outside of it although I know that this was not the case with all caravans and some people had to leave there cars at the reception parking which could be anything up to a 20 min walk away.
The Entertainment The entertainment was great – if you are a kid – there are lots of activities aimed at younger children which took place throughout the day and also in the boardwalk of a night which included a lot of children participation on and off stage. The adult entertainment in Capones was dire to say the least. The resident band Junction 21 consisted of 2 female singers (whose harmonies did not go together), a male singer, a female on guitar who looked as though she was only there as punishment for a crime and a male on drums (probably the best feature of the group). The best part of their performance was the backing track that was being played. There were other acts that played in Capones as well and these were a lot better – especially the 2 guys who would sing (cant remember the name of this act). So like I say if you are a kid you are sorted and I guess these sort of holidays are aimed more at kids and families with young children. So if you haven’t got any children I would seriously think twice about this type of holiday. Also another disadvantage to all of the entertainment was the fact you had to have the entertainment pass to gain entry to them. We had taken the dance mat (which plugs directly into your tele) with us and we had more laughs playing on this than any of the entertainment, apart from laughing at the cheesy reps, and bad singing.
Food and drink Well if you haven’t won the lottery I suggest you try to eat at the caravan as much as possible and prepare your own meals rather than eat out due to the prices of them. There were a few places to eat on site which included the boardwalk were the prices were approx £2.95 for a kids meal which is not too bad and a good variety, but when it comes to adult meals the average main meal cost approx £8 and there was not much variety. If you didn’t want to eat there, you could choose from the Indian or Chinese kiosk, a burger bar, a fish and chip kiosk or bar meals. Again all of these were above the “normal” reasonable price. The drinks are no better, here are the prices for a round of drinks we bought. And this doesn’t include my mom because she didn’t want to go out, we had a double vodka for £4.15, 2 bottle of alcopops at £3.00 each and a pint of carling for £3.00 = £13.15 for 4 drinks! We only bought these drinks on the first night and on the second and third nights we were a bit naughty and was only buying soft drinks and sneaking our own spirits in to mix with the soft drinks. Naughty I know but it had to be done. There was no point in going on a cheap holiday to pay through the nose for food and drink!
Offsite Activities Devon Cliffs is situated approx 30 mins from Paignton, Torquay and Brixham and approx 1 hour 45 mins from Bude in cornwall. There are lots of things to do at these nearby resorts and although the holiday park want you to stay onsite – a venture offsite to one of the local seaside resorts is a must.
Facilities Facilities onsite include: - swimming pool and fun pool - amusement arcade - bowling - crazy golf - restaurants and bars as detailed above - laundrette - hire shops - shopping zone - beach shop - tanning zone
Although a lot of this review seems quite negative we did have a good holiday but I think that is mainly due to the fact we were all going to relax and weren’t looking for an action packed holiday. This holiday would be great if you have children as there is plenty to see and do and loads to keep the children occupied. It is however a very expensive place with extortionate prices, so be prepared to spend a lot here especially in the arcade which you have to pass through every time you want to attend other attractions. Luckily for me I am quite good on the bandits and won 9 out of 10 times – much to my sisters disgust who couldn’t even get the change machine to pay out!
I have covered everything I can think of and remember but if there is anything else you think I could include or want to know then please let me know.
Advantages: The only advantages of Golden Sands is its location next to a long sandy beach. Disadvantages: Everything else !
...is nowhere near up to Havens usual standards. Having previously owned a caravan at Littlesea and knowing the strict guidelines we had to follow regarding caravan equipment etc, this was the worst Haven holiday my family has ever had to endure. The only positive note I can say is that the pantomine and Legends were fantastic to watch. *Edit*
Forgot to put in that part of the window trim was missing from the main bedroom window. This was not obvious ... ...closed. The window was badly fitted in one of the twin bedrooms leaving a gap that you could poke your finger in. We also had problems with the cooker. The left back ring would make popping sounds and the gas would suddenly turn off. The front right ring wouldnt work as the knob had ceased. Had these both looked at but the back left ring remained the same. The water heater worked when it wanted to. You could turn the hot tap on full and the heater ...
Purdy_1 13.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Havens holiday parks
Advantages: Good holiday Disadvantages: Hilly and expensive
...job’s worth mate
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Havens customer services is excellent, the reception staff are very friendly and happy to help with any enquiry and they do not make it seem as if it’s a great chore. I had the unfortunate experience of smashing my back windscreen and the maintenance manager gave us tape and plastic to keep out the weather and offered to ask the manager to let us park in his private garage over night.
In fact pretty much ... ...taxi drivers, shop people, bar workers, the man that came to fix my windscreen. Surprising almost all of them were originally from the midlands. They all said how it was lovely down there if a little laid back and expensive. In fact, when we asked one taxi driver if he had a house down there he said “Do I f**k!” (You can buy a three-bedroom house in nice area in Birmingham for the price of a flat down there) Where the hell am I?
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michaird 21.09.2002 (24.09.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Havens holiday parks
Advantages: plenty to do for all the family Disadvantages: keep away from the amusements
I recently went to Haven in Ayr for the weekend.
I have been nefore and the park I chose is called Craig Tara which is an all action park, this means that there is loads to do and it gets pretty busy so not recommended for a quiet break.
My hubby and I were fed up and needed a holiday so I looked them up on the website WWW.havenholidays.co.uk and found the bargain break section and phoned them up.
The salesman was very helpful but all the week ... ...anywhere as long as it was an all action park but all that was left was weekends. Not wanting to travel to Scarbough just for three days we opted of the one in Ayr which is just 40 minutes from our home.
Doesn't sound like much of a break but we were just wanting to get away.
This was on the Thursday and the salesman informed us that there was a weekend available the next day for £153.50 quite expensive for a weekend but most of the facilities ...
jenny029 03.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Havens holiday parks
Advantages: Excellent for the kids Disadvantages: Park was quite hilly
In May we went to Havens Warmwell holiday park, near Weymouth, for a midweek break (mon-fri). At Warmwell all the accommodation is in lodges. We had no idea what to expect as we've never been on a holiday like this before (my hubby is strictly an abroad man!). We've got 2 children so really needed a lodge with 3 bedrooms. To get a silver lodge with 3 rooms it cost us £126. You get discounts for children under 5 (£10 for a midweek break and £20 for ... ...for over 55's (same as childrens) and as my mum came with us we got that one aswell! My hubby works for John Lewis and so we got another discount through them and I think another discount for booking early!! Any more discounts and they would be paying us to go there!!
Anyway we arrived at Warmwell (very easy to find, not much else in Warmwell!) at about 2.15pm ready to collect our keys at 2.30pm (2.30pm is the check in time for silver, 1.30pm for ...
Claire69 11.06.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Havens holiday parks
Advantages: Loads to Do, Lovely Caravans Disadvantages: Expensive drinks in clubs
This year we went to the Devon Cliffs Haven Holiday park for a week holiday. We stayed in a Bronze Caravan which cost around £600 for a week, this included Entertainment passes for clubs and swimming pool, and linen. The Caravan
Our Caravan was very nice. As you walked in there was a lounge area which had a television, large table sofa all the way round and a gas fire. With no door, the lounge lead on to the kitchen which included a full size oven, ... ...Pans and Crockery. There was also a full sized fridge with freezer compartment, A sink with Hot and Cold water and plenty of cupboard space. This then lead on the a small hall area where the second external door came into. On the left was a bathroom complete with a toilet, Sink, Cupboard, mirror and a avery interesting shower bath. Back in the hall the next room you came to was the small bedroom which had to single beds and a wardrobe. It also had ...
dansipoints 07.09.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Havens holiday parks
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Advantages: Well maintained site Disadvantages: Land fill site nearby, lot's of hidden extras, poor accommodation
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My 12 yr old son and I have just returned from a 7 night stay at Combe Haven and I have to say we enjoyed it very much.
We arrived late afternoon on the Friday and were directed to the Live lounge to collect our keys. A five minute wait in the queue and we were given a warm welcome and a bag full of free books for some holiday reading. Good books too!!
Made our way to our standard caravan which was a bit off the beaten track but this suited because it meant we were a distance away from the main complex so not noisy late at night.
Caravan in very clean condition and everything as it should have been. No bad smells or unsightly surprises. Unpacked, freshened up and made our way up to the main building to check out what was on offer in the way of entertainment. I say up to because if you are based towards the back of the site it is ...
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