Sorry I haven't been around for a bit. Life is still hectic with mum and family..Hopefully I will ha...
Sorry I haven't been around for a bit. Life is still hectic with mum and family..Hopefully I will have more timesoon
Member since:03.09.2002
Reviews:96
Members who trust:31
In the middle of winter when the skies are grey and the nights are long through my door drops a large envelope. This is my cue to run up to the newsagent and ask him to keep the Sun for 6 days for me so that I can collect the coupons to take advantage of the 9.50 holidays. This is because I am a very regular Sun holiday maker. If you have not experienced a Sun holiday then you need to look out for the advertising for this (or buy the Sun regularly) and save extra coupons, 8 in total.
If you want to be sure of getting a holiday to suit you it is important to get the coupons posted off as soon as you have collected your final token
Then comes the fun part. As I am limited to the times that I can take holidays my diary comes out and the first job is to check dates. Sun holidays generally start around March and finish just as the main school summer holiday starts. They start again at the beginning of September and go on through to November.
The breaks are either Monday to Friday or Friday to Monday. Usually check in time is from around 4 o'clock and check out time around 10 o'clock.
You have to give a choice of 4 alternative dates
Having
selected a convenient time from the available dates, the next task is to decide where to go to from a choice of about 150 destinations.
You have to choose 4 alternatve destinations.
Destinations in Britain are divided into 11 geographical areas: Cornwall Devon Somerset,Dorset,Hants Isle of Wight, Sussex and Kent East Anglia Lincolshire and Yorkshire North East Scotland North West and North Wales Mid and South Wales Holidays are now available in Ireland and accross the Channel
This is the time to read the small print.
Choice of accomodation is from caravans, chalets and houses. If you have ever stayed in a caravan you will know that the sleeping arrangements are not good. The two single beds are not big enough for adults. So if no children are included and 4 adults are going don't choose caravan accomodation. We always look for chalets as the beds have always been of a normal size in them.
If you want a quiet holiday (or not) it pays to look closely at the symbols for each park. The facilities vary widely from nothing to everything. Some have clubhouses, pools, kids clubs etc. whilst others don't even have a cafe.
This narrows the selection down to a manageable number.
Now for the hidden charges.
First of all there is a charge for holiday insurance. This is a flat rate charge of 8.50. split between 4 people that works out at 2.13 each.
Most parks charge extra for linen.
Some parks charge for clubhouse passes.
Then the choice is how do you pay for electricity. Some accomodation is metered others give a flat charge for unlimited power (Usually around 4 pounds a day) As we usually go when the weather is fairly cold we have discovered that we are better off with the flat charge as we do use a lot of electricity to keep the accomodation warm. On one occasion when we paid as we went we had a defective meter and woke up freezing every night as the heating had gone off.
Typically these extra charges put about 40 pounds onto the original cost of the holiday so that the typical 38.00 holiday (minimum cost) is now looking like 78 pounds. This can be reduced if you take your own linen and candles.
Are you likely to get your first choice of park? Frankly no but the choice of dates are more certain. You have the option of being able to choose any location or date should your original choice not be available. On the one occasion that my choices were all unavailable I was given the option of selecting from a small range of accomodation on alternative dates or a refund of my money.
Do I recommend them? Well twice a year for the past 5+ years I have been heading off to them so they can't be that bad. Having said that at the end of 4 nights I am always ready to go home again. 5* accomodation they are not. As a base for getting out and about they are absolutely fine. We have had some wonderful experiences in some interesting locations. We have never met the men of our dreams, conceived a baby, had a honeymoon or done any of the amazing things that Sun readers seem to do on these holidays.
Avoid Pontins parks at all costs. The only truly awful holiday we had was at a Pontins park near Brixham Devon. The chalet had one bedroom to sleep four 50 year old women, The bedding was wet, there were 2 chairs to sit on at the table (plastic garden chairs) Cleaning had obviously been done by someone with a visual handicap as they had missed a handful of hair in the bath and the electricity meter was faulty. To cap it all the place was full of 14year olds taking part in a 5 a side football competition.
Try to get in at John Fowler parks. Clean comfortable basic accomodation. Many holidays here never any complaints. Trying a new John Fowler park next week so I hope it is the same.
Dont expect luxury, Dont expect your first choice. Do expect to enjoy yourseld. I'm not too sure if it is economical but I know that the last time I stayed in a caravan it cost nearly 100 pounds for 3 nights so I suppose its fairly good value.
Pictures of Sun holidays
Holiday accomodation
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I have never been on a Sun holiday, but I too would love to go abroad (I've not done that either) Take care, Vicki :o)
LR_17 01.04.2005 16:06
Never been to any of these before, but it sounds ok. Haven't been abroad in ages though! Great review mate. Leila :)
tel1 01.04.2005 15:13
Good op. My brother went on one of these (to Butlins I think) and it was Rock n Roll Weekend (but he wasn't informed). Just a bunch of yobs knocking ten bells out of each other all night long. Cheers, Tel
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Splendia, a unique selection of luxury and design hotels with character in the most beautiful locations: Marrakesh, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Dubai.... Book directly online or contact our customer service available any day of the week.
Record Rent a Car is present in the main spanish airports and has a very wide fleet. We offer: exceptional discounts, free additional drivers,
unlimited mileage... subscribe to our Club Record and take advantage of special offers.
Apr 1st, 2005
very helpful by (86%):
helpful by (14%):
