Haven Holidays, Caister Reviews

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We spent the half term holiday at Haven's Caister Park. The first time I'd been to a Haven Park, and also the firt time visiting Great Yarmouth. We booked a standard caravan, Mon - Fri for under £200, so we certainly didn't expect luxury. The caravan was better than I expected, especially after reading some reviews here. It was clean enough, although the bottom of the shower could have done with some mould and mildew spray, and the carpet had seen better days. The kitchen was well stocked with appliances, but the first time we used the toaster we lost all the electrics. Fortunately the maintenance man had fixed this within 20 mins and a new toaster was then supplied. The gas supply to the oven was rather poor (8 hours for baked potatoes), but we managed with stove top meals most of the week anyway. The beds were rather uncomfortable. I had back ache most mornings. Pack an extra duvet in your car to put on top of the thin mattress.
The caravan was situated very close to the Mash and Barrel, and the site shop. Despite this we had no problems with late night noise. Overall I would say, for the money we paid, the caravan was good value. It was comfortable, if worn, and we didn't go there expecting the Ritz.
On to the park in general. As I said before, this was my first visit to a Haven park. I've caravanned before, but only in smaller private parks. We had two young children (8 &9) travelling with us, and picked Haven so they would have plenty to keep them entertained. They loved it! Although there are extra charges for many of the facilities, the kids were able to have a great time without using many of them. There is a free park with lots of things to climb and swing on. The beach was just 5 mins from our van too. Upstairs from the rip off arcade centre is a free soft play area too, which came in very useful on check in and check out days. I took the kids to the arcades just the once so they could play on the 2p games. Most of the games however, paid out in strips of vouchers, which you then swapped for prizes. This is a huge rip off. For example I won 250 vouchers on the Deal or No Deal game at £1 per go. This entitled the kids to a bubble gum each and a tiny small plastic car. Fortunately the kids preferred playing outside on the free swings. They also made good use of the swimming pool, which is small but had a slide and a place for adults to sit and watch without getting wet.
On our first evening we decided to take the children to the High School Musical night in the main bar. They had a great time, once we'd spent 20mins trying to find somewhere to sit. Everyone sends their kids a couple of hours before it starts to bag tables. It's a huge bar with a low ceiling and a very claustrophobic atmosphere. Fill it with several thousand shouting children and their parents and you can imagine the noise. After that we relocated to the Mash and Barrel, which is much nicer, and also has an outside heated area with big screen tv, where we all watched the football.
The onsite shop is useful for cigarettes and cans of pop. Everything else is quite pricey. However there is a Tesco very close by, where we were able to do a big shop at the start of the holiday. A bus stop (turn left out of the camp) takes you into Great Yarmouth every 15 mins too. One thing that struck me though is that every single staff member we encountered on the sight was very friendly and helpful. The little girl in our party fell and hurt her chin within ten mins of our arrival, and the staff were fantastic with providing first aid.
I must admit that visiting Caister park brought out the snob in me. It really is chav central. Everything you need to know about the type of people there is summed up in the description of one young teen male who sat at the table next to us in the pub one night. His T-Shirt had the slogan'I love Gash'' emblazoned across it. Lovely!
Great Yarmouth itself is like many seaside towns. Run down, full of mobility scooters and shops selling sex toys alongside buckets and spades. The kids had fun at Pleasure Beach. My advice, avoid the Ghost ride, which is laughably unscary and has naked female mannequins. Also don't bother with the waltzers, which were so slow that the safety barrier kept coming up. The attendent looked like he was dying a slow death bless him.
We spent most of our time on the site though. There was so much for the kids to do and we were quite happy relaxing by the van or on the beach. One downside to Haven seems to be that it's activities are nearly all for the kids. Unless you like bingo and getting drunk, there's not really anthing for adults to do. If you're able to make your own entertainment, as we were, then it's ok. As the title of my review said, it's cheap and cheerful. We had a great time. It wasn't special enough that we'd specificaly choose that park to return to, but if I wanted somewhere for a last minute cheap getaway in the future, I would certainly consider Haven.

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Will not return

We got a 'cheap' break by collecting tokens through The Sun newspaper - bought the paper especially. On top of the £60 to book, we were charged £30 for power!!!!, £30 for leisure passes and an additional £12 for linen hire (we could have taken our own I suppose).

Once there, the superior caravan felt damp - I suppose it was October/November. The bathroom was very small and could have done with a decent clean but the rest of the van was relatively clean.
...

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I have been using Haven for a few years with my young children but have never been to caister so for a change we booked there!!!!!!!! DONT..... Very run down... Worse was that when we got our keys for our caravan they showed us on the map where we would be!!!!!!!!!!! Word for word... Go back the way you come in go down the main road past the housing estate past the shops and right at the bottom... Well RIGHT at the BOTTOM was the main road not 20 ft away from our caravan!!! with a housing estate ...

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Just returned from Haven Holiday park (7 nights) staying in a 2 bed chalet, the appartment was clean and good value for money. The Neptunes bar was fun but get's a bit boring and have same songs and shows most nights. I found some of the staff rude, but the park made up for that, because there is alot for familys to do there.

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Haven Holidays is a great park , has just had a lot of money spent on it ,

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We have just returned from a 5 day break to Haven Holidays, Caister. We were pleasantly surprised as we were unsure what to expect as we booked a cheap break through a national daily newspaper. We stayed in a 2 bed chalet and used the site as a base to explore the surrounding area so we did not use many of the facilities. The staff were friendly and the site was kept clean and to a good standard. Neptunes Bar wasn't to our liking but that's only our opinion as we are a middle aged couple and th ...

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We have just returned from a 4 day break to Haven Caister we had a great time me my husband 5yr old and 10mth old. The staff were extremely helpful and our caravan was very clean and comfortable. We would definitely return my 5yr old just didn't want to leave.

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Just returned from a 4 day break with Haven Holidays at Caister - had a really good time. Plenty for the kids to do. Caravan was clean and well equipped and in a good spot. Staff were all very helpful. Been to a couple of other Haven sights and this is my favourite so far. There are 2 show bars Neptunes (VERY BUSY - get there early!!) and Seagulls. There is also a brand new arcade area new this year which is attached to a pub and restaurant. The beach is very close although we found it a bit dir ...

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Find most of the staff are friendly. The haven office end of the site is nice and cared for. On the other hand the beach end (mostly caravan owners funny enough) looks run down dirty and has had no improvements. There seems to be a lot more groups of teenagers hanging around in the evenings and leaving litter around the beach and grass areas.

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Having been coming to Caister since 1990s its always a nice well run site. However Bourne leisure need to invest in bringing the place up to Standard. Neptunes is a fantastic club with good acoustics, but all the lighting and sound system need updating. Bourne leisure should try marketing the place as a venue for Groups and perhaps themed weekends outside the main season. What was once a Flagship of the Haven (Rank) Brand and previously Ladbrokes. Please Bourne Leisure sort it out.

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Very good chalet although was basic, close to the beach which was great for the kids. Entertainment was good value for money although we had to get there very early for a seat. Food facilities were ok, especially Mash and Barrel. Activities for the kids were good value most of them costing £5, overall enjoyed the holiday and would go back.

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Used to love coming here but now my kids get bored. The place looks rundown and looks rough at the beach end while the Haven office end looks cleaner and more cared for. Don't think we will bother next year will try a new site.

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Used to be a lovely site to stay. The seaguls club used to be free now you have to pay a lot of money for a pass only want a beer the rest is a waste of time.

travis1265's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Beware, I do not recommend visiting Caister unless you really like a good horror story. On arrival into the site you may be forgiven for thinking that you have stumbled onto the set of "On the Buses" or "Carry on Camping". It's a real throw back from the 70's. Some of the staff were extremeley unhelpful and rude. We were kept waiting at reception for hours whilst our caravan was being "sorted". Eventually turned up to find a handyman trying to put fridge door back on (to no avail). Complained, o ...

hhove's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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I'm Belgian and it was my first time to visit a British holiday park.
We were in a chalet. It had everything you need, but nothing more. The chalet looked very outdated and didn't smell fresh.
The swimming pool is a disaster! Has probably been bombed by the 'Luftwaffe' and never been restored since. Some of the security people in the pool were fat and constantly whistling. My 3-year old son was supposed to go alone on the water-sled and was forbidden to be accompanied by a parent, safety rules t ...

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Stayed in a superior plus 2 bedroomed caravan beds were made up on arrival so that was good very clean, parking spot next to caravan, close to all amenities, all sorts to hire, the beach was beautiful and only 2 minutes walk, staff and security very polite.
Our overall review to the site is we loved it and are looking forward to going again next year.

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On the whole the park was good. Security was good. Chalet smelt mouldy, cobwebs, dirty floors, dirty windows, dog poo outside chalet. Not a very nice place to stay. We will never stay in a chalet on the haven site again. On the internet it looked much better. Staff weren't very helpful when we complained. Really puts you off returning.

feehughes's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Drove for 9 hours from Scotland to get here expecting "luxury silver chalet" was anything but luxury! Complained straight away but told was fully booked wait till Monday and would be moved. When Monday came offered only one alternative on other side of park in caravan. Son took ill in restaurant was sick everywhere and no staff willing to help me even though struggling to take sick son out and 3 other kids. I left the next day cutting short my holiday but when complained was offered no refun ...

jedimasterlincoln's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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2007 was our first holiday here & it exceeded our expectations. There were 6 people in our party, with the 4 children ranging from 7-13. The caravan was Silver 3 bedroomed and adequate for the numbers. If we had wanted hotel-standard acccomodation then we would have booked a hotel.
They did leave us an extra set of double bedding - but this was easily swapped for the single set of bedding they failed to provide us with.
We KNEW the on-site shop was the sort of standard you'd expect from a ...

jamiewells's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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I have been to Caister a few times over the past 8 years, but after my recent holiday experience, however, I will never return to that dirty, run down, dated place again. Don't get me wrong I have had such a fantastic time when I have stayed at this park before, but I can not believe that with the money this place must make every year, they have not invested it wisely in my opinion.
The paint work seems as if it has not been done in years. Dirty toilets, poo found in the pool and strikes.
The ...