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I am booked on haven seashore in great yarmouth in may but looking online i keep reading bad reviews about it

I am booked into on of there bronze caravans on one of those sun holidays would it be advisable to upgrade to a higher spec caravan???

Seashore is no where near as nice as Haven Wild Duck, but has the attraction of being able to hike into the town centre of Gt Yarmouth about a mile away from the entrance, or catch the road train which frequents the seafront during the season.

Unless you are prepared to upgrade to the Platinum or Prestige range on any Haven park they really are the pits, some sites may have upgrades for the Gold standards of vans that are new that season, and in May they should still be in reasonable condition, but after a seasons wear they are just as bad as the rest, and the older vans are always the Silver and Bronze ranges, the latter often having been used by pets. The upgrade for a new van last year was £40 a week, but they were very few and far between, as most owners were opting not to let via Haven because they dont seam to care who they let them out to and what damage was done as long as they get their cash. Son-in-laws family own a couple of statics as a business on the Yorkshire sites, and have stopped letting via Haven and only allow trusted regulars to hire from them now after so much damage in the past.

Julia

Indeed when my daughters were young (all in there 20's and 30's now) and haven was first born the majority of vans were quite good and well kept, but they also asked for a security deposit against leaving any damage or a van in an unclean condition, and this was not returned until the site staff had checked the van over on departure and signed you out. they used walkie talkies to do this back in the 70s, and were far more strict on security with patrols of uniformed staff and regular rather than agency staff.

I can see that with the way the company have expanded in recent years these measures and standards of care would not work today on their 1000+ van sites, but i remember the Blue Dolphin park with some fondness, when the entire site at a max of 250 Caravans and Brick built bungalows was immaculately kept with a high proportion of private owners. the expansion started when the place was bought out by the Guiness group in the early 80s and they soon bought up the neighbouring Dennis's camp as part of their expansion bid, doubling their capacity for units almost overnight.

Julia

It depends on your point of view but we have never found them to be that bad and have used the basic ones due to taking the dogs with us.   In terms of equipment you get what you pay for so in the very basics don't expect a microwave or central heating.   If you need these take with you or upgrade but for most people a normal cooker will do.   If going in the cooler months I would advise taking extra bedding (on top of the sheets you need to take anyway) and portable air heaters, the fan ones are really good.  If you don't have one Argos do really cheap little ones that work fine in the caravan. 

When we were last we had two caravans between 3 families (hubbys birthday) and the basic caravans were scruffy but clean, with one or two light bulbs out too but we were there to have fun, not sit in a palace so managed fine.  

If all works and you are warm enough what more do you need from a very cheap hol!!!

If you know that you will mind if the lino is a little scarred or the work tops chipped etc this type of hol is not for you but if you are not bothered by little things and are realistic about getting what you have paid for then go with an open mind and enjoy.

Even in the top of the range caravans the holiday can be ruined by things like cheapest of the cheap mattresses which leave you with backache as you 'ground' onto the hardboard base of the bed, something you wouldnt dream of happening when you pay a minimum of over £600 for a week in one of their Elite range vans.

The last time we booked one of their 'Silver' range was when my daughter took the grandchildren for a 4 day break to Primrose Valley, and we were greated by a very dirty caravan where the cleaners had not even bothered to clean out the shower room and toilet and it still had the remains of someones soap and shaving scum in the sink. the kitchen looked like it had been washed down with a mop as there were streaks of greasy fat on surfaces and fronts of unit doors, and the bedrooms had a strong smell of stale urine with a wet duvet found in one of the wardrobes.

We did complain, were told they had no other vans to offer unless we paid the upgrade which was another £140, quite a price hike for a 4 day stay, so we opted to wait for the van to be recleaned, which they did but still it smelled of urine. That was the very last time we booked onto a haven site other than either in son-in-laws family's private van or our tourer.

Julia