Caister Holiday Park

We went to Haven as a large family group, 10 ranging in age from 15 to 75. We booked superior plus caravans at a cost of £159 each van, for 3 nights. They were in a great location on the park, and had hardstanding for the cars, although I did notice that not all caravans did. The caravans were fairly new and lovely and warm. They were also acceptably clean and beds already made. Every member of staff we spoke to, without exception, were very pleasant and polite. The entertainment was excellent. There was a Spice Girls tribute that was slightly dodgy, but Haven's own Funstars entertainment was far better. All 12 of them are bubbly friendly and great fun. The quiz shows were very well run by Mickey or Dan. On the Sunday night it was their own In The Move show with very good singing and dancing. We also ate at the Mash & Barrel, which is great, especially Sunday lunch carvery! The karaoke on Friday and Saturday nights was also well run, especially as there was a large rugby club on a weekend trip there! We are hoping to go back late summer, and recommend Caister.

I stayed in a prestige caravan which was very clean and contained everything needed even a bottle opener.
If your'e looking for a beach holiday it is fine however the entertainment was poor (photos being taken with Rory jokes on stage is what we saw- we were hoping for a mini disco before bedtime !) and the next day when we visited the pool it was old fashioned and cold we only stayed in for 1/2 hour.The piccies lie !
The indoor play area was ok although this could also do with modernizing as it had seen better days!
On a positive note the new mash and barrel served lovely coffee and muffins £11 for 2 coffees one hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows and 4 muffins these were great.
And the motorbikes at 50p a go were fantastic !
I could write more negatives but have decided to leave it at that !

Having stayed at this camp many years ago as a child (when owned by Warners & Ladbrokes before that), I was quite looking forward to returning as i'd always had a good time.
We arrived a few minutes before our allocated check in time of 4pm to be ushered up to Neptunes Palace to get our keys. Had our linen packs virtually chucked at me and was given a number to wait for check in.
Our standard 3 bed caravan was ok, would have been alot nicer if the pots and cutlery had been washed properly and our toilet carpet didn't smell of wee. I dread to think how many different specimins there were on it!!
The evening entertainment up at Neptunes was quite good, better than we were expecting. The lager and cider were watered down and expensive.
Took our kids to the pool and even they commented on how dirty it was. Used plasters on the floors of the changing rooms and plasters stuffed in the vents of the poolside air conditioner. A Lifeguard who liked to blast his whistle as loud as possible for the slightest thing, he was so big that I doubt he could move fast enough to save anyone!!!!
Overall, Haven could do alot better with this site. It's in desperate need of upgrading and TLC.

When your easy to please 'special needs' 10 year old says "they lied on their adverts mum, this is rubbish", it sums up our recent experience at Caister Park.
We paid £140 for a weekend away because Haven looked so lovely, the travelling distance was manageable, and the s ite was billed as self contained & family friendly.
We arrived a little bit early, and were lucky to be given the keys early. We thought that we were getting off to a great start. We got in the van and it was a bit smelly, and the crockery was "sticky", I'd thought ahead and taken all the food we needed and lots of cleaning products. So after a clean up and airing out the accomodation was okay, well, so long as you dont count ripped bedlinnen and stained sheets, which were pretty yuck really.
We fed the kids then went off to look around the park, after all, their website had promised loads of family fun. But we couldnt find the family fun! The only things on the park that were open and usable were the "Everydays" supermarket - which initially we couldnt find as signposts near our van (all the way over the far side of the park) said that it was "200 yards" away, but it wasnt there - a arcade that cost a small fortune, and the upstairs club bit that had nothing in it open and nothing on. The pool was open but for van owners only.
I think the mini golf may have been open (as an additional charge, though not expensive), but it was pouring with rain by then and no one could be seen. The place even seemed devoid of staff, so there was no one to ask about what could be done.
We spent all afternoon driving after asking a chap on the gate (the only good member of staff there that we encountered to be honest! And he was very good, very approachable and very friendly!) what was nearby. We spent most of our time in .... a local chemist, though thats not the haven parks fault.
Got back to the park and looked for something to do. My kids desperately wanted fish and chips for their tea, and luckily at 5 the fish and chip resturaunt did open... but that was a farce too. Got in there and got told that the menus on the wall were wrong, so not to ask for anything on them. The chap announced that it was his first night. We ordered 3 sausages with 2 portions of chips, cod and chips and fish cake and chips. He forgot to give us the cod?! He couldnt wrap the chips, he couldnt seal the boxes. By the time he'd finished mucking around the food was cold! But lucky for me I'd taken a good amount of cash, because if I hadnt we'd not have been able to have anything on the park because the cashpoints weren't working and they couldnt take debit cards on any of the tills as (and I quote from a member of staff in the supermarket) "no ones bothered sorting the software".
We took the kids up to the one open building for the show that was on, but that wasnt wonderful, the chap on sound hadnt quite mastered the system, the music was suddenly ear-splittingly loud and when another lady complained it was turned down so much nothing could be heard, then one set of speakers went off altogether and the sound on the others fluctuated and we were tortured with a lovely screechy feedback loop. Thank god we had a tv in the van, we spent our night watching sport relief! We saw it from start to finish! I even got some of an essay for my degree course done!!! That seems really really sad!
We thought the next day would be better, but oh no, we all woke up with the guts ache from hell, and we all started puking up. We'd had a really long, sleepless night too because the park was very noisy all night long with a van raring around and screaming and shouting, and the heating in the van kept blowing itself out as did the hob, and both my husband and son are adamant they saw a figure in the van at about 2 am. That unnerved me no end. After discovering that nothing further was open on the saturday, and the pool (though we'd not have used it while unwell) was not open to visitors on the Saturday morning, once again it was owners only, our 2 year old being told he couldnt play with toys during the toddlers play time, and also finding we couldnt buy a lot of the merchandise in the shop because a lot of it hadnt been entered into the till yet (and none of it was priced either) we cut our losses and came home 3 days early, and spent the rest of the weekend being very very ill. So it cost £140 for the holiday, £50 in petrol, and £40 (or thereabouts) in food and drink, plus the £12 something for fish and chips that were awful, for one miserable night away. Thank goodness my (much more on the ball than I am) friend enquired about the purchase of holiday insurance. I had purchased insurance upon booking from Haven, and am also covered by my current account, so its not a total bust... hopefully!
We read in the "welcome pack" that we should raise any issues with the reception desk at the park. But they really didnt give a rats tail! They told my husband to "contact head office", but there are no contact numbers for complaints! The Park also tried to deny the return of a deposit on an (unusued) cotside we'd hired, but the welcome pack said to take it back to the reception to get the deposit back. The welcome pack also said if anyone gets ill to "contact us at reception. We will do everything to make you as comfortable as possible", but once again, that claim was not met at all.
An on-call GP has asked us to collect "samples" to be sent in for testing. Nice! We're kinda glad that we didn't get the fish portion we paid for now actually!
Our children had been so excited all the way to the park, and to hear them calling the place rubbish, telling us that the adverts had lied, and to have our 8 year old begging us to take him home, when usually they are "get up and join in with everything come hell or high water" kind of kids was heartbreaking. The only one who hasn't complained is our 7 month old!
We phoned up the bookings number this morning at a loss for what to do or how to complain - bear in mind these are the souls who push to sell you upgrades (which they spent 2 weeks doing prior to the break!) and add ons, but they didnt have a clue on a : how to claim on the insurance THEY sold me, or b : how to complain. We've been promised a call back, but I'm really doubtful as to whether it will happen.
Their customer service on the pre holiday end of things was fabulous, nothing was too much trouble, but as soon as you have those keys thats that! Customer service flew out of the window.
I thought we'd maybe picked the worst Haven park in the chain, but the customer service this morning has been really awful!!!

This place is awesome! I should know me and my family been going for 10 years.
Caister is brilliant, we don’t go anymore but after 10 years of it you'll understand why.
We always stayed in a chalet, yes sometimes they may of smelt a bit damp but they were warm comfortable and spacious.
We did half board which was our breakfast and evening meal, great variety. The breakfast always has alot to offer such as full English and cereal. The evening has alot for everyone including: soups, salads, omelette, fish & chips, children’s bar, traditional English food and a range of deserts.
Above the restaurant is a child’s soft play area which I used to look forward to every meal.
The pool is brilliant I spent alot of time there. The park has alot going on, I never went to the children clubs, I found them boring personally so I played mini golf, went on the fun tower or hire a bike with my sister. It’s hard to get bored there.
The entertainment in the evening can sometimes be a bit rubbish but I can’t remember. There are usually always professional dancing/comedy or children’s acts coming in and Caister do singing and dancing competitions.
This holiday is perfect for families.
I may even take my kids there when I’m older.

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 bed roomed and adequate for the numbers. If we had wanted hotel-standard accommodation 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 petrol station, so we hunted down the local Tesco which was pretty much everyone else's idea! Unfortunately the cooking facilities were inadequate - it took 2 and a half hours to partially cook a pizza and garlic bread so we were really only left with eating out options or cold evening meals. The onsite chip shop was very busy and the quality was way below par. A journey out of camp over the road to the local chippy was also a letdown as it closed at 9pm. What we found really useful was how close the beach was. It was pretty much inhabited by campers and local dog walkers, you felt safe there and there was the awesome view of an offshore wind farm which you were pretty much in awe of.
The mini Golf and such on site was fun, if a little over priced, but so long as you say "no" to the kids or "we did that yesterday so maybe later in the week" then you don't end up spending a fortune. As has already been said, you might struggle to stay amused on the site if it’s raining, but there are ample things to do on a short trip to Great Yarmouth etc and the small swimming pool when it's not being used by groups on courses or private swimmers and isn't too full.
The breakfast, which we paid for as we were fully self catering, was sadly inadequate and stopped serving way too early given the volume of people (same could be said of the chippy, Neptunes Place, the pool) we did however manage to find the chinese take-away which we actually made use of twice (even though one of the kids doesn't like Chinese) and we were well fed for a good price both times we used it.
At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. Decor and presentation, staff friendliness and locating Fun Stars certainly didn't spoil the holiday. You can't always expect the camp to amuse you with no initiative, and if you're prepared to think a bit about how to amuse yourselves during the day and are prepared to explore the surrounding area then this is an ideal place to base yourself and use in the evenings.
We are going back in 2008, but in a slightly bigger caravan, and with the knowledge of what to expect / avoid / and do again.

I think that this was an amazing holiday and the staff were brilliant. The reception staff were very efficient and very helpful.
The entertainment was at very high standard and the food was lovely. I would recommend this holiday park to everyone I loved it and will definitely be coming back.
The caravan I stayed in was immaculate and I really really really enjoyed myself. So overall I loved it and will definitely be going back!

Once again a very pleasant experience. We booked a bronze chalet. Check in at 3.30 but were given the keys before this. We were given a very nice 2 storey chalet with heating in the bedrooms and an electric fire down stairs.
My only problem was a very stained bath due to a previous guest using hair dye and not cleaning it. The chalet was in a nice area and once again the staff were all very helpful.
We were staying self catering but took advantage of the all you can eat restaurant one evening which made a change for sheer variety and quantity available. It was good value for money.
The village of Caister is close by and people are very friendly the village has a wide range of shops including large numbers of take always etc the local butchers is excellent. As are the staff at the chip shop just off the site and their fish is always crisp and freshly fried.

Not a bad start, the staff were okay I suppose. They gave me my key half hour early, probably because it was minging. The chalet smelt musty, but the windows were clean. The kitchen was small and next to the toilet. When you turned the toilet light on, it was like a disco strobe light in the dark. The bath was disgusting too! There were plenty of plates and cutlery, even a corkscrew (great). A home from home.
The shop was good, but expensive and never had children’s playing cards. Although I was extremely impressed that they did stock Motor Cycle News on a Wednesday.
Which kept my bloke happy.
The beach was lovely, the kids loved it, only thing was there were lots of rocks on the coast line, but still very pleasant.
On the park my boys especially liked the bouncy castle and trampolines, so did I because I could relax with a drink at the bar for hours daily. One of the two bowling alleys was broken, so everyone was queuing for the open one. I love the two penny machines and really enjoyed them, just one thing though; the prizes weren't filled often enough. Yet again the public toilets were gross. Kids love it.
I went self catering but wished I went half board, because Rory went for character breakfasts and the kids would have loved it. The Oasis did a lovely carvery and the kids loved their dinners too. Better than Pontins at Brean.
Would go again but would have a caravan, because they are much nicer and cleaner
Great Yarmouth is nearby, but I got lost on the way and it rained. Parking is free just past the Pleasure Beach, but the horse carriage was £8 (cheaper than Blackpool) so didn’t save any money, but was very nice.
We went swimming and had a great time, kids loved the slides.

Just returned from a week at Haven - Caister. You would have to drug me and drag me to get me back there! It was awful.
Chalet had mould on carpets (from water seeping through the bathroom wall). The bathroom was black with mould in all corners. Electric shower - just too noisy to use...literally! Toaster didn't work. Kitchen sink blocked / foul smelling. Reported to reception on two occasions but nothing was done about it. Fridge didn't work...even on lowest setting it froze and ruined all the food we bought on the first day.
Chalet two doors along from ours was burnt-out and the windows simply covered up! This was peak season and no repairs were being done on it!
Difficult to spot a holidaymaker there who wasn't obese, heavily tattooed, shouting / swearing at their kids.
Expensive drinks in the Neptune Club.
Had a walk to the Seagull club (adjoining site) one evening and it was like walking through a council estate.
Great Yarmouth shopping centre sums it all up nicely...the first shops you see are Iceland, then Wilkinson, then it just goes downhill from there.
Horrible place...you have been warned!