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Norbreck Castle Hotel ReviewsPage 1 2
| Board Basis: |
Half Board |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs S Kelly |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
Booked this hotel for just myself and my husband as our two children (aged 8 and 5) were going to stay with my mother in law for a few nights. I had read the reviews before I went and was therefore not expecting much and wish to comment as follows:
Previous reviews state that the building was shabby looking? Well I am totally confused by this, considering the hotel is right on the sea front and subject to the wind, rain and sand (which our car was covered in after 3 days!) The outside looked absolutely fine. From what people had said I was expecting a tatty old building but this was not the case.
We went into reception to check in and were given our keys immediately. The reception staff were lovely and welcomed us and told us were to go for meals etc.
I must admit we were given a room on the 5th floor which happened to be the last at the end of a corridor but hey it wasnt that far, there was a lift (although we did walk once or twice and to be honest, if you are booking into a hotel that big it is a chance you are taking.
Walking around the hotel was just lovely, the carpets and decor was nice and the place was spotlessly clean. There were always cleaning and maintenance staff wondering around and very busy doing jobs.
Our room was pretty small but we had a lovely sea view and our bathroom with bath and shower was huge. We had lovely soap, shampoo and shower gel and lovely fluffy white towels.
The beds were made up nicely and the bed was so comfortable, I honestly havent slept that well for years!
There was a great welcome pack waiting for us in the room which gave us plenty of information on the hotel and also surrounding things to do (the tower, pleasure beach etc) as well as tea and coffee making facilities and colour tv. There was lots of storage space, a nice desk and nice big wardrobe.
The bar was really pleasant and drinks were reasonably priced at £2.80 per pint however they had a happy hour every day between 11am and 4pm where pints were only £1.70!!!
There was a nice cafe bar where you could buy hot and cold sandwiches from £2 and scones, teacakes and muffins (approx 90p) and jacket potatoes.
Included within your stay is the use of the swimming pool, which is section off into two halfs, one half for swimming only and then the other half can be used for people wanting to take their children. A Jacuzzi and sauda and steam room. There is also a gym and sun bed facilities but there is an extra charge for these.
There is a FREE cinema for the kids with films showing all day long! and another bar with Sky sports showing all the football matches and a little arcade.
We were having such a nice time at Norbreck Castle that we decided to go back to reception and stay an extra night. We were even giving an extra 15% off as we were already guests staying there!
The food was lovely. The restaurant did get a bit busy but well what do you expect in a hotel of that size! The food was all served buffet style (apart from the soup which is served at the table) There was always plenty of choice. There is always about four different deserts including nice cheese cake and chocolate fudge cake. Full English is always a crowd pleaser with cereal, yoghurt and fruit too!!
I loved this hotel and was very pleased we went and will most definately be going back!
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| Board Basis: |
Half Board |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
national |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs D Foster |
| Overall
Rating: |
9/10 |
| Comments: |
room lovely with sea view clean and coumftable all the staff especially in restraunt very frendliy and couldnt do enough for you.......... evening entertainment good bar staff nice and polite.....leisure facilities lovely and clean son loved swimming pool............food was lovely and fresh especially brekfast so much to pick from
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| Board Basis: |
Bed & Breakfast |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss L Carruthers |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
When we arrived at the hotel the first impressions werent all that good, they only really showed you a picture of it at night time on the internet with all of the lights shining onto the hotel, instead to be faced with a grubby exterior was somewhat of a shock. However as we walked in to the reception area it did not seem to look all that bad. We were given our room key and told roughly where abouts the room was however we could not find it, the signs werent helpfull at all they skipped out numbers and gave no direction what so ever!
After trailing the corridors we eventually found the room and was faced by a dark and dingy room, it was freezing! After looking about the room we found this was due to the cold draft coming from both the windows, my boyfriend had to stuff the gaps with toilet roll to stop the wind draft coming in the room! We then decided to put our things away in the wardrobe, there was around 4 hangers and the wardrobe doors did not even meet having a large gap of around 2 inches! Before we went to go and have a meal in Blackpool we thought it would be best to have a bath or shower. To my shock and disgust the water ran a browney/orangey colour!!!! disgusting! we ended up washing our hair in the sink!!!!!
When looking under the sink in the bathroom i saw 2 carrier bags i thought that this would be our toiletries, which i thought was rude putting them on the floor, however this was not the case!! it was the bin bag from the previous guests stay that had not been taken away and just left out of the bin on the floor!!!!!
When getting into bed at night time i noticed stains all over the duvet! i ended up sleeping with a large bath towel ontop of me that i had brought with me!
We were given an a joining room, where there was a door between our room and some other peoples! The noise was ridiculous and got woke up serveral times in the night and woken up very early in the morning!!!
For the amount we paid which was £160.00!!!!! for 2nights it was disgraceful i would never go back there again and would advise any one else not to stay there!!!
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| Board Basis: |
Full Board |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Apr 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss M Millar |
| Overall
Rating: |
8/10 |
| Comments: |
Rooms were standard but the food was really good, entertainment was brilliant and we all had a fab time. Reasonable prices in the bar. Will def. go back. The prices we paid were very competitive and having read previous comments I was a bit worried about what to expect. The meals both nights were lovely & the service was fast. The staff were all very helpful and accommodating.
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| Board Basis: |
Half Board |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Mar 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs J Tilson |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
The beds are extreemly uncomfortable, I cried myself to sleep two nights and then only had two hours sleep. I have never been so uncomfortable in all my life. Disgusting for what they charge and all my party complained about the beds.
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| Board Basis: |
Bed & Breakfast |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Mar 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss A TRELFA |
| Overall
Rating: |
4/10 |
| Comments: |
customer service was poor, girl on reception was very rude and snotty did not answer questions. evening entertainment was poor with no where to sit. brekfast was like eating a ready meal. too much confusion with evening meal times with all inclu etc so me and partner decided to eat some where else we have stayed here before with a very plesent experience but feel like it has gone down the hill. rooms need re decorating and smelt weired and room was not very nice and we upgraded so hate to see what the normal ones look like.
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| Board Basis: |
Bed & Breakfast |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Mar 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs K Gilbertson |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
We had our wedding at the norbreck which was disorganised and disappointing in itself but our honeymoon suite accomodation for the night was ok, so we booked a 4 night stay for our last weekend together before my husband went away to afghanistan for 6 months. Worst mistake. EVER.
The room was tiny and smelled disgusting, there was a lumpy double bed with bedding that consisted of a stained white sheet, a scratchy rug which smelled foul, and a stained and smelly throw. On one side of the room was a huge wardrobe which took up most of the space in the tiny room (to be honest it was more like a cell). The entire decor was tatty and old and the carpet was so badly stained you could barely tell what colour it was. The bathroom smelled damp and had mould around the bath, the toilet made the most horrendus noise when flushed and the neighbouring room woke us regularly with their equally noisy toilets.
Breakfast was served no later than 9.30am which ruled out any lie ins... that is until we discovered the food was about as impressive as our room, at which point we abandoned all hope of finding a good aspect to this hotel and began flipping a coin to see who would be the first to put pins in their eyes - much more enjoyable than looking at the view which appeared to be straight ou of 'Shameless'!
We requested a sea view room and didn't get it, when we enquired about it we were told that although they had rooms available with a sea view we had been allocated a room and they couldn't override the booking system to change it!
Our complaints were ignored by the staff who had no people skills or inclination to help. The stay was more than dissapointing and ruined what was supposed to be a special weekend.
Horrific.
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| Board Basis: |
Bed & Breakfast |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Feb 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Hotel Club |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss Liz Tomkins |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
Upon arrival we thought the hotel looked rather shabby, but taking into account it was there out of season time it wasn't to bad. We waited for ages to be given a room key and even after that were not shown to a room, just pointed in a rough direction.
We eventually found the hotel room after ten minutes of searching to find that although we had requested a non smoking room the room stank of smoke. We tried to open the windows but they were shut tight with dirt and debris.
We quickly left the room and headed for the swimming pool which we were sure would be clean and welcoming, how wrong we were. The pool was freezing, dirty and the changing rooms would require the hotel to be closed down for a week in order to clean them to an acceptable standard.
The reception staff were rude and obnioxous DONT STAY HERE
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| Board Basis: |
Bed & Breakfast |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Sep 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs S Puntis |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
We paid a more than reasonable rate for this hotel and were very disappointed. We paid extra for a cot for our young son and when we arrived at our room we discovered that we had paid for a dilapidated box room, with no cot, nor any room for a cot and a toilet that howled when you flushed it. We complained and were moved to a bigger room that had a sea view, no questions asked. However this room was also very shabby. The wallpaper was peeling off the wall, the curtain was broken, the bedspread was torn and the bathroom was basic and dilapidated. The general cleanliness was poor, a look behind the bedside table revealed rubbish left by the previous occupiers and the corridors were littered with dirty linen and rubbish.
The breakfast was adequate, although it is the only hotel that I have stayed in that does not have a selection of fresh fruit available for breakfast. All the fruit appeared to have come from a tin.
The general appearance and upkeep of the hotel is poor and if I were to sum it up in one word it would be 'crummy'. This was in no way value for money and I would not recommend it to anyone.
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| Board Basis: |
Half Board |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Sep 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs W Sinclair |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
What a complete and utter disaster.
The rooms smell, they are noisy to hot extremely uncomfortable, the windows are so dirty we could hardly see out ,(mind you, it was we were only facing the back of the hotel which looks like a war zone ).
Costs are small fortune it they are a few of you on the trams because we were a long way out.
The food was just to stay warm, waste of time complaining because the staff can hardly understand you or your them as they are foreign, and the British I found to be rather rude.
If the management of this hotel read this then I would kick a few bottoms or you will find that this place will close down.
It really was unbelievable, so we packed up checked out and came home 2 days earlier than expected, I complained to reception but nothing was ever done.
Stay away from here, there are lots more hotels in Blackpool that can offer clean and basic which is all anybody really wants. This place is at the bottom of the lowest standard.
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| Board Basis: |
Bed & Breakfast |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Lastminute |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs Nj Drewett |
| Overall
Rating: |
4/10 |
| Comments: |
The web advertising for this place made it look almost appealing! However once there it started to go downhill.
A small queue for check in, waited 10 mins or so, and once we got to our room, I have to say, it was the smallest, shabbiest, most dated of rooms I have ever had the displeasure of staying in.
The floors all sloped downhill, the bathroom was not 10 ft from the bed, and the door barely opened fully because the toilet was right behind it. The light fittings were covered in an inch or two of dust and the bed was not exactly comfortable, although copious amounts of vodka helped!
Breakfast however was fine and of a reasonable standard and the facilities of the pool, gym, sauna, steam room, and Jacuzzi were the only real plus side to the whole stay.
We kept telling ourselves that it was only a place to sleep and that it was only for 3 nights anyway, so we put up and shut up, but we later found out that all the bus drivers, cabbies and locals all call it fawlty towers!
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| Board Basis: |
Half Board |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
National Holidays |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs C Powell |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
The rooms were very noisy, dirty and the view out the back was awful, our shower didn’t work, the inside of the windows were really filthy.
That’s the good part out the way.
The food was deplorable, cold, and tasteless. Staff which were very poor speaking English, we were crammed into this dining room, making it very uncomfortable for us and the ladies on the next table, who were of the same opinion, what a complete and utter waste of money.
The entertainment on the evening was a joke; it was more like a nursery, loads of kids running amock.
The tram runs often but it is quite expensive, there was 4 of us so we found it cheaper to use the local taxies, I had to get out, or I would have screamed, we were quite a distance from the attractions.
The staff were very rude [not to me] to an elderly gentleman at the pool who was obviously hard of hearing, then when he had gone continued to make him the butt of their pathetic jokes.
Never ever again, friends of ours were going to use this dump on new year’s eve but thankfully we have managed to put them in the picture, they have booked in a hotel called the Kimberly, which they have used before and said it was lovely.
If management in the Norbreck do read this you need to shape that hotel up, you need English speaking staff and polite staff, you have no qualities, at this rate you will end up closing down, and you will deserve it.
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| Board Basis: |
Bed & Breakfast |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
HJ Lance |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
This hotel is the worst I have ever experienced. We paid £40 for an upgrade and sea view.
The windows were so dirty inside and out you could not see through them. The furniture was broken and dirty. The bathroom stunk of urine and had blood on the tiles. My daughter’s bed had faeces on and when the beds were made the next by housekeeping nothing had been done to clean it up.
If this has been refurbished the hotel has been ripped off. It took nearly an hour to check in on arrival it was worse than standing in an airport. We had to stand in a queue for 30 minutes for breakfast and there were no clean tables to sit at.
When I went to complain to the manager guess what. A queue to see him as well! I wonder why?
The staff were unfriendly and unhelpful but I suppose what can you expect having to work in that environment.
This place makes 'Faulty Towers' look like Buckingham Palace. Please don’t put yourself through the same weekend we suffered.
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| Board Basis: |
Half Board |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
National Holidays |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss A Pounder |
| Overall
Rating: |
1/10 |
| Comments: |
The rooms are noisy uncomfortable and extremely basic. Almost all the staff hardly know English let alone speak it.
The food was the worst ever, cold and greasy, we spent a fortune in a sandwich shop out the back of the hotel, the view out of our hotel window was like a derelict building.
Please if you were thinking of having a holiday in Blackpool don't waste your well earned money in this dump. When we got on the coach everyone was in agreement with us, Paul my partner left his camera in the room we knew where he had left it so we contacted the hotel and they said id wasn’t there, we had only been out the hotel 30 minutes.
I would never ever go back there not even for free.
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| Board Basis: |
Full Board |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2007 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Private Booking |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs H A Wallace |
| Overall
Rating: |
7/10 |
| Comments: |
Myself, my husband and my 5 year old son stayed at the Norbreck for 4 nights in August. Having read some of the reviews I was a bit wary as to what we would find. However we were pleasantly surprised. The main lobby was very nicely decorated and as we checked in a bit later (4pm) we did not find it a long process.
The room we had was spacious and clean but a bit dated as people have said before, but compared to some of the places I have seen in Blackpool very nice. The only problem we had with the room was that the walls were paper thin and 2 nights our sleep was disturbed. Others who have stayed there have since told us that the rooms in the annexe are much better - there is no noise. Reception would have changed us but we didn't find it that much of a problem.
We had breakfast and dinner there and found the food very good. There are queues but these are not too long and if you book early enough for dinner it is piping hot. All the facilities are excellent - my son loved the pool and the entertainment is very good. All in all we had a very good stay and would recommend it to people with kids looking for a good place to stay for them.
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