I have been a Haven customer since before I was even old enough to book a holiday! I have visited almost every single camp in the brochure since I was a child, my Dad used to take us to a different camp every year. We travelled the country literally from Scotland right down to Devon, so last year when I was given to opportunity to be a Haven Blogger I was over the moon to be able to collaborate with my favourite family company. Some things may have changed at Haven, the caravans and facilities have massively improved since I was 6, but some things are still the same. The great family friendly feeling you get from the moment you check in till the moment you leave.
A few weeks ago myself, my Mum and the children all bundled into a minibus and headed to Fleetwood, the children where all very excited when we arrived at Haven Cala Gran and bonus Fleetwood it wasn’t raining.
Check In Process
We had arrived a little earlier than our 2pm check in time but from being a Haven guest before I know that sometimes your keys are ready a little early. I headed to reception as had a warm friendly greeting and told my caravan was ready. I was presented with an envelope that contained my keys, entertainment passes and a entertainment guide. The receptionist got a map and told us how to get to our van by foot & car, she told us all about upcoming activities for the week and suggested if we wanted to book activities to do it early as it was half term.
Our Accommodation
We were booked into a 2 bedroomed prestige caravan which was just around the corner from the entertainment complex in Roseacre. This was perfect for us as I have 2 autistic children and if they have a melt down I need to get them back fast, so it put my mind at rest to see we were so close. There was a parking space right next to the van and a car park close by. The main living area of the caravan is a good size, with 2 full size sofas, one being a pull out sofa bed. There was a flat screen TV & DVD player and a beautiful wall mounted fire. The kitchen was well equipped and had 6 of everything, all the utensils and pans you could need and even things you wouldn’t think you would need. The only thing you will need for your kitchen is washing up items if you plan on eating in.The whole caravan has plenty of storage dotted all over and the wardrobe’s are very roomy. Even the beds were comfy, we needed a few extra pillows as my Mum suffers with her chest and need to be propped up, but Reception sorted out some for us straight away. All the linen was clean and had no stains or rips, I had pre ordered a towel bale for when I got there so I didn’t have to take lots of towels in our case. The towels were really good quality and looked new. I only had 2 grumbles with the caravan and they are tiny there were only 2 chairs at the dining room table and there was no brush for sweeping up. Other than that the whole caravan looked and felt brand new and it really felt like a home form home for the week. Take a look at my YouTube clip for a look around the caravan.
Places to Eat
On the camp there is a Papa Johns Takeaway pizza stop, you can order from the arcade and wait or you are given a leaflet on check in with the delivery number to call and they will deliver straight to your caravan. They offer some great value meal deals and the pizza is always hot and tasty. We were provided with a voucher to eat in the Mash and Barrel restaurant on the first night. Eating out with autistic children is difficult due to their sensory issues so we headed out at 4pm knowing it would be quiet and we hopefully wouldn’t have to wait a long time. We arrived and the restaurant was empty 
We took a seat right at the back of restaurant where it was quiet anticipating it filling up as it got later.
There was lots of choice on the menu and even an impressive vegetarian selection, there is a nice small menu for the children to with a few good choices on. We all made our selections and I headed over the to bar to order our food. Even though it wasn’t busy in the restaurant I still waited over 10 minutes to be served as there was only 1 person serving. As you order at the bar you have no choice but to join the que of people wanting drinks, there is a separate food service point but I didn’t see it open once during our whole stay! This sadly is where all the grumbles start, they advertise all over the restaurant that there is 25% all food before 5pm, on posters, on the menus and even separate leaflets on the tables. Nowhere on any of this advertisement does it say that discount is only valid on items off the main menu. I had an idea in my head of how much the food would cost, as I only had £40 in vouchers I wanted to make sure I had enough cash to pay the difference, so when I finally got to place my order and my food was put through I was told the cost was £72.00 I had to run and get more money as we weren’t entitled to any discount as specials and items off the children’s menu weren’t included in the offer. I pointed out the fact that it doesn’t mention anywhere about the exclusions and was told he doesn’t make the rules and then informed I was holding up the que! I went back to my seat feeling a little embarrassed for even mentioning it!
Not long after I sat back down a waiter cam over to inform me that my Mums choice of a tomato & mozzarella salad wasn’t available as they had no tomato or mozzarella! So she opted for fish and chips and the waiter said not to worry about the £3 difference. Another 10 minutes later he came back out to say there was fish but the fryer needed cleaning out so there would be at least a 30 minute wait. The children were already getting twitchy as the restaurant steadily filled so she said she would have steak the same as myself to quicken the process, again we didn’t have to pay the difference for the higher priced meal. We then entertained the children ourselves, there were no crayons or colouring sheets on offer unlike most restaurants that cater for children. Around 20 minutes later I saw a waiter approaching with a tray and thought at last! He did come to our table but only had 3 of the children meals, which were pizza and chips and chicken strips and chips. He apologised and said the rest of the food was coming, so Logan, Skye and Cody started eating as we presumed our food was on its way. Another 15 minutes later and poor Dayton still didn’t have his burger and chips and there was no sign of our steaks so I headed over to the bar. The que was horrendous and while I was waiting to enquire where the food was I saw a waiter come out with a tray that looked like the rest of our food, so I followed him. He was indeed heading to our table and he laid the rest of the food down……. minus poor Dayton’s burger and chips. The rest of the children had by now finished eating and wanted to leave, I asked where my other child’s food was and why all our food hadn’t been brought out together and he said he just gets told where to bring it and was doing as he was told. I felt quite sorry for the waiter as he was getting it from all angles as he was now the ONLY waiter in a now packed restaurant. Dayton by now was getting upset as he was still waiting for his food
I was quite miffed by this point with my meal going cold as I didn’t want to eat, the other 3 children finished and wanting to leave and 10 minute later still no food for Dayton I went over to find out what was going on. As I got to the front of the massive que out comes the waiter with Dayton’s dinner apologising as he sees me and saying that Haven would like to offer us free desserts as an apology for the wait. There was no explanation as to why all the food didn’t come out together, why we had to wait nearly 90 minutes for 7 meals. We ate hurriedly and persuaded the children to wait on the promise of ice cream when we had all finished, the steak were really nice and the salad was crisp. I wasn’t impressed with the children meals they were small portions and the pizza and beans had clearly been microwaved, and after the epic wait for Dayton’s burger and chips there was no cheese on it was requested. I really couldn’t be bothered to go back up and ask, I just wanted to get the children back to the van it was gone 6pm and they were getting crabby.
The waiter came over to us an took our dessert order, the younger children wanted character ice creams, you get a little plastic Haven character filled with ice cream of your choice, the boys ordered chocolate ice cream and the grown ups sticky toffee pudding and fudge cake. Again the poor waiter had to come back twice first to say there were no character ice creams as they had none left! They were unlikely to get any more as it was the last week of the season! The boys ice creams came out pretty much straight away and they were finished and we were yet again sat waiting for ours! They finally arrived 20 minutes later!
Our pudding was disappointing the chocolate on the fudge cake tasted burnt and the plate was scalding hot (obviously zapped in the microwave). The sticky toffee pudding left a lot to be desired also, the portion was tiny and as you can see from the picture above it just looked a mess and another meal obviously zapped in the microwave. I think if I had have paid the full price of £72 for the meal, (£96 if you include the free desserts) I would definitely had asked for my money back. I so wanted everything to be good as a life long Haven visitor but on this occasion whether it be staff shortage or end of season slump the restaurant experience was very very poor.
After a disastrous first visit I was dubious about visiting again but after a busy day at the zoo I really didn’t fancy cooking so we headed to the restaurant again. It was around the same time. We ordered similar meals but this time we were all eating within 20 minutes, the children’s meal were still on the small size for my older boys and the adults meals to large, so maybe an option for older kids maybe a good addition to the menu?
Keep your eyes out for my second post all about the entertainment and facilities next week.
Disclaimer: As a Haven Blogger I visited the Cala Gran FOC for the purposes of this review