The Center Parcs Experience

salmocab wrote: »

I’d pretty much agree although I had a burger in the pool and thought it was nice.

pwurple wrote: »

Has anyone been since the covid restrictions were put in place?

We have rebooked our cancelled trip for next year, but will be keeping a close eye on it. I've heard from a couple of people who attended that with the very limited pool access (2 hour sessions, once or twice per visit), that it's not as enjoyable. I'd happily postpone again until the pool is open a bit more if that's the case.

salmocab wrote: »

I’m booked to go back in December and if those restrictions are in place I’ll almost certainly postpone it. The pool is the main attraction and also currently you can’t turn up early on the arrival day or stay on late after checking out. We did both last time and it’s great you really make the most of the stay that way. Obviously I understand why the restrictions are in place and don’t in any way blame Center park but I don’t see value in the current setup restrictions.

salmocab wrote: »

Arrive at 11 and stay till midnight

salmocab wrote: »

Yeah we arrived at 11 got the bikes cycled around then went swimming for a few hours and had lunch at the pool then went to our house, on check out which was 10 but think it’s 9 for now? After loading up the car we went for a walk then a swim had lunch in the sports bar and left about half 3 or so. We had 4 trips to the pool for the 3 night stay and stayed each time for about 3 hours. We loved the place and booked quite quickly to go back but as it stands I don’t see the value in the trip.

salmocab wrote: »

The reality is they are really busy booking wise and if people will pay those prices then they will charge them. This year especially people aren’t going abroad so that makes somewhere like CP even more premium than before. Hotels I’ve looked at for the summer for weekends away or whatever are all charging top dollar especially places with pools I find.
It’s a great place but I wouldn’t be paying those prices especially with pool restrictions.
Btw 2k for 8 people for 7 nights isn’t as crazy as it sounds it’s 250 per person for a week.

That’s a Covid restriction that will almost certainly be gone by the time you go. It will likely be increased to one a day very soon like their English parks and then even that dropped at some stage soon enough.

also just on check out you only need to leave the cabin early and can use the park and facilities all day.

Going again in January. Can’t wait! Just hope the pool restrictions are lifted by then.

There are people just wishing it fails for some reason, it’s been massively successful and they are going to expand which I doubt they’d be doing if they felt they’d struggle to staff the extra areas.

We went in late july, The kids loved it. I hated it. The lodges werent great and there was no outdoor space at the lodge. Bar a tiny BBQ area at the back. Fittings were cheap in the lodge (cheap crap frying pan etc), dishes were put away wet so were musty and had to be cleaned again before use. The safe in the room was broken. There were no forest trails or picnic areas that I could find outside of the central town area and it felt very much like you were hemmed in. The food in the restaurants was surprisingly good. We went in the heatwave and the lake stank and there were many dead fish (sticklebacks) floating around.

On 4 separate occasions I heard staff complaining about residents. On one occasion we were woken by a supervisor giving out to staff out the back of the adjacent lodge (right outside our bedroom window) that they hadnt been dong a great job cleaning the lodges. The supervisor then left and one of the staff members sat out there crying and complaining to a colleague that the residents were all filthy. The same staff member was also griping as she walked past the tennis courts and a group of cleaners were complaining that the residents were "all the same, who do they think they are" up at the car park while I was at my car boot retrieving something.

Two of the climbing staff at the outdoor centre complained that a resident asked where a particular lodge was and the staff member said "like how the f**k should i know, I didnt memorise the f**king map". This was within earshot of me and my 7 year old.

So that all left a bad taste in my mouth.

On the flip side the staff in the main square, restaurants and guides for all other activities were great, helpful, pleasant.

The pool was excellent, spa was brilliant. Actually all the activities were really good. We booked a week, way too long. If going back I would book maybe 3-4 days tops and fill out the whole time with activities (a lot was booked out very quickly).

I would go again but I would have to be dragged. Not my type of place at all. But as I said the kids loved it and much preferred it to the following week by the beach in Clare. I was the opposite.

It’s not in centre parcs though is it? It’s not part of the centre parcs development? And can’t be accessed on foot from within the park without going out on the road?

maybe I’m wrong but I certainly didn’t see it on any of the maps in the park. I saw it on google maps but couldnt see a way to get to the river without leaving the park and driving around

Yes you’re right, you do have to go out on the road to access the walk, worth it though, I do many walks in forests and woods in the area and that one is my favourite.

For 8 people?

We've been twice now to Center Parcs - once in September 2020 & then again in July 2021. Have to say I was impressed with it both times. Is it a holiday that I'd necessarily choose to go on all the time, nope. But is it great when you've kids with the stuff to do, yep it is.

The pool sessions I do think they could increase in terms of number per length of booking but I did like the fact that it meant we didn't spend our whole time there and did other things. I don't know where that other poster was looking for trails & picnic benches that they didn't find them but we did a load of cycles & walks around & found picnic benches dotted around the place. Maybe it helped that we'd done one of the nature walks the first time around so saw some of the back trails etc.

Found the staff to be so lovely and accommodating both times. And some of the staff in the restaurants even remembered us from our previous visit which was an unexpected surprise.

Yes the quality of the kitchen ware isn't majorly high but to be honest, is it ever anywhere you go be it Center Parcs or a self-catering house somewhere. Why would you put expensive things in that are much more likely to get misused. That said, while the furnishings weren't exactly top end, the bed was comfy, the fact that a cot was provided without having to request and everything was seriously clean was good enough for me.

The only thing I'd mark them down on is the lack of activities currently available for the under 3 year olds. Most of the normal ones for this age group are indoors which means they are severely limited. What we did manage to book in for was great but I would have liked a little more choice being there so my little boy could have done more. Hopefully the more covid restrictions ease, the more activities will come back.

like it or not, most people are primarily concerned with the guest experience rather than staff terms of employment.

Guests wouldn't be aware of any staff issues and probably wouldn't want to be - they're on their holidays!