Swapping a Cruise Ship for a weekend at Butlins

Every December as a company we are treated to a weekend gathering to get together with our colleagues, have a bit of fun and find out what is coming next for the company and how we performed this year. This eagerly anticipated gathering is what we call the Cruise.co.uk Christmas Conference.

Usually this conference sees us packing our formal dress wear and leaving the coats behind as historically we have always joined a cruise for 3 nights (as seen in the above pic last year on board the Balmoral) but to the disappointment of many this year it was announced it would have to be at Butlins due to there being no suitable cruises for us to board.

So this Friday just gone we packed our winter woolies and headed off to Skegness. Some travelled for up to 6 hours on planes, trains and buses, for me it was just 40 minutes as I live a little further along the Lincolnshire coast. On arrival I was pleasantly surprised by the Seaside Apartments. Not the dreary, dark and unclean chalets I was expecting but instead these quirky little apartments with bright furnishings and new interiors. Despite the freezing conditions outside they were also extremely well heated. The park itself is vibrant and full of lovely eateries aswell as arcades, a cinema, entertainment venues and the big stage aswell as plenty of bars to keep you entertained throughout the evening.

I have to admit that I wasnt looking forward to the food, Iv often heard tales about Butlins and how many choose to self cater because of the price and the quaity. With that in mind myself and my room mates took plenty of snacks just incase we found ourselves going without at meal times. How wrong were we?! We ate our breakfast and dinner in the Deck restaurant and lunch was in Coast. All buffet style but plenty of choice and a tasty carvery was available every day with pork, beef, turkey and gammon to choose from – with all the trimmings. I don’t think I could have eaten anymore if I tried and daren’t get on the scales to see the damage.

 

The weekend theme was the 60’s but we had our own private party and karaoke each night so didn’t visit the Main Stage but when we passed through each day the atmosphere was great, lots of people dressed in fancy dress having a good time dancing to the bands that were playing. It looked great fun.

Now I’m not going to try and convince you that Butlins is anywhere near as good as a cruise. It isn’t. Any holiday park would lack the sophistication and glamour of a cruise and I would much preferred to have been moving from venue to venue in the warmth of the ship rather than running around in minus temperatures and the lashing rain….BUT weather aside I was very pleasantly surprised by Butlins, I had a fantastic time with my work colleagues and I wont hesitate to go back for a weekend in the summer given my experience. It gets a thumbs up from me! I might even start collecting the 99p holiday vouchers in the Sun!!


About Me

Hi there, My name is Isabelle, I'm 31 years old and I live in a small village in a lovely part of rural Lincolnshire with my husband Carl who I married on the beautiful island of Rhodes in 2012, our daughter Lexi who is 6 and our son Oliver who is 3. Oh…

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