Stayed 6th. to 10th. February 2012. 1st surprise was an ashtray and smell of tobacco in the room. Just one double glazed window which was locked and no key. Furniture was well past it's time for the tip, as were most of the chairs in the hotel being filthy and/or ripped.
Thought I was in for 99p bar but only group holiday guests ( who had paid less than me) were issued with bands so it was Tetleys at £3.25 or Newcastle at £4.20 for me. Being in the Pontins Group it was school standard entertainment by trainee blue coats.
Best points were the staff who did their best with tools available and food was better than many hotels.

Stayed for Twixmas so all food was mass catering. No fried eggs at breakfast just horrid scrambled eggs (either frozen or from dried mix). They did do poached eggs but only if you asked for them and you had to know that you could ask, ie they didn't tell you but word got around from other guests. All veg overcooked and soggy. We are vegetarian and they buy the veggie food in, it's truly inedible. Complained to Assistant Restaurant Manager and one of the chefs, neither interested. Also wrote to hotel manager and 6 weeks later no response from her. However, you get what you pay for, it's very cheap and also we thought kept clean. Most of staff are helpful. They just need to tidy all the rubbish floating around in the hotel "pond" and around the grounds and rooftops of balconies.

I recently spent a weekend in the Norbreck Castle with around 1000 other line dancers. I must admit that before I arrived I had read the reviews and was somewhat underwhelmed by what I was reading so my expectations were low. When I arrived it was clear to me that this hotel suffers for the tirade of coach parties that seemingly descend up on the hotel week in week out. It is a massive place and could do with redecoration throughout. That said when we got checked in ( I was in a party of 7) our rooms were clean and reasonably well presented. The important things were taken care of such as clean linen and clean facilities. Yes, it needs updating but I couldn't complain about what we had for the price we paid for the weekend.

The food here wasn't too bad either. It suffered from being cheaply produced but had I wanted something of a higher standard I could go out to eat. At least what was presented was cooked fairly well and plentiful.

I found the staff very helpful and friendly.

I will be staying at the Norbreck for the same event again next year.

As we drove into the car park I suspected all would not be well. Well, when individual letters in the name of the Hotel mounted on the side of the building are missing, you somehow get that 'feeling.'.... So what else wasn't acceptable?
A strange smell on entering the hotel which seemed to permutate throughout. Sweaty or body odour is my nearest definition. Room 162 was furnished with the same furniture with which the hotel probably opened. Nothing wrong with that, except it was scratched marked and chipped, and certainly had not seen any polish or varnish for many years. Skirting boards were dirty, as was the seals around the bath. Shower was in a fixed position so the only way to get wet was to try and stand on the bath plug hole. Carpet was stained and dirty. Individual chairs were guaranteed to give you a back problem, if used for longer than 10 minutes.
The 'Sea View' was barely recognisable as a result of the filthy windows. However what was clearly visible beneath our window, was the roof top extension of the ground floor. I have seen less rubbish on a Local Authorty tip than was dumped on this roof. So that, together with the rubbish floating in the lake opposite, and the general fenced area in front of the hotel, provided us with a lasting image of the Norbreck Castle.
Downstairs carpets had seen better days. chairs around the bar had the names of previous visitors carved on the arm rests, and were covered in stains.
By 7.30pm the meals were only warm. Plates, which we had to wait for, were delivered cold, to then attempt the toughest chicken I have ever experienced, with what i can only describe as 'soggy' vegetables. Similarly at breakfast; nothing quite like a fried egg gone cold, on a cold plate!
All these complaints are just gross incompetence, which can only filter down from the top. But for shear ignorance, was the picture ( a print of Matisse) mounted on the wall of the room. Rather than being fixed to the wall with a 'picture plate' the delicate wooden rosewood frame had been drilled on either side, and the picture then screwed to the wall, through frame, with a Phillips no 6 screw! This left the screw heads visible together with the chipped varnish around both the two holes. That's what I really call creative initiative. All the pictures on that corridor were fixed in the same manner!
The purpose of our visit was to view the hotel as a potential holiday with six of our friends later in the year ( we are all over 65).
Sorry Mr Norbreck Castle...you 'Blew it' in sensational style!