Captain's Club Hotel & Spa

The staff were all just amazing and could not do enough for us. The suite was just amazing, the food was out of this world. The staff treating us like a king and queen The whole weekend. We were there for our wedding Anniversary so thank you so much and hope to see you all again one day

My partner and I booked a suite for the weekend of our wedding. I stayed the night before the wedding with my moh then he and I stayed the night after. The suite was huge and very clean, comfortable and had everything we needed. Open plan kitchen living room with floor to ceiling windows over looking Christchurch River, main bedroom with en-suite and floor to ceiling windows over looking the river, second single bedroom and a bathroom. The only meal we had here was breakfast. The buffet was a little limited however the cooked options were excellent. It was a lovely surprise arriving in the car park to find a post reading us a parking space for the weekend which eased any worries of finding anywhere to park. All staff we met were so friendly, helpful and nothing was too much trouble. It really was perfect for such a special weekend! We plan to return for our anniversary next year

What a wonderful experience we had!! We would just like to thank everyone, that made our special day, absolutely fantastic, with special thanks to, Kelly and Sam for taking care of us at very short notice. We were let down by Hotel Du Vin in Poole, as they informed us just 3 weeks before we were due to have our wedding reception there that they were starting renovations on the week of our wedding 10th March, we were getting married on 14th! As you can imagine we were distraught!!! We contacted the captains club and they had a room free that could accommodate up to 40 guests , we met with Kelly who was fantastic, nothing was a problem, we only had less than 2 weeks at this point to arrange our wedding reception. I can honestly say everything was perfect , the tables looked amazing, the food was delicious, the service was impeccable, Sam looked after us throughout the day/evening, again nothing was to much trouble . Thank you so much for saving the day and making it the best day we could have had. Maria & Adam

THE WELCOME - We stayed 2 nights at the captains club. We arrived a bit early for check in but wanted to see if our room was ready. I spoke to the young lady at reception as the gentleman was helping another guest and she told me that our accessible friendly room was ready.  I told her that we didn't need an accessible room and asked if we could have another room. Just as she was about to check, the man next to her very aggressively and loudly said "We do not have any other rooms. We are fully booked." I was surprised by his abruptness but accepted the room. There are many polite ways of giving the same information. Based on my 50+ years of travel around the world I know that rooms can be reallocated especially if you arrive before the normal check in time as not all guests will have arrived. This was not a good start to our stay.  THE ACCOMMODATION - Our room was spacious, seemed clean and had a good view. However, it was more like a hospital room with totally bare walls - it had no character. The worst aspect of this room was the regular noise through the vent of waste water which sometimes sounded like a toilet flushing and other times lasted longer. It was not pleasant. The bathroom was spacious but had no more amenities than a Travel lodge and had mouldy shower grout. BREAKFAST DAY 1 - Breakfast on the first morning was mixed. The quality of the hot breakfast was good but was a very small portion and an item was missed off one plate. There were 4 waitresses and 3 waiters with 7 tables occupied at various stages of eating. The waiters seemed to concentrate on bringing food to the tables from the kitchen while the waitresses were in charge of the rest. The waiters seemed busy and efficient but the same cannot be said of the waitresses. They did not clear the tables of used crockery so guests can start on their next course and some guests got up to move their used plates themselves to another empty table. The waitresses didn't check on us to see if we needed anything. There were 2 of them standing in the corner just watching and doing nothing and at one point the 4 of them were standing there just watching.  BREAKFAST DAY 2 - Breakfast on the second day was similar. I wanted to sit at an empty table that had 2 place settings but the waitress insisted that they were not using that table apart from the table next to it that had several place settings. When I asked why she gave me a weird and unconvincing reason.  Strangely enough a few minutes later another couple who arrived for breakfast were allowed to sit there.  Yet again another item was missed off one breakfast. Nobody asked us if we needed anything else either. WI-FI - In the public areas the wi-fi was patchy and kept disconnecting every few minutes.

Excellent food and first class service. Had lunch on the terrace which was excellent. Staff were really pleasant and friendly. Our main course took a bit longer to cook which we didn’t mind or complain about however, staff came to our table and were very apologetic and offered us a free drink each.

Due to staying local for a week we used the Captain's Club on several occasions. Firstly we visited one day for lunch, where we had a crab salad, very enjoyable. Next we had an afternoon tea. It was lovely, presented well with a good variety on offer. Finally last day of our holiday, evening meal. Never had so many prawns on our prawn cocktail followed by cod. A lovely end to our holiday. Every member of staff were polite, friendly and made you feel very welcome.