Well I'm hoping that the fact that no-one has replied to this means that they had such a wonderful weekend that they're all exhausted and still asleep!
Blush- The Aftermath
I thought I'd start this thread in preparation for when "everyone" gets back!
Sooooo, how was the....
Journey
Accommodation
- Cleanliness
- Hot water
- Cooking facilities
Venues
- Distance from your accommodation to the venue?
- Distance between venues and was this an issue?
- Timings of available dancing
- Size
- Floor
- Heat - fans - air-con etc
- Bars - efficiency and prices
- Seating
Restaurants
- Atmosphere?
- Quality
- Prices
Other facilities
- efficiency
- spa
- swimming
- Shops
the good the bad and the Ugly of the...
- Bars
Music - Dj's
Dancers
Workshops
Cabarets
and any other incidentals.
Forum meets etc
Would a BBQ be feasible for the summer?
Any complaints?
Any surprise.... 'Wow..... that was a brilliant innovation'?
What could be improved on?
Any Shocking gossip???
and finally ... compared to the previous JA Southport's, how does it rate, as an overall experience???
Last edited by justdancer; 16th-March-2009 at 07:21 AM. Reason: Made a mistake!
Well I'm hoping that the fact that no-one has replied to this means that they had such a wonderful weekend that they're all exhausted and still asleep!
Far and away the worst jive weekender held at Pontins Southport for some time.
That said a pretty good weekender, significantly better than Camber.
Ceroc had clearly made an effort and it showed.
Being told its crap or great in one sentence doesn't really make for a good report.
I've only been to J.A Southports and Ceroc's Blazes so am interested to hear how Cerocs southport went. Lots of facebook woohoos and ummm's so far...
Would of gone myself but my boss locked the doors... and told me am only allowed out once in a while for good behaviour DOH!!!
I look forward to a more in depth views & reports. Once everyone's recovered....
Am back and prob still too soon my thoughts, however am stitting here relaxed and happy (tired too!) after having the most wonderful weekend.
So many people to thank for so many reasons. You all know who you are..
Off to get shuteye
I really enjoyed Southport.. Didn't arrive til 9 / 10 ish on Friday night but luckily it was just getting going. Had a blast dancing til 5.30 a.m. on Friday night / Sat a.m.
Dancing in the day Saturday was amazing. Just had fun fun fun
Great chalet mates... fab that friends were all so close together so could chalet hop!
Unfortunately developed medical problems so Sat night I went to bed and left Sunday lunchtime when got up. Missed dancing with Franck and many others but hope to catch u all soon.
It wasn't southport as we know it... some faces missing who i always remember being part of the southport furniture so to speak but i have to say that it was still southport in other ways.. all night dancing etc etc...
me being me, i love the venue, yeah, there was people missing and people do make the weekend what it is but on a positive note there were people there who wouldn't have been there previously. It was obvious Ceroc made the effort to keep the "southport atmosphere".
Gutted I missed Sat night / Sunday etc..... had to come home and get checked out...
hopefully on the road to recovery now... got to day off work to rest... and on boat loads of penicillin.....
Good to see everyone again and i think i wil go back next time... it is such a shame that there is so many weekenders so close together.. cant afford them all.... at end of day for me it depends who will be there when!
Journey
Easy 1 Hour 15min drive. No problems.
Accommodation
Different room(s) [lol], same old stains. Everywhere probably hasn't had a scrub for decades.
- Cleanliness
Cold or very mildly luke warm shower. Tshh.
- Hot water
Cooking??? *stares blankly*
- Cooking facilities
Depends on what night you're talking about!
- Distance from your accommodation to the venue?
Venues
You know it isn't.
- Distance between venues and was this an issue?
Sound though Monday morning finnished way too early at 6:15-6:30 (I think it was).
- Timings of available dancing
Big enough to cater for the number of dancers there without bashing into people.
- Size
For me. as bad as ever. Too quick for my liking though I know some people will find them pefect.
- Floor
Open door, stand outside. Simple. Thought heat was fine for me thought it seemed a little warmer on Sunday night in the main room for some reason.
- Heat - fans - air-con etc
Got back into Guiness at £3 a pint. Bitter £2.70. Red Bull I think was £2.40. Dunno about anything else. As far as efficiency, it was OK but there's a bit too much queue jumping at the bar with the wrong people being served first.
- Bars - efficiency and prices
Well I always found one when I wanted one.
- Seating
Depends on how you make it for yourself, doesn't it. For me it was OK.
- Atmosphere?
Restaurants
My burger got a bit burnt but I actually like a bit of extra flavour.
- Quality
Not too bad. Only had a burger & chip costing £5.99.
- Prices
I was quickly served.
- efficiency
Other facilities
N/A.
- Spa
N/A.
- Swimming
N/A.
- Shops
Kept running out of Guiness.
- Bars
the good the bad and the Ugly of the...
Music - Dj's
They did an excellat job I thought. Much prefered the music at Southport over Skegness and I enjoyed the music in all the room for a change, meaning I actually spent a lot of time in the Latin room than the 5 minutes I spent in they last time.
Dancers
I nice mix from the blaintantly good to the beginer, just like it should be.
Workshops
Only did three and enjoyed them all. And it was a nice touch to be able to watch the lessons from the comfort (lol) of your room on the telly.
Cabarets
Only saw the last 3 of the 4. But it seem good quality to me. Oh and Franck, no offence, but don't talk over the music and the dancing during the cabaret again as it just sounded naff.
and any other incidentals.
Not really. No mention of theives this time which was good. Heard nothing other than one pint getting nicked.
Forum meets etc
Not sure there ewas one. If there was, I missed it again.
Would a BBQ be feasible for the summer?
Erm, it was always feasible for the JA events so why not the Summer Ceroc one?
Any complaints?
Nope.
Any surprise.... 'Wow..... that was a brilliant innovation'?
The lessons being on the telly in the room!
What could be improved on?
Buldozing the accommodation and rebuilding it might help.
Any Shocking gossip???
Yes. Already touched on it. I'm sure lots of people here already know HALF the story between me and Sway anyway.
and finally ... compared to the previous JA Southport's, how does it rate, as an overall experience???
Fab. Those who choose to boycot it, shame on you!
Last edited by Steven666; 16th-March-2009 at 05:09 PM. Reason: Bolding stuff...etc...
Well, I had a great time and was probably up there as one of the best weekenders I've been to (although don't have JA Southport experience to compare it to), and my roomies also had a fab time despite them both being ill over the weekend.
Journey
Despite a random detour by satnav, and a road closure almost at the end of the journey, both arrival & departure was pain free and took as long as we expected.
Accommodation
I thought we were going to be in Club but we were actually in Classic plus - but it was fine and very close the venue (approx. 1 minute away). We were lucky to get a parking space right outside as well. Clean (although the usual weird smell was there on the first walk through the door), with everything working. First time at a weekender I had to pay for electricity so was a shock how quickly we got through it.
Venues
Venues were fine, and I was surprised at how cool they were (chilly for some, but I prefer it chilly so I can get warm rather than sweating from the start). Took loads of clothes to use from prior experience, but didn't actually need to change tops during the day or evening so a bonus for me. So the fans were definitely working on full. Made for interesting skirt situations in certain places in the main room.
There were a couple of classes where they probably should have used the smaller Latin room for the WCS intermediate classes as the other classes on at the same time were obviously going to be better attended and were a tad crowded.
Timings of available dancing
Seemed to be dancing time throughout the day and night (I was pretty rubbish on staying power so can't comment personally, but had heard people who were up dancing til early morning).
Nice to have good enough weather to see people dancing out on the deck in the afternoon.
Floor
I liked the floors in both the main and latin room - fairly fast, although dusty as usual. The additionally laid floor seemed good and plenty of space to dance.
Heat - fans - air-con
As above - pretty chilly at first during the day and evening when you first got there, but worth it for the freestyle in the evenings preventing too many sweating people.
Bars - efficiency and prices
Can't comment, didn't use.
Seating
Seemed to be plenty although a bit hard to move between if you wanted a break as chairs were a bit close together
Atmosphere
Seemed like everyone was there to enjoy themselves, and found it a lot easier to get dances with people I wanted to than previous weekenders.
Restaurants
Didn't use the restaurants or other facilities. My 2 roomies did have massages which they both enjoyed, especially as one managed to get career advice at the same time.
the good the bad and the Ugly of the...
Music - Dj's
I stayed mainly in the main room and enjoyed most of the music. I didn't take much notice of the specific djs, although I did enjoy Marie Delort's set on both Fri & Sat - loved how she was up grooving behind the decks.
Latin room was great too (think we were there for Rob Ambridge on Fri) although we didn't really arrive early enough to get in many dances before it changed to Milonga & then WCS. Shame there wasn't a bit more latin style played in the main room once the latin part of the Latin room was finished.
Dancers
Good mix of dancers, and managed to get dances with most of the people I wanted to. Had a couple of magical dances on Sat night so was on a bit of a high after that.
As usual, there were a few strange men within the class rotations, and there were quite a few people who were really struggling with the classes. One problem in the main room was lack of floorcraft on the Sunday when it was less crowded - strange and a bit annoying compared with the Saturday when I didn't get jabbed or knocked at all.
Workshops
Did lots of workshops but found Sunday's were miles better than those on the Sat. Was a little disappointed with a couple on Sat - don't think Tim Sant was on as good form as usual for his 2, and really didn't enjoy the advanced F words workshop with Phil & Alex - helped by the majority of the men not getting it, plus not really being inspired by the teachers.
Pamela & James' Time of your life must have been the most disorganised workshop I think I've ever attended. This was the only one of their workshops I did - not clearly taught (in terms of directions, assuming everyone knowing certain steps). Yep, they're amazing dancers, but they weren't great teachers, for that workshop at least.
Jamie McGregor's smooth lines was prob the most enjoyable one that day.
(oh and forgot Franck's on the friday which was good and a nice ice breaker).
Sunday, think I loved all of them I did. Lyndsey & Mark's was my cup of tea and really got me going on for that day, enjoyed the WCS ones, and had a relaxing, easy end to the workshops with a Cool & sleek one from Paul & Sarve.
I've only done a little WCS (at previous weekenders) and found the first beginners WCS class really annoying. Started off finding Kellese's accent really grating (lots of babe, sugar etc) and if I'd not done any WCS at all would have found it hard. Compared to previous ones I'd done where Carl & Zoe explain the rhythm, slot, tension etc in great detail, they seemed to miss quite a lot of this meaning a lot of guys were rushing the 1, 2 count and I didn't think it was that great. But as their workshops went on, I enjoyed them more and got more out of them. I liked them as teachers by the end, plus they're quite amusing as entertainment value too. Their final intermediate class was learning part of their routine, quite a jump up from their first intermediate class which was fairly easy to take in. But good for a challenge. Shame we ran out of time.
Cabarets
Was astounded that we planned to arrive on time at 10.30 for the cabarets, but they'd already started when we got there, so we didn't see much of any footwork.
Pamela & James' hip hop routine was great, Phil & Alex's showcase was amazing (I couldn't believe they were the same couple as the teachers from the advanced class!). Brent & Kellese's I was a little disappointed with - it was the same routine as we'd seen on Youtube and the Blush website etc. It wasn't as mind blowing as it would have been if I'd seen it for the first time. Considering they were the headline act, I'd have liked to have seen a freestyle routine from them
Forum meets etc
Only bumped into Caz, as stuck to the main room mostly and never seeem to get round to asking names etc! V. anti social of me.
Any complaints?
Extremely sensitive smoke alarm in our appt and one down from us.
Any Shocking gossip???
Found out some gossip about someone I know but prob not relevant to anyone on the forum.
Other points
Bonus was the number of men vs women. Makes a change for us, although there still seemed to be a lot of people sitting out quite a bit.
Nice to be able to see the main room through the tv in rooms via life feed. Handy for one of my roomies who was too ill to make a class she wanted.
All in all, I had a great time and can't wait for the next one
Well here we go then pips-------Stunning weekend, it all boils down to a couple of points for me.
Floors superb, the temporary flooring is the best on the dance circuit IMHO.
Music----Outstanding all the Dj's were in the booklet, so you could organize your weekend around your favourite dj's.
Blues room was excellent blues and during the day was Swing, Soul and Funk etc etc.
Dancers----- Lots of Forumites there and lots of excellent dancers who are not on the Forum, did not have a bad dance all weekend and I danced me little socks off.
A massive efort went into this weekend, and it quite plainly showed.
Accomodation and journey are irrelevant as they are not important, you know what you are getting, as you have been before.
All in all the best Southport that I have been too. I saw loads of teachers on the floor giving it large with everyone that asked them to dance. I had 2 dances with , our lovely Franck and immensly enjoyed them.
A great weekend with fabalous music, floors and great dancers.
What more do you want?
Would I go again? You are damned squiggling I would.
Bit of a more indepth review later pips.
DTS XXX XXX
After being been mentally scared from a couple of moves DTS did on me, I had a pretty good weekend. Not sure it’s any better than camber to warrant the 5 hour drive compared 1.5 hours to camber. Yet again it was fantastic to meet so many Forumities especially all the Scottish Ladies
You loved it mate!!!!
Must say for a tall man you are very flexible!!!
DTS XXX XXX
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Bookmarks