Trish T.
Yelp
This was our second visit to the Big Blue. My husband and I stayed 2 nights while we visited areas around Blackpool. The last time we stayed here was in 2004 when it was fairly new. We had a good experience then so we decided to give this place another go. We were not disappointed.
Location
The location is great if one were spending a lot of time in Pleasure Beach because it is literally only a stone's throw away. Literally. It is a far away enough from the centre of Blackpool, which means it is far away from the bars and clubs. This suited us just fine because we wanted to be as far away as possible from the drunken debauchery that seem to be a constant in Blackpool.
Rooms
When we checked in, we were given a choice of what view we wanted. We chose to get a view of the park, and we got just that. We had the coaster and the Grand National right outside our window. Some people might find this problematic/weird, but I actually thought it was hilarious. The noise from the rides did not really bother us as the park did not open 'til about 10 AM and we were gone for most of the day. Besides, after the park closed around 6 PM, it became really quiet so we had a good night's sleep.
We were assigned the family room (even though it was just the 2 of us) and I was quite pleased with its size and layout (I think it will work just fine for a family of 4 with 2 little ones).
The king bed was comfortable enough, but not as comfortable as I remember. It also looks like they have not had a refurb since they opened, so the room is looking a bit tired. Still, everything was clean and in good working order. The bathrooms were clean and the power shower was POWERFUL - take-your-skin-off powerful - which I loved. It's like being under the Niagara Falls; believe me, this is an anomaly for Britain, so I was very happy. The only gripe I have is that there is no alarm clock in the room, but I guess because this hotel's guests are here on holidays, so most of them probably do not operate on a schedule. Furthermore, mobile phones nowadays have alarm clocks so it really is not that big a deal.
Service
Service here is amazing. Fabio, who works the front desk was absolutely FABIO-LOUS! He is polite, friendly, efficient, and helpful - a poster child for what every customer service representative should be (probably because he worked in the cruise ship industry for some time). A special shoutout too to the housekeeping staff who went out of their way to be helpful and courteous; nothing was too much of a bother for them and they bent over backwards to attend to our needs.
Etcetera
Parking is free, and it seems there is an adequate amount of parking spaces.
I absolutely LOVED the fact that there is an ice machine for the guests (again, an anomaly for Britain, it seems), but I wonder whatever happened to the ice buckets because there were none and we had to borrow one from the bar.
LOVED LOVED LOVED the free wifi in-room. (If this can be done here, it makes me wonder why so many other hotels still charge forin-room wi-fi.)
Conclusion
4 out of 5 stars. This is a great hotel and is probably one of the best in Blackpool. It may be a little pricey for some, but given the sad choices in Blackpool, this is definitely worth the money. I would definitely stay here again and I highly recommend it.