Maritime Apartments

We arrived on a Sunday, when their office isn’t open. It was difficult to find our way in as it was dark, but we did manage it eventually. The bathroom light didn’t work, and took 2 days to repair. There was no toilet paper. They knew there were 4 adults in our party, but there was only comfortable seating for 2, and 3 dining chairs. Very sparsely equipped (only 2 wine glasses) Parking arrangements are awful, you can only park outside your apartment between 7pm and 7am. Worst place we have ever stayed at.

Ever heard the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover"? Well, this saying can be fully applied here. The Maritime Apartments are some ex-council flats. You can tell this as soon as you arrive there. Second World War period blocks of flats, which reminded me immediately of inner London council estates. They look awful from the outside. Not all the flats belong to Maritime. It is clear that some of the blocks belong to the council or social housing provider, as there are rough-looking, noisy people there all the time. I was told that the area has one of the highest crime rates. Some of the flats are boarded up. The exterior of all the buildings and the staircases are in desperate disrepair. However, once we stepped inside our Maritime apartment, it was surprisingly very clean, neat, tidy and fully equipped and furnished. The kitchen was spotlessly clean, and had everything that we needed, including a washing machine (although, we didn't use it). Apart from the above negatives, we were disappointed with the following: - PARKING is an absolute nightmare. There is no parking. The advertisements stating that there is free parking are not true. We arrived on a Saturday evening and found the reception closed. We got our room key from the electronic box, using the code that was sent to us by SMS text message and email. We were extremely confused about parking, as there were lots of empty spaces within the estate, and there cars parked in some of those spaces. There was no signage to suggest that parking in these empty spaces was prohibited, or that the local council issues parking fines. We tried in vain to contact Maritime Apartments. They do not answer calls after their normal office hours. We drove around in the nearby streets. Parking bays were all restricted to just 2 hours with a 'no return' stipulation. We parked in front of our apartment block, between two other parked vehicles. There was no signage in the vicinity. Our car, as well as the other cars, received yellow parking fines (PCNs). This was extremely frustrating. I went to the Maritime Apartments reception. The young lady there told me it was nothing to do with them, as the parking fine had been issued by the local council. Even if they wished to hide the fact that parking in the area is an absolute nightmare, the least that Maritime Apartments could've done to help their customers is to state in all their publicity and all the SMS text message and email communications with their customers after booking, that parking must be outside the estate, and under no circumstances must guests park their vehicles anywhere near the apartments. The bed mattress was very bad. We could feel all the springs poking us. The shower was broken. It wouldn't stay in one place (worn out). Much of the area adjacent to the estate is taken up by BAE Systems (the British weapons manufacturer) with it's various production facilities. We only booked here because of the relatively cheap price. However, after rec

The apartment itself is great for the price however don’t be fooled. When it states it has parking it does not! All around the apartment are 2 hour parking bays which obviously is not parking suitable for an apartment stay. We got a £70 fine while staying at these apartments due to the parking issue. The ticket was issued early in the morning before we had even woken up and got ready for our day out to the zoo which we had already planned to be up and out early for anyway. Even the reception on arrival said that it’s not proper parking and to just move your car often as the traffic warden comes frequently. Absolutely mind blown that it’s been advertised as parking. By the time you get here and realise the parking isn’t legit it’s to late to cancel and book anywhere else to stay that does have parking. False advertisement and I’m really not happy about the fine as there was no other parking option! Shocking to say the least.