Anyone brought baby on a ship?

Trinity

Not sure if this should be in travel forum but my main question is about travelling with children.

I need a holiday

I am terrifed of flying but the idea of sailing/driving holiday appeals to me anyway. But the boat to France takes 17 hours apparently :eek:

Then there is driving when we get there. Never been there so hoping to stay close to the port or not too far anyway i dont fancy hours in the car with a baby.

The kids ages are 8 yrs and 15 months. We dont intend to go til at least May/June.

Is this too much travelling for a baby? Hes not been on holidays before. The eldest has only been in Ireland.

Does anyone have any experience in this? I've never really been away since i was a kid so i dont have a clue where to go/stay/where is nice/what to expect etc. May just end up in Wales or something if France too far.

I realise i am limiting myself enormously by not flying but at the moment its just not something i want to do.

I'm going blind looking at brochures and getting nowhere. Help

gerrycollins

are you travelling with just the kids or is the OH going too. If there is no OH get a friend to come along take the pressure off.

as for kids, we brought our 1yr old on a cruise around the med for a week two years ago. She was great on the plane, the cruise ship was fantastic and to be honest it was the best holiday ever and we were u-know-what-ing it.

As for the car journey give youself plenty of time so that you can stop off and strech legs a few times. look ahead weeks in advance and plan your day allowing time for distance to travel in a given time, location to visit or activity to do and allow loads of time for unplanned extras ha ha.

you should try to limit time in the car to two hours per strech then 20 min break of course target these breaks around food and toilet stops etc.

any holiday can be fun and relaxing with good planning regardless of who is going

Trinity

Thanks for the reply, thats very reassuring

OH is coming! I dread the prospect of taking the 2 kids down the road to tesco on my own, let alone abroad

Suppose just have to decide where to go now. I hear Brittany is nice. Better potter off and get a few hard copy brochures, its impossible to look online there are just too many!

Redderneck

Don't stress the trip - have taken a one year old on Cork-Roscoff route and not a bother on him. One tip though - make sure you've got a few spare nappies to hand in the car at all times. Nothing worse than yourself and the OH staring blankly at each other when the telltale smell permeates the car and you both realise the nappies are all well-packed away at the bottom of the roofbox.

The driving over there is a breeze; very easy to cover miles quickly, so no reason not to consider places a bit further away than vicinity of the ports. Just break the drive up as other poster mentions. We general head to Vendee Region where the weather will tend to be a fair bit better than in Brittany at the time of year you mentioned. It's about 4/5 hours south. Good luck with it!

abi2007

i bought my three year old on a two hour trip and she was sitting on my lap and pucked all down the front of me.. never again.. unless you can get them travel sickness tabs

Trinity

abi2007 wrote: »

i bought my three year old on a two hour trip and she was sitting on my lap and pucked all down the front of me.. never again.. unless you can get them travel sickness tabs

:eek:

Thats why i was thinking the trip to britain be a safer bet to see how he travels, but that means waiting another year then for the France trip, cant afford 2 holidays in the summer. The weather is so unpredictable though, its hard to guage when the best time to sail is, especially booking it so far in advance.

I wanted originally to go to Corsica, but theres no way i'd even be able for that travelling so i guess thats out the window til i get over my flying fears

shrapnel222

brought one of mine on pretty rough seas , dublin holyhead,when he was one, and absolutely no problem at all.

metrovelvet

The only way you are going to find out is by doing it, but bring sea sickness pills for your kids and you just in case as you never know.

I have flown all my life with no bother, but once took the boat dublin-hollyhead and vomitted the whole time from motion sickness. Had no idea beforehand that I sufferred from this.

Also - if you are going to France, don't forget your European health cards to cover you and the children.

In May/June will the baby be 18 mos? If so the boat is probably better because they wont get cabin fever. But the car driving could be problematic for that age. There is no way my 18mos would put up with being in the carseat for more than 45 mins at a time without hell to pay. Bring a portable dvd player for the driving.

deisemum

If you're thinking of going to the UK I can recommend Wales for a great family holiday.

We've gone to Wales on our family holiday a couple of years running and my children love it. There's so much to do for children your age.

We went with Stena and Irish Ferries and booked their package of ferry and self-catering accommodation. If you book by March 6th you can save a fair bit. We've also done the same package to other parts of the UK

Nevyn

Or the isle of man does good family holidays.

Trinity

Thanks for all the replies. I have no problem going to Wales or the isle of man. The only problem is the weather. Theirs is as bad as ours no?

I would have thought the SOuth of France would be warmer. Not big on heat either, not looking for heatwaves. My idea of a summer holiday is at least being able to go around in a t shirt and go to the beach without getting frost bite

Nevyn

The isle of man is a lot further south and so is a lot better.

foxy06

The Isle of man is further north than wales. Maybe the channel Islands would be better. Jersey is lovely for children and not as hot as spain.

deisemum

Jersey is lovely and the quality of the food is exceptionally good.

metrovelvet

Driving to South of France? That is a long one! Will you be sharing in the driving because its too much for one person.

Trinity

metrovelvet wrote: »

Driving to South of France? That is a long one! Will you be sharing in the driving because its too much for one person.

I hadnt planned on driving the OH will be doing that. He loves driving and there will be lots of stop offs with the kids.

I think we are sticking with Brittany although prob southern Brittany. I havent a clue my head is getting wrecked looking at the places, i know nothing about the country/region i could end up in a kip of a place. There are just so many to chose from i will prob have a chat with a travel agent and get some recommendations.

metrovelvet

So OH cant ever take a drink basically? I would seriously rethink that if there is a lot of driving, like over two hours. Also for your own safety and your kids, the eyes can get fatigued, OH may get sick, always good to have a back up driver, especially with kids.

Trinity

metrovelvet wrote: »

So OH cant ever take a drink basically? I would seriously rethink that if there is a lot of driving, like over two hours. Also for your own safety and your kids, the eyes can get fatigued, OH may get sick, always good to have a back up driver, especially with kids.

I'll drive if he needs me to, we are taking my car.

We will only be driving the day we arrive and the day we depart more or less, if we stay in a holiday village close to the beach we will have all the amenities close by and entertainment for the kids on site. Well this is what we hope anyway.

deisemum

One of my friends has taken her family to the southern Brittany region 3 years running. They stayed in mobile homes in the Carnac/Quiberon area.

They flew from Waterford airport to Lorient, hired a car and drove to the campsites less than 60 - 90 mins if I remember correctly.

CJhaughey

We have been to Brittany for the last 2 years running, we found keycamp to be very good, much better than Canvas.
The first year we tried the Rosslare-Cherbourg route with Celtic link, our Daughter was only 6 mths at that time and Son was 3, we found the whole trip fine, french motorways are very good and the ones in Brittany are free.
Last year 08, we went Cork-Roscoff , which was a shorter ferry trip, better boat and food and much more child-friendly, there was even a pool and childrens playground on board.
The journey time from Roscoff down to the Campsite was much less time about 2 hrs IIRC.
The ferry leaves cork in the afternoon and arrives early in the morning and leaves in the afternoon from Roscoffand arrives next morning in Cork.
I can recommend the campsite in Carnac called le Grand Metairie it has everything onsite, pools, playgrounds, and is very quiet.
Not far away is Auray which is a nice picturesque seaside town.
The whole area has fantastic sandy beaches and is very convenient to get around.
We will definately go back to the same campsite next year.
May-June is cheaper and quieter than later in the season, I would recommend it for smaller kids and a quieter holiday.
Driving is no problem in France, good roads and a quiet time of year in May-June make travelling by car easy.

Latchy

Well actually we did cross the irish sea once in the middle of winter on a 10 hr horrible ,roughest sea you can imagine, voyage .The bady was fine, not a bother, chuckling all the time .It was the adults who were freaking .

Sailing with babys is recommended but only in summer time when seas are much calmer

Trinity

Thanks again guys. I think i found the place.

The boat is more expensive than i imagined though, although again i'm not used to travelling so its probably not expensive at all.

The Wexford - Roscoff trip with Irish Ferries is approx 600 euro.

I was thinking Cork-Roscoff would be cheaper with Brittany Ferries as its a shorter trip but it was 980 :eek: So thats out its just too expensive.

I think we've settled on a location. We dont have any recommendations we just found it online. So i am praying we make the right decision.

Its a resort geared towards children in Pont Aven called domaine de kerlann. It looks pretty nice and less than 2hrs from Roscoff. (says 1hr 15mins but realistically its prob 2 hrs).

I dont intend to spend my days on the beach so i hope to take in some sights so hopefully there will be some nice markets, villages nearby.

parsi

We've travelled to France by ferry with the kids a number of times - each of them were babies on one trip or another:

- stock up with nappies, wipes and food for the ferry,
- French supermarkets sell handy bottles of ready-made forumula (with teats) and we used find these a lifesaver,
- French ready-made baby food was never to our kids tastes,
- keep a good few packets of breadsticks and juice in the car/ in your bag,
- driving is straight-forward and you can cover distances much faster,
- usually plenty of rest-stops available,
- bring a portable dvd player for the car and loads of dvds,
- never had a problem with the kids getting seasick ,
- french restaurants are quite child-friendly (as is France),
- don't sweat the little things !

Davidth88

We have used the ferry ( Dublin- holyhead ) a few times with the little one ( between 6 months and 2.5 yrs )

We always got a cabin , that allowed us the space to feed her/put her down for a nap etc. And later stopped her wondering off, allowed her to have her toys etc.

Enjoy the trip !

lostinnappies

Been on holidays with a 3 year old and 9 month old (at the time). We went to UK via boat. It all went well, we did stay overnight in Dublin ... that was a mistake, we were all in one room. I think we would have been better off waking up early and driving to dublin at 4am, they would have slept in the car. There are tons of fantastic holidays resorts in UK aimed at children. You can really go nuts, however you will have to drive from the uk port to where you are going (about 6.5 hours from holyhead to Berkshire, middle of southern uk) it can be a long drive, but im sure there are places closer to the ports then where we went.