First time France

macpete

Hi everybody, Looking for advice about best ferry to take to france at end of August for 2 weeks, from Rosslare to Roscoff. Not much difference in price between Irish ferries and Celtic Ferries. Lowprofile motorhome 6.5m long and 2 adults.
Any advice most welcome

killalanerr

did you get a price for land bridge (going through the uk ) to much driving for me but may suit you

stapeler

If you have an option to push your return to early September you could save quiet a bit on the return leg.

LD lines were supposed to be moving into the Irish market this year to create some competition Doesn't appear to have happened as they joined forces with CelticLink ferries. Very little competition as all prices appear to be up quiet a bit on last year.
Either the ferry companies are "fixing" the market or the Volcanic ash has put people off flying but there appears to be very few ferry spaces this year.
Last July our return to France was €770, this year I cant get cheaper than €1200.
I plan to leave booking until last minute and see if there's any value. If not we plan to stay at home and pray for sun.

macpete

Do not fancy landbridge too much driving, Just wondering which ferry is the most comfortable, I have used Irish ferries to the UK and was very happy with the service, but never used Celtic ferries, anyone use Celtic ferries?

loobylou

Irish Ferries- big boat with all facilities, bars,cinema, variety of restaurants, childrens entertainment etc.
Celtic Link - much smaller boat (can be issues with docking in bad weather), more commercial/freight oriented, basic bar facilities, food included in price, more likely to be used by truckers.

killalanerr

we traveled on the oscar wilde last year and fond it good http://www.360vr.ie/virtual-tours/Oscar/360VR_OSCAR.html you will need a cabin,this is where motorhomeing comes into its own,your on your hols as soon as you pull away from the house the ferry trip is very much part of it

marvick

Hi allMy first post on boards.ieI travelled to cherbourg on the 19th of june and returned on the 2nd of july with celticlink and saved just under 800euro yes it is a budget no frills ferry but it was very clean, and found the 4 berth cabin a bit bigger than brittany last year it has one resturant that opens for 2 hours price was good and food was good and one small bar not much for older kids as it is a small ferry no fancy game rooms it does have a cinema(small) a very small duty free shop no cigs or bottles but the saving was massive the ramp to the car deck(5) will give you a heart attack so i asked for the main deck (3) coz i had lots of wine and didnt want to damage my bike rack on my tow bar as my car was very low with weight..i will check price and use them again as my kids are 3 and 5 so dont need all the facilities of the big ships hope this helps

killalanerr

hi marvick and well come on board,haven't checked in a while but in the past the prices have dropped during the season i book mine way back in jan and last time i checked i was still making a big saving on what a would pay if i was booking today,i booked with Irish ferry's

Gvillage

I just returned from my second time being on Celtic Link Ferries Norman Voyager. I went on her after being on her last Jan. There was a slight problem with the ship getting away at the advertised time but it did not have that problem in the summer time. It was very busy now bought ways but I could not speak highly enough of the staff.. They were incredible. The ship was spotless everywhere cabins, floors. It was lovely

I would recommend Celtic Link to anybody that wants to keep their moeny for spending on their holidays instead of being fleesed by the own board robbery that you need to indure for 20 hours on the Oscar Wilde. If people just swallow a small ammount of their own pride and travel on this slightly less well kitted out ship, but mind you so much more impressive in every other way they will save an absolute packet for their holidays!

Mountainsandh

Gvillage wrote: »

I would recommend Celtic Link to anybody that wants to keep their moeny for spending on their holidays instead of being fleesed by the own board robbery that you need to indure for 20 hours on the Oscar Wilde. If people just swallow a small ammount of their own pride and travel on this slightly less well kitted out ship, but mind you so much more impressive in every other way they will save an absolute packet for their holidays!

+1 on that !
Travelled to France with them this June/July, with 2 young kids, and were very impressed. Everything super clean, cabins were spotless and very functional, staff super friendly. Only advice is to take plenty to distract kiddies as there isn't much on board, although leaving at 9.30pm, didn't have too many awake hours to occupy either.

martyc5674

We travelled with Celtic Link this year...yeah its its a good clean ship..
however on our return trip our room was filthy.(crap everywhere)
the bed linen had been changed but the room was a right mess with stains all over the floor and sweet wrappers and crumbs everywhere..not ideal for an 18month old.
We complained and we were told that an outside contractor looks after everything other than the linen.

As for the staff...i would not agree with the above.
On several occasions we found them to be incompetent...i wont go into the detail but they were pretty appaling @ times!!
Id still go with themn as the cabins are decent...its a fine modern ship and its way cheaper than irish ferries.
MArty.

macpete

hi, just returned from 2 week trip[first] to france, we used Irish Ferry and found them very good both on price and service. I would highly recommend France for a motorhome holiday, they have great respect for motorhomes not like here where you are treated like pikies!!! Diesel is also cheaper 1.10euro per litre. I found the satnav great it took the stress out of driving[first time driving on the right]
We are already planning next year trip, so anyone thinking about going do so you will love it, and the wine is so cheap.
We used both campsites and Aires, the only thing we found was the electric hook up was mostly 4 amp, not enough for our electric kettle!