Ferry deals to France - Summer 2015

BenEadir

DUBLIN_person wrote: »

Think they are referring to the Tesco credit card

Gotcha, thanks.

MidlandsM

paddydriver wrote: »

We have 3 in primary school now so not keen on taking them all out. The other thing we noticed too was that all the campsite activities only kicked off 1st July - so not sure kids clubs etc would be happening.

If we had been with a Eurocamp or Kelair etc then I think they had their own clubs catering for Ireland and UK booked families but when going direct to campsite's we could only get on their's.

That said, €400 cheaper ferry tickets would pay for a lots of kids entertainment!

We took our kids the last school week in june last paddy. They missed 3 days of term, 3 days that arguably they do little in terms of being educated, just wrapping up etc. The rest of their attendance throughout the year was 100%. Lotsof people get a bee in their bonnet re taking kids of out school, but overall if planned well, educational disruption is minimal and the saving are massive allowing us to have a foreign holiday, and not a wet week in a caravan in kerry...lol

MelachiT

BenThere wrote: »

How many Tesco vouchers did you need to make that kind of sailing? We do about 20% of our shopping in Tesco but if I knew we needed €x value in vouchers I'm sure we'd switch a bit more from Dunnes or wherever to Tesco.

Cheers,

Ben

I do most of my shop at Tesco and I opted to save my points and receive vouchers once a year at Christmas. So that was a years worth of vouchers. It's one of the best ways to use tesco vouchers as you get 4x the value for them.

Another way to get extra Tesco points is to do their Shopper Thoughts surveys - every little helps.

I'm talking about the Tesco Clubcard - the one you earn points on.

Johnny_Fontane

regarding using tesco points for irish ferries, its a complete scam. you have to use a 'special' link and the prices are higher than the prices on the website, thus negating any savings you would make from using the tesco vouchers.

billie1b

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

regarding using tesco points for irish ferries, its a complete scam. you have to use a 'special' link and the prices are higher than the prices on the website, thus negating any savings you would make from using the tesco vouchers.

+1 on this advice, I offered it before but got shot down by certain, lets call them Irish Ferries staff/fanatics, with my tesco vouchers it still worked out €50 cheaper to book normally, its crazy

MelachiT

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

regarding using tesco points for irish ferries, its a complete scam. you have to use a 'special' link and the prices are higher than the prices on the website, thus negating any savings you would make from using the tesco vouchers.

We got the same quote when we initially looked at IF as when we went through the link. And we also used two computers to check the prices. Same prices each time.

It would be difficult to negate €400 of a saving.

jay0109

billie1b wrote: »

+1 on this advice, I offered it before but got shot down by certain, lets call them Irish Ferries staff/fanatics, with my tesco vouchers it still worked out €50 cheaper to book normally, its crazy

surely it depends on how much vouchers you have. If the ferry costs 1k cash or 1.2k with vouchers...and you have say, 0.5k in vouchers...then you save 0.3k v's the cash price

billie1b

jay0109 wrote: »

surely it depends on how much vouchers you have. If the ferry costs 1k cash or 1.2k with vouchers...and you have say, 0.5k in vouchers...then you save 0.3k v's the cash price

I had €350 in vouchers, it cost me €550 odd euro to book on the normal website, through the vouchers link after including the voucher discount it was €605, thats why they ask you the value of your vouchers before booking

webpal

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

regarding using tesco points for irish ferries, its a complete scam. you have to use a 'special' link and the prices are higher than the prices on the website, thus negating any savings you would make from using the tesco vouchers.

First of all it's not a scam. Second of all, for us it was only a 20 euro admin fee which you read about in the small print.

MorganIRL

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

regarding using tesco points for irish ferries, its a complete scam. you have to use a 'special' link and the prices are higher than the prices on the website, thus negating any savings you would make from using the tesco vouchers.

I agree with that statement, I went to book last yr with the tesco vouchers. I could save nothing with booking with the vouchers. Even €20 I would have used them but nothing. I booked this yr through eurocamp early June cost us €864 10 days, 2 adults 2kids (3&1) Irish ferries. I thought it was great value.

redmissb

MorganIRL wrote: »

I agree with that statement, I went to book last yr with the tesco vouchers. I could save nothing with booking with the vouchers. Even €20 I would have used them but nothing. I booked this yr through eurocamp early June cost us €864 10 days, 2 adults 2kids (3&1) Irish ferries. I thought it was great value.

The difference is €20 each way when using vouchers, not that outrageous? Last year I paid for the ferry in full using tesco tokens so would have to disagree that it's a scam. Unless you're using less than €40 vouchers you'd have to make a saving?

redmissb

Also if you book by phone you can send in vouchers up to 6 weeks before you travel. Was also able to avail of the low deposit and 10% discount when using tesco vouchers. I have the tesco credit card so pick up a lot of points with it.

jay0109

redmissb wrote: »

Also if you book by phone you can send in vouchers up to 6 weeks before you travel. Was also able to avail of the low deposit and 10% discount when using tesco vouchers. I have the tesco credit card so pick up a lot of points with it.

same as that...have 3 years worth of clubcard vouchers which will cover the ferry and holiday camp next summer. So free holiday essentially, and I don't even shop in Tesco's anymore!

juneg

jay0109 wrote: »

same as that...have 3 years worth of clubcard vouchers which will cover the ferry and holiday camp next summer. So free holiday essentially, and I don't even shop in Tesco's anymore!

So basically you put everything you spend on the tesco credit card to boost the points value in clubcard vouchers?

redmissb

That's mostly what I do Juneg, then transfer the money straight away from my current account. I had €1600 worth of tesco vouchers last year, was even able to avail of the luxury cabins on IF, they were amazing! It's a great way to get a cheaper holiday. I also shop mainly in Tesco, if you use your tesco card to pay you get extra points.

jay0109

juneg wrote: »

So basically you put everything you spend on the tesco credit card to boost the points value in clubcard vouchers?

Exactly, practically every cent we spend goes on the credit card. Get about €40-€60 in vouchers every Qtr and multiply that by 4 when availing of the deals.
But always pay the credit card in full each month to avoid charges,interest etc

MorganIRL

jay0109 wrote: »

Exactly, practically every cent we spend goes on the credit card. Get about €40-€60 in vouchers every Qtr and multiply that by 4 when availing of the deals.
But always pay the credit card in full each month to avoid charges,interest etc

@jay0109 how do you mean multiply by 4? how do we do that. We get about the same as you per 1/4 (€40-€60) we only get a mixture of money off coupons (€20-€30) and (€20-€30) in money off coupons. Is that what you mean?

redmissb

For some deals such as Irish Ferries and Stena you get 4 times the value in vouchers. So €100 in Tesco vouchers can be exchanged for €400 Irish Ferries vouchers.

webpal

MorganIRL wrote: »

@jay0109 how do you mean multiply by 4? how do we do that. We get about the same as you per 1/4 (€40-€60) we only get a mixture of money off coupons (€20-€30) and (€20-€30) in money off coupons. Is that what you mean?

all details here:
http://www.tesco.ie/clubcard/deals/irish-ferries.aspx

Lets say your return trip on IF to France costs €1000, including cabins and any extras etc. If you want use your Tesco vouchers, you need to enter tesco or something in the discount code box. Follow the same procedure as normal and your trip should now costs €1040 (admin fees of 20 each way). Lets say you have €200 worth of Tesco vouchers that you got in the post. You need to post these off to redeem your €800 worth of Irish Ferries vouchers. Now your trip only costs €240

Pretzill

Just another idea (if noones discovered it) We often took the landbridge option but the drive down through Wales and then England to Dover can be a bit exhausting. We did it in one go overnight once - we were like zombies boarding the ferry to France! And after going via Rosslare direct it's so much more relaxing. However we also tried Holyhead to Hull by car about 4 hours drive and then Hull to Zeebrugge a 12 hour ferry ride with P&O - at the time it was peak season and worked out cheaper but not any shorter and realistically it's better suited for northern France, Belgium or more northern destinations.

The plus point for me was it was a nice drive to Hull from Holyhead with no need to book a hotel and the ferry did an all in food deal for breakfast, dinner and although the cabins were small an upgrade onboard to a much larger cabin only cost 20 pound. Just another idea.
Although I've noticed now that Dub/Holyhead prices are getting stupidly pricey!

MelachiT

We were looking at going to France for the October mid-term. Not too happy with the price travelling on the Oscar Wilde, I think it was around 547 for 2+1 in a 2* cabin. Was even more expensive on their economy ship Epsilon.

But what I was wondering if anyone knows if Irish ferries are in the habit of closing off cabins in low season. We were looking at getting a 3* but they were quoted as all fully booked on the Oscar Wilde. I can't believe cabins are already fully booked in low season.

MidlandsM

MelachiT wrote: »

We were looking at going to France for the October mid-term. Not too happy with the price travelling on the Oscar Wilde, I think it was around 547 for 2+1 in a 2* cabin. Was even more expensive on their economy ship Epsilon.

But what I was wondering if anyone knows if Irish ferries are in the habit of closing off cabins in low season. We were looking at getting a 3* but they were quoted as all fully booked on the Oscar Wilde. I can't believe cabins are already fully booked in low season.

Its just price gouging...irish ferries are famous for it.

aquarius10

Newbie to the Ferries looking for June 2015 ferry deals from rosslare to Cherbourg.

We will be travelling from Limerick to the irish port and will be heading to Disneyland paris for a week and then a week in Cote de Nacre, Saint Aubin sur Mer, Normandy so Cherbourg makes sense for this part of France.

I've priced Brittany ferries for the weekend 20 June 2015 and it's approx €998 for a car, 2 adults & 2 kids for 2 weeks inside 4 berth Cabin, Stena is €768 for similar dates Rosslare - Cherbourg.

If we leave a few days earlier around the 15 June we could save another €200 with stena & Brittany ferries so will probably travel earlier ?

Irish Ferries still have no prices for 2015. I need to book Disney before October to get free days & nights but just don't know if I should wait for irish ferry prices, or just take the chance they will sail & Monday and it won't be too expensive - they have better sailing times and would prefer to arrive as early in the week as possible before Disney gets busy at the weekends.

Unfortunately don't have tesco vouchers saved but know for the future to keep them.

Think we will travel rosslare - Cherbourg but with Stena or Irish Ferries ? Will just have to wait a few more weeks for Irish Ferries to release their 2015 schedule & prices.

paddydriver

FWIW.. think Disneyland Paris are always offering free kids, free nights etc. I am waiting on Irish Ferries prices too but no experience if they release any cheaper prices for the peak periods or do they just look at their competitors prices at the time and drop a fiver off them..:o

aquarius10

Thanks for that Paddydriver, have spoken to a few travel agents bout Disney offers, have been told the offers change from time to time, sometimes free half board, kids eat free etc but the best deal for money is days & nights free when booked early ? So I'm told ?

we are also doing a week in the campsites with al fresco which also must be booked early for discounts & to get the caravan we want so we'll give it another week or so & then book something. The travel agents & campsite said they can be flexible within a day or so if we need to change when IF release their schedule as long as we have already booked something.

Just wish IF would release schedule & prices now

paddydriver

We went to Disneyland a good few years back now and the best price we got was booking via the UK - simply going to the .co.uk instead of .ie and paying in STG. Only problem now is that STG has strengthened a good bit over last few years and may not work out as well now.

I am caught in decision now about whether to bite the bullet and book ferry for next year or wait on IF too. Can get Stena from Rosslare to Cherbourg for circa €1100 on weekend kids finish school. BF is far more expensive out of Cork but many say its a nicer boat.

Not sure what to do at this stage. I have a 15% discount for Stena but only good for trips booked before 31st Dec. I expect that deal will be roll over into next year but probably too late for me at that stage as prices will likely be far more expensive.

aquarius10

Paddydriver would you not consider taking the kids out of school a few days early?.. They don't do much the last few days ?? And if their attendance is good the rest of the year they won't miss out ?

I have checked all the sites, .co.uk and .fr for price reductions but none really any cheaper than .ie website with Exchange rate, plus Abbey Travel will make booking for same price as Disney site but only have to pay €150 now whereas Disney you need to pay in full now

Think we will book Disney & campsite holiday without waiting for IF schedule and take the chance it won't be much more than Stena and that they sail on same days as this year.

BF are just too expensive and sail on Fridays sure it might be nicer ship but would rather just get there safely & save money to spend on holiday.

IF normally sail Monday & Stena Tuesday, would prefer to arrive on a Tuesday for Disney as it's a bit quieter before the w'end

With the sailing schedules the way they are and hopefully IF use same sailing schedule as last year we hope to sail out on Monday with IF and return on the Friday week with Stena - the return price is the same as one way so it suits us better to do this.

Was told today IF schedules won't be out till mid October if that helps ?

paddydriver

I'd take them out a few days early (3 in primary now) but other consideration is that we saw that many of the campsite activities didn't start until 1st of July this year so they'd be peeved if going back only to find they are not getting on same activities as this year.

All in all we'd save a lot more going in June, both on ferry and campsite, but we have to weigh all up.

Will think more on it over coming weeks and decide what to do. Thanks for some of the tips.

aquarius10

Paddydriver - Irish ferries just put up prices for 2015 today !

anyone got a discount code for France 2015 with IF ?

barryf42

just did a quick check versus this years booking where i go out on first week of august and back on 3rd week. e170 more today. will hold fire as they will send the free sailing to uk offer and early booking discount mail over next few weeks.
this year was e815 - next year coming in at e982 - that is a lot of lunches in brittany!

Quazzie

Do IF demand full payment on booking?

barryf42

Quazzie wrote: »

Do IF demand full payment on booking?

no - you pay e100 deposit and the balance 42 days prior to the sailing

BenEadir

aquarius10 wrote: »

anyone got a discount code for France 2015 with IF ?

Taken from this post on the old BA thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=92163734&postcount=1409

"Irish Ferries 2015 timetable is now live on there website httphttp://www.irishferries.com/ie-en/to-france-from-ireland/

There is a 10% discount Customer Offer has been set up under Promo Code: FRANCEC15 for bookings made up to 31/10/14."

I see IF are only departing Rosslare Thursday and Saturdays which is a bummer as the site we've booked has a Saturday to Saturday arrival/departure schedule. We could travel on the Saturday but it means losing a day on site and arriving Sunday afternoon is a bit of a pain as the supermarkets are closed which is easily enough dealt with by just getting the essentials next morning for breakfast and then hitting the supermarket to stock up but I'd much prefer to arrive Saturday afternoon, drop everything, hit the supermarket and once the mobile is set up stroll down for dinner onsite with everything sorted.

I'll have to see if we can get a Friday ferry with Stena or Brittany.

MICHAELO_4921

BenThere wrote: »

Taken from this post on the old BA thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=92163734&postcount=1409

"Irish Ferries 2015 timetable is now live on there website httphttp://www.irishferries.com/ie-en/to-france-from-ireland/

There is a 10% discount Customer Offer has been set up under Promo Code: FRANCEC15 for bookings made up to 31/10/14."


I'll have to see if we can get a Friday ferry with Stena or Brittany.

Irish Ferries have sailing on a Friday Rosslare - Roscoff & retuning on a Saturday from May on selected dates, that i can see.

Stena: Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday

Brittany: Saturday

BenEadir

Thanks MichaelO,

It looks like the schedule changes as the high season kicks off and I have no choice but to sail on Sat the 11th July. No sailings with IF. Stena or Brittany on Fri the 10th. C'est la vie.

MICHAELO_4921

There one on the 3rd & 17th just not the 11th

BenEadir

MICHAELO_4921 wrote: »

There one on the 3rd & 17th just not the 11th

I know :mad:

MICHAELO_4921

I have changed the site twice now for 2015. when I got the school timetable & just yesterday with the ferry timetable. But I had no problems doing a Thursday - Tuesday on site in July.

BenEadir

MICHAELO_4921 wrote: »

I have changed the site twice now for 2015. when I got the school timetable & just yesterday with the ferry timetable. But I had no problems doing a Thursday - Tuesday on site in July.

The site we go to only do Sat to Sat from July 12th onwards unfortunately - http://www.siblu.ie/france/vendee/le_bois_masson.php

As we're going for three weeks it won't be the end of the world if we lose a day at the start. alternatively we might even sail on the Thursday and spend a night in Nantes on the way down. It would break up the journey and we'd be on site Saturday lunchtime nice and fresh and raring to go.

MICHAELO_4921

Tesco voucher with Siblu

zagmund

There is a business park on the outskirts of Nantes which we have stopped in a few times - I think it's called Atlantis. There's a good few hotels there, an IKEA (if you are feeling like some furniture . . . or meatballs), a huge big Carrefour or one of those hyper markets, a tram stop which will get you to the centre of Nantes in 20 minutes or so and a couple of other good features.

This would be ideal if you did travel on the sail on the Thursday. You could stock up at the hypermarket Saturday morning and arrive ready to roll. It's just off the main road as you come in from the north.

We stayed at this place a couple of times - http://ie.hotels.com/ho260592/park-suites-elegance-nantes-atlantis-st-herblain-france/ - but there were literally another 3 or 4 hotels within a couple of minutes walk, all within the same park.

z

BenEadir

MICHAELO_4921 wrote: »

Tesco voucher with Siblu

Don't really shop in Tesco and don't have a Tesco credit card so not much chance of getting a significant amount of vouchers I'm afraid.

I didn't know Siblu took Tesco vouchers

BenEadir

zagmund wrote: »

There is a business park on the outskirts of Nantes which we have stopped in a few times - I think it's called Atlantis. There's a good few hotels there, an IKEA (if you are feeling like some furniture . . . or meatballs), a huge big Carrefour or one of those hyper markets, a tram stop which will get you to the centre of Nantes in 20 minutes or so and a couple of other good features.

This would be ideal if you did travel on the sail on the Thursday. You could stock up at the hypermarket Saturday morning and arrive ready to roll. It's just off the main road as you come in from the north.

We stayed at this place a couple of times - http://ie.hotels.com/ho260592/park-suites-elegance-nantes-atlantis-st-herblain-france/ - but there were literally another 3 or 4 hotels within a couple of minutes walk, all within the same park.

z

Thanks Zagmund, that sounds like a good plan if we travel on the Thursday.

MICHAELO_4921

BenThere wrote: »

Don't really shop in Tesco and don't have a Tesco credit card so not much chance of getting a significant amount of vouchers I'm afraid.

I didn't know Siblu took Tesco vouchers

They take a max of €500 in tesco vouchers.

BenEadir

So I checked my IF options and after using the FRANCEC15 discount code these are the prices I'm getting for a 2.25m tall MPV with 2 adults and two children with a 2 sat 4 berth outside cabin each way:

Sat July 11th Rosslare to Cherbourg returning same route Aug 1st - €1,090

Thurs July 9th Rosslare to Roscoff returning from Cherbourg Aug 1st - €1,126

That's a bit depressing compared to the €566 it cost me this summer going over on LD lines for €168 (massive BA price!) and returning with IF.

So almost twice as expensive this year with no competition from LD. I guess it's true what they say about competition pushing prices down and the lack of competition resulting in higher prices.

MICHAELO_4921

From what I hear LD lines was no competition to the big three for tourism traffic. The tourism was just an add on to the big money freight traffic. €168 was a great price very little in it for LD lines when you take into account port taxes & other costs.

BenEadir

MICHAELO_4921 wrote: »

€168 was a great price very little in it for LD lines when you take into account port taxes & other costs.

I agree entirely so I'd be quite happy to pay twice that if it meant a regular sailing on that route.

zagmund

I'm pretty sure that €168 fare was only ever an introductory offer to get business & publicity. It's hard to see how that would have been a sustainable fare. If they were still running this year (and the fact that they aren't says something about the profitability) I reckon it would be around the 600-800 or more mark for July returns.

z

BenEadir

zagmund wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that €168 fare was only ever an introductory offer to get business & publicity. It's hard to see how that would have been a sustainable fare. If they were still running this year (and the fact that they aren't says something about the profitability) I reckon it would be around the 600-800 or more mark for July returns.

z

I'd definitely live with that price range for three reasons:-

1. It's still a lot cheaper than IF
2. I enjoyed the LD crossing more than the IF crossing with Oscar Wilde
3. Sailing to St Nazaire saves 4.5 hours of driving down from Roscoff or Cherbourg. that alone saves €200 or so in Diesel!

wombats

That info about Nantes sounds like an ideal stopover place.

Thanks!