France Ferry & Campsite info (use Search function) mod warning post 1

loyatemu

molly dolly wrote: »

They've shaken up the left bank diner menu a bit. Have a street food station now. Build your own burger to thai/chineese. I got lemon curry prawn noodles - tasty and unexpected from the usual carvery muck

the new noodle bar is pretty good, but the kids menu now exclusively consists of fried crap & chips (nuggets, sausages etc) where previously you could get pasta or a small portion of the carvery, veg etc.

We'd paid for the family meal deal based on the old menu and got into a row with the diner manager when they would only let the kids have the "and chips" menu. Irish Ferries obviously haven't got the healthy eating memo.

Baybay

Collected DH from the Bristol flight into Beziers-Vias airport this afternoon. Flight was late, afternoon was warm, didn’t get my usual spot to pull into while waiting so didn’t notice the only other Irish registered car there amongst the plane watchers until he saluted while leaving.
Copped on too late so if it was you in the 181 KE white something, apologies! It’s nice to spot the Irish regs down here as they’re pretty scarce. Unless you all know different!

josip

I gave a beep to an 09 G Citroen C5 I saw on the motorway a few days ago.

Baybay

josip wrote: »

I gave a beep to an 09 G Citroen C5 I saw on the motorway a few days ago.

Not me but if you see a 171 WW VW beep away!

mr_edge_to_you

Asian Street Food - it’ll always be Chinese to a simple man like me!

ShamoBuc

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

Asian Street Food - it’ll always be Chinese to a simple man like me!

Eh.......ok.

mikerd4

Saw loads of Irish plated cars when I was in Vias back in July?

December2012

Do you think storm Ernesto will affect France sailings this weekend?

December2012

Do you think storm Ernesto will affect France sailings this weekend?

juneg

December2012 wrote: »

Do you think storm Ernesto will affect France sailings this weekend?

I asked that question in the weather forum as I have a relative going on it. They said the sailing would be moderate to rough.

webpal

Met Eireann have sea crossing updates here

molly dolly

loyatemu wrote: »

the new noodle bar is pretty good, but the kids menu now exclusively consists of fried crap & chips (nuggets, sausages etc) where previously you could get pasta or a small portion of the carvery, veg etc.

We'd paid for the family meal deal based on the old menu and got into a row with the diner manager when they would only let the kids have the "and chips" menu. Irish Ferries obviously haven't got the healthy eating memo.

we did very okay out of our deal. 3 kids and 2 adults. Got a free salad and a didn't charge to upgrade a kid to an adult.

Don't feel so bad cutting holidays by two days for community games. DS1 got into the relay final and the 100 m semi final. Ran his heart out. End of a hectic 3 weeks so now time to get back to reality and start planning next year.

wall

Lots of boys get on well with other Irish boys playing soccer on campsites, but for those who dont do soccer, are there any other activities that people have found that (non-soccer) boys like to do together?

54and56

wall wrote: »

Lots of boys get on well with other Irish boys playing soccer on campsites, but for those who dont do soccer, are there any other activities that people have found that (non-soccer) boys like to do together?

What ages?

I found that from age 5 - 8 it was all about the kids clubs and messing in the pool with Mum/Dad and a friend or two if they were around.

From 9 to 13 my lad was happy attending the odd kids club, messing in the pool with any friends he'd made and just cycling round / hanging out in the bar/games area with friends he had made.

From 14 to 17 the kids clubs were of no interest so it was a case of sleeping in until 11am or so then an afternoon of soccer in the multisport astro turf facility where there were either casual games amongst whoever turned up or mini tournaments organised by the campsite entertainment staff followed by a few hours in the pool then dinner and hanging out with all the other cool kids (teenagers) at the entertainment area!!

wall

My boys are 6 and 8. And i suppose when you say it, in Aloha in Serignan Plage, hanging about at the pool for a while, and the games room and bikes was working for them, for the 8 year old especially.
Last year we were in Le Bois Dormant in St-Jean-du-Monts and it seemed to be all about soccer there, and similar when we visited La Garangeoire.

54and56

wall wrote: »

My boys are 6 and 8. And i suppose when you say it, in Aloha in Serignan Plage, hanging about at the pool for a while, and the games room and bikes was working for them, for the 8 year old especially.
Last year we were in Le Bois Dormant in St-Jean-du-Monts and it seemed to be all about soccer there, and similar when we visited La Garangeoire.

Well soccer is a bit of a common denominator sport for boys and in particular in France/UK/Germany/Italy etc It's also low cost to host and facilitate and all nationalities play it and understand the rules so easy for campsites to use as a platform for group activities for boys aged 12-17 in particular.

The playgrounds work for kids aged up to 8-9 but then there's a bit of a gap as the soccer really only works from age 12 up as 10-11 year olds will struggle and/or be intimidated playing Vs 14 - 16 year olds.

Unshelved

Deeman83 wrote: »

Île de Ré

Has anyone been? Any recommendations for campsites, things to do?

We holidayed in Ile de Ré for the last four years - always stayed in Le Suroit campsite in Le Bois Plage en Ré - https://www.camping-vagues-oceanes.co.uk/camping-ile-re/suroit.html

It's a small, quiet campsite, perfect for young kids but not so good for older ones I'd imagine. About 800m from the beach (a very quick cycle) and same again from the centre of the village. The beach is beautiful and unspoiled. As others have mentioned, cycling is essential if you want to see the island. Hiring bikes is cheap and it's a great way to travel around - there are over 100km of cycle lanes on the island.

Le Bois is VERY French - most of the holidaymakers are French and everywhere keeps French hours. For example - in the restaurants lunch is from 12-2 and dinner from 7-9. That's it. It's virtually impossible to get anything to eat outside these times - and this does get annoying after a while. The supermarket in the village is good but expensive enough, and the village has a terrific market and a lovely covered food market that is open every morning. If you're after a quiet relaxing holiday I'd recommend Le Bois, but I'd say this year was our last year there. We travelled in early June, the weather wasn't great and there was just too little to do now that our son is a bit older.

Feel free to PM me if you have any further questions.

SusanC10

Does anyone remember when (Month) IF released the 2018 Sailings and Prices last year ?

Nekarsulm

I booked this years sailing on 18 nt August 2017.

average_runner

Flights for toulouse next year are up. Not great times

Jpm123

average_runner wrote: »

Flights for toulouse next year are up. Not great times

Is that from Dublin and which airline is that with

Cheers

average_runner

Jpm123 wrote: »

Is that from Dublin and which airline is that with

Cheers

Aer lingus from Dublin.

MelachiT

Trying to book ferry to France with IF for end of October. There is no sign of the OW on their bookings page. Seems only the Epsilon is sailing to France at that time atm Does anyone know when the new WBYeats is due in service?
Or what is happening with the OW?

Quazzie

MelachiT wrote: »

Trying to book ferry to France with IF for end of October. There is no sign of the OW on their bookings page. Seems only the Epsilon is sailing to France at that time atm Does anyone know when the new WBYeats is due in service?

They'd be mad to take bookings for that until they have it in their docks after the recent PR disasters caused by building delays

MelachiT

Quazzie wrote: »

They'd be mad to take bookings for that until they have it in their docks after the recent PR disasters caused by building delays

Yes, I realise that's why that doesn't show up on their booking page. Do you know why the OW isn't showing either?

mr_edge_to_you

WB Lates was only ever intended for summer sailings between Dublin and Cherbourg, spending the rest of the season on the Irish Sea. But I thought the OW continued to sail between Rosslare to Cherbourg until November. Perhaps the recent mechanical and vessel delivery issues have had an impact on the fleet capacity. Also possible maybe OW is due a maintenance check/service and could be out of action.

I know Brittany Ferries are still taking bookings for later in the year. Might be an option?

54and56

Anyone here use the Cork to Santander ferry yet who can give a review of how it went?

I'm thinking of giving it a crack next year.

The Pro's as I see them are:-

- Arriving into Santander leaves a much shorter 4 hour drive north to La Reserve Vs a 10 hour drive south from Roscoff/Cherbourg.

- It'll be nice to see a bit of northern Spain.

- It'd be novel/different to the usual Roscoff/Cherbourg -> Rennes -> Nantes -> Bordeaux road trip.

The Con's as I see them are:-

- It's 28 hours on a very basic ferry with self service food (which I'd be fine with), not much of a bar, very little public seating and no entertainment of any sort so you're going to be spending a lot of the 28 hours in the cabin reading/watching movies/sleeping.

- There doesn't appear to be that much of a cost saving Vs the Roscoff/Cherbourg routes.

I'm wary of the grass appearing but not actually being greener on the other side and moving away from the tried and tested Roscoff/Cherbourg routes so am looking for the thoughts of anyone who has done the Santander trip before I jump in with both feet and make a mistake I'll regret!!

talla

@Je_Suis_Jean, maybe try this thread , discussion on it over in the Cork Forum.

josip

Has anyone ever received a speeding ticket in Ireland from an automatic camera in France when driving their Irish reg car?
And if so, did you/didn't you pay and what was the outcome?
Asking for a friend who got flashed this evening by one.

1perriwinkle

Just back from another brilliant 2 weeks in France! Have a severe case of the back-to-work blues :-(
Just some things from our holiday that might interest people. We drove over, (IF Rosslare - Rosscoff) and camped for part of it (stayed with friends for the rest of it).
Stayed for 4 nights in https://www.nantes-camping.fr/https://www.nantes-camping.fr/
Pros: Great to be 2 minutes walk from the tram straight into the city centre (and the city was amazing); Campsite well maintained; Teens loved the pool across the road
Cons: The restaurant. We arrived the first night and just after we had put the tent up the heavens opened (phew!) As it was our first time to Nantes and it was relatively late, we opted to go the on-site restaurant and ordered take away pizzas. We waited two hours (yes, two) for our pizzas. I won't bore you with the ins and outs and my rising levels of h-anger and frustration but suffice to say that the staff were rude, unhelpful and refused to give me a refund (after 1hr 15mins) so that I could go elsewhere. In addition, several other people complained while I was there about various things and the staff 100% couldn't have cared less. To top it off, the pizzas were not even that nice! So I would recommend avoiding the restaurant. Other major con was the sanitary blocks were too small for the number of campers. Only 2 ladies toilets in our block so I had to queue every single time I went, the queues for the showers were also constant.
So overall, great location for visiting the city, but I don't know where they got their 5* rating from because as a campsite in itself, it was very average.
We also camped for 4 nights here http://www.camping-du-pouldu.com/
Pros: fantastic location, within walking distance of 3 different beaches; a lovely authentic french village; brilliant, small, beautifully maintained campsite with lots of French people; lovely bar with huge games room for kids with pool, table tennis, table soccer, large library (kids/adults)
Cons: honestly can't think of any. You might want the pool to be covered maybe, but it's very well sheltered by hedges so no breeze
It's 3* but for us it was 5* in terms of what we wanted. The teens walked to the bakery in the village every morning to get goodies, loved the beach (there was a platform anchored off the beach that you could swim out to), and we did a lovely walk one of the days all along the coast (even did a bit of geocaching). It was a great end to our stay, really laid back place, can't recommend it enough.
One other thing I would recommend from our stay is http://www.grand-defi.com/en/nature-amusement-park/
This is a zip line place ('tree top trails') and was fantastic. I'd never done zip lining before and I loved it. There was a big group of us and some of the others had been zip lining before and said it was the best one they had been too. Good value too, €21 for 3 hours - although they actually have no way (that we could see) of knowing how long you've been there, but after 3 hours of climbing ladders and swinging through trees, you'd be tired enough anyway :-)