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

SusanC10

IF don't sail the same days each week but they do follow a pattern. Or at least they have done in previous years. We want to leave Ireland the 3rd Thurs in June and previously there has been a sailing from Rosslare to Cherbourg leaving that day.

DavyD_83

Last year's schedule as shared by helpful poster earlier was on a 2-weekly repeating pattern.
I'm working on theory of same days this year and gonna book eurocamp this week with the offer.

Deciding between 10nights for 340, or 12 for 480

First Up

SusanC10 wrote: »

IF don't sail the same days each week but they do follow a pattern. Or at least they have done in previous years. We want to leave Ireland the 3rd Thurs in June and previously there has been a sailing from Rosslare to Cherbourg leaving that day.

As has been explained, that is not an indicator that there will be one on the 3rd Thursday of June this year. It depends on the calendar.

Newcomers1

Due to be handed over to Irish Ferries tomorrow. Been following this site since it was mentioned on Boards

https://www.irish-ferries-enthusiasts.com/forum/the-news-board/w-b-yeats-delivery-is-delayed/165/

westgolf

MorganIRL wrote: »

Ya eurocamps black Fri offer is unreal. We're getting 10 nights in a 3 bed for €400, was waiting to book till IF released schedule but we're gonna book now and fly if needs be.

Its a great offer alright. However I was looking at one campsite with eurocamp and the price before offer was 1440, down to 480. That's almost a grand off ! What's the catch or is it just my cynical nature coming out ?

54and56

westgolf wrote: »

Its a great offer alright. However I was looking at one campsite with eurocamp and the price before offer was 1440, down to 480. That's almost a grand off ! What's the catch or is it just my cynical nature coming out ?

If it's May/early June then the latter but if July/August then it's a genuine bargain IMHO.

I checked out a Eurocamp campsite today using the Black Friday offer and it came in at €2,600 for three weeks in July which is bang on the regular "frequent" customer discount price I get from Siblu so nothing special price wise for me

nirvana78

My experience this year with IF Oscar Wilde sailing schedule was, we left Rosslare on Sat 1st June heading for Roscoff. Almost immediately after we got off the ship on Sunday morning, the ship left the harbour, without any passengers. I wondered to myself was it heading for Cherbourg to bring passengers back? Maybe someone could educate me, that might be how they rotate the one ship between two French ports.

westgolf

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

If it's May/early June then the latter but if July/August then it's a genuine bargain IMHO.

I checked out a Eurocamp campsite today using the Black Friday offer and it came in at €2,600 for three weeks in July which is bang on the regular "frequent" customer discount price I get from Siblu so nothing special price wise for me

It was for outbound on 15th June and back on 28th.

PCX

nirvana78 wrote: »

My experience this year with IF Oscar Wilde sailing schedule was, we left Rosslare on Sat 1st June heading for Roscoff. Almost immediately after we got off the ship on Sunday morning, the ship left the harbour, without any passengers. I wondered to myself was it heading for Cherbourg to bring passengers back? Maybe someone could educate me, that might be how they rotate the one ship between two French ports.

I think there is not enough berths in Roscoff to allow the ship to stay there all day. They have to sail out after disembarkation in the morning to allow other ships to use the port and then sail back in later in the day to load new passengers for evening sailing.

54and56

westgolf wrote: »

It was for outbound on 15th June and back on 28th.

Similar dates to we had this year.

Positives are the weather is close to being as good as it gets and the Irish/UK popular campsites are less busy as national schools are still open in Ireland and all schools are still in full flow in the UK.

Negatives are there are fewer Irish/UK families which we found a real negative this year as our 13 year old didn't really make any new friends and some of the facilities and entertainment may not be fully open.

Value for money wise your dates are absolutely 100% the best you can have, particularly if you have very young kids.

nirvana78

PCX wrote: »

I think there is not enough berths in Roscoff to allow the ship to stay there all day. They have to sail out after disembarkation in the morning to allow other ships to use the port and then sail back in later in the day to load new passengers for evening sailing.

Ah that makes sense alright, never thought of that.

Munsterbhoy

westgolf wrote: »

Its a great offer alright. However I was looking at one campsite with eurocamp and the price before offer was 1440, down to 480. That's almost a grand off ! What's the catch or is it just my cynical nature coming out ?

Im sure its bona fide , one guess would be that with no IF sailing schedule people haven't booked their accom yet and eurocamp bookings are way back , and they're trying to encourage bookings by giving big discounts. Also the uncertainty around brexit isn't helping..

DavyD_83

Munsterbhoy wrote: »

Im sure its bona fide , one guess would be that with no IF sailing schedule people haven't booked their accom yet and eurocamp bookings are way back , and they're trying to encourage bookings by giving big discounts. Also the uncertainty around brexit isn't helping..

Yep, I think EuroCamp are panicking as much as we are that the ferry may never arrive.
I just booked 12 nights for 480, showing original price as ~1300.
The mad thing was that all mobile homes, from 2 bed classic, up to 3 bed Espace were all same 480 price, despite different starting prices.

When checking the last few years, the prices are always staggered, and legitimately start at those prices. I've never booked at full price, but you certainly can.

The 2 times I have booked previously, I have found discount codes (by just Googling) that have given approx. 40% off, but nothing as much as this.
I have received a ~63% discount this year, and I aint arguing :cool:

My only concern now is that I am already locked into dates, and just hoping that IF will have the matching schedule, and that the boat on those days will be a reasonable price.

Don't suppose the ferry enthusiasts have any further insight on the boat delivery and status of the schedule?

CheerLouth

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Yep, I think EuroCamp are panicking as much as we are that the ferry may never arrive.

I think you are right - if IF bookings are well below normal levels, it stands to reason that Eurocamp & other providers would be down too. Hopefully they get it sorted quickly - although we aren't going to France this year We are getting married instead.

MorganIRL

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Yep, I think EuroCamp are panicking as much as we are that the ferry may never arrive.
I just booked 12 nights for 480, showing original price as ~1300.
The mad thing was that all mobile homes, from 2 bed classic, up to 3 bed Espace were all same 480 price, despite different starting prices.

When checking the last few years, the prices are always staggered, and legitimately start at those prices. I've never booked at full price, but you certainly can.

The 2 times I have booked previously, I have found discount codes (by just Googling) that have given approx. 40% off, but nothing as much as this.
I have received a ~63% discount this year, and I aint arguing :cool:

My only concern now is that I am already locked into dates, and just hoping that IF will have the matching schedule, and that the boat on those days will be a reasonable price.

Don't suppose the ferry enthusiasts have any further insight on the boat delivery and status of the schedule?[/quote





Your not locked into dates with eurocamps, I queried this and they said they have extended the changing deadline till the 23/12 to facilitate the IF fiasco

mr_edge_to_you

MorganIRL wrote: »

Your not locked into dates with eurocamps, I queried this and they said they have extended the changing deadline till the 23/12 to facilitate the IF fiasco

I suspect they’ll be delaying further!

MorganIRL

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

I suspect they’ll be delaying further!

Surely if the boat gets released this week or so, IF will be confident in releasing schedule,

54and56

CheerLouth wrote: »

I think you are right - if IF bookings are well below normal levels, it stands to reason that Eurocamp & other providers would be down too. Hopefully they get it sorted quickly - although we aren't going to France this year We are getting married instead.

Plus waaayyy fewer Brits travelling to Euro zone countries given the weakened state of Sterling and the whole insular Brexit mood that seems to be infecting many of our neighbours :-(

mr_edge_to_you

MorganIRL wrote: »

Surely if the boat gets released this week or so, IF will be confident in releasing schedule,

The fact that you can’t even book for 6 weeks ahead suggest to me that there are bigger issues that are trying to be managed. The WB Yeats wasn’t intended for Winter sailing to/from France. That service was going to done with the Epsilon as far as I know (Dublin - Cherbourg).

manshay

If booking Eurocamp check all the eurocamp variants .ie(Ireland), co.uk, .nl, .de etc. I found the .de version is much cheaper. An August booking €1000 cheaper over 2 weeks compared to .ie website.

Peckham

Having done Brittany and Vendee for past few years, looking to push a bit further south in 2019.

Has anyone been to Saint Avit Loisirs previously? Any comments?

Priority for us is good pool area suitable for 8, 5 and 2 year old. This seems perfect.

54and56

Hi all,

Thinking about changing things up a bit this year.

Our requirement is:-

- Anywhere on the west coast from Saint Nazaire down to the Spanish border.
- Lively enough campsite with good food options onsite and good entertainment options either onsite or nearby for teenagers 14-18.
- Excellent cycle paths for general exploring and exercise i.e. 50km to 70km per day.

Any suggestions?

manshay

manshay wrote: »

If booking Eurocamp check all the eurocamp variants .ie(Ireland), co.uk, .nl, .de etc. I found the .de version is much cheaper. An August booking €1000 cheaper over 2 weeks compared to .ie website.

I've just booked! Sequoia Park, 3-17 August, Azure mobile, Eurocamp.ie €4158, Eurocamp.de €2366!!!

BTW Stena line have a 25% discount today, re-booked my ferry for €100 less.

ifElseThen

Near 700 difference between eurocamp.de(2317) and eurocamp.ie(2989) for a 3 bed espace on Le Grande Metairie for 2 weeks in mid July.
What would drive that differential. Just eurocamp trying to get away with it?

josip

manshay wrote: »

I've just booked! Sequoia Park, 3-17 August, Azure mobile, Eurocamp.ie €4158, Eurocamp.de €2366!!!

BTW Stena line have a 25% discount today, re-booked my ferry for €100 less.

Just to add that you'll only see the 25% discount when you use the discount code, their list prices are the same as last week.
Also you have 4 days to book, not just today.

https://www.stenaline.ie/blackfriyay

Have they artificially inflated their prices over the last few weeks to now be able to offer 25% off?
Our non-discounted price for car, 2 adults, 1 child, 4 berth outside cabin was €1000 which I thought was considerably higher than 2 years ago when we last went via France.

manshay

josip wrote: »

Just to add that you'll only see the 25% discount when you use the discount code, their list prices are the same as last week.
Also you have 4 days to book, not just today.

https://www.stenaline.ie/blackfriyay

Have they artificially inflated their prices over the last few weeks to now be able to offer 25% off?
Our non-discounted price for car, 2 adults, 1 child, 4 berth outside cabin was €1000 which I thought was considerably higher than 2 years ago when we last went via France.

Josip, to be fair I think the underlying prices are the same. I booked in August on a full fare Flexi fare, applied the 10% discount when it appeared in September and just cancelled it so I could rebook for the 25% discount. I have exactly the same booking but I have saved €100.

MorganIRL

josip wrote: »

Just to add that you'll only see the 25% discount when you use the discount code, their list prices are the same as last week.
Also you have 4 days to book, not just today.

https://www.stenaline.ie/blackfriyay

Have they artificially inflated their prices over the last few weeks to now be able to offer 25% off?
Our non-discounted price for car, 2 adults, 1 child, 4 berth outside cabin was €1000 which I thought was considerably higher than 2 years ago when we last went via France.

Stenas price is the same price as I paid last year with IF, considering going with them now cause of the debacle with IF, due to the savings with eurocamps it doesn't seem as bad.just need to look at accommodation closer to port or stay an extra day in vendee..

MorganIRL

Does anyone have any suggestions re hotel for a family of 5 around Cherbourg,

loyatemu

bah - the eurocamp.de cat is out of the bag. We've booked with them before and the savings were huge. I don't why there is such a massive discrepancy but I assume under EU law they can't prevent you shopping around between their various sites (and Chrome does a pretty good job of translating).

NIMAN

loyatemu wrote: »

bah - the eurocamp.de cat is out of the bag. We've booked with them before and the savings were huge. I don't why there is such a massive discrepancy but I assume under EU law they can't prevent you shopping around between their various sites (and Chrome does a pretty good job of translating).

I did a quick search on that, well I tried to.

Its not letting me select a date....when I pick one the dropdown is showing Undefined....