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

Newonhere

Redgirl, have a look at Calagogo in St. cyprien it has direct beach access and plenty of opportunities for cycling. It has a really good pool complex which is suitable for all ages.

Munsterbhoy

Redgirl82 wrote: »

I hope this is ok to ask here or am I better off starting a separate thread as not about ferries, I am thinking going to Perpignan now just to make sure I get the weather. Bit of a trek I know but love my sun....

Is there any recommendations for campsites down there? there is a couple of friends going to fly in so we will have kids from 1-7 age range....

Beach would be nice and ability to cycle etc.,...I checked on Eurocamp and I guess I pick the area Roussillon?

Hi heading to La Sirene for 12 days in early june which is i think 30kms from Perpignan airport, fantastic site with the biggest water park within a campsite in Europe. Eurocamp has places there but we booked with lifestyle holidays and got an incredible deal 11 nights in 3bed with a/c +decking for €405.

Atlantic Dawn

From previously looking in to it no company in Ireland would rent me one that I could leave the country in for insurance reasons on their standard cover plans.

If there's say 4 lads if you were to buy one here for say €10k and then bring it back in one piece you should be able to sell it on for a good 80% plus of more with little hassle. You won't be able to park within a good 10 miles of each stadium so factor in parking at an official site and transport to and from.

redmissb

Munsterbhoy wrote: »

Hi heading to La Sirene for 12 days in early june which is i think 30kms from Perpignan airport, fantastic site with the biggest water park within a campsite in Europe. Eurocamp has places there but we booked with lifestyle holidays and got an incredible deal 11 nights in 3bed with a/c +decking for €405.

That was some bargain!

Redgirl82

Munsterbhoy wrote: »

Hi heading to La Sirene for 12 days in early june which is i think 30kms from Perpignan airport, fantastic site with the biggest water park within a campsite in Europe. Eurocamp has places there but we booked with lifestyle holidays and got an incredible deal 11 nights in 3bed with a/c +decking for €405.

Thanks, they are about half the price compared to Eurocamp

There houses seem to be different, I would guess they would be similar quality?

Munsterbhoy

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Thanks, they are about half the price compared to Eurocamp

There houses seem to be different, I would guess they would be similar quality?

pretty much unless you go for the aspect which is fab but pricey. The fact your so far south your almost guaranteed hot weather so you don't spend much time in the mobile anyway . Having enough bedrooms,a half decent kitchen and good decking is all you need really. Sitting out having a nice red with the kids in bed after a day of activities is heaven for us.. lifestyle hols will knock 10% off your quote if you pay in full at the time of booking.

Redgirl82

Munsterbhoy wrote: »

pretty much unless you go for the aspect which is fab but pricey. The fact your so far south your almost guaranteed hot weather so you don't spend much time in the mobile anyway . Having enough bedrooms,a half decent kitchen and good decking is all you need really. Sitting out having a nice red with the kids in bed after a day of activities is heaven for us.. lifestyle hols will knock 10% off your quote if you pay in full at the time of booking.

Thanks, was going to get the Ruby 2 bedroom as it looks a bit bigger, it will be for 2 adults and 2 kids, throw the kids into the bedroom and sorted....

The Wife

On the booking agent issue:
I have Le Clarys Plage priced with Eurocamp and Kelair at much the same price. Would there be a difference in terms of mobile quality, kids clubs etc between the two agents? Does anyone know?

eabhaniamh

Just to let you know that you are still not guaranteed the sun even driving down that far. Went end of June for 2 weeks 2014 and weather was disappointing. Stayed in Le Brasilia. Nicest weather we got was when we drove back up 5 hours and stayed in Sequoia Park for 3 nights! Maybe we were just unlucky but has happened to us twice now in France so not going to chance it again.

Baybay

eabhaniamh wrote: »

Just to let you know that you are still not guaranteed the sun even driving down that far. Went end of June for 2 weeks 2014 and weather was disappointing. Stayed in Le Brasilia. Nicest weather we got was when we drove back up 5 hours and stayed in Sequoia Park for 3 nights! Maybe we were just unlucky but has happened to us twice now in France so not going to chance it again.

We spend a lot of time in France & summer 2014 was just one of those years where even the accepted good weather spots in the south were hit with thunderstorm after thunderstorm & grey days. Normal service resumed this summer though!

munchkin_utd

Baybay wrote: »

We spend a lot of time in France & summer 2014 was just one of those years where even the accepted good weather spots in the south were hit with thunderstorm after thunderstorm & grey days. Normal service resumed this summer though!

north of italy was the same in 2014 too if its any consolation.

Last year then was the hottest summer on record in France..... so avoiding france because of an alleged pattern of rain is wrong on so many counts.

Stone Deaf 4evr

yeah, 2014 was a disaster, had about 10 days of rain over the 2 weeks, we got rain on 2 days in july of 2015 which didnt interfere with us in anyway, but it was enough for my wife to insist we drive double the distance south next year. we were previously in St Jean De Monts, but this year its on below Perpignan we're heading.

Munsterbhoy

eabhaniamh wrote: »

Just to let you know that you are still not guaranteed the sun even driving down that far. Went end of June for 2 weeks 2014 and weather was disappointing. Stayed in Le Brasilia. Nicest weather we got was when we drove back up 5 hours and stayed in Sequoia Park for 3 nights! Maybe we were just unlucky but has happened to us twice now in France so not going to chance it again.

We were in Le Brasillia for 1st 2 weeks of June in 2014 and weather was ok but nothing like it normally would be for that time of year, and my god was the main pool cold!! Went to the Ardeche the previous year and it was beautiful. We have been fairly lucky with weather in France but one year in Normandy we got a crap mobile and worse weather, its was like that scene in Father Ted with the caravan..

manshay

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Thanks, they are about half the price compared to Eurocamp

There houses seem to be different, I would guess they would be similar quality?

What mobile home you get is random luck, you can get a brand new one(as we did this year) or one at least 5 years old(last year), it made no material difference to our holiday.

If there is no difference in price I would always go with Kelair, in fact I would pay more to go with them. We have travelled with both Eurocamp and Kelair. Kelair mobiles have been better cleaned on our campsites than the Eurocamp ones. Our children preferred the Kelair kids club.

Generalisation alert!!!!!
The following was our experience, someone else may have found differently!

We found Kelair staff to be better than Eurocamp staff. Kelair staff(especially the senior staff on site) are often teachers who spend their holidays in the sun, they have been with the company for several years, often in the same resort. Eurocamp staff seem to be uni students out for a laugh for the summer, they don't greatly care, hence the state of cleaning in the mobile homes.

Stone Deaf 4evr

manshay wrote: »

What mobile home you get is random luck, you can get a brand new one(as we did this year) or one at least 5 years old(last year), it made no material difference to our holiday.

If there is no difference in price I would always go with Kelair, in fact I would pay more to go with them. We have travelled with both Eurocamp and Kelair. Kelair mobiles have been better cleaned on our campsites than the Eurocamp ones. Our children preferred the Kelair kids club.

Generalisation alert!!!!!
The following was our experience, someone else may have found differently!

We found Kelair staff to be better than Eurocamp staff. Kelair staff(especially the senior staff on site) are often teachers who spend their holidays in the sun, they have been with the company for several years, often in the same resort. Eurocamp staff seem to be uni students out for a laugh for the summer, they don't greatly care, hence the state of cleaning in the mobile homes.

I've never been to any camp other than siblu ones, but am I right in thinking from your description there that there are camps where certain operators are responsible for certain mobile homes? as in the parc itself is one big communal area, and eurocamp have 20 mobiles, x has 20, y has 30, and then the privately owned ones as well?

54and56

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

I've never been to any camp other than siblu ones, but am I right in thinking from your description there that there are camps where certain operators are responsible for certain mobile homes? as in the parc itself is one big communal area, and eurocamp have 20 mobiles, x has 20, y has 30, and then the privately owned ones as well?

Spot on, Siblu operate the entire park but allow private owned mobiles also, in fact selling private mobiles is a key part of their business plan as it provides rental income for them all year round.

Other sites are individually owned and the owners will wholesale e.g. 20 mobiles to Kelair, 30 mobiles to another company and so on.

That's my understanding of it anyway.

manshay

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Other sites are individually owned and the owners will wholesale e.g. 20 mobiles to Kelair, 30 mobiles to another company and so on.

That's my understanding of it anyway.

As Kelair and Eurocamp mobiles are decidedly different I assumed Kelair/Eurocamp/Al Fresco own, install and operate their own mobile homes. I think they just rent the site from the campsite. In Le Clarys Plage this year we had a new Kelair mobile, the surronding mobiles from Al Fresco, Eurocamp and privately owned were not new and had a significantly different layout.

loyatemu

Yeah - Eurocamp, Canvas etc just rent pitches from the site owners and install their own model mobile homes.

nkay1985

Hi all,

So I'm finally going to pull the trigger on France 2016 tomorrrow. Just a couple of questions regarding the Tesco tokens. If I ring up tomorrow to book, am I correct in saying that I can pay a €100 deposit by card. I just have to tell them I plan on using the Tesco tokens as part payment for the crossing.

How much of a surcharge above the online price will I pay? I assume the FRANCEC16 discount still applies for phone bookings? So it should be €20 each way for using the Tesco tokens, which is €40. But what is the surcharge for booking over the phone. I've seen two different figures on the Irish Ferries website.

And can I then "pay in" on the booking using tokens up to 42 days in advance of the sailing?

Just want to make sure I'm doing this right. The last two years, I've just booked outright!

Thanks.

insullation

I don't think you will get the FRANCE16 discount if paying full/part using tesco tokens but I could be wrong.

redmissb

insullation wrote: »

I don't think you will get the FRANCE16 discount if paying full/part using tesco tokens but I could be wrong.

I used tokens last year and got the discount.

nkay1985

redmissb wrote: »

I used tokens last year and got the discount.

Correct. I booked this morning. The price was €40 more than the online price, including the early booking discount. The girl had confirmed that there would be a €15 surcharge for booking over the phone also but when she gave me the price, it didn't seem to be included and I wasn't going to be pointing it out!

€547.20 for three adults and an infant. Rosslare to Cherbourg on the way out on Sunday June 5th, Roscoff to Rosslare on the way back on Saturday, June 18th. 2* 3-bed cabin with no window each way. And I've got about €160 worth of boost tokens to i go against it at the moment. Happy out!

ab4248

All I can really see in the difference is the tv. Is it really worth the extra money to go 3* or is 2- fine with a laptop, tablet etc??

First Up

ab4248 wrote: »

All I can really see in the difference is the tv. Is it really worth the extra money to go 3* or is 2- fine with a laptop, tablet etc??

I don't think the difference between 3* and 4* is worth it but 3* is definitely better than 2*

juneg

Our ferry is booked Yay!!

Looking for recommendation on accommodation in Paris for a week.
we stayed in a campsite near city last time

ab4248

I am travelling to France with Irish Ferries in 2016. Finding it hard t find info about the ship. I read on an old post that the cinema is £7. Has that changed? Is it cheaper for children? Are the movies new enough? Can you find out in advance of sailing? Also I read somewhere that it is the law in France that you have to have a high vis vest in the car for every passenger. Is there anything else we are required to carry. Last question - How is the food in the left bank restaurant? I am thinking of buying the meal package. Many Thanks

Lucena

From memory, the cinema was around seven or eight euros for adults, not certain though. No idea of the price for children though. The films are recent enough, with one screen showing a film for adults, and the other a kids' movie.

Regarding driving in France, you're correct about the high vis vest being obligatory. However not only must it be in the car, it must also be accessible without you getting out of the car, which is logical. Strangely enough, it's one high vis vest per vehicule, and not per passenger!

http://www.securite-routiere.gouv.fr/connaitre-les-regles/le-vehicule/le-triangle-et-le-gilet

You'll also need a warning triangle, and in case of a roadside breakdown, you have to place the triangle at least 30 metres before your car. I assume this doesn't apply to motorways.

http://www.securite-routiere.gouv.fr/medias/espace-presse/publications-presse/les-conducteurs-de-tout-vehicule-en-circulation-devront-desormais-disposer-d-un-gilet-de-securite-et-d-un-triangle-de-pre-signalisation?xtmc=triangle&xtcr=4

Regarding food in the Left Bank, I'd be fussy enough, and I thought it was decent, with prices around 10 to 14 euros for mains.

ab4248

Thanks for your replies. Sometimes Im blinded by the amount of info on the internet

nkay1985

ab4248 wrote: »

I am travelling to France with Irish Ferries in 2016. Finding it hard t find info about the ship. I read on an old post that the cinema is £7. Has that changed? Is it cheaper for children? Are the movies new enough? Can you find out in advance of sailing? Also I read somewhere that it is the law in France that you have to have a high vis vest in the car for every passenger. Is there anything else we are required to carry. Last question - How is the food in the left bank restaurant? I am thinking of buying the meal package. Many Thanks

Last year was my first year driving in France. People sometimes give differing information regarding what's actually required. The best thing I found was to go to the nearest Halford's. In the section where they sell the stuff for foreign driving, they have little leaflets with a list of what's required in various countries, and which you can just buy there and then.

We ate in the left bank on the way out and back this year, just for dinner. I found it to be decent enough to be honest. I think it was around €12 for chicken, ribs and chips with a drink. Food was reasonable quality. My wife had spaghetti bolognese. It was a massive portion, she couldn't it. Might have been €9?

We went to the cinema on the way out and back. Saw the new Mad Max movie one way and Spy the other. Both were still in Irish cinemas at the time. Almost certain it was €8 each. Can't tell you about children's prices though, sorry.

Anything else, ask away.

ab4248

Thanks First Up, Lucena and nkay1985. Going to stick with Irish Ferries Oscar Wilde. Getting 4 bed 3* cabin. Will pre-buy meal vouchers as I am paying the whole lot with clubcard vouchers and I can include the meal package. Thanks again.