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

The Unbearables

zambo wrote: »

Having sailed with celtic and then stena rosslare to cherbourg for the last 10years or so I decided to try Irish Ferries from Dublin. BIG MISTAKE.
After cancelling our holiday this year I see that as well as the flexi fare they have taken another 25% total 48 euro from my 100 e booking fee. When I asked how they worked out the amount they told me at booking time I had signed to say I had read terms and conditions. No explanation of how it worked.
So it has cost me 48 euro to find out what a **** company Irish Ferries are
and I hope our government have not given them any covid payments.
As long as I live I will never do business with them again they can invest the 48 euro in advertising for passengers but they have forever lost the chance of my custom as a regular sailer for the next 10 or more years.
They seem to believe in the quick buck and hope the public will forget how they screwed us during the pandemic.

I'm currently in a dispute with Brittany Ferries over 340 euros they are refusing to refund.

I booked Rosslare to Bilbao in May and they didn't provide the service due to Covid so i rebooked for August. I went to cancel more than 21 days out when Spain wasn't on the greenlist and they refused saying i wasn't due a refund (fare minus deposit as per their terms and conditions) as i had re-booked in May.

Absolute gangsters as if i had of just left well enough alone in May they would have had to refund me full price but i actually thought i'd leave the money with them as i was sure the pandemic had hit them hard enough.

Will never deal with them again after years of travelling to France and Spain with them with my family and friends on motorbikes on various occasions.

the_amazing_raisin

The Unbearables wrote: »

I'm currently in a dispute with Brittany Ferries over 340 euros they are refusing to refund.

I booked Rosslare to Bilbao in May and they didn't provide the service due to Covid so i rebooked for August. I went to cancel more than 21 days out when Spain wasn't on the greenlist and they refused saying i wasn't due a refund (fare minus deposit as per their terms and conditions) as i had re-booked in May.

Absolute gangsters as if i had of just left well enough alone in May they would have had to refund me full price but i actually thought i'd leave the money with them as i was sure the pandemic had hit them hard enough.

Will never deal with them again after years of travelling to France and Spain with them with my family and friends on motorbikes on various occasions.

That sounds very suspicious, I think they're chancing their arms on that one. I would imagine a rebooking is considered the same as a new booking in terms of refund dates.

The only reason otherwise I would imagine would be if there was some sort of goodwill gesture in the second booking such as a significant discount.

However given that the original reason for cancellation was on the part of brittany ferries, then there's really no goodwill involved I think.

I would suggest filing a complaint and if you get nowhere then politely tell them you'll be referring the case to the small claims court.

The Unbearables

cruisey1987 wrote: »

That sounds very suspicious, I think they're chancing their arms on that one. I would imagine a rebooking is considered the same as a new booking in terms of refund dates.

The only reason otherwise I would imagine would be if there was some sort of goodwill gesture in the second booking such as a significant discount.

However given that the original reason for cancellation was on the part of brittany ferries, then there's really no goodwill involved I think.

I would suggest filing a complaint and if you get nowhere then politely tell them you'll be referring the case to the small claims court.

I've already done that and they have refused to engage. Small claims is my next step. Cheers

the_amazing_raisin

The Unbearables wrote: »

I've already done that and they have refused to engage. Small claims is my next step. Cheers

Good luck, hope it works out

MorganIRL

cruisey1987 wrote: »

Hi folks,

Quick question about the Azure and Azure plus homes from Eurocamp.

Where do you guys put a cot?
It looks from the floor plan example that you wouldn't fit one beside the double bed.

Do you put the cot in the living room or another bedroom?
If another bedroom, can one of the beds be moved/removed to give a bit more space?

We've always gotten the 3 bed versions and the cot had to always go into another room. Hence the xtra bedroom. None of the rooms we experienced had enough space for a cot unless u pushed 2 singles together in the twin room.

the_amazing_raisin

MorganIRL wrote: »

We've always gotten the 3 bed versions and the cot had to always go into another room. Hence the xtra bedroom. None of the rooms we experienced had enough space for a cot unless u pushed 2 singles together in the twin room.

Thanks for the info, we could put the cot in the same room as our older boy, it would have the advantage that we could use the video monitor to keep an eye on both of them.

That's assuming the little miss is sleeping through the night by then. Not sure I want to deal with a sleep deprived 4 year old, he's even worse than his dad when he's tired

the_amazing_raisin

Another question, how would everyone rate the onboard experience of the different ferries (not the companies, I know they all have their own failings) to France for 2 young kids (4 and 1.5 years)?

From what I can tell they seem to rank as follows

1. Irish ferries - W.B. Years
2. Stena Horizon
3. Irish ferries - Epsilon
4. Brittany ferries - Kerry

The Yeats seems best since it has a play room and cinema. Stena Horizon has a cinema which is 'free' but charges entry. The others seem to have nothing for kids.

I'm leaning towards Irish ferries as I'm leaving from Dublin anyway, but it'd be nice to keep my options open as much as I can

talla

cruisey1987 wrote: »

Another question, how would everyone rate the onboard experience of the different ferries (not the companies, I know they all have their own failings) to France for 2 young kids (4 and 1.5 years)?

From what I can tell they seem to rank as follows

1. Irish ferries - W.B. Years
2. Stena Horizon
3. Irish ferries - Epsilon
4. Brittany ferries - Kerry

The Yeats seems best since it has a play room and cinema. Stena Horizon has a cinema which is 'free' but charges entry. The others seem to have nothing for kids.

I'm leaning towards Irish ferries as I'm leaving from Dublin anyway, but it'd be nice to keep my options open as much as I can

Brittany ferries would also have the Pont Aven which is the same class of ferry as WB Lates.
Next year there will be a third ferry for Brittany Ferries, the "Amorique" which would be the equivalent of somewhere between the Kerry/Epsilon and the old Irish Ferries Irish Oscar Wilde I would guess.

mr_edge_to_you

talla wrote: »

Brittany ferries would also have the Pont Aven which is the same class of ferry as WB Lates.
Next year there will be a third ferry for Brittany Ferries, the "Amorique" which would be the equivalent of somewhere between the Kerry/Epsilon and the old Irish Ferries Irish Oscar Wilde I would guess.

Haven’t had the pleasure of the WB Lates yet but the Pont Aven is a much nicer ship than the Oscar Wilde was.

talla

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

Haven’t had the pleasure of the WB Lates yet but the Pont Aven is a much nicer ship than the Oscar Wilde was.

Agreed.

the_amazing_raisin

talla wrote: »

Brittany ferries would also have the Pont Aven which is the same class of ferry as WB Lates.
Next year there will be a third ferry for Brittany Ferries, the "Amorique" which would be the equivalent of somewhere between the Kerry/Epsilon and the old Irish Ferries Irish Oscar Wilde I would guess.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the Cork to Roscoff route.

Good to know there's a nice option for heading to Roscoff. The Rosslare to Roscoff ferries seem a bit more basic

mr_edge_to_you

I have to confess, I’m a massive fan of the BF Cork Roscoff sailings. Leave on Saturday afternoon, lovely view of Cobh and on the road by 8am on Sunday morning. Early lunch in McDonalds in Nantes and then onward to St Hilaire.

Then the return trip, into Carrigaline early on Saturday morning. Grab a cracking breakfast in some petrol station in Fermoy (could be hillbillies?). Back home around 2pm.

Roll on 2021!

the_amazing_raisin

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

I have to confess, I’m a massive fan of the BF Cork Roscoff sailings. Leave on Saturday afternoon, lovely view of Cobh and on the road by 8am on Sunday morning. Early lunch in McDonalds in Nantes and then onward to St Hilaire.

Then the return trip, into Carrigaline early on Saturday morning. Grab a cracking breakfast in some petrol station in Fermoy (could be hillbillies?). Back home around 2pm.

Roll on 2021!

It's certainly a good option, but I think in my case I'd go for the Dublin to Cherbourg route as I'm based in north Dublin and it's a 25 mins drive to Dublin port versus 2.5 hours to Cork.

Having said that, there's a balancing act of the drive on the other side. Heading to Roscoff might save you time driving in France if it's closer to your campsite. If it saves more time than the drive to Cork then it's worth it

the_amazing_raisin

Actually, while we're discussing ferries (and I'm asking dumb rookie questions) what's the story with getting a cot into the inside cabins?

Irish ferries say you can fit a cot in the 4 bed cabins if the 4 beds aren't being used, but then they don't give you the option of booking one.

Stena seem fine with having a cot in the 4 bed inside cabins, and Brittany didn't give me the option so maybe I missed something.

We have a travel cot so we'd probably bring own anyway, and worst case scenario we can just put the toddler in the bed with one of us.

Beanybabog

cruisey1987 wrote: »

Hi folks,

Quick question about the Azure and Azure plus homes from Eurocamp.

Where do you guys put a cot?
It looks from the floor plan example that you wouldn't fit one beside the double bed.

Do you put the cot in the living room or another bedroom?
If another bedroom, can one of the beds be moved/removed to give a bit more space?

I haven’t been there but was in Yelloh village which I imagine are similar and in year 1 we asked them to take out the beds. They’re only steel bases and fairly thin mattresses so they took them away on a golf cart and we put two cots in one room. The second year they refused to move the bases so we stacked them and they took the mattresses.

talla

cruisey1987 wrote: »

It's certainly a good option, but I think in my case I'd go for the Dublin to Cherbourg route as I'm based in north Dublin and it's a 25 mins drive to Dublin port versus 2.5 hours to Cork.

Having said that, there's a balancing act of the drive on the other side. Heading to Roscoff might save you time driving in France if it's closer to your campsite. If it saves more time than the drive to Cork then it's worth it

Other thing to note, its a shorter ferry crossing from Cork to Roscoff (about 14 hours) compared to Dublin to Cherbourg (about 19 hours).

Beanybabog

cruisey1987 wrote: »

Actually, while we're discussing ferries (and I'm asking dumb rookie questions) what's the story with getting a cot into the inside cabins?

Irish ferries say you can fit a cot in the 4 bed cabins if the 4 beds aren't being used, but then they don't give you the option of booking one.

Stena seem fine with having a cot in the 4 bed inside cabins, and Brittany didn't give me the option so maybe I missed something.

We have a travel cot so we'd probably bring own anyway, and worst case scenario we can just put the toddler in the bed with one of us.

I’d just book it and bring your own- the cots are shockingly small on Irish ferries. Like newborn travel cots or something. One bed pulls down so you leave that one up and out up your cot. We had plenty of room

Beanybabog

Irish ferries just updated website- you can now get a credit note for 2021 for bookings up to 31.08 - it was up to 18.08 until a day or two ago. Do they know something we don’t know?? Or have they just decided there’s no chance of France being on the green list

the_amazing_raisin

Beanybabog wrote: »

I’d just book it and bring your own- the cots are shockingly small on Irish ferries. Like newborn travel cots or something. One bed pulls down so you leave that one up and out up your cot. We had plenty of room

Awesome, thanks for the info

mr_edge_to_you

talla wrote: »

Other thing to note, its a shorter ferry crossing from Cork to Roscoff (about 14 hours) compared to Dublin to Cherbourg (about 19 hours).

I reckon that Irish Ferries go from Dublin to keep the ferry at sea for an extra five hours. That’s a lot of revenue generated, when compared to the bad sailings where you hardly have time for breakfast. A very basic breakfast for a family of four will set you back €10 a head on IF.

the_amazing_raisin

Beanybabog wrote: »

Irish ferries just updated website- you can now get a credit note for 2021 for bookings up to 31.08 - it was up to 18.08 until a day or two ago. Do they know something we don’t know?? Or have they just decided there’s no chance of France being on the green list

I'm guessing the latter, daily cases in France are going up not down so no chance of them getting in the green list at this point

Scoondal

cruisey1987 wrote: »

I'm guessing the latter, daily cases in France are going up not down so no chance of them getting in the green list at this point

Brittany is multiple times a safer place to be than Ireland.

ShamoBuc

Scoondal wrote: »

Brittany is multiple times a safer place to be than Ireland.

Sure about that? Couple of weeks ago.....

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-cases-soar-in-frances-brittany-region-as-summer-holidays-begin-12030616

https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/jsy/news/brittany-designated-virus-red-zone/#.XzsTCnrTU1I

Scoondal

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Sure about that? Couple of weeks ago.....

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-cases-soar-in-frances-brittany-region-as-summer-holidays-begin-12030616

https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/jsy/news/brittany-designated-virus-red-zone/#.XzsTCnrTU1I

Well, I went to Brittany and didn't get any virus. If you take a common sense approach there is almost no possibility of getting it. I am talking from experience. Been there, great holiday, no virus.
If you are afraid of getting coronavirus you should stay home.

the_amazing_raisin

Scoondal wrote: »

Brittany is multiple times a safer place to be than Ireland.

You may be right but the green list is determined on a country by country basis, doesn't matter if a region within that country is safer

CelticRambler

cruisey1987 wrote: »

You may be right but the green list is determined on a country by country basis, doesn't matter if a region within that country is safer

That's why the concept of establishing such lists is pretty nonsensical, and the bigger the country, the less useful it is. Seeing as very few government's are being scientifically sensible about the measures they put in place, you might as well get used to the idea that travel to popular "tourist destinations" is going to be high(er) risk for the foreseeable future.

Beanybabog

cruisey1987 wrote: »

You may be right but the green list is determined on a country by country basis, doesn't matter if a region within that country is safer

I think Germany is doing regional advice, it makes more sense where countries are multiple times our size. I read in the paper a breakdown of France and Brittany had sub 3000 cases with a population of 3.3 million. There’s vast differences in France, and indeed other countries, across large areas.

I don’t think the green list will be updated in line with how it previously was- adding countries because we’re doing badly isn’t ideal and if the government couldn’t see it was a bad idea in the first place they’ll surely see it now. We need an EU wide policy on travel with scope to restrict regions if this stays with us long term

Scoondal

France was straight forward.

Ireland ... it's 15 but 6 in your house, 15 outside gatherings but gardens 6, 50 at weddings or theatres otherwise 15, sports teams 40 each team but in Kildare ... drive through and don't stop. Outside Kildare or middle of nowhere ... do not stop. In safe counties if your chowder is €8, jail. You can go to Italy but you can't. If you are 13 years old ...social distancing but if you're 11 no problem on school buses. Leixlip restaurants closed except if you cross the bridge, that's safe, they are open. Sports training okay if you are professional but you can't compete abroad.
Ireland is also very clear. What do people not understand ?
It sounds simple to me anyway.

mrskinner

....none so blind as those....

sceach16

Scoondal wrote: »

Well, I went to Brittany and didn't get any virus. If you take a common sense approach there is almost no possibility of getting it. I am talking from experience. Been there, great holiday, no virus.
If you are afraid of getting coronavirus you should stay home.

Maybe you should be quarantined...........