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

flangemeistro

sceach16 wrote: »

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

Just like Phil Hogan quarantined for two weeks before attending a piss up in a Galway golf club with 81 others, including senators, TDs, Judges & EU Commissioners?
We're all being treated like imbeciles so there's going to be a lot of people regretting cancelling their 2020 holidays after seeing the carry on of the people making the rules.

sceach16

flangemeistro wrote: »

Just like Phil Hogan quarantined for two weeks before attending a piss up in a Galway golf club with 81 others, including senators, TDs, Judges & EU Commissioners?
We're all being treated like imbeciles so there's going to be a lot of people regretting cancelling their 2020 holidays after seeing the carry on of the people making the rules.

Agreed ! But I have respect for my fellow citizens so I respect the guidelines.

Macy0161

flangemeistro wrote: »

Just like Phil Hogan quarantined for two weeks before attending a piss up in a Galway golf club with 81 others, including senators, TDs, Judges & EU Commissioners?
We're all being treated like imbeciles so there's going to be a lot of people regretting cancelling their 2020 holidays after seeing the carry on of the people making the rules.

Not defending any of those clowns, but he says he's been in Ireland since July.

Ultimately, you can only take responsibility for yourself. I probably said it before, but early on in the pandemic the point was made "would you be embarrassed telling a contact tracer" what you had done.

yiddo59

flangemeistro wrote: »

Just like Phil Hogan quarantined for two weeks before attending a piss up in a Galway golf club with 81 others, including senators, TDs, Judges & EU Commissioners?
We're all being treated like imbeciles so there's going to be a lot of people regretting cancelling their 2020 holidays after seeing the carry on of the people making the rules.

This caper has done more damage to whatever was left of the "we're all in this together" solidarity.

Scoondal

sceach16 wrote: »

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

Why should healthy people be quarantined ?

sceach16

Scoondal wrote: »

Why should healthy people be quarantined ?

"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."


To protect us from people like you

Scoondal

sceach16 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."


To protect us from people like you

Yes stay at home.
I went to a safer place than Ireland. If you need to be protected from me, then you should self isolate.

sceach16

Scoondal wrote: »

Yes stay at home.
I went to a safer place than Ireland. If you need to be protected from me, then you should self isolate.

Thanks Dara and Phil and you and all the others. You definitely know better than the professionals dealing with this



OR


You are just selfish

Scoondal

sceach16 wrote: »

Thanks Dara and Phil and you and all the others. You definitely know better than the professionals dealing with this



OR


You are just selfish

Well, yes you are correct. There is no law (yet) against selfishness.
I live lawfully in a free society... I think (?).

MorganIRL

Any chance this thread goes back to the what it was started up for, I realise the info will be small because of the pandemic I would prefer not to unfollow the thread because I have found it so informative for the last 7 yrs since we went on our 1st holiday to France. Plenty of covid threads to comment on. Maybe the moderators need to start enforcing.TIA

sceach16

MorganIRL wrote: »

Any chance this thread goes back to the what it was started up for, I realise the info will be small because of the pandemic I would prefer not to unfollow the thread because I have found it so informative for the last 7 yrs since we went on our 1st holiday to France. Plenty of covid threads to comment on. Maybe the moderators need to start enforcing.TIA

Originally Posted by Scoondal
"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."


Mderators might start with this......

sceach16

I have been going to France since 1981. This year, if I had ignored my country's advice and gone, would have been my 50th and 51st ferry trip.

josip

sceach16 wrote: »

I have been going to France since 1981. This year, if I had ignored my country's advice and gone, would have been my 50th and 51st ferry trip.

Congratulations sceach, that's great.
But from your posts it seems that just because you decided not to go this year, you're bitter with anyone else who did.

sceach16

josip wrote: »

Congratulations sceach, that's great.
But from your posts it seems that just because you decided not to go this year, you're bitter with anyone else who did.

Disgusted at anti social behaviour...... We are in a crisis and selfish people ignore the common good. Then there are those who feel that I should not be allowed comment on this thread.

I will continue to comment on this thread as I have been doing before covid arrived.

Pawwed Rig

Mod note - we have a covid forum for covid talk. Let people escape from the topic in this thread please.

munchkin_utd

just back from a week in Altomincio and a week at Marina di Venezia.

In altomincio they have removed a good portion of the deck chairs and marked the ground into parcels so that spacing can be ensured. Personally I found it not much different to the last times we were there. Aside from the 2 shops theres not really any indoor space to speak of so there was little need for wearing a mask (but they are extremely strict on wearing it in the shop) . Theres a new reservation system for sunbeds at the main laguna pool which we were a little worried about but we did get slots and our pair are happy to spend most of the time in the deeper "olympic" pool anyhow.

Then onto Marina di Venezia and it was similar. On the absolutely gigantic beach theres obviously no problem with spacing so no need for masks. In the pool area you can keep a distance, and outdoors is less of an issue to start with, so again no masks. They had a limit of 2000 in the pool area but that rarely was a problem (i.e. once it happened, and our son was back in from a spin to the toilet in 5 minutes.) . For visiting a restaurant or cafe you need to wear a mask to the seat as you pass by people closely on your way there, but then can take it off. A new rule was introduced by the italian government during our stay that masks are required in busy squares and streets after 6pm, so that meant wearing a mask on the main strip at Marina di Venezia in the evening when walking about.
All in all, I found both camps not too intrusive with the approach to the current situation.

Looking to next year, it seems a lot of capacity is already booked out (I presume bookings against vouchers for cancellations from this year) so it'll be interesting to see how the booking situation pans out over the next months. If sites are already quite full so far in advance, with some companies already completely sold out at peak times (wife overheard sun lodge rep saying they have nothing at all left for this time next year and a quick search on eurocamp shows limited availability) will any decent deals/ availability become available at all for dates that would suit?

Nekarsulm

Going to be interesting to see what ferry prices are like, when booking re-opened this autumn.
In fact, it'll be interesting to see if ferry companies survive.
Was reading an interview with the chairman of Brittany ferries last week, and the outlook isn't great.... they are cancelling many UK sailings already.

ShamoBuc

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Going to be interesting to see what ferry prices are like, when booking re-opened this autumn.
In fact, it'll be interesting to see if ferry companies survive.
Was reading an interview with the chairman of Brittany ferries last week, and the outlook isn't great.... they are cancelling many UK sailings already.

I've paid for next year already, bit cheaper than this year and a discount given by Brittany Ferries meant it was a quite a bit cheaper in fact.
Reckon they will survive as the trucks will keep on trucking and will probably get even busier in fact. They'll have an ongoing income stream that should help them get over the next 12 months and have rolled alot of deposits from this year onto next year also, as distinct from paying them back.

the_amazing_raisin

ShamoBuc wrote: »

I've paid for next year already, bit cheaper than this year and a discount given by Brittany Ferries meant it was a quite a bit cheaper in fact.
Reckon they will survive as the trucks will keep on trucking and will probably get even busier in fact. They'll have an ongoing income stream that should help them get over the next 12 months and have rolled alot of deposits from this year onto next year also, as distinct from paying them back.

I'd say there's a bit of a split in the market forming since it seems there's been a couple of ro-ro cargo ships brought in for trucks only, most famously the "brexit buster" MV Celine.


I'm guessing most of the trucking traffic will try to go for ro-ro ships and cheaper ferries to save costs.


I think the worry for the ferry companies is about the expensive luxury ferries they run for holiday traffic. More facilities means more cost making these ferries vulnerable to a downturn in traffic.


I don't think the ferry companies are going to go bust, they've gotten very good at saving money when needed. However it's possible they could cut sailings or curtail some services in order to keep costs down and minimise any risk

noinc

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.

Irish ferries are a total disgrace as you suggest but to add insult to injury our government are ignoring their care of duty for us. If they came out and told us we could not travel we might get our money back but as usual they play into the hands of the big boys. In this case thy are showing preference to a comany who us Irish in their name but have no loyalty to Irish customers. Here comes another reason to stop sailing with Irish Ferries, their service is awful so who thinks that ignorance is bliss must have never dealth with IF.

SusanC10

Really hoping that there will be some kind of reciprocal arrangement on travel within the EU by next Summer.
Or at least that France is on the Green List before then.

yiddo59

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.

By way of contrast I've found Brittany Ferries great to deal with. We postponed our July trip to September and they refunded the difference in fares (almost 400e back to my card). With the ongoing Covid quarantine requirement for returning from France we postponed again to September 2021. Fare difference of just over 90e refunded by voucher. Very happy with the service!

juneg

Can anyone suggest where to stay in France with older teens please? I like the campsites as I like to have other people around but are there other options? We will hopefully be back on the ferry next year for another road trip. Thanks

CelticRambler

juneg wrote: »

Can anyone suggest where to stay in France with older teens please? I like the campsites as I like to have other people around but are there other options? We will hopefully be back on the ferry next year for another road trip. Thanks

Do you mean this year or next? For this year, you'd be cutting it a bit fine now as the season is winding down; but for next year, as I've suggested before, get right off the beaten track and you'll find loads to do. My recent group of (not quite) teens (any more) spent two weeks swimming, walking, rock-climbing, kayaking, kick-boxing, jujitsu-ing, playing pool, reading, writing, learning to play new musical instruments, dancing, cooking, star-gazing and playing children's games.

You'll find all these activities (or substitutes) during the summer when they're offered in the big empty space in the middle of the tourist maps (départements 18-36-23-19-58-03-69-15) Stay on a camping municipal if you have a tent/caravan, in a gîte for more comfort, or take a chance on Couchsurfing for the local knowledge, if your family's not too big and you want to try different locations.

juneg

CelticRambler wrote: »

Do you mean this year or next? For this year, you'd be cutting it a bit fine now as the season is winding down; but for next year, as I've suggested before, get right off the beaten track and you'll find loads to do. My recent group of (not quite) teens (any more) spent two weeks swimming, walking, rock-climbing, kayaking, kick-boxing, jujitsu-ing, playing pool, reading, writing, learning to play new musical instruments, dancing, cooking, star-gazing and playing children's games.

You'll find all these activities (or substitutes) during the summer when they're offered in the big empty space in the middle of the tourist maps (départements 18-36-23-19-58-03-69-15) Stay on a camping municipal if you have a tent/caravan, in a gîte for more comfort, or take a chance on Couchsurfing for the local knowledge, if your family's not too big and you want to try different locations.

Ah Celtic rambler you make it sound idyllic! Just what I needed to hear !
I'm looking for next year hopefully. We could even travel in June as the gang will be finished school and its a bit quieter. They do like to meet people though.
We wouldn't have a tent or caravan, just the car. They are all bigger than myself. Whats a good way to find gites with nearby activities? kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, watersports etc? Feel free to pm me any links at all. I need something to look forward to at this stage!!:)

CelticRambler

juneg wrote: »

I'm looking for next year hopefully. We could even travel in June as the gang will be finished school and its a bit quieter. They do like to meet people though.

Schools in France finish up (in normal times) in the first week of July, so none of the locally organised, heavily subsidised activities would start until the second week. Most of the European schools don't finish up as early as Ireland either, so coming in June means you're almost guaranteed that "bit quieter" experience - i.e. it's all auld folks like you and me and very few teens around. A great time for the over 30s to visit, but you'll have to make (and pay for) your own entertainment.

Will send a PM with further suggestions.

Nekarsulm

Most little seaside towns of any size seem to have a sailing club.
If your kids are into that, sign them up for a weeks "sailing school".
Our lassie (14) did it in Barfleur this month and loved it.
9am to about 12.30pm

juneg

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bailout-vow-as-brittany-ferries-sinks-0msttgkcf

Looks like Brittany Ferries could get a bailout from the French government

necstandards

juneg wrote: »

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bailout-vow-as-brittany-ferries-sinks-0msttgkcf

Looks like Brittany Ferries could get a bailout from the French government

I hope so, re-booked our crossing for next year. Wonder will i book the campsite or wait till this is confirmed?

MorganIRL

Anyone looking at nxt year's prices? Our holiday time has changed going out in July and aug (usually June we go). Have the prices increased, I've nothing to base nxt yrs prices on. TIA