St. Nazaire Suggestions, help, Ld Lines, campsites

ScouseMouse · 20-01-2014 03:09PM

frash wrote: »

Can I ask your dates & who you booked with.

Got a price of €1720 from KelAir for the 11 nights in July.

You can't book directly unless going in & out on a Saturday which I'm obviously not with the LDLines crossing days.

I have noticed the issue of the check in day as well. I wonder how long until the sites realise there is a whole new feed of guests who need flexability?

tvc15 · 20-01-2014 04:37PM

Would it be a bit mad to consider this ferry in April with a toddler and grandmother along for the journey? Would the weather be good enough to get anything out of the stay?

Qwerty? · 20-01-2014 06:43PM

mrsoft wrote: »

Great idea re thread.

Thanks to midlandsm for the pm re campsite however as Im going in July it seems a lot more expensive. Ah well. Anyone any info on Le Clarys Plage or Camping Acapulco? Both in St John De Monts.

We've been to Le Clarys Plage two years in a row. They have a fantastic Pool area for kids, and a large supermarket right beside it. The site itself is grand, nothing special, but the pool area made up for it, and made us go back for another year. The actual village it's in isn't very nice, but there are lots of nice areas near by.
Prices of €1500-1700 for 11 nights seems a tad dear. We got 11 nights in Sequoia Park for around that with aircon, and there is no comparison between the two sites. Sequoia is streets ahead.

Other posters have asked about going with Campsite directly or through an agent. This year we are using Kelair, and Eurocamp in two sites, as they both have 2 bedroom mobiles with 3 beds in the kids room. Most of the campsite mobiles don't offer that option - so you would need a 3 bed (alot dearer) or use the couch for the 3rd child. (which imo is unsuitable.)
Also TBH I have found the campsites to be dearer or as dear as using the Irish agents and as already stated they aren't flexible with checkin dates.

vienne86 · 20-01-2014 06:47PM

tvc15 wrote: »

Would it be a bit mad to consider this ferry in April with a toddler and grandmother along for the journey? Would the weather be good enough to get anything out of the stay?

Funny, I'm thinking of April too, but without a child or a granny! I think it could be a long day on the boat - leaving St Nazaire at midnight, and not getting in to Rosslare till 9 p.m. ish.

Does anyone know about the cabins on this boat? In the picture there are four beds - two sets of two bunks. I am wondering if the top bunks can be folded away - if they can't it would make sitting in the cabina very awkward.

billie1b · 20-01-2014 06:51PM

vienne86 wrote: »

Funny, I'm thinking of April too, but without a child or a granny! I think it could be a long day on the boat - leaving St Nazaire at midnight, and not getting in to Rosslare till 9 p.m. ish.

Does anyone know about the cabins on this boat? In the picture there are four beds - two sets of two bunks. I am wondering if the top bunks can be folded away - if they can't it would make sitting in the cabina very awkward.

Yeah they fold into the wall, I did a couple of crossing in April, 14 hour crossing though, first one was rough leaving Cork as it was windy and rough, about two hours into the sailing it was perfect, the next time it was perfectly calm the whole journey

tvc15 · 20-01-2014 07:06PM

billie1b wrote: »

Yeah they fold into the wall, I did a couple of crossing in April, 14 hour crossing though, first one was rough leaving Cork as it was windy and rough, about two hours into the sailing it was perfect, the next time it was perfectly calm the whole journey

How was the weather in France once you got there, was there anything open? We wouldn't be travelling too far from the port

billie1b · 20-01-2014 07:12PM

tvc15 wrote: »

How was the weather in France once you got there, was there anything open? We wouldn't be travelling too far from the port

I arrived into Roscoff, drove to Biarritz, foggy and dull in Roscoff, down near Nantes it turned good, sunny and warm, at bordeaux we got torrential rain, after that it was 21 - 25 degrees the whole 2 weeks that we were there. Everything was open as we went for the Easter Holidays in France

dockleaf · 20-01-2014 08:58PM

tvc15 wrote: »

Would it be a bit mad to consider this ferry in April with a toddler and grandmother along for the journey? Would the weather be good enough to get anything out of the stay?

Have you checked the Irish Ferry prices for easter? It shouldn't be that expensive as it is low season then and the crossing times would be easier. We've often gone during the Easter holidays and tend to stay around Normandy. Weather can be much like Ireland but you can get a few nice days and even in Normandy it is quite mild at Easter time. Certainly mild enough to enjoy the walks, combing the beach for seashells and going to a few attractions like zoos, petting zoos and places like http://www.angemichel.com/

or even Mont st. michel etc. Also as you have a toddler, the camps won't be as attractive so check out www.abritel.fr or www.leboncoin.fr for self-catering. Again in Easter it should be much cheaper

Forgot to say as well that with irish ferries you'll be able to do a sat to sat rental which a lot of self catering places do only.

mrsoft · 20-01-2014 09:35PM

Sorry guys couldn't get on earlier.

I booked today with Hello France. Three bed mobile for 11 nights for 1560. To be honest I got sick of looking at websites and just went for it.

vienne86 · 20-01-2014 10:07PM

dockleaf wrote: »

Have you checked the Irish Ferry prices for easter? It shouldn't be that expensive as it is low season then and the crossing times would be easier. We've often gone during the Easter holidays and tend to stay around Normandy. Weather can be much like Ireland but you can get a few nice days and even in Normandy it is quite mild at Easter time. Certainly mild enough to enjoy the walks, combing the beach for seashells and going to a few attractions like zoos, petting zoos and places like http://www.angemichel.com/

or even Mont st. michel etc. Also as you have a toddler, the camps won't be as attractive so check out www.abritel.fr or www.leboncoin.fr for self-catering. Again in Easter it should be much cheaper

Forgot to say as well that with irish ferries you'll be able to do a sat to sat rental which a lot of self catering places do only.

That's a good point about Easter. I usually travel off season as I am not tied by school holidays. I think this St Nazaire ferry would only be marginally cheaper than Irish Ferries in April, but it would knock 230 Km off my journey.

dockleaf · 20-01-2014 11:04PM

vienne86 wrote: »

That's a good point about Easter. I usually travel off season as I am not tied by school holidays. I think this St Nazaire ferry would only be marginally cheaper than Irish Ferries in April, but it would knock 230 Km off my journey.

Yeah, we've booked LD lines for summer, because we got a really good price, but if you go at Easter you really have to weigh up the pros and cons- IF will get you there on a Saturday, the times are better, but LD will bring you further south. There won't be entertainment on any boat at Easter anyway.

frash · 21-01-2014 09:53AM

Qwerty? wrote: »

We've been to Le Clarys Plage two years in a row. They have a fantastic Pool area for kids, and a large supermarket right beside it. The site itself is grand, nothing special, but the pool area made up for it, and made us go back for another year. The actual village it's in isn't very nice, but there are lots of nice areas near by.
Prices of €1500-1700 for 11 nights seems a tad dear. We got 11 nights in Sequoia Park for around that with aircon, and there is no comparison between the two sites. Sequoia is streets ahead.

Can I ask what's so bad about the village it's in?
Also I believe Clarys Plage is around an hour from the ferry - how much further is it to Sequoia Park?

Edit: actually looked this up & it's 1hr 12 mins versus 2hrs 19mins

redmissb · 21-01-2014 10:34AM

Those of you staying in St Nazaire the first night, what hotels have you booked? I've been looking at the Accorhotels site which seems to be the cheapest. We have four kids although one will be in a cot we're probably going to need 2 rooms so it's working out a bit expensive. Formule 1 are pretty cheap, anyone used them before?

Qwerty? · 21-01-2014 10:51AM

Check it on Google StreetView. Its just there was nothing particularly nice about it, in comparison to so many of the pretty Villages around. Make sure to see St Hillary De Riez and St Jean De Mont near by, two lovely places. As I said we went back there last year again.

Sequoia would be more like 3 hours I would say. Their park is out in the Countryside, but is beautifully landscaped, nice playground etc, and has great nighttime entertainment. Les Castels campsites have much more entertainment in the evenings than other sites.

Qwerty? · 21-01-2014 11:10AM

redmissb wrote: »

Those of you staying in St Nazaire the first night, what hotels have you booked? I've been looking at the Accorhotels site which seems to be the cheapest. We have four kids although one will be in a cot we're probably going to need 2 rooms so it's working out a bit expensive. Formule 1 are pretty cheap, anyone used them before?

Some have family rooms if you ring to book. They don't have them on the websites

frash · 21-01-2014 11:33AM

Question for you regular ferry users...
I booked the car in as being under 1.85m

I'm now thinking of bringing a roofbox which will probably push it over the 1.85 (according to WikiPedia my car is 1.635m.
Will I get away with this or should I let them know?

Qwerty? · 21-01-2014 11:41AM

frash wrote: »

Question for you regular ferry users...
I booked the car in as being under 1.85m

I'm now thinking of bringing a roofbox which will probably push it over the 1.85 (according to WikiPedia my car is 1.635m.
Will I get away with this or should I let them know?

Definitely check, as they normally assign your car to a particular level on the ship depending on your car height.

frash · 21-01-2014 11:43AM

Qwerty? wrote: »

Definitely check, as they normally assign your car to a particular level on the ship depending on your car height.

Figured that alright so sent them an email via their website.
Will get a reply within 28 days!! :eek:

irishrver · 21-01-2014 12:03PM

I do not really know how to put this but all of you with small kids staying at camp sites please remember that there is no life guards at the swimming pools and at some of the large campsites the pools get very busy while we were there last year there was one death and a serious injury in one of the sites so please keep an eye them we tend to relax when we are on holidays

juneg · 21-01-2014 12:08PM

irishrver wrote: »

I do not really know how to put this but all of you with small kids staying at camp sites please remember that there is no life guards at the swimming pools and at some of the large campsites the pools get very busy while we were there last year there was one death and a serious injury in one of the sites so please keep an eye them we tend to relax when we are on holidays

Totally agree with this, you have to watch them every minute in those busy pools as you dont know what messing is going on with differing age groups. Also if your children are not competent swimmers, stand at the bottom of waterslides as they go right under the water.

billie1b · 21-01-2014 12:12PM

frash wrote: »

Question for you regular ferry users...
I booked the car in as being under 1.85m

I'm now thinking of bringing a roofbox which will probably push it over the 1.85 (according to WikiPedia my car is 1.635m.
Will I get away with this or should I let them know?

How high is the roof box? Get a measuring tape and put all the family in the car, with a full tank. Measure it then, remember your roof box will be full of weight aswell which can lower by a couple of centimetres too

frash · 21-01-2014 12:16PM

billie1b wrote: »

How high is the roof box? Get a measuring tape and put all the family in the car, with a full tank. Measure it then, remember your roof box will be full of weight aswell which can lower by a couple of centimetres too

It's not one of the slimline boxes you see so if it's only a few Euro to change the booking to a taller car then I'll do it.
When I get a reply from LDLines I'll post back.

redmissb · 21-01-2014 12:19PM

Qwerty? wrote: »

Some have family rooms if you ring to book. They don't have them on the websites

Thanks for that, I'll call a few today. A lot of hotels in France don't seem to provide cots either! I had booked one the BB hotels last summer and had to cancel because of it.

billie1b · 21-01-2014 12:20PM

frash wrote: »

It's not one of the slimline boxes you see so if it's only a few Euro to change the booking to a taller car then I'll do it.
When I get a reply from LDLines I'll post back.

Cool

redmissb · 21-01-2014 12:21PM

irishrver wrote: »

I do not really know how to put this but all of you with small kids staying at camp sites please remember that there is no life guards at the swimming pools and at some of the large campsites the pools get very busy while we were there last year there was one death and a serious injury in one of the sites so please keep an eye them we tend to relax when we are on holidays

Thankfully there have been lifeguards at all the sites we have been to so far. They were especially vigilant in Les Charmettes last year. I agree it is hard to watch small children especially when it's very busy around the pool area. The campsite I've booked for this summer has lifeguards too.

unkel · 21-01-2014 12:25PM

juneg wrote: »

Also if your children are not competent swimmers, stand at the bottom of waterslides as they go right under the water.

Good point too. When small kids go under water they tend not to panic / struggle / get up, they just shut down. Watch them like a hawk, folks.

Qwerty? · 21-01-2014 12:28PM

redmissb wrote: »

Thankfully there have been lifeguards at all the sites we have been to so far. They were especially vigilant in Les Charmettes last year. I agree it is hard to watch small children especially when it's very busy around the pool area. The campsite I've booked for this summer has lifeguards too.

Sometimes we are amazed at how much freedom parents give to small kids on the sites.

The bigger sites do tend to have several lifeguards - but there main function is to ensure no messing is going on, and that you have your Speedos on

redmissb · 21-01-2014 12:31PM

Read this last year regarding signs of drowning, this is the link if anyone would like to read it

http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/

MidlandsM · 21-01-2014 12:31PM

unkel wrote: »

Good point too. When small kids go under water they tend not to panic / struggle / get up, they just shut down. Watch them like a hawk, folks.

Absolutely........Yeah, I tend to end up being a lifeguard to my kids and other peoples if I see anyone in bother....:o

redmissb · 21-01-2014 12:33PM

Qwerty? wrote: »

Sometimes we are amazed at how much freedom parents give to small kids on the sites.

The bigger sites do tend to have several lifeguards - but there main function is to ensure no messing is going on, and that you have your Speedos on

I believe the speedo rule is definitely enforced on the site we're going to this year, haven't told himself yet!

St. Nazaire Suggestions, help, Ld Lines, campsites

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