New Ferry to France (Launch Offer)

vienne86 · 11-07-2014 08:38AM

I think, for obvious reasons, that they keep the signage very easy and clear at these ports - I have gone through many over the years, long before sat navs, and have never had a problem.

ScouseMouse · 11-07-2014 08:46AM

July 4

Drive into car lane at port. Present email number and passports to check in girl at the little LDLINES booth. She does the business and you get into the compound. She tells you the numbered lane to park in. You sit in it till boarding the ferry when another guy takes the boarding card in a last check.

Towels are supplied onboard. Shower is quite powerful.

Dont be shy bringing a picnic, everyone does it but the food onboard looked quite ok. Much better than the greasy crap put up to us by another irish operator.

Oh another thing, the motorway service stations are silly with their prices. 4 euro for a 2.10 supermarket pringles.

I paid 1.26 on average for gasoil/diesel in supermarket stations. The garages on motorway were around 1.45 !

MidlandsM · 11-07-2014 09:33AM

1.26e was good for the gazole SuperScouse, I paid 1.29e -

paddydriver · 11-07-2014 11:39AM

July 4

superscouse wrote: »

So. Holiday over. Sitting at the front, looking out the window. Anyone fancying a beer, im sitting in a timberland tshirt with the ipad.

Been a nice break but drove 1300 miles in about 10 days :eek:

Sorry superscouse.. didn't see this. Would have called over. Got on board and plonked down to watch foootball. That was murderous 23 hour sail back home:eek:

paddydriver · 11-07-2014 11:42AM

July 4

taoifie wrote: »

Hi Guys

Travelling tonight, just want to confirm that towels are supplied on board. (Before I need to repack ðŸ˜Š)

Thanks

Yep, nice towels and bedding on board.

taoifie · 11-07-2014 11:52AM

July 18

paddydriver wrote: »

Yep, nice towels and bedding on board.

Thanks. All packed ready to go.

paddydriver · 11-07-2014 11:54AM

July 4

taoifie wrote: »

Thanks. All packed ready to go.

Have a great trip. Watch for some earlier tips as regards getting someone into queue for cabins! Bring entertainment as there is not a whole lot to do on the boat.

munchkin_utd · 11-07-2014 12:18PM

superscouse wrote: »

I paid 1.26 on average for gasoil/diesel in supermarket stations. The garages on motorway were around 1.45 !

yup, if youve a proper sat nav you can search for the major supermarkets - so carrefour, E Leclerc etc etc along the route and you'll often find them just off the motorway near a junction.
Sometimes the petrol station itsself wont be as a POI in the sat nav, but if you see one of those supermarkets near a motorway then its fairly sure to be a large branch and to have a petrol station.

Fred Swanson · 11-07-2014 12:36PM

This post has been deleted.

ScouseMouse · 11-07-2014 01:21PM

July 4

In St Nazairre, on the way in from Paris, we came across a super U supermarket on the right. We called in and stocked up on wine and food for the boat. Then using my ipad with uk 3 sim, I looked up Auchan, and found one on the other side of St Naz. We went for a spin and found it. It was one of the massive stores, but we found it DEARER than the rest. Sugar Free Red Bull was 1.80 a can, where I had stocked up elsewhere at 1.29.

Then we went looking for somewhere to eat. Next to auchen, we found a cluster of eateries. McDonalds, steakhouse and a cracking little restaurant called POIVRE ROUGE, or red pepper. They did us a 3 course meal for the adults, of unlimited salad bar, red meat (steak maybe, but it was good), and dessert, for about 15 euro. Kids was another menu but plenty of it.

Three adults, two kids, one bottle of wine, 3 or 4 soft drinks, €77. It really was an excellent find. Food was good, it was reasonable, and they were good when we explained gluten free.

Would highly recommend it. POIVRE ROUGE

The petrol pumps were a disaster, ALL of the uk - irish folks were having trouble. At prepay pump. Put card in. Wait. Input PIN number. PRESS "V", I was pressing A and it kept throwing it back at me. So, PIN then "V", retire card (remove it), then it allows upto 100/120 to be pumped out. Some of the pumps asked you to nominate which fuel you want.

Thats it.

Fred Swanson · 11-07-2014 01:27PM

This post has been deleted.

ScouseMouse · 11-07-2014 01:40PM

July 4

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I used Ulster Bank Visa Debit and AIB Visa cards without any problems whatsoever.

galait · 11-07-2014 01:46PM

August 8

superscouse wrote: »

In St Nazairre, on the way in from Paris, we came across a super U supermarket on the right. We called in and stocked up on wine and food for the boat. Then using my ipad with uk 3 sim, I looked up Auchan, and found one on the other side of St Naz. We went for a spin and found it. It was one of the massive stores, but we found it DEARER than the rest. Sugar Free Red Bull was 1.80 a can, where I had stocked up elsewhere at 1.29.

Then we went looking for somewhere to eat. Next to auchen, we found a cluster of eateries. McDonalds, steakhouse and a cracking little restaurant called POIVRE ROUGE, or red pepper. They did us a 3 course meal for the adults, of unlimited salad bar, red meat (steak maybe, but it was good), and dessert, for about 15 euro. Kids was another menu but plenty of it.

Three adults, two kids, one bottle of wine, 3 or 4 soft drinks, €77. It really was an excellent find. Food was good, it was reasonable, and they were good when we explained gluten free.

Would highly recommend it. POIVRE ROUGE

The petrol pumps were a disaster, ALL of the uk - irish folks were having trouble. At prepay pump. Put card in. Wait. Input PIN number. PRESS "V", I was pressing A and it kept throwing it back at me. So, PIN then "V", retire card (remove it), then it allows upto 100/120 to be pumped out. Some of the pumps asked you to nominate which fuel you want.

Thats it.

How did the UK 3 Sim work out in an Ipad ? , Some say it will only work in a phone , But I would imagine when roaming it would harder for 3 UK to determine it is in a Tablet or MiFi Device.

ScouseMouse · 11-07-2014 01:55PM

July 4

galait wrote: »

How did the UK 3 Sim work out in an Ipad ? , Some say it will only work in a phone , But I would imagine when roaming it would harder for 3 UK to determine it is in a Tablet or MiFi Device.

I have it about 6 months in my iphone most of the time, but moved it to the ipad and bought a 3gig, 15 pounds, data package. Then it worked as "the at home" deal.

galait · 11-07-2014 02:28PM

August 8

superscouse wrote: »

I have it about 6 months in my iphone most of the time, but moved it to the ipad and bought a 3gig, 15 pounds, data package. Then it worked as "the at home" deal.

How was the speed in campsites etc..

redmissb · 11-07-2014 02:35PM

August 1

Just a warning regarding paying by card at the pumps, we did this last year with my AIB visa debit card in Roscoff, they blocked €100 on my account and it didn't drop off for 10 days.
Decided to book overnight accommodation for when we arrive home, it seems it'll be around 11pm when we get off ferry going by last two sailings and don't think I can face a drive to Galway at that time of night!
Safe trip to everyone travelling tonight.

ScouseMouse · 11-07-2014 03:19PM

July 4

galait wrote: »

How was the speed in campsites etc..

The speed in the campsite was ok, it worked fine. The speed in Disney Davy Crockett ranch, on one bar signal was crap, sat outside in my car sometimes to get useable net.

I hope I aint gonna regret this. I have a 3 UK data sim with about 2 gig data left on it. I only used 1 gig in 11 days surfing, not streaming, surfing. If anyone wants a lend (as I wont use it before it expires on 1st August), you can have it for 12 euro but I WANT IT BACK. (3 gig cost me 15 sterling)

Collected from Dublin 24 or 20.

taoifie · 11-07-2014 08:48PM

July 18

So far so good. Boat is everything you need for a trip to France. Got pulled for a security check at boarding, so ended up behind all the caravans and campers, nothing to do with LD Ferries. The queue for the key WAS a pain. But the room and boat are excellent. Only 20 more hours to go. :-)

MammaZita · 11-07-2014 08:50PM

With regard to the long queue for keys to cabins, would people not just head to the bar to relax and unwind until the queues die down? Those rooms are booked and are going nowhere!

ScouseMouse · 11-07-2014 09:01PM

July 4

MammaZita wrote: »

With regard to the long queue for keys to cabins, would people not just head to the bar to relax and unwind until the queues die down? Those rooms are booked and are going nowhere!

Very true, but its nice to be able to dump the bags. You can see now why I suggested one person head off for the key ???

alias no.9 · 11-07-2014 09:24PM

July 25

superscouse wrote: »

The speed in the campsite was ok, it worked fine. The speed in Disney Davy Crockett ranch, on one bar signal was crap, sat outside in my car sometimes to get useable net.

I hope I aint gonna regret this. I have a 3 UK data sim with about 2 gig data left on it. I only used 1 gig in 11 days surfing, not streaming, surfing. If anyone wants a lend (as I wont use it before it expires on 1st August), you can have it for 12 euro but I WANT IT BACK. (3 gig cost me 15 sterling)

Collected from Dublin 24 or 20.

If that's still available, I'm interested.

alastair · 12-07-2014 08:29AM

July 4

superscouse wrote: »

HOME!

Well, 1350 miles done and just got home. The ferry left on time, Wednesday night at midnight and we drove off it in Rosslare, tonite, at 11pm. Home in Dublin for 12.45.

No problems with the ferry at all, but heres a tip. If they put you up on the top deck. Let the wife/daughter/someone run in before you park and join the queue to get a cabin key. The queue was ridiculous. You will have to leave one id per key. You need to present your ticket to show you have a cabin. They took my licence and a useless keycard I have for a special registered key cutting service.

We were driving the old classic volvo, and I'd arranged for it to go on the lower deck, as far away from sea spray as possible. It's pretty soluble! As a bonus, it meant that we got to board first coming home, and missed the cabin key queue. It didn't help going over, as they loaded the lower deck at the same time as higher.

Spent pretty much the entirety of the trip back in the cabin - had stocked up with grub from Auchan, and films on the laptop. Ferry was absolutely fine however - anyone nervous about it shouldn't worry.

Did a lot of driving in a thirsty old car, and became very acquainted with the variety of petrol pump scenarios. Card worked fine for me everywhere. Biggest surprise was a small station in Rochfort sur Loire, where the pump was operated by an actual attendant - like stepping back in time. Unfortunately the car, having given great service over long distances and varied roads, decided to throw a wobbler leaving the Le Mans classic 24 hr, and stuck the fuel gauge at empty. I figured it was the fuel tank float resistor giving up the ghost and just made my station stops a bit more frequent, but it turns out that it was a fuse that had blown, and took out my indicators too. Which explains the angry beeping from a lorry at a roundabout in (puntastically) Angers.

I spent two days driving ignorant of not having indicators. When I did cop - the morning of the ferry home, it wasn't going to be fixable in time - the fuse kept blowing on turning the ignition on, so there was obviously a short that needed chasing down. Considered making use of the AA recovery I'd bought, but opted to just drive straight to St Nazaire on the autoroutes, where indicators were a bit less critical. Got to the Auchan hypermarket for lunchtime and spent the day there. Unfortunately the drive back to Dublin from Rosslare didn't go so well. The low beam on the headlights was wonky on the passenger side - very weak, and a flicker kicked in around Wicklow. Lost all light from the headlights just north of Arklow - luckily at a point with a hard shoulder, as the hazards were now out too. But half an hour later were back on the road, albeit on the back of the AA recovery truck.

Highlights - there's a small village on an island in the Loire; Behuard. It's ridiculously picturesque, and there's a decent place to eat with deck chairs running down to the beach on the river. Magical spot of an evening.

Lowlights - Limoges city/town. Went for porcelain shopping in the factories, stayed in a lovely gite out in the countryside, but the town is very dull compared to similar sized places, and not well served with a good choice of places to eat. The nearby massacre memorial WWII village of Oradour-sur-Glane is well worth seeing though.

Fred Swanson · 12-07-2014 01:32PM

This post has been deleted.

vienne86 · 12-07-2014 04:34PM

alastair wrote: »

We were driving the old classic volvo, and I'd arranged for it to go on the lower deck, as far away from sea spray as possible. It's pretty soluble! As a bonus, it meant that we got to board first coming home, and missed the cabin key queue. It didn't help going over, as they loaded the lower deck at the same time as higher.

Spent pretty much the entirety of the trip back in the cabin - had stocked up with grub from Auchan, and films on the laptop. Ferry was absolutely fine however - anyone nervous about it shouldn't worry.

Did a lot of driving in a thirsty old car, and became very acquainted with the variety of petrol pump scenarios. Card worked fine for me everywhere. Biggest surprise was a small station in Rochfort sur Loire, where the pump was operated by an actual attendant - like stepping back in time. Unfortunately the car, having given great service over long distances and varied roads, decided to throw a wobbler leaving the Le Mans classic 24 hr, and stuck the fuel gauge at empty. I figured it was the fuel tank float resistor giving up the ghost and just made my station stops a bit more frequent, but it turns out that it was a fuse that had blown, and took out my indicators too. Which explains the angry beeping from a lorry at a roundabout in (puntastically) Angers.

I spent two days driving ignorant of not having indicators. When I did cop - the morning of the ferry home, it wasn't going to be fixable in time - the fuse kept blowing on turning the ignition on, so there was obviously a short that needed chasing down. Considered making use of the AA recovery I'd bought, but opted to just drive straight to St Nazaire on the autoroutes, where indicators were a bit less critical. Got to the Auchan hypermarket for lunchtime and spent the day there. Unfortunately the drive back to Dublin from Rosslare didn't go so well. The low beam on the headlights was wonky on the passenger side - very weak, and a flicker kicked in around Wicklow. Lost all light from the headlights just north of Arklow - luckily at a point with a hard shoulder, as the hazards were now out too. But half an hour later were back on the road, albeit on the back of the AA recovery truck.

Highlights - there's a small village on an island in the Loire; Behuard. It's ridiculously picturesque, and there's a decent place to eat with deck chairs running down to the beach on the river. Magical spot of an evening.

Lowlights - Limoges city/town. Went for porcelain shopping in the factories, stayed in a lovely gite out in the countryside, but the town is very dull compared to similar sized places, and not well served with a good choice of places to eat. The nearby massacre memorial WWII village of Oradour-sur-Glane is well worth seeing though.

Well done - that was some journey, and in an old car. I spend a lot of time between Poitiers and Limoges - you are spot on - Limoges is a bit of a dump in my view. And yes, you should not pass Oradour if you are down there.

This business of queuing for the cabin key sounds like a right pain. Is it like this on the Stena ship too?

Thanks for your entertaining and informative post - hope you get the car sorted quickly!

Qwerty? · 12-07-2014 07:03PM

July 18

Settled into our accommodation in Nantes for the night, heading off to gironde in the morning.
Ferry journey was excellent, smoothest sailing we've ever been on. Arrived at 6 French time and short spin to Nantes.

In fairness queue for cabin wasn't that bad, just get chatting to whoever is in front/behind you and time flew.

Actually enjoyed the sailing, no rushing in the morning to get out of cabins etc. Time to relax and play some cards with the kids etc, read, watch a DVD. Time flew. Staff were excellent, so friendly and polite. Thanks again to the op for this bargain, definitely bargain of the year for us. Now for 4 weeks of holidays :-)

paddydriver · 12-07-2014 07:07PM

July 4

alastair wrote: »

We were driving the old classic volvo, .

Alastair, were you in a pair of Adidas Samba type runners? Thought I recognized you as the pizzaman on the way over. Was sat just over your left shoulder watching the match - 2 young kids with me for part of it, 1 in a Messi jersey.

Yeah, we tried to run down as much time in the cabin too but as much sleep as we all had on Thurs afternoon it was still depressing to look at Google Maps and see we had only moved a slight bit closer to home.

Only supermarkets we went to were Super U. Got a few bottles of wine and that was it. Was just worn out and wanted to head for home.

alastair · 12-07-2014 07:39PM

July 4

paddydriver wrote: »

Alastair, were you in a pair of Adidas Samba type runners? Thought I recognized you as the pizzaman on the way over. Was sat just over your left shoulder watching the match - 2 young kids with me for part of it, 1 in a Messi jersey.

Yeah, we tried to run down as much time in the cabin too but as much sleep as we all had on Thurs afternoon it was still depressing to look at Google Maps and see we had only moved a slight bit closer to home.

Only supermarkets we went to were Super U. Got a few bottles of wine and that was it. Was just worn out and wanted to head for home.

That was me alright - but was jacked watching the match after the stress of the day's car antics, and went straight to bed. Slept like a log until late the next morning. Managed to bring leftover pizza (nice little place near the Auchan hypermarket) onto the sailing home too - but had it for breakfast.

My thanks to the OP too - the sailing was a great deal, and the trip made for a very enjoyable holiday.

MidlandsM · 12-07-2014 08:17PM

An enjoyable thread this....great to see everyone had a good trip, and its great for impending travelers to see they have a good ferry co and service ahead of them.

I dropped an email to LDlines during the week, to thank them, and compliment them on their service, staff and vessel. I also asked how to book for next year.

The reply I got was that they'll not have next years timetable until Oct of this year at the earliest, so thats encouraging. Hopefully they will operate next year. If so, we're going to do it all over again, as we all enjoyed it so much!

Stone Deaf 4evr · 14-07-2014 09:01AM

MidlandsM wrote: »

An enjoyable thread this....great to see everyone had a good trip, and its great for impending travelers to see they have a good ferry co and service ahead of them.

I dropped an email to LDlines during the week, to thank them, and compliment them on their service, staff and vessel. I also asked how to book for next year.

The reply I got was that they'll not have next years timetable until Oct of this year at the earliest, so thats encouraging. Hopefully they will operate next year. If so, we're going to do it all over again, as we all enjoyed it so much!

Its gas, Im going with brittany ferries in august, but I still check in here regularly as its feeding my excitement for my own trip!

roundymac · 14-07-2014 09:02AM

MammaZita wrote: »

With regard to the long queue for keys to cabins, would people not just head to the bar to relax and unwind until the queues die down? Those rooms are booked and are going nowhere!

With Brittany Ferries you get a cardboard swipe card card when you are checking in at the terminal, you get to keep it as a soueviner when you disembark.;)

New Ferry to France (Launch Offer)

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