Ferry deals to France - Summer 2015

54and56 · 19-07-2015 10:02pm

vienne86 wrote: »

Let us know if it works out for you!

What's worked out so far is that Stone Deaf 4ever deserves mega Kudos for offering to help and following through. He contacted local management on arrival today and enquired about availability which is all he could do. Unsurprisingly both Le Bois Masson and Le Bois Dormant are fully booked as it is absolutely peak season.

Thanks again SD4, it was great to know you were enquiring locally on my behalf.

I'm going "Oddball" on this. I'm having positive thoughts that there's going to be a nice mobile home with a covered terrace on a good campsite available from July 26th for three weeks with my name on it. When I had to cancel the three week booking I has I assume someone else got the benefit of being able to book it last minute and whilst I don't wish anyone else having to cancel their holiday if they do I hope I'm the one who gets to step in so to speak.

For those of you who don't know what that means and are thinking "but what if there isn't a mobile home available when you get off the ferry in Roscoff next Sunday morning?" You gotta stop those negative waves

and check out this video

Think Excellence mobile home with a covered terrace from July 26th to August 15th and there'll be an Excellence mobile home with a covered terrace from July 26th to August 15th.

aquarius10 · 20-07-2015 6:51pm

May the force be with you

A Law · 21-07-2015 11:11am

We arrived in Cherbourg yesterday, heading for St. Jean de monts. Took a break in a McDonalds around avaranches. Came back out to find the farmers blockading the a84. Apparently its on today again. Took us 9 hours for a 4 and a half hour journey.

http://m.france24.com/en/20150720-france-meat-industry-protest-prices-livestock

54and56 · 22-07-2015 7:50am

aquarius10 wrote: »

May the force be with you

Well it turns out that the power of positive thinking (or just getting lucky) actually works.

Over the last few days I've been in contact with over 70 different campsites and individual mobile home owners on http://www.directholidayhomes.co.uk/index.html (great website for privately hiring mobile homes BTW) and no joy getting three weeks anywhere from this coming Sunday. Plenty of options for a week here and there and in the end we sussed out a week in La Reserve followed by two weeks in Le Bois Dormant with private owners. Didn't fancy the idea of upping sticks after a week and hauling everything up to St Jean de Monts but given the alternative was nothing at all it looked the best option. Before booking the two mobile homes I decided to give Siblu one last call and believe it or not they had just received a cancellation in Le Bois Dormant for three weeks from this weekend which I was able to book.

In the end, after all my searching and help from Stone Deaf 4ever etc the one campsite which had a late cancellation was the very one I had originally booked for :P

Hitting road Saturday, into Le Bois Masson on Sunday and back Sat Aug 15th. Got robbed by Irish Ferries on the way back (almost €800 one way) but I guess that's the cost of booking last minute dot com.

Thanks for your help, in particular Stone Deaf 4ever.

Tinder Surprise · 22-07-2015 9:23am

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Well it turns out that the power of positive thinking (or just getting lucky) actually works.

Over the last few days I've been in contact with over 70 different campsites and individual mobile home owners on http://www.directholidayhomes.co.uk/index.html (great website for privately hiring mobile homes BTW) and no joy getting three weeks anywhere from this coming Sunday. Plenty of options for a week here and there and in the end we sussed out a week in La Reserve followed by two weeks in Le Bois Dormant with private owners. Didn't fancy the idea of upping sticks after a week and hauling everything up to St Jean de Monts but given the alternative was nothing at all it looked the best option. Before booking the two mobile homes I decided to give Siblu one last call and believe it or not they had just received a cancellation in Le Bois Dormant for three weeks from this weekend which I was able to book.

In the end, after all my searching and help from Stone Deaf 4ever etc the one campsite which had a late cancellation was the very one I had originally booked for :P

Hitting road Saturday, into Le Bois Masson on Sunday and back Sat Aug 15th. Got robbed by Irish Ferries on the way back (almost €800 one way) but I guess that's the cost of booking last minute dot com.

Thanks for your help, in particular Stone Deaf 4ever.

great to hear.

got sorted myself after nabbing late availability on the July 18th return Irish Ferries sailing from Roscoff - which was booked out for over 2 months.
I called Irish Ferries and told no cancellation list etc. but BINGO a week before travelling I checked the site and lo-and-behold there was availability, and a cabin.

some last minute panic but myself and the family have just returned from a great 10night stay at Le Clarys Plage.

Stone Deaf 4evr · 22-07-2015 6:41pm

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Well it turns out that the power of positive thinking (or just getting lucky) actually works.

Over the last few days I've been in contact with over 70 different campsites and individual mobile home owners on http://www.directholidayhomes.co.uk/index.html (great website for privately hiring mobile homes BTW) and no joy getting three weeks anywhere from this coming Sunday. Plenty of options for a week here and there and in the end we sussed out a week in La Reserve followed by two weeks in Le Bois Dormant with private owners. Didn't fancy the idea of upping sticks after a week and hauling everything up to St Jean de Monts but given the alternative was nothing at all it looked the best option. Before booking the two mobile homes I decided to give Siblu one last call and believe it or not they had just received a cancellation in Le Bois Dormant for three weeks from this weekend which I was able to book.

In the end, after all my searching and help from Stone Deaf 4ever etc the one campsite which had a late cancellation was the very one I had originally booked for :P

Hitting road Saturday, into Le Bois Masson on Sunday and back Sat Aug 15th. Got robbed by Irish Ferries on the way back (almost €800 one way) but I guess that's the cost of booking last minute dot com.

Thanks for your help, in particular Stone Deaf 4ever.

Great stuff man, delighted to hear you got sorted. My wife's been onto me continuously to see if you'd gotten sorted. Enjoy it. The weather's good at the moment here, the odd threat of clouds but plenty warrm

Edit, you're giving me way more credit than I'm due, all I did was make a few enquiries, anyone would have done the same, I'm not some international batman or anything!

eabhaniamh · 22-07-2015 11:06pm

Aquarius10 can I ask how do you get the ploughing championship discount. Saw there was a 25% discount last year. Sounds great.

BailMeOut · 23-07-2015 1:12pm

when you arrive into Roscoff at 7am on a Sunday morning and drive down to where you are heading from there can anyone ever find anywhere to stop and eat along way? We are doing our 3rd trip in a few weeks and we pull off into towns along way but nothing is ever open. The motorway service stations are also usually useless.

First Up · 23-07-2015 1:31pm

BailMeOut wrote: »

when you arrive into Roscoff at 7am on a Sunday morning and drive down to where you are heading from there can anyone ever find anywhere to stop and eat along way? We are doing our 3rd trip in a few weeks and we pull off into towns along way but nothing is ever open. The motorway service stations are also usually useless.

Useless in what way? All the proper ones have restaurants and shops.

BailMeOut · 23-07-2015 1:37pm

First Up wrote: »

Useless in what way? All the proper ones have restaurants and shops.

we must not be finding the right ones! Baguettes with butter, ham and cheese is usually all we can find.

k123456 · 23-07-2015 1:54pm

BailMeOut wrote: »

when you arrive into Roscoff at 7am on a Sunday morning and drive down to where you are heading from there can anyone ever find anywhere to stop and eat along way? We are doing our 3rd trip in a few weeks and we pull off into towns along way but nothing is ever open. The motorway service stations are also usually useless.

Al lot of places clsoe Sunday in FR

Some Lidls, Super U's and bakeries stay open,

First Up · 23-07-2015 1:59pm

BailMeOut wrote: »

we must not be finding the right ones! Baguettes with butter, ham and cheese is usually all we can find.

The full service Aire have everything you would get at a British motorway service area but not many of those in rural Brittany.

I'm not sure what you are expecting, or which route you are taking but from a 07.00 arrival in Roscoff you will be in Rennes by 09.00 or 09.30 and I can't believe you won't find breakfast in Rennes, even though the French take their Sundays seriously.

Even the smaller service stops should be able to rustle up a Croque Monsieur, but in any case, baguettes with ham and cheese ARE breakfast in France. Go native!

Tinder Surprise · 23-07-2015 2:18pm

I dont know what happened this year but my GPS seemed to bring me on less motorways.

I was using a different GPS last year (this year I had to borrowed one), and I made sure that motorways, tolls etc. were not being avoiding in the settings.

has there been an update to the French motorway system recently that maybe the GPS needs to be updated to?
The giveaway was the GPS brought me off a motorway way too early and according to the screen I was driving through a field:( and loads of roundabouts tackled that showed as straight road on the GPS.

It was 'fun' waiting the 10secs or so holding your breath hoping those dreading 'recalculating route' words not said by the GPS voice. :eek:

First Up · 23-07-2015 3:29pm

Tinder Surprise wrote: »

I dont know what happened this year but my GPS seemed to bring me on less motorways.

I was using a different GPS last year (this year I had to borrowed one), and I made sure that motorways, tolls etc. were not being avoiding in the settings.

has there been an update to the French motorway system recently that maybe the GPS needs to be updated to?
The giveaway was the GPS brought me off a motorway way too early and according to the screen I was driving through a field:( and loads of roundabouts tackled that showed as straight road on the GPS.

It was 'fun' waiting the 10secs or so holding your breath hoping those dreading 'recalculating route' words not said by the GPS voice. :eek:

I bought a "lifetime update" with my Garmin and I do an update about twice a year, whether reminded or not. It takes a few hours as it has all of Europe but I've never had a problem with the maps.

54and56 · 23-07-2015 5:21pm

BailMeOut wrote: »

when you arrive into Roscoff at 7am on a Sunday morning and drive down to where you are heading from there can anyone ever find anywhere to stop and eat along way? We are doing our 3rd trip in a few weeks and we pull off into towns along way but nothing is ever open. The motorway service stations are also usually useless.

McDonalds is your friend for family friendly quick food on the road in France. I know it's cr^p food etc etc but it does the job.

One hour and 15 minutes from Roscoff if you're heading towards Rennes is this Mickey D's but they only open at 10am (you have to love the French!!) https://goo.gl/maps/oDbyM. If you're off the ferry at 7:30 and going South West via the E50 to Rennes and on to Nantes you'd hit this Mickey D's at around 9:30 https://goo.gl/maps/TOVKL or this one in Nantes https://goo.gl/maps/J4IWW around 10:30.

I'll be off the same ferry Sunday morning and will try and eat up as much road as possible whilst the roads are quiet and the kids are still sleepy so I'll hit the Nantes one and from there it's only an hour to my destination in St Jean de Monts. That's the plan anyway. We'll see how well it works out.

54and56 · 23-07-2015 5:33pm

Tinder Surprise wrote: »

I dont know what happened this year but my GPS seemed to bring me on less motorways.

I was using a different GPS last year (this year I had to borrowed one), and I made sure that motorways, tolls etc. were not being avoiding in the settings.

has there been an update to the French motorway system recently that maybe the GPS needs to be updated to?
The giveaway was the GPS brought me off a motorway way too early and according to the screen I was driving through a field:( and loads of roundabouts tackled that showed as straight road on the GPS.

It was 'fun' waiting the 10secs or so holding your breath hoping those dreading 'recalculating route' words not said by the GPS voice. :eek:

If you have an Android mobile phone just download Nokia's navigation app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.maps and then download the map for France over WiFi before you go. You then have a bang up to date turn by turn navigation app for France on your phone which require any roaming data but you need to ensure "Use app offline" is ticked otherwise it will use data to update traffic etc as you go. It's an excellent app and totally free plus you can set it to either use or avoid motorways and tolls, use or avoid unpaved roads etc.

BTW, if you're with Vodafone they have a deal this summer where for €2.99 a day you get unlimited calls and texts to Ireland, unlimited calls and texts to French phones (handy if you get PAYG sims for your kids whilst they are there) and the best bit of all (for me anyway) 500mb of data PER DAY which might save me having to fork out for WiFi on the campsite.

webpal · 23-07-2015 6:12pm

Theres an 8 a huit in Huelgoat, also an intermarche which opens at 9:15. There are a few places along the route but Sunday can be hit and miss, best check their websites for opening hours

BlazingSaddler · 24-07-2015 12:12pm

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

If you have an Android mobile phone just download Nokia's navigation app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.maps and then download the map for France over WiFi before you go. You then have a bang up to date turn by turn navigation app for France on your phone which require any roaming data but you need to ensure "Use app offline" is ticked otherwise it will use data to update traffic etc as you go. It's an excellent app and totally free plus you can set it to either use or avoid motorways and tolls, use or avoid unpaved roads etc.

I'm travelling on August 13th and have a sat nav that is a bit long in the tooth at this stage so was about to spend €60 updating the maps until I saw this! So just to confirm, I have the here app as standard on the windows Lumia phone. I downloaded the France maps yesterday so if I turn off data will it work exactly as a satnav?, for some reason I assumed it would need data to operate as a satnav but I suppose a normal satnav doesn't use any data!!
Thanks and have a good journey.

First Up · 24-07-2015 12:37pm

mattb74 wrote: »

I'm travelling on August 13th and have a sat nav that is a bit long in the tooth at this stage so was about to spend €60 updating the maps until I saw this! So just to confirm, I have the here app as standard on the windows Lumia phone. I downloaded the France maps yesterday so if I turn off data will it work exactly as a satnav?, for some reason I assumed it would need data to operate as a satnav but I suppose a normal satnav doesn't use any data!!
Thanks and have a good journey.

I'll be interested to know if that works. I thought that you needed to have roaming on for gps to operate.

Cianmcliam · 24-07-2015 12:49pm

We were in Brittany and Normandy a couple of weeks ago and used Navmii France, completely free app for Android/iOS with up to date maps and turn by turn directions. You download the maps on your wifi at home and then you can turn off data while abroad. Works great, over the two weeks I didn't find any road or route not on the map, great for finding a list of nearby petrol stations too. you can browse the maps before you go and save places you would like to visit and the place you are staying as your 'home' location so with a couple of button pushes you're ready to go. http://navmii.com/#action

They have a UK/Ireland version too which I used a lot when data allowances would keep you from using Google Maps app too often. Never had any problems with it.

Bear in mind the French one may have the speed camera locations which I think is currently against the law in France so you might want to disable this, although it would be less likely that the police would check your phone like they might a dedicated SatNav unit.

BlazingSaddler · 24-07-2015 1:10pm

First Up wrote: »

I'll be interested to know if that works. I thought that you needed to have roaming on for gps to operate.

I'm going to give it a go now on my way home from work. I've just turned off my data connection. Will let you know!

munchkin_utd · 24-07-2015 1:18pm

First Up wrote: »

I'll be interested to know if that works. I thought that you needed to have roaming on for gps to operate.

nope.
GPS means "global positioning satelites" so is nothing to do with the cell networks, which are only used as an additional aid to get a more accurate position.

I'm using HERE on and off for the past couple of weeks and fairly happy with it.
The main benefit is that my old satnav screen is not bright enough to deal with the summer sun that you get on the continent (and never was) but modern mobiles have really good bright screens.

The one thing to be aware of is that it will eat battery so you would need to have the phone on charge the whole time.
Also gets quite hot so clamping it onto the air vent is a good idea.

I have this yoke which is 2pounds off amazon and it works a treat Phone mount link 1
(theres other versions of the same product labeled differently)
also available here for dearer Phone mount link 2

BlazingSaddler · 24-07-2015 2:48pm

Works perfectly! but as said eats battery

First Up · 24-07-2015 3:47pm

mattb74 wrote: »

Works perfectly! but as said eats battery

Good to know but presumably you have your 3 or 4G service available. Does the same apply to apps like Navigation or Moovit - i.e can you use the gps without incurring roaming charges?

I travel a fair bit and always turn of data roaming while away - just use wifi. I've tried using some of the navigation apps and no joy - unless connected to wifi.

Tinder Surprise · 24-07-2015 4:03pm

any recommendation of similar satnav apps for iOS that doesn't use data ?

Cianmcliam · 24-07-2015 4:06pm

Tinder Surprise wrote: »

any recommendation of similar satnav apps for iOS that doesn't use data ?

The Navmii app I mentioned a few posts up works with no data connection, it is pretty big to download though so be sure to install it while connected to wifi.

munchkin_utd · 24-07-2015 4:41pm

Tinder Surprise wrote: »

any recommendation of similar satnav apps for iOS that doesn't use data ?

HERE app is also on iOs and I'm using it on an iPhone 4s with no problems, well, except initial search is a wee bit slow, but once its in use its fine.

54and56 · 24-07-2015 5:55pm

mattb74 wrote: »

so was about to spend €60 updating the maps until I saw this! So just to confirm, I have the here app as standard on the windows Lumia phone. I downloaded the France maps yesterday so if I turn off data will it work exactly as a satnav?

Spot on. Enjoy an extra €60's worth of food and wine

k123456 · 24-07-2015 8:46pm

A smart phone one is a great way to navigate abroad,

using Google Maps / Navigation
is great if you have unlimited data (in Ireland for example)

If you use G maps abroad, you could get hit for data charges (unless you have an unlimited international data roaming package) . A caveat : while some phone companies , have cheap roaming this is assuming you roam onto to a associated phone company abroad, if you phone latches onto non associated phone company , the charges may be higher. I would clarify this with your phone company.

The options are buy a a Garmin , tom tom etc. this means , another device to bring with you

or on your smart phone, use one of the free sat nav packages above, or buy and download a paid sat nav app, Sygic , Tom Tom etc.
The advantage of this is , you don't need an extra device in the car

GPS on will drain the battery very quickly, on smart phones

AFAIK , GPS warnings about fixed speed cams not illegal in France, these warnings illegal in Austria

Quazzie · 24-07-2015 8:55pm

k123456 wrote: »

A smart phone one is a great way to navigate abroad,

using Google Maps / Navigation
is great if you have unlimited data (in Ireland for example)

If you use G maps abroad, you could get hit for data charges (unless you have an unlimited international data roaming package) . A caveat : while some phone companies , have cheap roaming this is assuming you roam onto to a associated phone company abroad, if you phone latches onto non associated phone company , the charges may be higher. I would clarify this with your phone company.

The options are buy a a Garmin , tom tom etc. this means , another device to bring with you

or on your smart phone, use one of the free sat nav packages above, or buy and download a paid sat nav app, Sygic , Tom Tom etc.
The advantage of this is , you don't need an extra device in the car

GPS on will drain the battery very quickly, on smart phones

AFAIK , GPS warnings about fixed speed cams not illegal in France, these warnings illegal in Austria

Are you looking for suggestions?

Ferry deals to France - Summer 2015

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