Much better going by ferry

Just to let everybody know, I have booked to go on a holiday credit cruncher with Ferris in July 2013. For 10 nights 13 days, it cost just over 1300 for myself my husband and two children ages 12 and 10, I didn't book until June so price was good I thought. I will come back mid August and give you all a full account as the last review is quite dated now. Wish me luck.

Welcome to the forums

Have a brilliant holiday and if there's anything we can try and help you with you know where we are

Just_Nance wrote:

I will come back mid August and give you all a full account as the last review is quite dated now. Wish me luck.

I'll be looking forward to reading that.

Have a great holiday.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

I am half thinking of going by Ferris in September by myself, as a lone passenger would it be difficult to keep myself to myself? And what are the chances of getting a spare seat next to me, are the coaches always full?

I have self on a night train before from the border of Spain/France to Paris and I remember thinking if somebody was sat next to me sleep would have been impossible.

Also I was tempted to do a 6 day trip (4 nights in resort) but I assume the coach picks people up early in the morning to go home? That would only really give me three nights out at the resort, seems a hell of a long way to go.

The problem is the other option is ten days (7 nights at resort) I can't really leave my business that long No coach company seems to offer 5 nights at the resort :(.

travelling by yourself you will almost certainly be sat next to another solo traveller, but a book and a walkman will let you keep yourself to yourself.
you may be lucky and get a double seat to yourself, but this depends entirely on how full the coach is. Ferris are there to make money and do try to fill their coaches so the only way to guarantee a spare seat next to you is to pay for one. This will cost you around £110 return on the platinum coach.
i find that even when i get a double seat to myself that i only doze on the journey anyway and i must be a nightmare for anyone in the seat next to me as i just fidget the night away
ferris tend to arrive on the costa brava around 9-10 in the morning and leave resort around 12-2 at lunchtime, so you do get a full 4 nights in resort.

That is great, it means I could go out on the 4th night (not till stupid o clock but at least I could stay out till 2:00am or later) and not worry about being ill on the coach on the way back.

I was worried that if it left the resort at 9:00am it would be too early, but 2:00pm is more than enough time to enjoy a few last hours in the sun (or rain!).

If somebody did sit next me, I would have to ask for the isle seat, as I need the toilet every two hours as I have a weak bladder, if it is hot won't be so bad. That is the other major advantage of the train for me (plenty of toilets).

Also do you know how often Ferris stop for proper toilet breaks so people can get of the coach and avoid blood clots?

Seen some good cheap deals with Ferris, I just wonder if 4 nights at the resort is just too much, considering having to sleep on the coach. I just can't see how I can be gone for 10 days, as I would loose too much work.

i get on at dover, so although i do know that they do stop on the way down from manchester i dont know when or how often.
normally they use the ferry so you get a break there then they stop at troyes and around macon - both about 4.5 hour runs- they stop at nimes to change drivers around 4.30 am and sometimes you can get a quick ciggie break then they stop at estepona for breakfast. this stop is around 2 hours from the resorts.
they play dvds on the way normally stopping these around midnight. they have to abide by the age classification so if there are kids on the coach the dvds do tend to be very child friendly.

I am still debating what to do, my problem is Ferris only do 4 nights or 7 nights at the resort, 4 nights doesn't seem enough considering it will involve two 24 hour coaches. I could probably easily get down to Dover, which would cut out a huge amount of travelling but by the time I get the connection in London it would take too long.

Another option would be to get on the coach in London, but I assume it will keep stopping in Kent so it probably won't knock that much time of the journey.

Been looking at train costs but it is just far too expensive for September, it is coming back at around £320 return. It is doable on Eurolines from Lille, its only around £80 return and I I can get to Lille cheaply but I can only find mixed information about how comfortable the Euroline coaches are. If they are just standard national express stock then not very! I assume Ferris coaches are more comfortable than the bog standard national express coaches?

So my question is has anybody just stayed four nights at the resort on a Ferris holiday? My worry is I will arrive in Spain completely tired out, so won't be myself till the next day, then two days later it is time to come home!.

I just wish Ferris day a 5 day (7 days total) option as this would be ideal.

So the question I need answering really is would I find only staying 4 nights at the resort too much in terms of travelling?

i would start by checking the pick up times for manchester, london and dover from their website and see if it is worth getting picked up at different points both time and money wise.
i would rather travel on ferris platinum than eurolines.
re tiredness, i only doze on the coach but have embraced the spanish siesta and so a couple of hours sleep on the first afternoon usually adjusts my body clock to spanish time and so i can cope with the late nights/early mornings.
doing this you will be able to get the benefit of the full 4 nights in resort.
coming back i normally try to take the next day off, but if i do have to go to work i just try and stay awake on the return day but go to bed an hour early and this sorts me out for going back to work.

Have checked that. The coach leaves Manchester at 6:45 and costs £5 for the pickup. It leaves London at 10:00 and leaves Dover at 1:00 as you say so the time saving is not worth the effort of getting the train to London and of course I would need to allow a couple of hours to get down from Euston to Victoria anyway.

Far easier to be picked up from Manchester no issues with mixed connections

Will pay the extra for the premium coach, I wonder why at £15 a person a lot don't take this option? I guess it is a big family £15 a person can add up. I am still just nervous about finding it very uncomfortable. I am 5.11ft but not really fat just average but there is the worry about being squashed in.

If you can choose your seat then I'd probably opt for the aisle seat then you can get out for the toilet easier.

I have just got back with Ferris yesterday. Overall compared to the train the journey was relaxing but more boring. Where as on the train I would stop at Paris for 10 hours to get food and take in the culture etc, here all you do is stop at service stations which are expensive, busy and generally a nightmare. The ferry was pretty good and it suits this trip far better than the tunnel.

The other niggle I had with Ferris (and possibly all the coach companies) is takes too long on the transfer run, seemed to take about two hours from the first drop off in Lloret to the last pick up in Calella. It would be better if we all transfered once we got into Spain but my coach missed the ferry [so maybe have been later than the other coaches to the get to the resorts] so maybe they normally do this?

The coach itself was comfortable, but the on-board movies could be annoying as either too loud or too quiet. The system Siesta has sounds far better.

I would use Ferris again if I wanted a cheap quick last minute break, but when I did by train it just felt more of a holiday I came back learning an awful lot about different countries etc, this time I didn't get that experience.

Other thoughts are, you pay £15 extra for the premium seats which is vital in my opinion it is the difference between torture and mild comfort, but what happens if all the premium seats sell out?

the toilet - classed as emergency use only, people did keep using them including myself and they didn't get blocked, but what if they do? Would they stop more frequently that is something I doubt.

My other all impression is that overall the journey was fine, it was comfortable if a little boring at times, but if something went wrong then I could imagine it all being a nightmare. In hindsight four nights at the resort was simply not enough.

Thanks for sharing your experience NoAir

jimd-f wrote:

normally they use the ferry so you get a break there then they stop at troyes and around macon - both about 4.5 hour runs- they stop at nimes to change drivers around 4.30 am and sometimes you can get a quick ciggie break then they stop at estepona for breakfast. this stop is around 2 hours from the resorts.

Hmmm, sounds like an interesting route. I would have thought the shorter route would go through Paris, but i should imagine with the toll roads it's easier going the way you said. I'm guessing the other coach operators will take the same route and use the same service stations.

NoAir Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you get to see anything on route in France or is it just motorways and service stations ?

I didn't really see much, this is perhaps the worst thing about coach travel. It is all toll roads and it is hard to understand the Geography on a motorway and a lot of the time it is dark so you don't see anything.

There some wonderful sights when it goes through the Pyrenees though and of course some great views on the Ferry. I was quite amazed on the Ferry there wasn't a single point where I couldn't see both England and France at the same time.

The reason it avoids the area around Paris I assume is traffic. On the way there, from Calais to first resort of Lloret the only time the coach stopped was for planned stops. There was no traffic or anything.

just got the new ferris brochure and it seems that for next year they are doing trips with no overnight travel. you stop in france both ways in a hotel for b&b and travel during the day.
i know some other companies do this as well -shearings?- and assume this has come about by customer demand.
i hope for their sake that enough people take them up on this to make it worthwhile for them but i cant see me wanting to do this.
unless they stop in a town where you could go out and have a meal/drink and explore a bit it is only really a bed.
i imagine that you will stay at some motorway hotel in the middle of nowhere and with nothing to do except have an expensive meal and,maybe, a few hours sleep. i did not see at first glance where the stop is but i imagine it will be somewhere between rheims and dijon.
while it does seem a good idea to break the journey, and also to be able to see some of the sights in southern france - the views are much better than during the journey through the north- i think the extra expense involved will not be viable for the majority of their customers.
i would much rather arrive in spain early morning, even if i am a bit tired, and get the benefit of a sleep in the sun than spend the day sitting on the coach, and coming home you would get to your drop off about 8-9 hours later than you do now which would not suit me.
still, i am sure some people will appreciate the change and give ferris great credit for trying this.
i just hope it does not become standard.

I thought the same thing, I got the brochure yesterday and I can think of nothing worse than being stuck at a motorway hotel, I may as well save time and money (time is money when you're self employed) sleeping badly on the coach. If it was cheap enough I would half consider it though.

I am pleased they have advertised the coach only option works out very cheap so I might do this next year, get the train there and coach back make the journey a bit more varied.

Seems they are offering Benidorm as well but a stay over in France is a must.

Are Ferris planning of buying any more coaches, unless they are going to use some of their older vehicles I cannot see they have enough coaches to do the Salou and Benidorm trips. As far as I know for Spain they only use their 61 plate and the 12 and 13 plate Neoplans.