I more than likely wont be going by coach anywhere this year, but i wil be watching this topic closely to see the feedback throughout 2006!!

it depends where you want to go as not all tour companies go to all resorts.
general consensus seems to be that ferris platinum and siesta have best coaches, but do not go to all destinations.
sunways seem to have some good AI deals, but dont know about there coaches.
if you provide more details of where you want to stay i am sure you will get more replies.

thanks for replys.. I want to stay at Tossa self catering, I have provisionally booked a platinum lodge with cantabrica, but have 7 days to find better accomodation, any advice appreciated

hi all , i travelled with cantabrica on a late deal last august, journey down was fine but the journey back was horrendous .
no hostess all the way home, broken down coaches , double booked seats , i could go on.
it was as if once out hols were over they were not bothered about keeping holiday makers happy.
the coach drivers were contracted in and after a conversation with our driver on the ferry these incidents were not a one off and had been common during the whole summer.
wont be travelling with cantabrica again which is a shame because despite the poor journey home we had a great hol.
we stayed in a platinum lodge at camping solmar ,blanes.
the lodge was fine,very clean and easily big enough for a family of four,
have travelled to estartit with beachclub 3 year ago and it was fine, but heard bad reviews about them since they became suncoast leisure .hope this helps.

I travelled to Italy with Cantabrica a few times - bus, etc, was ok, but the journey was quite long, and the lack of a hostess before and after London was an irritant to us (they dont realise how far north we are!!!)

In saying that i found their coaches better than the likes of Siesta, whose irritating leg rests always annoyed me. In the early season the Cantabrica coaches are still set up from the winter ski trips, and the leg room is excellent!

All in all, i always liked Redcrest (RIP!) because of one thing - no hub system!! Siesta, Cantabrica, etc, all operate it, and for those of us making long journeys up north, it does add another 6 or 7 hours to the journey. A good example? Coming home from Spain with Redcrest and being dropped off at 6-7pm, or coming home with Siesta and getting home at 1-2am!! Made all the difference from me, those staying in the south dont appreciate that!!

We are thinking of using ferris this year ,coaches look good ,and very reasonable prices. not sure to which resort yet.
only thing putting us off is we would have a 2 hr journey to their nearest pickup point as they dont come any further north than ferrybridge.
dont know why these companies dont travel from scotland , they would be certain to fill the coaches as there are alot of people in scotland struggling to find a reasonable coach holiday since redcrest have gone.
ive looked at the travel inter brava website but it seems as though they are only doing holidays to castell mongri , nowhere else in the costa brava .

sorry, just to add to my last post,i dont live as far north as scotland, i live in county durham , i was thinking of people like ciderman who have to travel almost the full length of the country just to get as far as dover , ido sympathise ciderman!

i do apologise cidermonster , cant see too well without my glasses

ann, have a look at siesta. they go from durham, but they seem to be a lot dearer than ferris. cany think of anyone else who goes from that far north, but if anyone knows it will be cidermonster.

thanks jim, have looked at siesta and your right they are alot dearer, a good few hundred pounds dearer too for a half board hotel , however the hotels they use have better reviews than those ferris use , its that old saying again ,you get what you pay for! was thinking about salou for a change to the costa brava , maybe half board this year as only one child going with us and its the same price or cheaper than self catering due to under occupancy ect in apartments ,

We have already scratched our heads about Ferris not wishing to expand their pickups north - they are losing a lot of potential custom methinks!

Club C, Siesta, and the new Interbrava are the only coach companies i can think of that would go from as far north as Durham

thanks cidermonster, i may have another look at siesta , they just seem so much more expensive than the other companies, coach holidays are not the" cheap way to holiday " anymore like they used to be , same hotel in salou , same dates in july , £60 dearer with siesta coaches than flying from local airport on a package with skytours ! just a shame im not keen on flying ..

Ann, if you have read some of my other posts on here, you will know im not a Siesta fan anyway, to the extent that is was so upset with their attitude that i havent used them again - although my issues were more with their complaints department which was a joke, although i have heard that this was totally revamped in 2000!

I am booked with Ferris and this will be my 8th time with the company and only had one bad experience but that was with the hotel not Ferris.
We will be travelling at peak holiday times (August) and going A1 for the first time and paying a lot less than the price paid last year for 2 weeks S/C in Turkey last year at earlier dates.

im going with club c in august, wish their coaches were as good as siesta,

Can't say i really had any probs with the coaches i had with Club C ..... plus we went early season and the legroom was excellent, far above what i remember on Siesta's coaches (this was due to extra seats being removed as they use them in the winter for ski holidays!)

Have travelled Easter with Siesta, will travel again in Summer and also again in October What's your problem with Siesta Cidermonster

Oh, dont want to bore everyone with a long post again .... look back some of the other topics on coach operators or Castell Montgri, i have made my views clear on them a few times.

Basically though ..... problem with access to caravans, treated like garbage and avoided by the reps afterwards, and treated even worse when i complained on my return home ... finally got an apology (6 years on!) and probably only cos i moaned about them on here! I have no doubts they have made improvements, but they lost my custom for good!

Hi Pippa

Have a look at CM's posts HERE and HERE

Pippy