hi northernstar.....we always use holdalls...they weigh less and the men who load them told us they prefere them to cases ....they can fit anywhere....they state case size to stop people bringing huge ones that cause a problem as not the room to fit in bigger cases for everyone...and big cases difficult to load too.....they arent as strict as the airlines....as long as you dont take the micky....Ive never seen them weigh cases either ....I suppose after loading them for years they can feel if ones over the odds....the drivers ect on the coaches are brilliant....down to earth and helpful....tweetie

Hi tweetie,

Thanks for that, I never thought of holdalls, I know for next time (if the kids are fine travelling).

Just need to remember cushions and fleece blankets in the hand luggage and then we are all set!

hi.....fuel surcharge £8 per passenger....could have been worse....tweetie

Hi all we are going to Salou in August with Siesta after reading all these posts I am now really looking forward to the coach journey . Travelling with the wife & twins great tip about fleece blankets and cushions.

we were supposed to go to Salou today, unfortunately one of the kids was rushed into hospital during the night, Siesta phoned this morning whilst I was at the hospital, as we were not there for pick up, after explaining the situation, the guy I spoke to told me to phone back after 9.00 and ask for him and he should be able to get us on a coach on Wednesday, instead of having to totally cancel the holiday for a small transfer fee, unfortunately my daughter's condition is alot worse then we first thought, so we will be unable to take them up on there offer, but at least they were willing to help us out.

Hopefully when my daughter is fully fit, we will be able to go to Salou during the summer school holidays.

just booked with siesta for cala gogo next may with a disney stopover, which incidently means you dont have to pay the £10 extra for the onboard ent system. does anybody know the name of the stopover hotels siesta use and what cala gogo is like lately. this will be my first coach holiday for many many years ( i used to work for halcyon sunpact in the mid nineties, left in 1997 ) but now have 4 kids which makes a traditional package hol too expensive now. im looking forward to the journey down as much as anything.

hi beefy666....cant help you with your queries ...the last time we did the stop over they used a motel....it was basically on an industrial estate....but think they changed and use hotels now...was 10/12 yrs ago we did the stop over...................Im wondering about the onboard entertainment system....we go to calella de parafrugel in august this year....we booked it last september....there was no mention of the OES when we booked....the first we knew about it was in the new brochure they sent for next year....in the past we have had free headphones to either listen to a choice of music channels or the films shown on communal tv's.......so Im wondering if the new OES's will already on the coaches when we go in august....tweetie

The Siesta website says mid-April for the new coaches so looks like it will be the old system this year!

does that mean all the coaches will be new ones...if not will it only be the new ones with OES's...they must be doing OK if they are changing the whole fleet...I was hoping they would be road testing them in the coach when we went free sample like....just hoping the old system is still on offer now...tweetie

they are now only getting 2 of the new coaches. shuttle program uses 3 coaches so there is a chance you could end up on one of the older ones although they are being upgraded to a similar spec. Disney stopover coaches dont have the new system

When we have done the Disney stopover 2010 we stayed in Santa Fe a mexican style hotel, and another hotel which i cant remember name of now year before, but they are both on the Disney complex. We have been using Siesta for the last 4 years now and have been to Disney, Estartit and Salou, we find them ok to use, been reading some of the comments regarding the new coaches, couple of points i never thought of like when you recline your seat and the person behind cant see the screen, are all
the fleet getting upgraded does anyone know??

hi... wondered about what happens about reclining seats myself....tweetie

Looks like I'll be traveling again with Siesta after a 5 year break, only now instead of taking my kids it will be the granddaughter that ill be taking Looking to go back to Castel Mongri

Hopefully we would get one of the upgraded coaches but we would be getting the stop over at disneyland so perhaps not.

Last time we had the stop over it was the Kiriad we stayed in which is within the disney complex but there is no theme, it's more like a travel lodge but its so much better than the place we used to stay in Mains which was a dive, it was just of the motorway and the place stunk!

The other option is to fly from Edinburgh, has anyone done this before and if so whats it like getting a trasnfer to castel montgri?

Looking at the brochure the screens tilt so you can adjust them if the person infront reclines.

If I remember right we were only allowed to recline our seats fully during the night anyway.

Helen

Thats good news about the screens tilting back, answers everyones questions, regarding only reclining your seat of a night though not everyone sticks to this rule as i am sure you have probably witnessed

So is anyone else travelling to Estartit this year?? Shame it is not now what it used to be, Siesta still travel there, come on we need to revive Estartit!!

hi johnm100....many years ago now I asked a friend where she took her family abroad as I wanted to take mine away ,but didnt know where....it was she who told me about camping la siesta and the coach holidays....she tipped me off about the option of choose when you want to go And they choose your resort ect....it was dirt cheap them days to do it....and so I did just that.....told my friend it was all booked.....then she told me she had done it year before and landed in estarti....she said it was OK but the streets were full of dog muck.....I was horified and dreaded landing up there myself....I was so relieved when it turned out to be salou for us....we loved it....I went to salou for over 10yrs afterwards with siesta...but never did the deal again....was terrified of us getting estarti.....and evert time I hear or see the name estarti I cringe....because of what my friend had said I have never tried estarti.....just proves how strong bad word of mouth can be....tweetie

Hi tweetie, it is not quite as bad as your friend has made it sound, i would not say there is dog muck all over the town, i have also been to Salou as well and found it to be quite a dirty town / streets as well, but i would not let that spoil your holiday to be honest.

another point with the new coaches, they dont have the calf supports anymore despite the pictures showing them still. its in the new brochure that they had a questionairre out last year asking pax opinions and most wanted extra space rather than leg supports