Canvas, Eurocamp et al

[jmb1964]

We are thinking of doing this in the summer - me and dh with dd1 (will be nearly 8) ds1 (nearly 7 and Aspergers) dd2 (3) and ds2 (2). We might fly and hire a car (needs to be a people-carrier so horribly expensive), or get the new ferry from Scotland to Zeebrugge.
Does anyone out there have any experience of these holidays - specifically...
what are the children's 'clubs' like?
would it work to put the older two children in a children's tent beside ours (dh will not hear of a mobile home)?
anyone been on a long ferry trip with multiple children?
Thanks - desperately in need of another holiday to look forward to..
Or does anyone have any alternative suggestions for us - we want (need) a bit of childcare, but can't afford the posh hotels, couldn't abide the Mark Warner thing, and don't have any useful relatives to take with us.
Yes, I know we could stay at home

HI, jmb. We had a Eurocamp tent+junior tent holiday with dds aged 8 and 5 and ds aged 2. The junior tent was wonderful, they all played in it sometimes as well as the older 2 sleeping in it, and having one means you get a bigger plot which is always useful! (How does your Aspie boy get on with tents though?)

We got the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry - 4 hours - not very long (I don't know how long the Scotland Zeebrugge one is?) but no probs, they loved it, and this was over 10 years ago when the ferries were a lot more primitive than they are now. (We have also had a 6-hour Brittany Ferries crossing with 4 kids, aged 12, 9, 6 and 1 - that was overnight. I think it was OK - seem to have forgotten all the details!)

ds was too little for the club but the girls went and enjoyed it a lot. We stayed on 2 different sites and they liked both clubs.

HTH

We have used kids clubs with both Keycamp and Canvas. They were both good and dd enjoyed them, but they are not as 'structured' as Mark Warnet (good thing or bad thing that, depemding on your child). The activities are much more low key, playing games, treasure hunts etc. DD went 4 times over two weeks and enjoyed them very much.

Did the tent option once, and it rained and rained. Last twice we wimped out and did the mobile home route. They are very good.

We did an overnight ferry crossing and it was fine, but you can't get to sleep until quite late as they keep making announcements.

We have been with Keycamp for the last 2 years and both times used the "kids clubs". Both children loved them, although DD1 (now 8) wanted to go everyday (she loves mixing with other children and enjoys that sort of thing) whereas DS1 (now 6) used to go along when they did something he fancied ie football, wet water fun, treasure hunts etc. DD2 will be 4.5 when we go this summer and is already looking forward to being able to go!

They print up their weekly activities so the kids can choose what they want to do and come along on that day.

Can't comment on the tent side of things as we've only ever stayed in a mobile home. As for crossings, the last 2 years we've done Poole-Cherbourg (fastcraft there) and normal ferry with cabin on the way back. Fastcraft takes 2.1/4 hours with 4.5 hours return.

This year have booked an overnight crossing from Portsmouth-Caen (had to have 2 cabins for all of us) which takes about 6 hours, and 5pm crossing for the journey back.

we have booked with keycamp and have rounded up ds2 s age by a month to 4 so he can go int he club!

slinkster - we are overbight to st malo too - find night crossings so esciting and reminiscent of my childhoos - we use to cross from Gibraltar to N africa

Coddy

Kids are really excited about the night crossing (me too in truth be known!).

I'm sure you've said where you're going before but I've forgotten (memory like a sieve!) - where are you staying?

we have done this type of holiday for 6 years - its often cheaper than staying in a caravan on a decent site in the uk.

kids and the fery..well that depends on your kids. feries usually have a play area for younger children ( under 7 i think) phone up a ferry company becuase on longer ferry crossings you sometimes get entertainment for the kids - we once got a singer and a magician.

however my girl gets really sea sick ( as do i) so we usually take the sea sicky tablets and fall asleep ( before we puke) on the reclining chairs - which we run to sit on as soon as we get on the ferry ( as we cant afford to get a cabin) they provide blankets as well for the reclining chairs on the ferry.

if your on a budget think about taking your own food onto the ferry as i think the restaurants are quite expensive.

the kids clubs are fab - a different activity every day there is usually one in the morning and one in the afternoon - you have to take them sign then in and pick then up and sign them out - they usually come back with beautifully painted faces.

i cant recomend these types of holidays enough.

couple of tips - get your insurance through the bank

get euro cover for your car

bookt he holiday direct via the brochure or online - not via a travel agent

hth

lisaxx

Thanks everyone - I'm in booking overdrive now, looking at all sorts of alternatives - ferry or flight, different areas of France, different times etc. Will go for site(s) with kids clubs after all your recommendations, and a junior tent. Not sure how we'll get there - all options from Scotland seem v expensive, unless we spend two days driving down to Dover and back, and we certainly don't want to do that. Flying to Geneva or Nice direct is not too bad, but hiring a people-carrier costs a fortune. Can't seem to remember now why we had so many children??

yeah its an arseache isn't it! no one tells you to not have any more than 2 children or else holidays become terible expensive and/or complicated

jmb, would Newcastle-Amsterdam help at all? DFDS do it but I don't know how the fares/times/mileages compare.

In Spain it was a lot cheaper to hire 2 5-seaters than one 7-seater (about £250 vs about £450) - don't know if this is true in France/Switzerland, and it would mean you'd both have to drive all the time, but with eg 2 Ford Focuses (Foci?) you would actually get a lot more luggage space, and it would have a cover, and the kids could travel in different combinations.

we are off to bonne anse plage - on FoF recomendation at he end of jUly (not in school term obv !!)

we went to camping la siesta in the costa brava last year and it was excellent. Great pools, playgrounds, kids club, creche. We stayed in a pine lodge but they are doing tents this year. the resort was beautiful too, with 2 good beaches and nice restraunts. It wasn't too busy even though it was high season. We drove from London to Barcelona and stayed in municipal campsites on the way but I wouldn't do that again with a 2 year old and a 14 year old in a vauxhall corsa, but that's a different story

LOl at corsa

Jmb, we did it with Keycamp from Scotland in 2001. We drove overnight to Portsmouth and caught the first ferry to Cherbourg. Took us about 9 hours, with a few stops, as the roads were empty- completely different from dat-time driving.

We came back on the 5 ish ferry and drove straight up the road with only one stop. We got home about 4am- only about 7 hours.

Both kids slept for most of the journey, but we were tired!

The kids club was fantastic- dd who was 8 then, couldn't wait to go every day.

We stayed in a mobile home, which was lovely and clean.

Couldn't do it every year as the travelling is a lot. If I lived in the south, it would be great to go from.

Coddy

Just had a look at your site on the KC website - looks fab! Those swimming pools look great

We're going to the Loire this year - staying at the E'tang de la Breche - recommended by my friends and their In-laws. Unbeknown to them and us, we both booked to go same 2 weeks in August So there will be 28 of us going in total !