Share your tips for family holidays by ferry - £200 voucher to be won

[CeriMumsnet]

For parents there are lots of benefits of going on holiday by ferry - the ease of driving straight from your door to your destination, the lack of luggage restrictions, the space and facilities onboard, not to mention the excitement of the crossing! Any travel with children takes preparation though, so we’d like you to share your top tips and recommendations for making ferry travel with children a breeze.

● Post your tips in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw
● One lucky MNer will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice.

Here’s what Brittany Ferries has to say:

“Brittany Ferries is an award winning Ferry Travel and holiday company who are experts in Western Europe, and winners of the Best Travel Company for Family Holidays at the 2022 British Travel Awards, voted by consumers. We offer a choice of routes from UK and Ireland to France and Spain that save you miles of driving, avoids airport queues and delays, and offers award winning on board service with space and comfort, ensuring you are on holiday from the moment you drive aboard. ”

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ
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Love this idea - didn't know this was a thing - thought it was a joke until I clicked on your link 💆

On board spa??? Irish Ferries does not have such a thing and now I feel like I’m missing out!

Brilliant tips here. Mine are to aim for an overnight ferry if your kids are small, it’s easier than trying to occupy them for hours. We did our first day crossing last year when mine were 4, 6 and 9 and it was great. The cinema and walking on the deck were definite highlights.

I feel this competition isn't designed for advice from Scottish islanders negotiating Calmac:s new booking system 🤣

• Take sea sickness tablet as a precaution
• pack a small bag for each person with phone charger, money, passport, book & anything else needed for the crossing. (You can't usually go back to your car for anything)
• over night crossing - take a pillow or inflatable pillow if you won't like the flat ones in the cabins
• Allow extra time to arrive at the port. It's better to have time to kill than miss the sailing

• Portsmouth be aware of the Clean Air Zone - if you go wrong you can end up in it • Turn off your car alarm - you don't want a flat battery. • Remember your Deck number and which stairs you go up for the return to your vehicle • Don't rush for your vehicle when docking. They will tell you when to go down, disembarking takes a while. It's so much more relaxing than airports and flying. No liquid restrictions or luggage weights / dimensions to deal with. Everything is usually open when you board.

My tips would be to look what there is to do on board, plan your trip - explore the ship, eye spy out to sea, take crayons and paper, watch a movie and if overnight - book a cabin as soon as you book your holiday - we didn't one year and had a fretful night on the easy chairs.

Remember your power banks - and to fully charge them for the phones and tablets - we found very few charging points

Get the kids to look for dolphins. Highly unlikely they'll see any but always useful to deflect an incoming potential tantrum.

Take the time to tell them about it before (make it seem like an adventure) and show them around the ship once you get on board - and bring a book.

Put the mattress & bedding from all the bunks on the floor to make a big nest. Better if the sea is rough !
Look out for dolphins, there are usually a few.
At Santander keep going East through the port as far as you can, easier to get in the roads out of town. Though Santander is actually a great town with lovely beaches.
We love the little towns ( Comillas, San Vicente ) on the coast road towards Galicia. Lovely people, great food, beautiful landscapes.

We nearly always go on ferries. Took ds on Brittany ferries from 6 months old. Break up the journey with regular meals, snacks, walk on the deck etc. Take lots of different activities - sticker books were a hit from 18m onwards. Book a cabin if it's a long trip even if it's not overnight - gives you a private space to dump all the baby stuff, nap, feed, change nappies etc. Can even grab a shower if you want to.

Book a cabin with enough beds for you all. No matter how small your child is cabin beds are too small to share. Also book a cabin even if it's a day crossing.
If there's a cinema make sure you speck to guest services and find out when tickets go on sale as often they sell out quickly.

And turn off your car alarm

Preparation is key..I like to make a list of everything n anything we may need..rather have it n not need it than the other way round..sick bags, colouring books, fidget tots, paracetamol, antisickness pills..Will make everything that much smoother

Book an overnight cabin if you can. We absolutely loved it - we did it twice and it was so exciting for us and the DC.
Less keen on the early bing bong to get up!
I downloaded I am Sailing by Rod Stewart and the DC were amused by that as we departed.

Make the ferry trip part of the holiday and enjoy it; take binoculars to try to spot wildlife or where you're going.I
Travel sickness bands just in case.

Set up scavenger type hunts. Even toddler DCs can join in to find eg someone wearing green, a child their age, someone in a hat etc. Good entertainment and can even be done in a queue!

Watch out for the cabin doors on your kids fingers. My son lost the end of his finger to the hinge side of the door, a smaller child could easily lose much more. It really was horrific. The ferry had to turn around and take us back and it took him 3 months to recover. His finger couldn’t be sown back on.

Your poor son.

I agree with booking a cabin instead of the recliner chairs. We treat it as a part of the holiday and spend a long time spotting things out on deck.

Rucksack with stickers crayons and plenty of paper. If it’s a longer day time crossing a cabin is s great idea to have extra relaxation space.
Usually my kids are happy to be able to walk about and explore the vessel. Generally find ferry travel a lot less stressful than airports as they are surrounded by familiar and there’s no need to sit in a restricted space for hours on end!

We watched a youtube video as to what to expect - for example h it really helped us prepare

Book a cabin. Bring a rucksack so you have free hands. Bring drinks/snacks/stuff/treats from the pound shop. Everything is far dearer on a ferry. Have a cabin picnic because the meals are not cheap and my children must have had two bites each. Bear in mind if you have an autistic runner, that it doesn’t seem difficult for a child to get to the edge of the boat.

This is horrific. Cannot begin to imagine what you all went through. I noted the doors to the decks were exceptionally heavy too.

Book a cabin and take an overnight ferry - it may be more expensive but it becomes part of the holiday. Our kids loved the excitement of sleeping in the bunks and waking up in a new place. Even better, take a really long ferry down to Santander or Bilbao - you can dolphin/whale watch from the deck, and they have a cinema and play areas.

Book early. Get a cabin And bring some colouring books/pencils and a pack of cards. Also if possible a picnic