Opinions and advice needed on this issue with this coach company...

Flossie.

I won't mention the company's name at the mo, as I'm not sure if I should do or not. It's not really a full blown complaint or vent, more that I am confused, and don't know what to do.

OK, so I want to book a trip for me and hubby for December or maybe early next year (not sure yet...) to Europe (poss Paris or Germany.)

I want single rooms, and you can book single rooms apparently, and the deposit is only about £40 each, so it's all good... But (and don't judge me LOL,) I absolutely 100% MUST have a loo on board the coach. The trips are anything from 15 to 20 hours, and the thought of having no loo fills me with horror. (Sorry, first world problems I know!)

So I phoned them last week, (to ask if there are definitely loos on ALL coaches on their European trips.) I have rung up several times in the past week, and so has my friend, and we have gotten several different responses.

The first one said 'there is no guarantee of a toilet on the European trips,' so my friend said 'that seems odd,' as every foreign coach trip she (and me and my hubby) have ever been on (15 in total) have always had a loo. So she said 'ring again and see if you get a different answer.'

And the second one said 'oh yes, there will be one; it's the UK trips that don't always have one' so that confused me.

So I rang again later, and spoke to a third person, and they said there will 'probably' be one.

So then my friend rang the next day, and the girl said 'yes definitely, the coaches that take you into Europe always have toilets.' Then I rang today, I was told, they have them on 70-80% of the European tours but not all!!!

So I am confused now because we can't go on a trip on a coach with no toilet... If I were to turn up at the pick up point, and there was no toilet to use, then I would not be able to go on the trip, and I and my husband would have wasted £500 ...

I did look at the reviews for this holiday company, and a few of them said that on their European trip, that there was a loo, but it was out of order, and a couple said there was no loo at all.

What would you do? I want to go on the trip, but with no loo it would be unbearable. What if I am desperate to go, and the driver won't/can't stop. What am I supposed to do? Pee in a bottle???

Sorry, don't laugh; can anyone advise???

Torry_Quine

I doubt any company could guarantee there will be a toilet on board with 100% certainty. Even if all the coaches they use have one they could have to use another one without if there's a breakdown for instance.

Flossie.

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I doubt any company could guarantee there will be a toilet on board with 100% certainty. Even if all the coaches they use have one they could have to use another one without if there's a breakdown for instance.

Hmmm, I guess so. It's just that every European coach trip I have ever known has always had a toilet on board.

We went on about 12 trips in 7 years with another company between 1999 and 2006 ish, (now shut down sadly,) and they always had one without fail. Even on one where only 16 people were going to Ostend and they used a minibus. There was one installed at the back. I simply couldn't go without a loo on the coach. Not on such a long trip.

As I said, what other alternatives are there? Apart from an adult nappy LOL.

agrinnall

I would have thought your best chance would be to find a company that can confirm that all of their own coaches, wherever they are used, have a toilet (I have no idea if such a company exists). That way you'd know that as long as they can use their own coach there will definitely be a toilet, although it still doesn't mean that in extraordinary circumstances they might end up having to use another company's coach that doesn't have one.

Flossie.

agrinnall wrote: »

I would have thought your best chance would be to find a company that can confirm that all of their own coaches, wherever they are used, have a toilet (I have no idea if such a company exists). That way you'd know that as long as they can use their own coach there will definitely be a toilet, although it still doesn't mean that in extraordinary circumstances they might end up having to use another company's coach that doesn't have one.

I guess that will be my only alternative, apart from, as I said, wearing a flipping adult nappy.

Lily-Rose_3

LOL, an adult nappy would be an option Flossie! But they're not ideal for proper 'long' wees; they are more for leaks I think.

What about binning the coach holiday idea, and going to a travel agent and seeing if you can get a little package deal for a weekend in Europe, that goes by plane? And see if they can factor in the transfers for you (from your house to the airport, and from the airport at the other end to your hotel... and then back again.)

Thing is, with these coach journeys: you can end up having to be at the pick up point at 5am to 6.30am! And it takes sometimes 15-17 hours, so ALL DAY to get just to Paris or Amsterdam.

Then you have to get up early the next day so the coach can take you to spend the day there (as the hotel is ALWAYS an hour's drive outside the city!) And then you're stuck there all day; rain or shine, cold or hot, for maybe 9 or 10 hours.

Far better to arrange it yourself surely? Then you can book a hotel right in the middle of the city. AND you won't need to worry about a coach with no toilet.

Just an idea. I mean, if you book with easyjet or something, it won't cost much more overall.

FTR, I couldn't have a coach with no toilet either. Not for a trip to Europe! It's unthinkable that they would expect people to tolerate that.

fairy_lights

When I've been on coach trips they've always had frequent toilet breaks. If the coach were to stop every few hours, would that be often enough for you or would you still need one on board? Maybe asking the company the schedule for toilet stops would help you make a decision.