New ship for Brittany Ferries

[Will]

Just received a press release from a Scandinavian shipbuilder (trailer ropax = freight/passenger ferry - probably something along the lines of Barfleur):

Aker Yards to build Trailer Ropax for Brittany Ferries

Aker Yards and the French company Brittany Ferries have signed a
contract for the building of a ropax vessel worth EUR 80 million for
delivery in autumn 2007. The contract includes an option of a similar
vessel.

The vessel will be delivered from the yard in Helsinki, while the
blocks will be fabricated mainly in Rauma.

"Having delivered two car ferries for Brittany Ferries in the
beginning of the 1990`s, we are now very pleased to renew our
relationship with the company", said Yrjö Julin, President of Aker
Finnyards and responsible for Cruise & Ferries in Aker Yards.

The trailer ropax is designed to carry road cargo vehicles between
France and The United Kingdom at a speed of 23 knots. The 165 m long
and 26.8 m wide vessel has 2.2 kilometres of vehicle deck space and
120 cabins.

The contract is subject to final confirmation of buyers financing.

Side view of the new vessel can be found at http://www.akerfinnyards.com/image.cfm?i=162&s=m

No doubt there will be cynics who will try to make a connection between an 80million €uro ship order, with a provisional order for a second, and high fares. There can be no link whatsoever of course

(I'm OK, I've just booked a return, Portsmouth-Caen, for £47 - in August. Ryanair wanted much more than that each way from Dinard).

[BJSLIV]

Is this Brittany Ferries building up their freight (only?) capacity post P&O?

 

[Nick Trollope]

(I'm OK, I've just booked a return, Portsmouth-Caen, for £47 - in August. Ryanair wanted much more than that each way from Dinard).

And how did you do that young man? Trade discounts, huh?

I had to use Ryanair (268E/2)... 'Cos BF wanted oodles.

 

[RobS]

Yeah how did you do that Bill? It cost me over £200 in September with the property owners discount.

[Miki]

I supect Bill was probably a foot passenger ?

[Will]

That is correct, just normal owners discount, not taking a vehicle this time - but then I couldn't take a vehicle by Ryanair either and they would dump me in a field somewhere north of London .

I could have used a special offer on the French web site, but as I'm returning on a Sunday that wasn't valid.

[Adobill<P><FONT face=Arial>Bill <FONT><P><P><FONT face=Arial>Charente Maritime (17) & Northampton<FONT><P>]

My inlaws wanted a few days at our house, I tried to book them from Portsmouth to Caen using Owners Discount total cost 258 pounds, they booked on the phone for the same dates and the exact same sailings 210 pounds. Is BF treating it owners club with disdain or is there a point I am missing?

[Will]

I'd suggest, with all seriousness, that you should have phoned Brittany Ferries and asked them to apply the owners' discount to the lower price. BF, unlike some other carriers, does use the same pricing structure for internet, phone, discount schemes and other booking methods - even though it doesn't publish its prices and they do vary (up and down) according to supply and demand. The only exceptions are a few special offers but there is still an owner's discount available on most of these, though it may be less than the standard discount and/or may not apply to guest bookings. Of course, things can sometimes go wrong or the phone staff may make mistakes, but the company is generally pretty good at sorting out any problems.

In your case it may be that the price went down between you checking and your relatives booking, which does happen, in fact I've found the same occasionally. When this happens it is possible to cancel and re-book and will probably be worth any amendment fee to do so.

[Monika]

Have booked with BF Fast Ferry from Poole to Cherbourg for the Sunday 21st Aug. coming back 23rd Aug. There were no Property Owners discounts available nor any Special Offers and we are paying £270 (taking a very small car/1 passenger). But then I did not query it as it is the height of season and I suppose they have to make money now as in the winter there are plenty of offers available and the ferries half empty.

[Tina]

Talking about BF Ferries and their prices (or 'fluid pricing' as they prefer to call it) I checked our crossing for Oct (booked last Oct as they say the earlier you book the better the price  -  and we are stuck to school hols  -  which was for Ports/St Malo overnight and Ros/Ply back (10 days) and due to be payed next week (yippee 6 weeks till we go again!). The original price we were quoted was £344.25 (inc £10 deposit). Online (without the £5 online saving) on Tues was £299.22 and when I checked before I phoned on Fri it had gone down to £260.36!!!

 

I was told all the usual excuses about 'you secured a place by booking so early/price can go up or down ( although she expressed surprise that it had gone down so much rather than the other way as it supposed to be like airline bookings) so as mentioned before, the only way I could get this price was to cancel/lose the deposit and re-book. (I hate this as I always feel someone somewhere is going to click quicker than they can and I'll lose the crossing/cabin etc. !!!!!) I've never known such a difference and I don't dare look again - it makes a mockery of early booking.