Brittany Ferries Prices

[Dave]

Are BF trying to price themselves out of the market, or are they having a laugh at us?

I've just looked for some prices for next August. BF are quoting £650, or £470 with owners club membership, whilst speedferries are quoting £50 & Eurotunnel £98! Boulogne or Calais may be less convenient than Caen, but £400+ buys a lot of inconvenience!!

Dave

[Bilbo]

chap down the pub keeps telling me the best way to get round Brittany Ferries fluid pricing model is to book with Condor Ferries. Their brochure shows all their pricing for the year and they have special offers to boot. I always thought brittany owned condor, but in fact they borrow the fast one off condor for the summer. so maybe st.malo by fast craft is the way forward.

[Will]

As you correctly say, Brittany Ferries pricing is fluid, varying according to the company's forecast of supply and demand as well as actual bookings received. It used to be possible to make savings by booking early, but this seems to have reversed recently. Maybe BF is being over-optimistic about its ships being full at peak periods following P&O's cutbacks? Anyway, the last few trips we have booked have actually reduced in price, albeit slightly, nearer the departure time. So it may be worth taking a chance on August bookings and leaving them a bit later.

I'm not excusing what look like high charges, but you do have to bear in mind that the expensive crossings usually include a cabin, which you don't get with the fast craft such as those operated by Speedferries and Condor, so depending on length of journey you may have to take hotel accommodation into account as well as any extra motorway tolls, fuel, wear and tear, time etc. Also by the time some of the the St Malo fast craft have called at Guernsey and/or Jersey the crossing is rather less fast, so check the schedules to see whether or not you are going direct.

[cathyb]

if you can book Tues-Tues it is cheaper - I was just quoted £300 for P'mth Ch'bg for a 4 week stay end july into august which is cheaper than the one quoted for the whitsun break.