Western Channel ferry fares

[Will]

Brittany Ferries' fares are a constant source of discussion on this, and other forums. We would urge all of those who have complained about these in the past to look at the current offers from the other Western Channel carriers.

LD Lines took over the former P&O Portsmouth/Le Havre route last year. At first its fares were close to those of BF - in some cases they were even dearer, despite having only one ship, not initially particularly suitable for the route, so it could not offer anything like as frequent or comfortable a service.  Although the timetable has not changed, the ship has been gradually improved in terms of facilities and, best of all, passenger fares have mostly plummeted, to the extent that they are able to rival Speedferries for overall cost for those who have to travel longer distances to/from Dover and Boulogne. You will find some examples within this forum, and please check at www.ldlines.com.

The other well-kept secret on the western channel is Transmanche. This French local authority controlled service between Newhaven and Dieppe was launched primarily for freight, as was the LD Lines service, but also offers a reasonably frequent timetable, a comparatively short crossing, and highly competitive passenger fares. With one brand new ship just entering service, and another being built, many of the former reliability and safety issues should have been addressed. Although the company still lacks a functioning web site, you can find information, get quotes, and book crossings at www.aferryto.com.

I think it important that anybody who has complained about Brittany Ferries' prices supports these two carriers. LD Lines in particular has really been listening to its passengers and potential passengers. I will probably personally still use BF, because its timetable, comfort (though that is highly debatable in terms of its latest acquisition, the Pont l'Abbé) and location of ports suits me best, but despite what some say that doesn't make me a BF apologist. Quite the contrary, I welcome valid competition, which can only serve to force BF to maintain its standards and improve value for money.

I have just come from reading another forum, where there had been an interesting debate about LD Lines vs Brittany Ferries, which has been removed from the forum. I don't know why this should have been, but we are determined to encourage the smaller carriers on the Western Channel to provide real competition, and in order to do this we must encourage people to try them out. So there will be no question of censorship here - as long as posts respect the forum code of conduct. LD Lines and Transmanche deserve to succeed and flourish, because if they do they may attract fresh competition to routes such as those to Cherbourg, Caen, St Malo and Roscoff.

 

[Brilec]

I just wish Transmanche would not be so secretive.

They are also, at least for the trip I checked up on, more expensive than LD Lines. I would prefer the shorter crossing time though, 6.5 hours is a bit much.

 

[Lizzie15]

Do all the other ferries try and turf you out of your cabin half an hour before you dock and then keep you hanging around for up to an hour afterwards on the stairs waiting to go down to the car decks? I like BF ferries ( I have crossed this particular stretch of water hundreds of times in the last decade or so!) , the food on the Bretagne is very good, the others not especially.The cabins are fine BUT why throw us out with no-where to go?? I know all about time constraints - maybe they need to allow more for this- the cost is quite high enough already without adding any more to allow for extra cleaning crew!!![N]

[La Guerriere]

The latest hilarity on the Western Channel is BF's stopgap tub the Pont L'Abbe (ex Dana Anglia ex Duck of Scandanavia) running (at the moment) Portsmouth - Cherbourg, which will probably do more damage to BF's image than anything.....

[Russethouse]

Lizzie, I'm sorry, BF can call me until they are blue in the face, if it doesn't suit me to leave I stay put in my cabin until it does....as you say it costs enough......

What drives me nuts is seeing the guy who decided on the full English 5 minutes before docking, be the person delaying half the ship disembarking because he is last (and usually driving a Volvo ! sorry Volvo owners))

[daryl-et-elaine]

Interestingly, if you go to LD Lines on-line bookings they now appear to be handled by an agent. I've just experimented with a booking via LD Lines going out in April with a return in late May. Cost for the return trip - £95.00. Using the same site I also made a sample booking for the same dates but travelling to Caen with Brittany Ferries. The cost - £100 MORE than if you booked direct with BF!!!!

Beware!!!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="daryl-et-elaine"]

Interestingly, if you go to LD Lines

on-line bookings they now appear to be handled by an agent. I've

just experimented with a booking via LD Lines going out in April with a

return in late May. Cost for the return trip - £95.00. Using the

same site I also made a sample booking for the same dates but

travelling to Caen with Brittany Ferries. The cost - £100 MORE than if

you booked direct with BF!!!!

Beware!!!

[/quote]

BF are making quite a big thing about this sort of thing on their

website at the mo. I've said this before about the airlines - it is

always worth checking with the "big brands" and taking with a big pinch

of salt anyone claiming that they are the "low fare" provider. The same

holds true for the ferries. But I really wish there was more

competition in the Western Channel.

[Will]

I totally agree. If cost is important then it is always well worth getting quotes from different places - different booking agents as well as different companies. Special offer fares are usually limited, once a quota has been exceeded for a particular crossing then the fare will revert to normal prices. LD Lines has always used the aferry.to booking engine for its Le Havre service, so there is not much opportunity for variation there. But it is always worth trying the booking agents for Brittany Ferries and the like. Most of the time it will cost the same, or maybe slightly cheaper, to book direct. But sometimes unused places in block advance bookings are offloaded through the discount ferry sites. That applies particularly to summer weekend fares, which may have been booked for gite or campsite packages. There won't be a big saving, but it should be worthwhile.