The whole ferry booking scene is, IMO, a fiasco. Once upon a time you sent off for the brochures, studied them and did a comparison of routes/times and found the best bargain. When you arrived at the ferry terminal you could even swap between ferry operators and simply go on the next crossing as all the companies operated a cartel. Nowadays, all that has stopped and brochures no longer even give prices, It seems that they operate a variable charge, depending on take-up on any particular crossing. If the 6:00am crossing from Dover to Calais on 4th June is running empty on the day you make your booking, the price is bargain basement. If someone else makes the same booking a few days later but, by now, the take-up is running high, the price rockets. This means that two similar families, with identical outfits, can be on the same crossing but with one family having paid anything up to double what the other family paid. This makes a nonsense of the pricing structure. I appreciate that ferry operators have to respond to 'supply and demand' but it really hurts when you know you have been taken for a ride - in more than the usual meaning of the phrase. The two main clubs are given block bookings to sell on to members but if you manage to make a direct booking at a 'slack' time you can find yourself making a big saving over the club quote. I think it is a pity that neither the various magazines nor the two main caravan/camping clubs have done much, over the years, to put the ferry operators under pressure to get the pricing structure sorted out. I have to take my annual trip to France during school holidays and, for various reasons, I have to travel at sensible time (no 4:30am trips for me). I am annoyed that every year I am taken not only to France, but always via the cleaners.
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