Ferry Prices

[Spinneyclose3]

Hi All
I travel to France twice a year , living in Bournemouth and using Poole as a port is great but the prices are so high. yes I could travel to Dover for the cheaper fare ok but on you door step from Poole via CCM its £441.00 inc 2 dogs + wife. yet going to Dover it's a bind towing a caravan, having to get to the port so early to get a ferry to get down through france the same day. also the extra cost of fuel getting there and back it all mounts up to those that don't have it all !!
Thats my gripe why don't ferry companies offer cheaper price at other place rather than dover the other ports must be Quids in
What if the ferries were not used my caravaners and moterhomes would that affect the costs ?? it works both ways
Gripe over happy holidays to all

 

[VicMallows]

Out of curiosity I was looking at the fares to Ireland the other day. Typically £250-£300 each way with small caravan for a 4hr crossing. That makes the long crossings to Spain at around £350 (including a very nice outside cabin) seem positively good value :dry:

It does amaze me just how good the ferry companies are at filling the ships to capacity, so have to conclude they know very accurately just how much they can charge. At least (on the Spanish crossings anyway) the variance between the cheapest fare (usually booked early) and last-minute is not massive, and seldom exceeds about £60. Not like the incredible variations you can get with low-cost airlines.

 

[Montrose]

Hi to Spinney,
How can you compare the two routes, operationally wise ? One - Dover - is a high frequency, multi operator service. Yours - Poole - is not the same by any means - frequency or operation. They are not comparible in service, journey times or vessel types. You must have heard the commercial decision before - 'charge what the market will bear'. I am sure Brittany Ferries would have long gone from Poole if their earnings were not acceptable from Poole. Now, I don't personally like the long haul M6/M1 and the dreaded M25 on my journey, I have only ever done Dover the once (and last time) preferring the more expensive but far more accessible North Sea options. I have done Poole also just the once but six hours M6/M1/A34 does not compare with a 2hr journey along the M62, which after Leeds is very pleasant and not busy at all. However, as in lots of things of life, you takes your pick of what suits you best.

 

[Pursuitpaul]

We live just north of Bath, and want to get to southern Normandy.
Choice of route.
Bath, Dover Calais southern Normandy equals about 450 miles of towing plus ferry. So a lot of time & petrol

Bath, Poole, 70 miles, Cherbourg, southern Normandy 80 mile.

So the Poole /Cherbourg route wins if you add up the total for fuel and ferry plus travelling time!
Each to his own though!

 

[Craigyoung]

Hi all ,
Funnly enough we have been doing the same, we've been working out our prices for 2o19 as we would love to get back to France . But the rising costs are putting us off as we live up in the northeast & it is a few mile down to Dover and we have been pricing Brittany which is another 375 mile or 7 hours if we do the ferry, the ferry comes in cheaper than the tunnel this time by £80 to Calais but then a 7 hour drive to Brittany or if we went Portsmouth to Caen that is £900 overnight but then 4 hour drive to where we want to be plus fuel costs.
When we went away before to the Dordogne and even the time before that we paid less than £4oo for 2 weeks . It has more than doubled or more in price unfortunately .
I know I have no choice with having the kids so we are governed to do any holidaying in the six weeks time.
But by time we have added all this together it comes out quite a bit and yesterday found 14 nights for Crete 4 £2ooo which has been booked ! B)
I still love my caravan though !!

 

[RayS]

Living in Somerset have done the same sums, particularly since OH is not greatly fond of sea trips and prefeers Eurotunnel , But the sheer hassle of A303 M3 Guildford and hten M20 to Folkestons takes all the relaxation out of the holiday. The return Folkestone to Wincanton trip one took us 14 hours.
BF have a very high occupancy rate even off season and I suspect have be profiting from some passengers wishing to avoid any trouble round Calais plus the motorway s our side.
It depends on you destination but for west coast of France en route to Spain we now use Plymouth Roscoff outbound as portsmouth and Plymouth are about equidistant but a much more relaxed drive tp Plymouth ( Poole crossing does not have overnight service outbound)
If you make two trips a year it may be worth joining the BF travel Club which gives a 30% discount on ferry but not on cabins and has a joinging fee and annual fee. I caluclated we broke even first year and have saved overall subsequently,