2011 ferry discounts ??

[ringo]

Ta.

Thinking of going over to France after the bashtie - £480 return from Plymouth! Think i will be re-thinking that one......

Ringo

[slowcoach]

we are looking into th santander ferry, which seems to be just brittany ferries.

we have a poptop/virtually a tintop profile actually. do you guys put it in as a motorhome on the classification? or is like a car.. just a big one?

[T'Onion]

what does it say on YOUR V5 , cos thats what you will get away with . If it states motor-caravan or the like then that's what you will have to book it on as.
I would always book it on as a motorhome to save messing about and getting turned away at the ferry terminal and losing my money

[anaconda]

we are looking into th santander ferry, which seems to be just brittany ferries.

we have a poptop/virtually a tintop profile actually. do you guys put it in as a motorhome on the classification? or is like a car.. just a big one?

Take a look at P&O they do a run from the south coast to Bilbao.

[anaconda]

Were Camping in the Loire valley and then the Atlantic coast so will avoid the Calais routes as we'd prefer to be closer to our destination. It also measn we can avoid the M25 which is a right pain. LD lines, Condor and Brittany are all up on price from last year,Condor by quite a lot. The best Ive been quoted peak season is £227 Newhaven to Dieppe with LD Lines. I reckon we'll go with that.

[trebormint]

Hello guys,
I'm having the same problem finding a reasonable price for the crossing from Portsmouth to Le Havre. So far LD seems better than Brittany, but still asking £569 for our T25 hi-top c/w bike rack three passengers & a 4-berth cabin for the outbound crossing in august. A 5% discount is available through the C&C club.

[horns]

Take a look at P&O they do a run from the south coast to Bilbao.

Not any more they don't. Brittany Ferries are taking over the route, though, starting in march this year or so.

It's going to be expensive, though - P&O gave up the route because it was unprofitable, presumably Brittany are going to have to charge a lot to make it worthwhile. I searched a couple of random dates the other day and got a return price of about £500. For that money I think I'd rather drive down.

[anaconda]

Take a look at P&O they do a run from the south coast to Bilbao.

Not any more they don't. Brittany Ferries are taking over the route, though, starting in march this year or so.

It's going to be expensive, though - P&O gave up the route because it was unprofitable, presumably Brittany are going to have to charge a lot to make it worthwhile. I searched a couple of random dates the other day and got a return price of about £500. For that money I think I'd rather drive down.

Agreed. Ive never even considered the Santander/Bilbao option. Id rather drive down and get the benefit of actually being in France. Ita can be a nice drive, and so many great stop offs.

[anaconda]

Hello guys,
I'm having the same problem finding a reasonable price for the crossing from Portsmouth to Le Havre. So far LD seems better than Brittany, but still asking £569 for our T25 hi-top c/w bike rack three passengers & a 4-berth cabin for the outbound crossing in august. A 5% discount is available through the C&C club.

The Newhaven/Dieppe LD route is cheaper, esp as its a daytime crossing. The Le Havre route used to include a daytime crossing. It might be worth giving LD Lines a call to see if the daytime sail is going ahead in 2011. It'll be cheaper if only cos you dont need a cabin. We're in a tip top so that may make a difference in price too

[rhm]

Hi Guys, Im not gassed up so for my money Id go eurotunnel every time. Bit of a numpty last year tho cos I booked direct and paid a big premium of about £250 return for late July early Aug. School holidays eh, what a ripoff. Used ferrysavers.com this year, and got the return costs down to £169, compares very well with the £155 quoted for seafrance dover-calais. The missus gets queasy in a rowing boat on the norfolk broads so for me, the Chunnel is so much easier allround.

[Louey]

Agreed. Ive never even considered the Santander/Bilbao option. Id rather drive down and get the benefit of actually being in France. Ita can be a nice drive, and so many great stop offs.

I'm trying to persuade the wife that this is the sensible option for both there and back (she wants to get the ferry one way at least)

[horizontal kipper]

just been messing about with crossing times Dover Dunkerque with norfolk line (dfds) going out on thur 28th july at 8am coming back on fri 12th august 2pm two adults one four year old in a westy joker poptop comes out at £70. If i take the trailer (tiny westie one) it works out £120 Think ill load the roof bag up then remember to take it off and dump it in the van for the crossing this time.

[trebormint]

The Newhaven/Dieppe LD route is cheaper, esp as its a daytime crossing. The Le Havre route used to include a daytime crossing. It might be worth giving LD Lines a call to see if the daytime sail is going ahead in 2011. It'll be cheaper if only cos you dont need a cabin. We're in a tip top so that may make a difference in price too[/quote]

Thanks for that advice, it does work out cheaper at £296.00 but we're 2.5 hrs drive to Newhaven & only 20mins to Portsmouth. I also have to consider the convenience of arriving in France at 8 in the morning if we sail from Portsmouth the previous evening. We would get a good days driving in & get to our first camp site in daylight.
It does seem to be the same old story....convenience costs! I'll probably go with what suits us best & not get too hung up on the price.

[anaconda]

Thanks for that advice, it does work out cheaper at £296.00 but we're 2.5 hrs drive to Newhaven & only 20mins to Portsmouth. I also have to consider the convenience of arriving in France at 8 in the morning if we sail from Portsmouth the previous evening. We would get a good days driving in & get to our first camp site in daylight.
It does seem to be the same old story....convenience costs! I'll probably go with what suits us best & not get too hung up on the price

.[/quote]


Indeed, convenience is well worth paying for, obviously within reason. Were coming down from merseyside so the southern ports are all a fair old distance away. like you we try to sail to a French port which isnt too far from our destination. Generally this means we avoid Dover/Calais as most places are easier to get to from western ports(and as mentioned it means we can avoid the grim M25!).

Once weve picked a couple of sites we'll book the ferry, probably to Dieppe. Were looking at Camping Monsabert and Azay Le Rideau, both in the Loire area. Where you headed?

[anaconda]

Hi Guys, Im not gassed up so for my money Id go eurotunnel every time. Bit of a numpty last year tho cos I booked direct and paid a big premium of about £250 return for late July early Aug. School holidays eh, what a ripoff. Used ferrysavers.com this year, and got the return costs down to £169, compares very well with the £155 quoted for seafrance dover-calais. The missus gets queasy in a rowing boat on the norfolk broads so for me, the Chunnel is so much easier allround.

If she cant stand boats then thats the end of it I guess. The only issue ive got with Calais is that it takes at least two hours driving to get anywhere interesting. Its the only part of France which I reckon is dull. Having said that if I lived where you do it would make sense to go via Dover and just drive to wherever. No point heading for portsmouth etc from where you are.