# Brittany Ferries Ports'-St Malo is it cheaper to book ahead?



## DavyS (Jan 10, 2009)

Planning our first foreign holiday - Brittany in Sept. 
I've looked at the Brittany Ferries website and it appears that return fares are no cheaper than singles so will be buying the return when we are ready to return.
Does anybody know if BF are like the Chunnel - i.e. the fare gets dramatically more expensive the less notice you give?


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

We've not found that with the tunnel or the ferries. We don't usually book a return as we don't always know where we will be when we decide to go home. 

What we have found is that prices on the actual dockside or terminal are more expensive on the day you want to travel if you simply turn up and ask them to take you away. If you can book online a few days before you travel, then they are the same as the ones you see now for that date. Even booking on the phone a few days beforehand put the price up. It has to be online.

G


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## Jeryatrick (May 4, 2013)

*brittany ferries*

hiya, best prices for my gang to date (car only so far} join the club for discounted fares if applicable for m/homes. pricing tends to be relative to time of year and days of week etc plus time of day,peak periods are expensive you might like to study colour coded guide on b/f booking form for best price. (shades of green in boxes}
you can go through the booking motions and try all variants e.g caen 
day time or o/night . cabins always seem to be booked early.
regards pete


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Use our Club number - that will give you a 10% discount; F85632

welcome to use that - we give it to our gite guests so they can get a discount, does make a difference, but generally book early for BF - they do tend to get booked up and it becomes harder. We generally have a cabin overnight so we arrive at St Malo by about 8.00am for a leisurely drive down through France.

Have fun, happy to give advice if you need it,

Dave


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## wug (May 19, 2011)

BF operate what's called Dynamic Pricing, I believe. So the price may fluctuate according to demand etc. It may be higher, or even, lower at the actual time of booking. Some people say to delete cookies when pricing fares as the cookie will remember your last quote.


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## DavyS (Jan 10, 2009)

*Re: brittany ferries*



Jeryatrick said:


> cabins always seem to be booked early.
> regards pete


Pete, you are dead right, I have just looked and 2-berth cabins for the mid and end Sept weekday sailings which are my preferred are alread sold out!
Dont know if I can convince Mrs to sleep in a seat! I might have to sleep in the doghouse!


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

I tried sleeping in a reclining seat on a ferry once,

NEVER EVER AGAIN 

If all of the cabins are sold out then go for a different sailing/day/company as all you will manage is to dose fitfully and then spend the next couple of days "catching up" on your sleep. Simply not worth it in my view


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## DavyS (Jan 10, 2009)

Mrplodd said:


> I tried sleeping in a reclining seat on a ferry once,
> 
> NEVER EVER AGAIN


Mr Plodd, I am sure you are right and Mrs D would agree with you. 
But its a funny thing; every year tens of millions of people fly longhaul and sleep in their seats. Yet ask someone to sleep in a ferry lounge reclining seat and no way. Despite the fact that in a ferry you have not been sitting in that one place for hours before trying to sleep and you can get up and stretch, go for a walk or even go outside for fresh air (try doing that on an airliner and see how the cabin staff react!).
Cabins are undoubtable better, but at my age I now sleep poorly. An overheated stuffy cabin with strange ship noises, worrying about when need to get up to be in time and worrying about the first continental motorhome driving experience the next day .... I wouldnt expect to sleep much. I think I am talking myself into a day crossing - but hardly practical to Brittany.


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

DavyS said:


> An overheated stuffy cabin with strange ship noises, worrying about when need to get up to be in time and worrying about the first continental motorhome driving experience the next day .... I wouldnt expect to sleep much. I think I am talking myself into a day crossing - but hardly practical to Brittany.


From experience of many of the longer ferry crossings you are more likely to be cold than hot. They air-conditioning is usually very effective...especially in winter.

You're unlikely to be able to oversleep. There are announcements reminding you that you are on the final approach and then that you can go to your vehicle. Well before all that, on some ferries, the cleaner wants to throw you out so they can clean your cabin. It's in their interests to make sure you're in your van and ready to drive off so there is no chance of your missing the calls.

Yes the noises are strange but no stranger than the people around you on their reclining seat snoring and talking and their movement all through the night.

Make sure you have ear-marked somewhere close to the port so that, if you have had a wretched night, you can go straight there and get your head down or sleep overnight. There are plenty of places on MHF.

G


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## Easyriders (May 16, 2011)

We agree with Grizzly about the tunnel, we don't find a dramatic price hike nearer the date of travel, but we are flexible and just look for the cheapest deal at a reasonably convenient time, and as Grizzly says, it is essential to book online a few days before.

We always book just one way now, and book the return online when we are ready to head home. We don't lose out by not booking months in advance, but it might be different if you are forced to travel at popular times in school holidays.

That's the great thing about MHing, you can be flexible and just move on or head home (or off) whenever you feel like it (so long, of course, as you don't have to go to work!)


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Joining the club for BF is only economical if you use the routes about 4 or 5 times a year. the initial joining fee for French membership is £75 and £60 annual membership and for Spain it is £100 and £100 respectively;

http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/club-voyage-travel-club/join

the discounts that the full member gets are UP to 30% but rarely do we seem to get that rate and usually it is much less than that......

if you use someone else's number you always get 10£ of all trips unless you are a gite owner that they rent out when you get a higher discount BUT their fees as a gite owner for advertising your property are VERY high as they take a large % of every booking - hence unless you are going to use it regularly it is better to use someone else's rather than joining yourself IMO........

I do agree the reclining chairs are not the way to cross the channel - they are noisy with children crying and often cold, I sleep but MrsW does not........

Cabins are the way to cross as you can sleep well, if we are doing a Spanish route we pay the extra for the outside crossing as the view is great, but on the French ones we do not as we are sleeping and it is night anyway.

Dave


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## wug (May 19, 2011)

The 30% (on the Spanish routes) are only on the Ferry Cost, not on the cabins or for dog kennels. You also get £7.90 allowance on breakfast and 10% off meals (min. spend £15).

So the more you travel the more you save, especially after the first year. But even on just one trip a year to Spain you can save money, after year 1. Or you can use someone else's number for a 10% saving as mentioned above.


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