Buying Irish Ferries tickets to France

2rkehij30qtza5

Can anyone tell me typically WHEN the cheapest time to buy is?
We need to sail to Roscoff. Either from Cork or from Rosslare but ideally with Irish Ferries to Rosslare as we need to arrive on a Saturday. But we are open to options. Will be sailing next July.
The prices are very steep. Do Irish Ferries do sales? Will the prices go up between now and July or will they run out of cabins early? Just basically wondering if I book now will I regret it and see a sale on later in the year or early next year? Thanks

zagmund

I think a Saturday in July is probably *the most expensive* time you can choose to go, so I'm not sure you are going to get anything in the way of savings. Irish Ferries occasionally do send out offers in their emails, so you could sign up there and see what come back. As the man says in the ad on the radio - "when they're gone, they're gone" so I wouldn't hold out waiting for cabins to get cheaper. When they're gone, they're gone.

One thing you could consider - save the cost of the cabin by taking the reserved seating instead. I did that one year with Celtic Link and it was fine. In this case I sent the rest of the family on by plane (cheap tickets available in a sale) and met them there. I'm not sure we saved loads of money, but given that one of them didn't like sailing (and I got peace & quiet) it worked out well all round.

If your requirement is to arrive on a Saturday because you are booking a campsite through one of the big agencies who only do Sat-Sat then consider contacting the campsite directly by email and asking them to quote for different days. We did that last year and got a much, much better rate. I think we saved something like €400 for a 10 day booking.

z

2rkehij30qtza5

UPDATE FIRST:
(Update) so I phoned them and I can honestly say I've never experienced worse customer service. There was a laymdy whose first language was clearly not English on the other end of the phone and I literally could hardly understand her. She mentioned something about emails (couldn't quite understand) and I asked her how I sign up for them or if she could sign me up and she said she didn't know how to or how I could!!! So bottom line, their customer service is brutal..don't ring them if you need a clear answer! (end of update)


Thanks so much for your reply. Can't really book seats on the ferry as we have very young kids. Reason we need to arrive on a Saturday is cos we are limited to the dates we can take holidays due to a family wedding. I might ring Irish Ferries and see if they will tell me if there will be any discounts or deals coming up. I'll update this thread if they tell me there is.

P. Breathnach

I got an email from Irish Ferries just a small number of days ago telling me that if I book early I will get 10% off; I didn't keep it. I think that before the end of this year is the best time to book.

If you want to be put on their mailing list, you can register on their website. Click on the "Special Offers" tab and you find the option to sign up for emails notifying you of offers.

Yes, you are stuck with the most expensive season - that's the price of parenthood.

Brittany Ferries is almost always more expensive than Irish Ferries.

mattthemiller

Carter Prehistoric Sandalwood wrote: »

Can anyone tell me typically WHEN the cheapest time to buy is?
We need to sail to Roscoff. Either from Cork or from Rosslare but ideally with Irish Ferries to Rosslare as we need to arrive on a Saturday. But we are open to options. Will be sailing next July.
The prices are very steep. Do Irish Ferries do sales? Will the prices go up between now and July or will they run out of cabins early? Just basically wondering if I book now will I regret it and see a sale on later in the year or early next year? Thanks

You should try to go with Celtic Link Ferries. I went with them last year. Ship was not as big but the people on board were lovely. They go from Rosslare to Cherbourg

This video is from their website!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lCiu0JaKLVs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

gandalf

You are going peak season so you are going to pay a premium. Typically the earlier you book the better the price. Based on my previous experience Irish Ferries is a far better ship to travel on if you have young children. However Celtic Link have changed their ship and I will be travelling on it over Christmas as Irish Ferries are not travelling over that period so we will see if its improved.

The one feature that I love about Irish Ferries is that you can pay a deposit of a €100 and then pay the rest off around two months before travelling.

I agree with you on their telephone lines their reps aren't the best. However based on my previous experiences between Irish Ferries and Celtic Link their onboard services levels are poles apart with Irish Ferries well on top.

2rkehij30qtza5

Well I managed to get a 10% off code from a friend thankfully and booked Irish Ferries for €850 incl car and cabin.
We paid €150 upfront and have another 8 months to pay the balance.
We will be stating close to Roscoff so there was no point looking at Celtic Link as they come into Cherbourg and we would have lost any savings on fuel and tolls

P. Breathnach

Just a small point of interest to travel anoraks: you would indeed have a fuel cost between Cherbourg and a destination close to Roscoff, but there are no tolls. Because of a quirk in French law (I gather it is connected with the union of Brittany and France) there are no toll roads in Brittany.

2rkehij30qtza5

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Just a small point of interest to travel anoraks: you would indeed have a fuel cost between Cherbourg and a destination close to Roscoff, but there are no tolls. Because of a quirk in French law (I gather it is connected with the union of Brittany and France) there are no toll roads in Brittany.

Never knew this!
Nonetheless we also have two toddlers so a shorter drive seemed more appealing to me!
The code I used was FRANCEC13 by the way for 10% off. Mods please remove code if it's not allowed to be posted. Not sure when code expires.

P. Breathnach

I am sure that you will not be surprised to learn that food on board ship is quite expensive; they also try to avoid giving you free drinking water.

Some passengers bring food with them. I get the impression that it is mostly French people who do that, and possibly other non-Irish passengers (I suspect the persistence of Celtic Tiger attitudes, where many Irish people don't want to look like cheapskates). With four of you to feed, it is probably worth your while looking like cheapskates, and keeping your cash to pay for fun things to do in France.

Mind you, it might be a bit of a project to bring from the car an overnight bag, a food bag, and a collection of things to keep the children and yourselves occupied for the duration of the voyage!

zagmund

The big canteen-type restaurant on Irish Ferries was reasonable when I ate there. It was certainly more or less in the same league as the Celtic Link equivalent - I *think* it might have been €10-€12 for your basic main course meat & veg meal. Not cheap, but not unduly expensive.

Their burger/steak place was a different thing entirely though - went there with #1 son on the way over to France and after "a steak and a burger with no trimmings" we were down to the tune of something like €40 or more. I could see how sitting down there with two parents and two kids, having a couple of cokes, some sides, a dessert or two, a glass of wine, etc . . . would set you back over €100. Not cheap for what is effectively just a quick meal to tide you over.

By way of contrast I reckon you could feed & water the 4 in the other restaurant for €60.

z

[edit] thanks to the link below I now remember it was a steak, a caesar salad and probably a coffee & a coke and not in fact a burger.

P. Breathnach

zagmund wrote: »

...a quick meal to tide you over....

Nice choice of language for discussing meals on board ship!

munchkin_utd

thanks for the tip there zagmund, will be travelling with Irish Ferries at christmas with wife and 2 kids so will know to investigate the options before committing to eating on one place rather than another.

We will have a heap of food with us anyhow in case the kids have the munchies but I fear that with the arrival time of 3.30 the only sensible option is to relent and grab lunch onboard, if only a late full Irish breakfast.

an example of the steak restaurant's menu is actually online here: http://www.irishferries.com/images/pdf/steakhouse-english-110627.pdf and here the table service restaurant http://www.irishferries.com/images/pdf/berneval-menus-en-2011-1.pdf
Both are from 2011 if I see it right so options and prices are likely to have changed in the meantime, but from both you can see that you might end up spending as much in the restaurant as the ferry journey if you're not careful

Getting back on topic, the irish ferries option of paying only 100euro and the balance 40 days before travelling is a brilliant idea though and something that could tip the balance for many people when the alternative Celtic link looks for full payment up front and is often much the same price as Irish Ferries.

bbam

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Celtic link looks for full payment up front and is often much the same price as Irish Ferries.

We booked our June 2013 trip two weeks ago and saved near €400 with Celtic link. Well, when I say "we" I actually mean "herself" booked it..
The general restraunt on the Irish Ferries crossing is good and very reasonable. Brittany Ferries has a lower standard of food and is very expensive..

mattthemiller

Booked with Celtic Link Ferries a few times. Good prices and nice service. This pic just came off their FB page

mattthemiller

Well that aint a good sign the pic did not work :-(

gandalf

gandalf wrote: »

You are going peak season so you are going to pay a premium. Typically the earlier you book the better the price. Based on my previous experience Irish Ferries is a far better ship to travel on if you have young children. However Celtic Link have changed their ship and I will be travelling on it over Christmas as Irish Ferries are not travelling over that period so we will see if its improved.

Just coming back to this. We travelled with Celtic Link on the new ship over Christmas and it is bigger with a larger restaurant and more bar space. Can't really comment on the quality of the food as the crossings were so rough 2 of the 3 of us spent their time puking in the jacks. It is still a far bit away from the quality of additional facilities on Irish Ferries.

Unfortunately the cabin wasn't the cleanest. They still have you queuing to get your key for around half an hour after embarking whereas you receive your key card when you check in at the ferry port with Irish Ferries. They also do not have lifts from the main car decks so if you have a buggy you have to haul it up the stairs. The staff are still as unfriendly as ever.

Again if I had a choice I would book Irish Ferries over Celtic Link unless there was a serious (over €100) difference in costs which typically is not the case.

BB8740

Hi, I booked Irish Ferries last October for our annual June sailing to France paying €503 euro which included 10% discount as we sail every year with them. Last week I went on their website and found out the exact same sailing is now €436 with no discount. Very disappointed with this and obviously early booking does not have its advantages, also bearing in mind that they have my €100 deposit since last October.

Also at this moment Celtic Link are only €360 for their sailing which is still less that the balance I owe IF so am considering just not paying the balance and booking with the opposition, only saving €40 but better in my pocket than in IF.