Request: Tips on Ferry to France Deal

Muggins

I'm hoping to take my car and family to France at the end of July returning in early August but am getting quotes of around 1000 Euros. I realize that this is a supply and demand issue but has anyone got experience of getting a better deal or travelling through England to make this a little more affordable ? I can leave from either Rosslare or Cork.
Fergal

solice

we used to go on family holidays in france and spain, got the ferry across. one year we decided to go landbridge and went roslare - pembroke and folkstone to callais (channel tunnel). it worked out cheaper for the actual journey, cost of transport and stuff than it would have if we got the ferry direct from cork to roscoff.

but

we had to overnight it in swansea on the way (awkward time with the ferry from roslare), price of petrol in the UK at the time was expensive and calais is further north than you would expect. total price worked out pretty much the same, time though was a huge factor. it took alot longer to go landbridge.

but it all depends on your destination in france. where do u plan on staying when in france?

Muggins

Heading to a Yoga Festival near Blois (Tours / LeMans area). So arriving in Cherbourg, Caen or St. Malo or Roscoff would be probably be fine. If I timed it right I was hoping that we could overnight on the Ferry between England and France.

solice

at the most the ferry from england to france is four hours i would say (thats at the very most). not really overnighting it

penexpers

Depending on how many there it could work out cheaper to fly over to Paris and rent a car out.

Years ago, I went landbridge except took the ferry from Felixstowe to Oostende in Belgium. This was a seven hour trip so we overnighted on the ferry which was handy in the end. Not sure of it worked out cheaper or not. Alas that route was scrapped by P&O about 2/3 years ago and I'm not sure if anyone does it anymore.

Muggins

It seems that there are some ferries from England to France that take 9 or even 12 hours at night to cross but it seems like it's almost a wash in terms of pricing from my initial poking around online. I'm gonna try calling around to see if there's any deals to be had on LandBridge packages but flying is a non-starter with an infant and camping gear in tow.

randomfella

rosslare - cherbourg is how i went recently. Takes a good 24 hours while our first crossing took nearly 30 hours due to storms (during winter).

John R

The cheapest way across is by seafrance or P&O Dover - Calais. It is also the quickest bar the tunnel at 70mns crossing time. You can get fares as low as £40 each way but like the airlines they are limited to certain sailing times and need to be booked early.

Ireland - UK can be done for €100 each way, I recently saw an offer for that from Irish Ferries.

skibum

Have you got children traveling with you? If not then Landbridge is faster, but a lot of driving and if you have the little darlings in the back be prepared for a head wrecking
Also the Irish Ferries ship the "Normandy" is a bit of an old rust bucket, next time we are going to cough up the extra few bob and go with Brittany ferries on the "Pont aven"

parsi

During high season the prices for Irish Ferries and Brittany Ferries are nearly identical and the BF ship is much much better than the Normandy..and it's faster.

Muggins

I've opted to go on Irish Ferries Rosslare-Cherbourg (450 Euros) and come back on Brittany Ferries Roscoff-Cork (650 Euros). Not inexpensive but I will hopefully be more organized the next time and book earlier. I decided to heed the sage advice above and spare my little daughter (and my sanity) from the trek across England. I'll be able to get a chance to compare the 2 services though I suspect that I'm gonna be underwhelmed by the Irish Ferries experience. Thanks again for all the advice.

parsi

booking early makes no real difference - its the time you go. When we first went to France a few years ago we did get an early booking discount but that has gone by the wayside in later years...

solice

hope u enjoy the holiday