Brittany Ferries Motorcycle Tours.

cjs748

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Can anyone offer any feedback on Brittany Ferries tours ? Quite like the look of some of the Spain tours.
 
they are just booking you a ferry & hotels - e.g. 4 nights in Normandy is £670 for 2 people B&B, including a day crossing

they list the hotels for each trip so it should be easy to work out if it is better value to book the trip yourself - I suspect it would be...
 
As Wessie says, the company has already provided you with a basic map (good enough to work out which roads they probably take) and will book your hotels / crossings for you. If you want to do nothing more, book yourself onto the jaunt.
 
The tours look very gentle with relatively small mileages - I would say ideal for introducing a life-partner to continental touring since the hotels are high-quality.

The more adventurous can book any hotels from the very extensive Brittany Ferries list and combine with a ferry. There was a recent offer of 20% off the whole trip if one booked a minimum of 3 nights + ferry, which saved me £200.
 
We had a chat with them at the NEC Bike Show.

If you book the tour with them and get the 20% discount for booking early, it isn't any more expensive - and might actually be slightly cheaper - than booking the ferry crossing and hotels separately. At least, they did according to our rough mental calculations and comparisons with our trips using Paradores over the previous couple of years.

There would have to be some positive benefit for me to book a tour like that, not lest because if you book the accommodation separately you can at least change your itinerary onthe hoof if you want (as we did this June when a stay in the pyrenees would have meant serious cold and sleet/snow).

But for a first time trip to Spain or someone wanting a little extra security, I wouldn't knock the package.
 
Like Quinten, having chatted with the guys at the NEC & checked out the itineries, I reckon it's a fair deal as an introduction to touring. Accepted. the hardened touring enthusast might seek something more demanding, but for a pleasant holiday with a simple one-stop booking process, the BF deal seems perfectly OK.

I just wish there was some meaningful competition on the Spanish route. There was talk of LD Lines running UK & Eire to Gijon under the Motorways of the Sea scheme (aimed at reducing overland vehicular traffic through the Spanish border & onwards into France & the UK), but this all seems to have been forgotten - or maybe it will be resurrected in the event that we actually reach Brexit velocity?
 
Like Quinten, having chatted with the guys at the NEC & checked out the itineries, I reckon it's a fair deal as an introduction to touring. Accepted. the hardened touring enthusast might seek something more demanding, but for a pleasant holiday with a simple one-stop booking process, the BF deal seems perfectly OK.

I just wish there was some meaningful competition on the Spanish route. There was talk of LD Lines running UK & Eire to Gijon under the Motorways of the Sea scheme (aimed at reducing overland vehicular traffic through the Spanish border & onwards into France & the UK), but this all seems to have been forgotten - or maybe it will be resurrected in the event that we actually reach Brexit velocity?

I started looking for some travel dates in mid June 2019 and most sailings seem to be fully booked already, so maybe there is room for a competitor at some times of the year but lots of risks - LD has had trouble before on the Le Havre route as they did not have the fleet flexibility if a ship went out of service so loads of customers end up with a cancellation. Not so bad on the Channel as you can get across on another route via a "code share" arrangement. Not the same over Biscay as limited options.

Not sure about the profits BF are making but if they have several ferries already full then that is a lot of deposit cash they have in the bank up front which really helps keep things afloat. People moan about their prices but you can't really argue if the ships are full 6-9 months ahead of sailing. Of course, the 15% early booking discount helps but getting those deposits in the bank months ahead makes cash flow a lot easier.
 
Just for those interested in such things, have a read of the BF history; a far younger company than one may have thought .............. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany_Ferries.

If you check out the new ships, there are 3 42000 T ferries fairly imminent, so perhaps we can see a bit more availability on the Spanish routes, in the absence of competition. None appear to have the pace of the Pont Aven, but neither do the Stena Ships on the Harwich - HvH route, but both are said to be far more eco-friendly. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming gas powered vessels work out on the shorter crossings too.
 


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