Spirit of France manoeuvring in Dover Harbour

We're sitting on board MyFerryLink's "Rodin" waiting to sail to Calais when Spirit of France moved in front of us.
For a £35m vessel it didn't look all that different from the other cross channel ferries,and only appears to be marginally taller than "Pride of Canterbury" in the next berth

Ferry pricing peculiarities

I'm off to our Brittany Holiday Gite next week, a combination of using up my remaining holiday allowance from work and taking the opportunity to go and do some more work. I've an accumulation of things to take over to the Gite since we were last over there in August 2012 and so by going it'll clear up some space in the garage as well.

Some of the ferry companies (notably Brittany Ferries and LD Lines) are running a lesser service with not all routes running and a service not being run every day, and having had a quick look at their sites I didn't find any crossings I fancied.

So it was down to the shorter Dover/Calais or Dover/Dunkerque routes with P&O, DFDS (Norfolk Line as was), and newcomer MyFerryLink who took over the SeaFrance boats in late summer last year.

I wanted to go out early on Saturday morning so I could drive down through France during the day and call in at Leroy Merlin to buy some 2-core 6mm mains cable for the oven in our slowly-being-converted-second-Gite, and then return back on Friday night late so we didn't have to rush out of the Gite and we'd be back home in time for youngest son Jack's birthday party on the Saturday.

P&O's service in February is roughly once an hour, and I quite fancied going out on one of their new massive €360m super-ferries, now named Spirit of Britain and Spirit of France after they were forced to withdraw from cashing in on the Olympic theme with the originally chosen names of Olympic Spirit and Olympic Pride.
P&O wanted £82 for the return crossing (£45 outbound and £37 return), but with a £4 supplement if I used a credit card.

Next up I tried DFDS who are now sharing boats with LD Lines and are sailing again about every hour, but two out of every 3 boats go to Dunkerque rather than Calais. It doesn't makea lot of difference but Dunkerque is a slightly longer crossing and slightly further autoroute drive, so a Calais crossing is preferable.
Unfortunately at the time I wanted to go DFDS were operating only a Dunkerque sailing, and wanted a slightly cheaper £74 for the return journey (£39 out and £35 return) with the option to pay by paypal for no credit card fees.

Last up was MyFerryLink who with only two boats (Rodin and Berlioz) are running the smallest number of crossings, only 5 crossings each way each day between Dover and Calais.
MyFerryLink offered to take me for £69 return (£34 out and £35 return) with no credit card surcharges.

Remember all these crossings were on the same dates and as near as I could get the same time of day, so it shows the value of shopping around.

In the end I decided that the MFL outbound sailing and the DFDS inbound sailing offered the best timings for me and it was with some trepidation I searched for the single journey prices.

Sometimes you find that the return prices are much cheaper than the single prices, especially if the return journey is completed with a certain number of days and I have heard that it can even be cheaper to buy a return and not use the return ticket although I've always been to scared that the ferry company would then surcharge the full single ticket price if I misused the return ticket in this way.

Anyway, it wasn't a problem this time, My Ferry Link's single ticket price to Calais was still £34 with no surcharges so job done, ferry booked.

DFDS however did surprise me. The return journey was coming out at £74 (made up of £39 for the outward leg and £35 for the return leg from France), but when I went to book just a single ticket from Calais to Dover they only wanted £33 to take me one way ! Why it should cost £2 more to sail on the same boat for a return journey instead of a single, I don't know, but I'm happy to have made the saving, and the all-in price came out at a very respectable £67 for the two ferry trips.

How peculiar !

Woman overboard on the Dover cross-channel ferry

Over the weekend I picked up news initially from Kent Online and then later on the Daily Mirror of a woman who fell overboard from P&O's Pride of Calais.

The unfortunate French woman fell some 30 feet from the deck of the ferry at about 8pm on Friday evening when the ferry was 7 miles off the Dover coast.

From what I read it appears that the response to the passenger emergency was swift and efficient with both a rescue helicopter and a lifeboat being mobilised, the ferry doing a rapid U-turn, and the ferry crew launching a fast rescue craft which successfully recovered the passenger within 10 minutes of her falling from the boat.

This got me thinking that the lady concerned had a very fortunate escape because some of the ferry boats that now cross the channel are absolutely massive and the passenger decks are sometimes 10 floors or more above the sea level.

Searching the BBC news archive for 'ferry overboard' articles I found that there's quite a few similar stories of passengers falling from ferries, and a number of them didn't end up with such a good outcome for the passenger concerned.

Well done to P&O on this occasion, and "don't try this yourself at home"!

P&O forced to about turn and change the proposed names of their new Dover/Calais ferries

In an about turn of the news from early April of the new new P&O ferry names - Olympic Spirit and Olympic Pride, P&O appear to have been forced to change their mind and are now to name their new ferries 'Spirit of Britain' and 'Spirit of France'.

The London 2012 Olympics organising committee (and I suspect also the full IOC) is fiercely protecting the Olympic brand and has told P&O that the previous names may infringe trademark rights under English law.

So jumping on the Olympic band wagon hasn't in this case helped P&O.

The two new boats are due to be launched at the end of 2010 and in autumn 2011 respectively and will be named by Dame Kelly Holmes.

P&O name their new Dover/Calais ferries - Olympic Pride and Olympic Spirit

In March 2009 I reported on P&O's €360m contract for two new super-ferries for the Dover Calais route, the largest ferries to be operated on this route at some 49,000 tons each.

BBC news Kent reported earlier this week that Double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes is to name the first of these ferries 'Olympic Spirit' when it's launched in early 2011 (a slight slippage from the original service commencement date of December 2010). The sister ship 'Olympic Pride' remains due to be delivered in Autumn 2011.

Ferry collection - More Condor from Poole, less P&O from Portsmouth and even less EuroFerries

A quick catchup on some ferry bits of news that I've come across in the last couple of weeks ...


First up coming after the news that Brittany Ferries are stopping their year round summer ferry from Poole to Cherbourg, Condor Ferries have been quick to respond that they're increasing summer crossings from Poole to St Malo with 30 additional sailings of their high speed catamaran service. Condor point out that "St Malo and Cherbourg are less than 85 miles apart".

I also reported that Brittany Ferries are increasing their Portsmouth-Santander Spanish service and this news has recently been followed by an announcement from P&O that they're finishing their Portsmouth to Bilbao service in September this year.

It's interesting how one ferry company (Brittany Ferries) can be reporting that they're doing bumper service from the UK to Spain, so much so that they've bought a second boat to increase the number of sailings, whereas P&O have found the route to be "loosing millions" and after 15 years have pulled the plug. The two Spanish ports are less than an hours drive apart so I guess there'll be a lot of P&O customers who will now switch to Brittany Ferries who find themselves in a monopoly position.

And finally news of EuroFerries. I've reported a number of times about EuroFerries stop-start approach to commencing operations from Ramsgate to Boulogne, the most recent being news in November when the service start was pushed back to March 2010.
Well the news once again isn't good.

ThisIsKent reported last week that EuroFerries have cancelled their lease on the Bonanza Express which was to be used for the new service. EuroFerries logo has been painted out from the boat which has now returned to its shuttle service in the Canary Islands.

EuroFerries website still tantalisingly offers crossings "from £49" and shows a timetable starting on 1st March, but without a boat you do have to wonder how likely this is to get off the ground. More "wait and see" again ...

Ferry news snippets from Euroferries, Condor and P&O

Three little ferry-related news snippets:

First up is EuroFerries where the news is there is no news. I've written a few articles about EuroFerries proposed new service from Ramsgate to Boulogne, most recently on 1st August when at a press conference they announced that "service would commence during August".

Well it's early September now and the Euroferries website remains unchanged, still saying they'll launch in August so it's a bit of a poor reflection if they can't even update their own website.

There's further speculation and commentary over on Kent based 'The Big Blog', most recently on August 25th with a video of the Bonanza Express still sitting in Tenerife, not painted in EuroFerries colours, doing nothing. Most recent suggestion is that the boat will arrive in the UK by September 10th.

Don't hold your breath on this one methinks ...


Secondly following on from P&O's €360m contract for two new Dover/Calais 'super' ferries, there's a press release on P&O's website announcing that they've completed the keel laying at Rauma shipyard in Finland for the first of the new boats which is due into service at the end of 2010.


And finally, spare a thought for Condor Ferries who according to the Jersey Evening Post managed to let a door fall off a ferry whilst it was enroute to France. Apparently passenger safety wasn't compromised and a temporary repair has now been made.

P&O Ferries - 5 day sale - ends May 12th

A quick-blog update with news that P&O Ferries are holding a 5 day sale from today so if you're quick you can pick up a bargain ferry crossing to La Belle Francais.

All crossings are via P&O's frequent Dover/Calais route (75 minute crossing time) and there's three different deals on offer:

• If you fancy a day trip out, maybe for a bit of fine French food (or topup on cheap wine at a hypermarket), then a one day return to Calais with car and up to 9 people is just £19;
• Or alternatively stay longer, and enjoy more time in France with a 2 day return crossing for just £29;
• Or max-it-out with a 3 day return crossing for £39!

As ever P&O say this is a limited offer, there's "just" 50,000 tickets available, all bookings have to be made by 10pm on Tuesday 12th May, and your sailing taken before 15th July 2009.

More details as well as regular ferry crossing prices to France are over on P&O's ferry website.

And of course if you fancy staying in a nice French Gite, I know of a nice one which still has some available dates in May and June .... (and yes, we will do short breaks at a very good price if you're interested).

€360m P&O contract for two new ferries

P&O two new ferries

Like Brittany Ferries in 2007 spending €81m on Amorique which recently started operating on their Plymouth-Roscoff route, it seems that P&O have some spare cash as well, as a P&O press release reveals that they've just signed a €360 million contract for two new ferries.

Due to be delivered in December 2010 and September 2011 the two 49,000 gross tonnes ferries will become the largest car-passenger ferries operating on the Dover-Calais route and will replace two of P&O's existing ferries, the Pride of Dover and the Pride of Calais.

Each boat will be 210 metres long, will provide some 2,700 lane metres of vehicle space and accommodate some 195 cars, 180 lorries/coaches and 2,000 passengers.

As well as the usual claims for improved fuel efficiency ("through a hydro-dynamically efficient hull form" ... whatever that means) these two boats are also claimed to be the first passenger ferries in the world to comply with new International Maritime Organisation "Safe Return to Port" requirements which are due to become compulsory for all vessels built after 1st July 2010.

These IMO rules will require that, in the event of a major system failure onboard a ship, that basic services continue to be provided to all persons on board, and that sufficient redundancy is provided to enable certain systems to remain sufficiently operational for the ship to safely return to port.

There's different standards for different ship systems including fire-fighting, power supply, propulsion, steering and navigation. The two new P&O ferries will have a PSMR (Propulsion and Steering Machinery Redundancy) rating so that in the event of failure the ship retains sufficient propulsion power and manoeuvring capability for it to provide a safe return to port.

Formerly known as Aker shipyard (when they built Brittany Ferries' Amorique), and now called STX Europe, construction of the two ferries started on 3rd March 2009 with the ceremonial cutting of the first steel plate at STX Europe's yard in Rauma, Finland and is expected to take some 1,800 man years of work to complete the two vessels!

Further details and a high-resolution image of the new boat and construction press release are on STX Europe's website.

Clearly the ferry companies still see sufficient long-term profits in the cross-channel routes to make this kind of massive financial investment, which is good news as long as we passengers don't see the cost reflected in our ticket prices.

As I wrote this article I mused that Brittany Ferries spent €81m on their boat in 2007 and I notice that P&O have to spend €360m two years later, admittedly for two boats not one, but I can't see that the specification is that vastly different to justify P&O having to spend €100m more than Brittany Ferries, per boat.

I've always thought that Brittany Ferries have the best equipped boats on the cross-channel routes (they have to be as the Western Channel crossing time is that much longer than the Eastern crossing via Dover), so perhaps BF got an absolute bargain, perhaps the cost of steel has gone through the roof, or perhaps P&O are just not such good negotiators??

P&O Reindeer Training game

P&O Ferries are running a great little Reindeer Training School game over on their website right now.

You play as Rudolph, Dasher or Dancer and have to run along an ice-strewn course, jumping over holes in the ice, collecting the presents (for points) and getting a free bonus points for the flying P&O logos!

To play, go onto the P&O website and click on the 'Reindeer training' picture.

Enjoy!

My top score is 5,500 ... some way off the high score table as the top score is 97,000 and number 500 is 22,000 ! Better keep on playing

P&O Ferries - 5 day sale - ends June 10th

P&O Ferries 5 day sale

Over on P&O Ferries I noticed they're having a 5 day sale running up to midnight on 10th June:

• Dover/Calais for £25 each way>
• Hull/Rotterdam or Hull/Zebrugge for £99 each way (including cabin)
• Portsmouth/Bilbao for £299 each way (including cabin)

Worth a visit if you're looking for cheap ferry tickets - but be quick!

What country does P&O get their customers from?

P&O Ferries

Travelling back from Brittany on Sunday via P&O due to high winds in the channel I was amused to read on my booking reference how I collected my ferry ticket:

In English

Dear Passenger,
You will collect your tickets at check-in by quoting this reference number

In French

Cher Passager,
Votre billet vous sera remis à l'enregistrement sur présentation de ce numéro de référence

And in a third language.

Guess which it was ....

Guess which language P&O obviously believe its customers is most likely to speak?

Drozdy Pasazerowie,
Podezas kontroli prosze zebrac bilety wedlug przypisanych numerow

And the answer is ... Polish !

Says something for the world that P&O think they'll have more Polish speakers than Belgian's, Spaniard's, Dutchmen, German, Italians, etc, etc.

(Oh yes, and Google translate doesn't offer any translation options to/from Polish, so they don't believe much of the world speaks Polish !)

Free disneyland tickets and a mini racer game from P&O

I think the picture below pretty much says it all, if you book a Dover/Calais car crossing with P&O then you get a free adult entry ticket to Eurodisney. OK you've got to buy another adult ticket to be able to redeem the free one, so it's really a BOGOFF offer, but it's still good value.



Another fun thing I spotted on the P&O website is a mini racing car game; you can have fun driving little mini racing cars around the ferry deck, restaurant, shop, etc. I think I've proven I have little hand/eye co-ordination with this one !

P&O Fanvan results

P&O fanvan competition

Back in May I wrote about P&O's most unusual ferry competition to win a VW camper van, based on guessing how many young ladies they managed to cram in the VW van.

Well the results are now out on the P&O fanvan website .... (cue drum roll) ... and the winning result was 13 (female) football fan's in a van!

I can't remember what answer I put (I think it may have been 13) but I didn't win.

Hope they cleaned the windows inside the van before they handed it over to the winner as I bet there were a few marks from the way they were all squashed in there ...

P&O Ferry's unusual "win a van" football competition

P&O's Football competition

Question: Is this the most unusual bit of ferry marketing possible ?

Answer: Yes I think so ... unless you know better ...

I received an email today from P&O ferries advertising their cross-channel Dover/Calais route with tickets from £30 each way - handy if you want to pop over to watch a football match. As part of the promotion they've a competition to guess how many girls they squeezed into a VW camper van. It's rather a laugh so worth a go.

I should of course point out that Dover/Calais is a pretty good route if you want to avoid the football and take a break in our Brittany Holiday Home - we're about 6 hours drive from Calais and it's motorway almost all the way. Tolls are only about €20 so it's a viable option that we've used a number of times ourselves.

More ferry special offers - this time via Northern France

Just like buses, special offers on the ferries seem to come in two's !

A couple of days after receiving an email about Brittany Ferry special offers, I received an email from ferrycheap.com telling me details of their special offers for a car and up to 9 passengers:

• Eurotunnel, from Folkestone to Calais, from £56 each way
• Norfolkline, from Dover to Dunkerque, from £23 each way
• P&O Ferries, from Dover to Calais, from £39 each way
• SeaFrance, from Dover to Calais, from £39 each way

Going via the northern France ports (Calais, Boulogne, Dunkerque and Eurotunnel) is a slightly longer drive to our Gite, at about 6 hours, but it's a pretty straight forward motorway route and the tolls are a reasonable €€20 each way.

We've been that route a couple of times and found overall journey times (ferry + drive) are in fact slightly quicker than taking the Western ferry routes via St Malo, Brest, Cherbourg or Caen. Swings and roundabout's really as to whether you prefer spending more time on the boat or in the car.