UK Ferry Tickets

With summer well and truly here now, at least in terms of the time of year if not the fantastic British weather (as always!), you’re probably planning a trip away. If you are heading to the Continent and want to go via ferry then it can be a really busy time of year. That can actually ruin your experience if you don’t plan carefully and don’t want to spend a fortune. The following tips will help you to plan well and also plan to go at the right time. Some of them may sound like common sense for the experienced ferry traveller but those that have never travelled via ferry or have only done so once or twice may not realise how important they really are:

1. If you can possibly help it, travel during the week. Weekends are always exceptionally crowded and will most likely annoy you because the ferry will be bustling. Travelling in the week is often much better with Sunday to Thursday being better for outbound journeys and Monday to Friday being better for returning
2. Avoid travelling on the overnight ferry if you want to save money because it is more expensive. Ferries to destinations a little further away than France may go overnight but they are required to provide you with accommodation, which is obviously more expensive. Travelling during the day is much cheaper in many cases as a result.
3. Conventional ferries are much cheaper than the faster ones. The faster services are express travel and you have to pay for that. Think along the lines of a normal flight and travelling on concord – you’d expect the latter to be more expensive than the former so you should expect the same of the ferries.
4. Look for open tickets. Some providers and ferry services offer open tickets so you can return within a week or five days when you want. There aren’t many of these offers around but they do tend to offer real value for money. If you’re going away for a short break then they’re perfect because you can come back to the UK whenever you like.
5. Compare for the best deals. There are so many ferry providers heading to the various destinations so make sure that you compare the fares to get the best possible deals. You can save a lot of money overall so why pay more than you have to?
6. Give all the details the travel provider wants in regards your car. Some will ask the dimensions of you car so give them accurate information. If you don’t then you could end up paying extra when you arrive at the port or not even being allowed to take your car on board.

Guest Article by Louise Crowley

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008