Portsmouth Santander Ferry

[colinfrier]

I see Brittany Ferries have now published their timetable and fares for 2009 which includes the new Portsmouth route but now only 1 per week from Plymouth.At first glance Portsmouth looks a bit cheaper than Plymouth.A 7.3 motorhome 2 dogs 2 reclining seats May18 and June 24 £827 return which is no more than driving when using French toll roads.

Less wear and tear on the driver and vehicle.

Colin Frier :->

[enodreven]

Hi,

 

It depends on where you are intending to go to and whether or not you like France, I personally like the journey as that is why i purchased a motorhome, the holiday starts from when i shut the door of the house, and I love France.

 

So I would rather pay £50 return on a Dover-Calais crossing and enjoy the £777 saving in France on the way to Spain if Spain is where i wanted to go

 

colinfrier - 2008-10-28 8:30 AM

 

I see Brittany Ferries have now published their timetable and fares for 2009 which includes the new Portsmouth route but now only 1 per week from Plymouth.At first glance Portsmouth looks a bit cheaper than Plymouth.A 7.3 motorhome 2 dogs 2 reclining seats May18 and June 24 £827 return which is no more than driving when using French toll roads.

Less wear and tear on the driver and vehicle.

Colin Frier :->

[LordThornber]

I have just made a comparison price check for the 2 companies, P&O and Brittany and found a staggering difference in cost.

 

We're considering a Bilbao crossing next year as part of our Wedding Anniversary celebrations and found a June into July crossing with P&O for £518.

 

The same crossing with Brittany, (albeit 1 day earlier), is £305 dearer!

 

Martyn

[chatterdog]

The prices for Brittany only become caomparable to P&O is if you are a member of owners abroad(france/spain) then after paying a yearly membership you get a discount on the fare of around 33% plus free breakfasts, The cost of the membership used to be just a few pounds but a couple of years ago it had a large hyke to a 3 figure sum so i doubt wether it is the same good value now. Personally having sailed on both of the ships doing the spannish crossing, I prefer the bed layout in the P&O ship (the cabin beds run accross the ship- nice rocking motion) on the pont aven(brittany) they run the dirrection of the length of the ship and everytime we went down in the swell i felt like i was falling on my head (not a good night).Atthe moment they know that anyone wanting to take a dog direct to spain has to use them as they have purpose built kennels unlike P&O.

[mel64]

Dover-Calais cost £46 in April.

I do not think £800+ is a good deal a nice drive through France

2 or 3 nights halts plus Diesel max cost return £380.

OAP to tight to spend more.

:-)

[LordThornber]

Slightly off thread, but surely what one chooses to be the most appropriate form of transport for your holiday remains just that - your choice.

 

Whether you like driving through France, (or anywhere else for that matter), or not, it is up to the individuals needs to be met in the best way for them is it not?

 

Very nice too for those retired with x number of weeks/months to spare on one trip, but there are plenty of young motorhomers out there who are still working full time and can "only" manage 2-3 weeks at a time.

 

For some of them, (us), time is a priority and a French or Spanish highway comes a very poor second every time versus an extra couple of hundred quid on a ferry, resulting in x number of nights extra in resort.

 

I'm done now :D

 

Martyn

[twooks]

the worst bit is slogging down to the south coast, I so hate driving in the UK, particularly England >:-(

 

B-)

[Cattwg]

I'm in the Dover - Calais and drive through France lobby. We usually pay between £45 and £75 for the return crossing. I would agree with braunston - the trip starts as we leave our drive. (Although I would admit to not liking the 240 mile section from Cardiff to Dover).

We usually take 12/14 days to wander through France taking a slightly different route each time. There is so much to see in France, on the way south (or east for that matter).

But I am also a firm believer in 'each to his own' and quite accept that what suits us may not be for other people.

Cattwg :-D

[colinfrier]

Why is it when ever a posts suggests traveling more than 100 miles a day out come the "never use toll roads brigade" I live in Spain and come to England by road once sometimes twice a year by road.I do not want to spend 14 days meandering through France on RN roads.

The post just points out ther is a new way to travel to Spain and when you compare costs with the fast road route £800 return is no more expensive than using toll roads.

The Santander Ferry route is not compulsary each to ther own I won't be putting up a post next time someone suggests a slow route pointing out ther is a quicker way.

Colin Frier

[Brian Kirby]

Colin

I think responding with alternative views/routes is reasonable.  You will presumably concede that your chosen route is one of the most expensive ways to get to Santander?  However, it is not the only way, and not all viewers/contributors may appreciate how much cheaper, albeit longer to travel, the alternatives may be.  Not everyone knows what sorts of costs to anticipate when they are thinking about their first trips abroad, so having the spread of routes/costs is surely valuable?

May I try to illustrate?

We recently returned from Croatia.  Because it was getting autumnal, we elected to make the trip up through France by autoroute.  However, we did not push the driving time, so did the trip over four, fairly easy days, using the autoroutes for all but the leg between Beaune and Chalons-en-Champagne, and of course the bits between the autoroutes and the sites on which we stopped.  The cost in tolls was, in round figures, £80.  The cost in fuel, also round figures, £120.  We travelled 550 miles by autoroute and 300 miles on other roads, some, but far from most, of which were dual carriageways.  We are getting just short of 30MPG, and the MPG figure is not noticeably different whether motorway or not.  I think this is generally true because what you save on the motorway by not stopping and starting (M6 excepted :-)), you seem to burn by going that bit faster on the motorway.  Our non-autoroute average was a little over 30MPH and our autoroute average just over 60MPH.  So, had we travelled the whole distance (Ventimiligia - Calais) off autoroutes, we would have saved £80, in tolls but incurred the about same cost in fuel.

The question is, what did we gain for our £80?  On reflection, I think, very little.  Assuming we travelled between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm, with one hour for lunch, the 850 odd miles could have been done in about 3.5 days, had we done the whole stretch on autoroute.  On the same basis, had we totally avoided autoroutes, the same trip would have taken about 5.5 days.  So, max two days difference. 

What additional costs would we have incurred?  More time on sites?  No, because we would have spent the same number of days on sites in either case.  More food etc?  Again no, for the same reason.  True, we should have needed to leave two days earlier to catch the same ferry.  However those two days would merely have been displaced to another location.  We sight-see as we go, so by selecting interesting locations for these two extra stops we should, so far as I can tell, have lost nothing and saved the £80.

What I would strongly contest, however, is your contention that it costs £800 return to drive Calais (quickest, cheapest cross channel route) to Santander.  Half to two thirds of that maybe, but not the whole £800.  If one has/makes the time, and avoids the autoroutes/autopistas/autovias, one can pause to enjoy the journey through France and Spain as one goes, see things of interest as one travels, and save onesself at least another £150 on the return trip.

Not for you, I appreciate (and please don't interpret this as my way of saying you're wrong: I'm just using your post as a springboard, for which I hope I shall be forgiven), but maybe for those others who are wondering how much, and how long, they need to budget for?

[4petedaniel]

There are still tolls to be paid on a lot of Spanish Motorways which will add to the £800 cost.

[Guest Tracker]

Colin,

 

Don't be upset by discussion of alternatives - it is good to see other sides to every idea and just because an alternative is suggested that does not make it critical of you or your idea.

 

The more input and the more alternatives to every method the better so please don't stop chucking in your valuable contributions.

 

Rich.

 

I've said it before and will probably go on saying it at least once a week.

 

THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY OR WRONG WAY TO DO THINGS - JUST DIFFERENT WAYS!

[colinfrier]

Hi

The post was intended to point out there was a new fast route to Spain I and all those reading know full well there are many ways of getting to Spain given time, each to their own this is a new route for those who want fast passage.

If you use French Toll roads it works out at about £800/900 return all up but without the wear and tear element.Start adding that on i.e. services tyres etc and the true cost rises

I have used the P&O service in the past and found it very good but alas they don't take dogs so it's Brittany with their higher prices.

You can travel Santander to Malaga toll free and on either motorways or duel carriageways the roads are good and free of trafic jams.

 

Colin Frier

[Brian Kirby]

colinfrier - 2008-10-29 10:14 AM Hi .................. If you use French Toll roads it works out at about £800/900 return all up but without the wear and tear element.............. Colin Frier

Colin

Sorry for the deletions above, and I know I'm a pedant - but I can't help it! 

However, for the benefit of those to whom £8/900 return to Santander using toll autoroutes seems prohibitive, could you give some idea of the breakdown of that figure? 

It's just that I think it overstates the cost, but you may including items I have left out.  The implication seems to be that it is for tolls/fuel only, but I really can't see how these alone, even if driving from Calais rather than Caen, can amount to anything like that sum.

[colinfrier]

Hi Brian

I did the original figures very quickly in my head so could be a bit out but not a lot.

I have done the trip so many times I have worn a rut in the road and again I point out I am usually after a fast trip I live in Spain near Malaga.

 

Return mileage Malaga to Dover 2750

@ 23 MPG = 120 gallons @4.50 £540

French road tolls £180 (for a fast trip)

Ferry return Average £120

Overnight Stops 2 £030

Total £870

 

You may be able to trim ferry prices by advance booking or offers.

You should not ignore hidden costs like tyres servicing additional depreciation etc.at a rough figure that must be 5p a mile(£138) not included in these figures.

The cost of the new Portsmouth ferry in May return with 2 reclining seats £695 plus £234 fuel Santander to Malaga return is £929.

We can argue about these figures but they do support my original post that the ferry is good value when compared to a road trip.

I have tried to check but site very busy for prices with P&O via Bilbao which should be cheaper I use the Brittany service we have 2 dogs.

Colin Frier

 

[Brian Kirby]

Thanks Colin, all clear now.

I hadn't realised from your original post that you were including return costs between Malaga and Santander, and thought you were just quoting the return fare to Santander. 

I thought the costs looked a bit steep.  Those 1300 miles across Spain and back make quite a difference!