Brittany ferries get better:
NO cash refunds for the first two return crossings this year.
Third crossing 15 July Portsmouth to St Malo has been erased from the website. NO voucher, NO refund, NO Email saying the crossing has be cancelled.
Assuming you have proof of the booking I would phone them and check.
Like Nigel I have just booked a crossing - though mine is late July to early Aug and via Caen not St Malo - and I have to agree that the pre-discount prices (I also have Club Voyage) are pretty eye watering. At least this trip will justify the membership fee on its own.
Canāt say Iām happy about the extra fee to be allowed modifications to the booking - BF now offer three tiers āeconomyā, āstandardā and āflexiā with varying amounts of ability to alter the booking and how much refund you get back on cancellation (from none to 75%**) - as far as I can see thatās Ā£20 each way to get a ticket that does the same as it used to. Oh, and if I want to use the two separate refund vouchers that they kindly issued when my last sailing was cancelled I have to book the outward and return journeys separately 
In all honesty I wish there were competition on the western channel crossings - BF has a monopoly on these which is something of a pain as going via Dover or the tunnel really does not work for a trip from the Midlands to the Morbihan.
** I presume that is if I cancel, if they cancel Iām not ****ing settling for 75%
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Iām going to use DFDS from Dieppe to Newhaven if I need to go at some future time.
I canāt see that there will ever be competition on the western channel crossings & to be fair to Brittany Ferries they pioneered the routes. I find the prices pretty comparable to using Eurotunnel when you add the extra hassle & expense of driving an extra 300+ miles each way.
We like the overnight Portsmouth to St Malo ferry & particularly look forward to the buffet breakfast. We made the mistake of travelling overnight from Portsmouth to Caen once but never again. The ferry leaves too late & arrives too early so you donāt get a full nightās sleep. The day crossing from Caen to Portsmouth can be convenient though.
Although I can find no fault with any of your comments it does not stop me wishing that there was competition on the westerly crossings 
Portsmouth-St Malo is, I agree, a much more civilised route but it leaves a bit too early to comfortably leave work at 5pm (in itself a rare feat) and get to Portsmouth for 7:45. It is a 135 mile drive and, although it can be done in 2 hours at legal speeds that requires perfect driving conditions - not Friday night rush hour traffic. So, despite the short nightās sleep the Caen/Ouistreham ferry is the one we usually take. Portsmouth-Caen is cheaper as well which adds to its advantage.
Yes, the price is comparable to the tunnel once distance and tolls are taken into account, in normal circumstances they seem to stay justĀ āthe right side of that equation - I nearly went with it this time given the fact that staying in your own vehicle for the crossing has suddenly taken on a new attraction.
The undiscounted BF crossing was Ā£612, for a single passenger so would have been more for the family compared with Ā£278 for the Tunnel
Of course there is no excuse to pay the undiscounted price. You could take out Club Voyage membership, do that one crossing and still be ahead.
In the end the clincher was the timing - the ferry allows me to arrive mid morning reasonably awake - the tunnel doesnāt. The house will have been locked up for more than six months by the time I arrive - Iām not expecting any disasters (apart from the garden) but Iād like to be best placed to deal with anything unexpected.
Does anyone on here have any experience of the Irish crossings (Cork/Rosslare-Roscoff) ?
I am going Cherbourg/Rosslare next week and coming back a week later so i can let you know. Stena line seem to be much more flrxible and cheaper than BF.
That would be most helpful, yes. Started looking at the various crossing possibilities, but the prices are eyewatering, and thatās without the cabin berths. Noticed that Stena was offering cheaper crossings. Need to go to Dublin, but given how Irish Ferries (direct to Dublin) seem hellbent on charging the equivalent of a weekās holiday rental, am seriously reconsidering my options. Even then Stena is still fairly expensive.
We always use DFDS on the Dieppe to Newhaven route. Its no where near as flash as Brittany but its a quick crossing (4 hours) and is often half freight / half tourist.
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We are travelling to eastern central Brittany & have explored most of the options & our favourite remains overnight Portsmouth to St Malo as our place is just under 1.5 hour drive from St Malo. Unfortunately overnight St Malo to Portsmouth crossings are less frequent but the daytime one is OK. Caen to Portsmouth by day is OK but it is an extra 1-1.5 hour driving. We live in North Essex so itās about 30 minutes quicker to drive to Folkestone or Dover rather than Portsmouth but itās then a six hour journey from Calais.
Travelling via Eurotunnel is good & reliable & is about 10 hours door to door but a lot of extra driving but you arenāt tied to a timetable so I could jump in the car now & be at our place in Brittany this evening.
I canāt see the point of the shorter sea crossings for us. They take longer & there is more hassle loading & unloading versus the tunnel & we donāt even save that much driving time.
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If not for the fact that BF are the only sensible route to our place Iād switch. Lots of changes to the last crossing but the last receipt claimed we were due just shy of Ā£130 as a refund. Finally got to phoning them (itās not automatic, you have to ask) and because āreasonsā we can only have 40 quid.
0/10 on the amused scale.
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That sounds like fraud to me.
what āreasonsā were given to you?
āyou are in a maze of twisty little terms and conditions, all designed to catch you outā
In this case the fact that the last change was less than two weeks before sailing.
However they have offered to waive that for their cheapest ticket but not the standard" ticket if itās due to a change in government policy so Iām going to try challenging them, but - predictably after yesterdayās change - thir support line is flippinā busy at the moment.
thatās because cheapest will lock you into the worst ts and cs. The slightest change will lose you your money.
Iād go back through the history. I suspect at an earlier point they cancelled a sailing you had booked in which case a free rebook onto your choice of sailing or refund, again your choice, should have been given. If they breached that I would take it back to that point and start again. If I made later bad choices due this earlier failure on their part Iād tear them up as on a bad foundation of their older error. Have you got good records? can you go back on them? I think their strategy is now to annihilate bookings and keep the money wherever possible.
Government rule change wont help you as recent rules did allow travel just made it very onerous.
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I see some Newhaven-Dieppe crossings in the future.
Yeah - lots have been caught out on insurance on that one.
If you phone to book and lead passenger is +50 or +55 (canāt remember which) on that particular route on phone itās -20pc
Over 30 years using that route even when it wasnāt always the most convenient. Feels like a tramp steamer (in the nicest possible way) compared to the luxuriousness of BF but honest hardworking people and never had a problem with them.
Only once at Dieppe when they failed to communicate a 5 hour planned inspection delay leaving a number of disabled passengers in distress and without communication as port facilities are simple anyway and were closed.