Club Arnage

P&O have released their prics and opened the bookings for 2004 , including the Le Mans period .
They have early booking offers which seem to be on my bookings nealy £150 cheaper than Brittany for the car and trailer and between £100 and £140 for cars with 4 people in ??

Dont know why , but they are already busy . The sailings opened this morning and the Wednesday night over is already busy .

Happy bookings

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Couldnt find the prices on there, would only go up to 2003  >:(

You have to phone at the moment , 08705 20 20 20  .

Oh the internet wont have the better prices / early bird offers for a while

Ahh, that'll be it then!

If you don't mind driving a bit, take the Eurotunnel Route. We booked late last year (1 week before the race) and paid £60 return for a car and 3 passengers.

As we don't live far from Dover, the amount of driving wasn't that different and not using motorways in france saved us loads of dosh

You cant even get to the Isle Of Wight for £60 anymore. Should you want to...

Crikey, I had forgotten it even existed!!

Never forget about the Corkheads!

Last year we travelled with Brittany from Portsmouth to St.Malo on the Wednesday night and back on Monday from Caen.The cost worked out for the 3 cars at £338 each.

I have spoken to Brittany tonite, and the price for this coming year is................wait for it ...............A MASSIVE 50% INCREASE.MAKING THE TRIP THIS YEAR A GRAND TOTAL OF £475 PER CAR AND PASSENGERS!!!!!!!(sorry for shouting but this is outrageous.

The girl on the phone said it was marketing,to which my reply was that the management of her company needed to be "strung up by the balls".

Sop the moral to the story is next year we will be going P & O Portsmouth-Cherbourg return,as the cost isn £332

Wishy

isle of what?

Wishy, as I think Robbo has said before, Brittany normally offer their 5 day/7 day offer fares nearer the time. That's possibly how you got the £338 last year??

I've never tried Robbo's idea of changing a confirmed booking when these fares are applicable but it makes sense to me.

JP,

Wishy and I always book at this time of year for the following year's trip so I guess we are comparing like with like. P & O are very busy according to Wishy (probably because of the cost differences) - we couldn't even get the 2 berth cabins we wanted, so if you want to travel this route I suggest a quick phone call to secure what's left before it goes.

I have travelled Brittany for the 10 years or so and not had to much to complain about but loyalty only goes so far. These kind of price hikes are taking the P*ss.

Travelling with P & O will be a new experience for me although I guess there's not much to choose between the 2 except for different sailing times.

One unexpected bonus over and above the cheaper fare is the later sailing time of the P & O route allowing for an extra hour or so in the pub.

I suppose the only other slight inconvenienece is the slightly longer drive on the other side.

I'm probably going to have to stick to Brittany as I cancelled two of our ferry spaces late last year and they would only give me credit notes for them. I might argue the toss with them though if they are going to hike their prices up by that much as I will be somewhat of a captive audience  >:(

Guys  ,  i only travel with P&O , why , they are cheaper , and a worked for them  once, and they treated me well .


I dont know about Brittany and how to get round their prices , but with P&O its usually easy , although i wont stake my wages on it .

Add a £7 club seat onto the booking, nothing more, or remove a passenger , as most cars tickets include up to 9 passengers now .

Then the later ofers not available now will come into play .

Although.... Le Mans SPS has sid that they are giving better prices to those who book now , and the nearer the time , the more expensive it will get . I think it was the same last year , but i still saved a packet .

With P&O they demand the groups ( owners clubs rallies , tour firms ) pay up and confirm 8 weeks before sailing . Then and only then , will better cabins now be available . Its called block bookings . I am sure that if you ask Le Mans SPS he may keep looking for better cabins when they become available as he is my P&O spy .

I added all my bookings together , P&O cost £1800 , Brittany £2500. Now there really are losts of beer tokens in that one .

Well at the end of the day as pretzel says when it comes to prices ther is no loyalty to the ferry companies.

It is a shame that Brittany have become so greedy this year,only because they have cottoned on to Le Mans weekend being a good time to rip off the punter as they have a captive audience ......after all!!

I will admit wether it is Cherbourg or St.Malo an extra hour to the journey time is better than travelling down from Calais.


Wishy

Be fair , P&O have clued up to it and have done for years .

It seems good value on a ferry , but anyone eaten the LE MANS SPECIAL BREAKFAST for £8.50 .

There wre people cuing half way round the boat a few years ago.

Or the Fosters Special LE Mans Packs , ( 24 cans of beer with an extra 50p of the price)

P&O dont want to rock the boat too much. They were VERY full last year , Brittany had space on most of there sailings .

i think p+o may have it right next year. they know they can fill their boats, thats not an issue, its how much traffic can they take from brittany. by lowering their prices they are taking regulars from bittany this year and hopfully will have a wider customer base next year. also with the millions of pounds they are saving after this and last years cut backs, its not as costly to run the ferries out of portsmouth as it was. i think they are about to give britttany a run for their money. i was working last night on a half term weekend, looked at the figures for the next few days and all the boats are full to capacity. britany on the other hand have acres of space. i suggest if you are going to make a booking for next year make it now and change it later.

I have just booked online with P&O Portsmouth - Le Harve on the Tues 1500 sailing returning Cherbourg - Portsmouth on the Monday 0630 sailing with a 6 metre caravan and an Audi estate with 2 passengers £210 a steal I believe..and yes it is booked and confirmed.

I think the offers finish at the end of October

thats a dam fine price. think yourself as a lucky man

Le Mans - How much are we paying . Why cant i get a price that good . Dont you know the right people  ?

210 is very cheap. even with no acomm thats a good price. i see to only get 450 on the net

Just had a look on the site same xing with a car only and 3 passengers £154

Starbar , how on this planet do you get these prices ?
Have you a special code or am i being an internet virgin ?

that is very cheap as i can only get 350. what are you doing different to me?

I do not know, but if you try the same xings see what you get.
I think the reason it is a good price is because tuesday is still early for the big Le Mans push, and monday Cherbourg return because it is a s**t time.

Please have a look, I promise I have the acceptance booking here, and I rang P&O to confirm the price and Yep it is correct.

I have been going to Le Mans for 20 years and this is the best early price I have ever got.  BTW yes I was a Brittany ferries fan (Porsmooth as the french say to Caen) but was turned last year by the P&O Le Harve service the club class overnight was fantastic went on the tuesday night and there were only about a dozen or so people in club class had several settees to ourselves. Brill

I phoned P&O for Portsmouth/ Le Harve, Out monday morning and return on Sunday night. Car, 4 people and cabin each way came to £456. Mate gets the Brittany discount and that comes to £375 for same crossings apart from it goes to Caen, so we are booking this week so we can get on the return ferry. If it all goes to sh*t with the people not going, its £10 to cancel. Hate paying that much but makes the journey so much easier for us as we have to travel down from Newcastle ( and back when we bool off the ferry) so the cabin is a god send.

So thats me definitely going. Yippee
Will be looking for a spare MB ticket or 2 as we have decided to camp there next year. So if any of you chaps etc etc etc

Just booked mine, same route/times as Starbar, and yes it is true, £154 return for the Sud and three passenger.  I reckon there might be an error on their site....  ;)  

welcome aboard dreamracer me hearty, I suppose there will be no contest on the way down to Le Mans, me with my sluggish A4 estate and van against your SUD, ahh but do you know the short cuts on route (wink wink)

Pete

Forgot to say thanks for the tip!  Will see you on board or on the boarding area...!   My first time into Le Havre - I take it that it is an easy route?

Simple . Follow the signs out the town , or just follow the other brits , and for the quickest way ,
PONT Du Normondie , Then signs to Le Mans . THAT EASY. Honest.

2 1/2 hours is a good time in a car, not really pushing things .

Trying to post a map !!!!!

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Robbo

If you send me the map and the directions as big as you like, I'll post them on the help section. I'll be away for a fornight from the 3rd Nov though.

It will take me 2 weeks to work out what i am doing.

Will e mail to you.

Cheers Robbo!  Big thanks!

Have never taken a map to Europe yet, and wont start next year, so I'll get memorising  ;D

Nuts to that,Really simple even my sister found the place.

Get Of Ferry , Follow Signs to Le Mans - - - - - - - -   Arrive.

I normally get all the way to Le Mans no problem, but always end up getting lost somewhere in the town.

Have taken to going right past on the autoroute, then coming back up through Mulsanne

Lucky you... I have to go via Paris and that was once a nightmare. I missed the correct exit and ended up in the center of Paris. I could even see the Eiffel tower while I was sitting in the traffic jam.  ::)

Hopefully all my directions next year will be sorted when I put my Ipaq pocket pc sat/nav system through its paces. once I've sorted my french map out that is.

Does it mean I will to convert all my map in Ipaq files ??

Who'ld be the first to suggest the production of a CA Ipaq special serie with all the essential maps and files preloaded  :o (Could be a little more expensive than T-Shirts ;) )

I would suggest it , but havent a clue what ipaq files were , i thought you were taking the piss out of the iraq situation .

Whoops

On a slighty diffrent crossing, Hoverspeed have updated there special offers, and you can now book the newhaven-dieppe crossing for about £130.

I have been thinking about a Sat Nav attachment for my Ipaq for some time.  So far managed to resist the temptation (thank god says my wife who is peering over my shoulder!).

However what GPS/Sat Nav do you use with the Ipaq?  And is your Ipaq bluetooth enabled and if so is your GPS?

Sorry to hijack the thread and to keep on topic I can confirm Nordics point that Hoverspeed have just issued their special offers for June next year.

Had another look at the p&o site and they are now charging £184 for the crossing I booked at £154 - looks like someone remembered it is Le Mans week!

p+o are doing a speical early bookers discount this year untill the end of november i think. seems to be working a treat.

why am i paying so much then

Robbo, it sounds like your SPS compatriate is ripping you off  ;D ;D ;D ;D

Arrrgggghhhh, I have just checked P&O Site for my crossing (smirkingly) thinking wonder how much it has gone up, but to my amazement, the bl**dy thing has come down from £210, to £182 for a car and caravan and 2 passengers what are P&O doing at this rate it will be down to a fiver before June.. Sorry Dreamracer but yours might have gone down as well.

Oh well lets just hope I get my campsite on the Houx, with its luxurient showers and electric.

Is that Dover Calais? I looked the other week and it seemed just as dear as ever..

I got confused as well Smokes.  I tried to get a cheap booking on Dover Calais, but the bloody thing just would not work. ???  Still settling for £96 for a car and 4 passangers.  £4 cheaper than last year. :)

I think starbar is going Portsmouth - Le harve, in which case £182 is a bloody good price.
I read last week that the ferry companies revenue dropped last year, War,  French strikes etc.

yes I am Portsmouth Le Harve on the way out and Cherbourg Portsmouth on the way home.

Is that for a 3 day crossing? It quoted me over £600 on that route last night for the 8 day version - incl accomodation & caravan

Tried looking for prices to the Classic in July. Started at £800 for a three day crossing. Brittany and P&O are very similar.

Now I'm not saying this is what I will end up paying, but you have to admit it's a bit scary.

Just checked - ours is still quoting at £184 - £30 higher than we paid *phew*

Starbar, do me a favour and post your exact crossing dates/times etc as I can't get anywhere near that pricing.

The times are Portsmouth Le Harve on the Tuesday 8th 1500 ferry arrive 2130
and coming back on the Monday 14th 0630 Cherbourg Portsmouth arriving back 1015

I have just discovered that P&O's web site is innaccurate!!!! - apart from being expensive.

I got a quote on their web page for exactly the same crossings as we used this year (cost £266), and it came up with a price of £333!

I phoned their reservations line, asked again for the exact same crossings, and was given a price of £259 - £7 cheaper than this year.  Needless to say, I booked it there and then.  When I told the rep about the web page price, she said "Oh, the web page is always causing problems and is often incorrect".

Moral here is to resort to older technology and use the dog & bone.

DB

Can't see it myself.  Booked Dover Calais on the internet 2 months ago and got charged £96 for a car + 4.  Just checked proces by phone and got quoted £106.  No mention of early bookers discount anywhere >:(

Gibber , try booking the same crossind in Feb 2004 , and the price will have changed dramitically.

I think

early booker may just an offer out of portsmouth.

Got it sussed at last.  The 'red hot deals' from Dover are for a car + 1 person.  When you add in the other 3 passengers it comes out to around the same price.  Almost misleading one might think ::)