A boatload of savings! Five ways you can save money by travelling by ferry this summer, from avoiding airlines’ excess luggage fees to dodging eyewatering car-hire costs
Every week our Holiday Hero Neil Simpson takes an in-depth look at a brilliant holiday topic, doing all the legwork so you don’t have to. This week: five ways to save money with a ferry.
Big holiday savings are in store for families this summer who pick ferries rather than flights to some favourite short-haul destinations such as the Channel Islands.
Driving your own car to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and even Spain can avoid queues, costs and the high-pressure sales techniques at car-hire desks.
Here are five ways that taking a ferry can save you a packet.
1. Save on excess luggage fees. Airlines such as easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz charge about £60 each way for large cases in the hold and £27 for cabin bags in overhead lockers.
Big holiday savings are in store for families this summer who pick ferries rather than flights to some favourite short-haul destinations
Arrive at check-in with too much and penalties can hit £48 per bag. ‘Take your car on a ferry and you can fill your boot without worrying about bag size or weight,’ says Abby Penlington, director of booking and information website Discover Ferries. If roof boxes or bike racks keep your car within the ferry’s maximum dimensions, these can be included in the ticket price.
2. Dogs are welcome on board many ferries, so families with pet passports can save on kennel or dog-sitting fees by taking them along on holiday.
With Brittany Ferries, pets can stay in the car, sleep in kennels or join owners in new ‘pet-set’ cabins for one- or two-night sailings to Bilbao and Santander in Spain. Brittany says 100,000 pets are expected on board this year, with Portsmouth to Normandy the most popular route for pet-owners.
Dogs are welcome on board many ferries, so families with pet passports can save on kennel or dog-sitting fees by taking them along on holiday
3. Drive across the Channel and you’ll avoid airport parking charges. Cheap-parking website YourParkingSpace predicts fees will double when summer arrives.
Its figures show Luton, Heathrow and Bristol airports hiked prices the most in last year’s holiday weeks and predicts Easter and summer fees will top pre-Covid levels. A week’s off-site parking at Gatwick in July starts at £125 if booked now and is expected to reach £200 if left to the last minute.
4. Take your car to Europe and avoid sky-high car-hire costs, which are expected to be up to 60 per cent more this summer compared with last year.
Rental companies have yet to replace all the cars sold during Covid and are charging premium prices for those they do have. Holiday Autos says a Fiat 500 for a week in Bordeaux this August might cost £550 – up a third on last summer.
5. Getting seats together or extra leg-room on a flight is increasingly expensive. Reserve the more spacious, emergency exit seats on British Airways’ European flights and it can cost £29 extra per person, while added fees to book seats in the same row on Ryanair and other airlines start at £21 per flight.
Short haul: Poole to Guernsey return costs from £170 for a car with two passengers with Condor Ferries. Above is St Peter Port’s picturesque high street in Guernsey
On ferries, families are free to sit together in restaurants, by the windows or on deck. Many routes have free wi-fi and on-board duty-free shops to explore as well.
For details of car ferry routes, visit discoverferries.com, where there’s also information on the paperwork and the rules of the road across Europe.
Some of the most popular routes this summer, for a car and four passengers, include Newcastle to Amsterdam one-way with DFDS from £47, Dover to Calais from £99 return with Irish Ferries, Hull to Rotterdam from £201 with P&O Ferries and Portsmouth to Caen in Normandy from £209 with Brittany Ferries.
Poole to Jersey or Guernsey return costs from £170 for a car with two passengers with Condor Ferries.
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