UK<>France ferry fares...EXPENSIVE!!

[PixelMover]

Tried to book a ferry for a small car and ona adult, from mainland Europe to the UK and back..

WOW....EXPENSIVE!!!! flying is 3x cheaper!!!

Any seasoned channel-crossers here who have some tips on getting a reasonable price for me?

[DJ Dubovsky]

I haven't crossed the channel since 1986 but I don't recall it being that much. We didn't take the hydrofoil though, we just took the regular Townsend ferry. Now that they have the Chunnel why not take that and drive over? I don't know what that costs but it can't be as much as a flight.
DJ

[PixelMover]

Well, DJ..I took the ferry to the UK (2 adults, 1 car) in 1999 to celebrate milennium night in London and I paid for a return trip about US$ 150.

Now, the CHEAPEST fare I can find is Euro 312.00 wich is basically the same as US$ 312.00
Chunnel is 378.00 !!!!

For a flight with KLM, (Which includes free train tickets to and from Amsterdam airport, which would normally cost me US$ 70) I pay US$ 135.00

Cheapest possible return flight is by Ryan Air for only US$ 50.00 including all taxes and fees...

So..ferry crossing has doubled in price in 3 years, and is more than twice as expensive as flying, and then I don't even count the fuel, which costs roughly US$ 1.15 per LITER here...

If I take that into account, it's 3x more expensive than flying.

[DJ Dubovsky]

Wow, I didn't realize how much things had changed. How do people afford to go back and forth between Europe and England? That must be a big damper on tourism. Is that just since money changed to the Euro Dollar?
DJ

[PixelMover]

Yeah, the Euro has to do with it as well..
You can't imagine how expensive life has become after the Euro...
It seems every shop, service and institution has taken advantage of the currency change to 'up' their prices considerably..

Some prices have risen up to 10% and some very 'bold' people have even doubled some prices...
But, of course, the salaries have been converted accurately to the 3rd decimal, no free payrises there....
And the government wonders why our economy is doing so bad lately....hah..

Also, the attack on 9/11 made more ppl use the ferry instead of the plane, which was a good opportunity for them to raise the prices...

And, this is the only way to get to the UK by car from here...as long as the ferries and chunnel all keep within the same price range, the customers really haven't got a choice...

[DJ Dubovsky]

I know the economy has really been tough to deal with over here in the US but I guess I never thought about how it was affecting you guys over there. I guess it didn't help to finally change over to the Euro Dollar and then the world economy suddenly takes a nose dive. That kind of change in a strong economy would have been tough enough but now it must be impossible to make ends meet. Yeah, I agree, salaries usually don't follow the price hike trends. And here I was thinking the Chunnel was a small cost per car like $25 to $50 at the most. Surprise Surprise!! Never even considered they could tack on that big a price tag. I guess I learned a thing or two.
DJ

[PixelMover]

Well, without wanting to be too 'economical' , it is basically a case of 'digging your own grave ' over here.

When the Euro was implemented, consumers told the government they were very worried that the industry would take advantage of the 'currency confusion' to raise prices.

The government simply told us we were being silly, because they had made an 'agreement' with industry and commerce that all prices would be converted exactly to Euros.

Of course, this didn't happen, with the resulting price rises as a result.

Now, the consumers feel 'cheated' and simply don't spend as much as they normally would, because they feel they are being ripped off and everything is too expensive. However, since all industry and commerce raised their prices, this means production costs also raised the same amount. So, now they are producing their items at an increased cost, but not selling them at an increased price, and now the industry and commerce are blaming the government that our economy has become very weak, while, in fact, it is their own fault....

Meanwhile, since the Euro and Dollar are almost equal in value, it is profitable for consumers to order expensive items in the US, via the internet. So the industry here is losing out on sales in 2 ways now..and still, it's their own fault, for not holding up their end of the 'bargain'

Now, the consumers have also lost all their faith in the government, because they promised us no price raises due to the Euro.. And even more so because the government has simply been denying that such price rises had even taken place..

Now both consumers and industry mistrust the government, which is a perfect basis for weakening the economy even more...

I myself have had to increase my hourly rate by almost 15%, just to be able to keep the same profit I had before the change. If I want to give myself a pay rise, I'll have to increase my prices to 20% or so..And that is just to cover inflation, due to the Euro-thing... To REALLY earn more, a raise of about 25-30% would be needed...

[DJ Dubovsky]

Sounds like a case of Government trying to play both sides of the fence and getting caught up in the middle. Typical beaurocratic / political BS if you ask me. Hopefully things will start to level off soon and things will be more reasonable but with the World economy being as it is and the US economy in dire straights it may take a long time.
DJ

[ashleygerrald]

Re: UK&lt;&gt;France ferry fares...EXPENSIVE!!

Tried to book a ferry for a small car and ona adult, from mainland Europe to the UK and back..

WOW....EXPENSIVE!!!! flying is 3x cheaper!!!

Any seasoned channel-crossers here who have some tips on getting a reasonable price for me?

channel crossings is cheap with this ferry. most of the time, they do have special / seasonal fares.

cheap ferry