# Ferry to France- when to book



## Delboy (23 Aug 2013)

Hi

thinking of bringing the car to France next June/early July for a family holiday (Rosslare to Roscoff). I see on the Irish Ferries website that they are saying they have limited numbers of cabins available for the dates I'm looking at.

So is now the time of year to book a ferry for next Summer??? Or will more space become available after xmas and it's a safe enough to leave booking until that time of year?
It just seems way too early to be booking for a holiday next year,especially as I'm not certain whether I want to go for sure yet.

Any one out there with info on when they booked etc...thanks


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## huskerdu (23 Aug 2013)

The sailing schedule for next year is fixed so there will be no more boats that will appear on the schedule later for that route

I assume that they are honest about the number of cabins available, so I assume that the number available now is the total number available. 

However, I would be very surprised if it sold out very fast. I booked Celtic Link from Rosslare to Cherbourg this year and I booked in Feb. We wanted 
to go the last two weeks in July and we wanted the Sat evening sailing and it sells out fast so I was glad we booked then. The 4 berth cabins were
gone a few months later. However, there was lots of availability on other sailings if you were flexible about dates. 

I agree, its very early to book if you are not sure.

BTW, Between Irish Ferries and Celtic Link, there is more availability to Cherbourg and it is cheaper.


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## Delboy (23 Aug 2013)

thanks Huskerdu
seems to be saying there's only about 9 cabins left of most categories for sailings towards the end of June.

I might just leave it and see how things look in Jan


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## Time (24 Aug 2013)

They always say there is only 9 cabins left.


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## ang1170 (26 Aug 2013)

Delboy said:


> thanks Huskerdu
> seems to be saying there's only about 9 cabins left of most categories for sailings towards the end of June.
> 
> I might just leave it and see how things look in Jan


 
I wouldn't trust the "9 cabins left" either. They never seem to have more than a few left of any type.

I suspect early spring is probably about the optimal time for booking in terms of price/availability.

I booked with them late last December for travel in June of this year (with a low depoist: I wouldn't have booked even that far in advance if they were looking for a lot). I checked the odd time after that, and availability only became an issue a few weeks out from the travel date. Price remained pretty much the same until around the same time, when I think it started going up.

One thing: they frequently have offers such as a free UK trip or similar, so it can be woth waiting for this.

All in all, I'd say January is fine.


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## Delboy (26 Aug 2013)

thanks folks, good info. I'll hold off until after xmas


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## lfcjfc (29 Aug 2013)

Booked with Irish Ferries in mid-May this year for our holiday that started 27th June - so less than 6 weeks ahead. There were cabins still available at that time on most dates - although we chose to travel out via Roscoff and back via Cherbourg for cost reasons. We had looked to book just after Christmas and the cost we eventually paid was about 250e cheaper than the early price.


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## Delboy (29 Aug 2013)

lfcjfc said:


> Booked with Irish Ferries in mid-May this year for our holiday that started 27th June - so less than 6 weeks ahead. There were cabins still available at that time on most dates - although we chose to travel out via Roscoff and back via Cherbourg for cost reasons. We had looked to book just after Christmas and the cost we eventually paid was about 250e cheaper than the early price.



cheaper close to the date...interesting. thanks


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## ang1170 (29 Aug 2013)

Delboy said:


> cheaper close to the date...interesting. thanks


 
That could well be true for standard pricing. As far as I can recall, I used some form of special offer when I booked. They seem to have plenty of these in an attempt to get early bookings.


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## Vanilla (29 Aug 2013)

They also have offers for early booking! We booked ours this year in January and received 10% off. I receive regular emails from them but as far as I can remember generally once summer approaches most of the special offers are for crossing to the UK.

Just be careful of the cabins- once they're gone, they're gone and there is nothing more miserable than a seat or a bad cabin on a bad crossing. But then we usually go in July or August and that is the high season, June should be better.


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## Grizzly (30 Aug 2013)

I am signed up to the various ferry websites. I get regular offers throughout the year of 10%, 20% off and free upgrades, children go free all sorts of stuff and some "only available to me"!!


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## ang1170 (30 Aug 2013)

Vanilla said:


> They also have offers for early booking! We booked ours this year in January and received 10% off. I receive regular emails from them.


 
That's exactly what I did, booking about 6 months before travel. The OPs original question was whether they should consider booking now for next summer. My advice, based on this year's experiance, is to book late Dec/or January, getting one of the discount offers. It's still quite far in advance, but as the travel date approaches, the price is unlikely to go down much further, and availability starts to become an issue.

I'd agree on the cabins by the way: there's no way I'd consider doing that trip without a cabin with a window.


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## Delboy (30 Aug 2013)

Thanks again. The availability of cabins are my fear...I'm sure there'll be some sort of discounts running most of the year (and in any case, I will be eligible for a large discount because of my employer!!!).
But I'll chance it as I now feel there will be cabin availability...and I'm not even sure yet if I will go this route for my holiday next year (or even go on holiday!)


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## Grizzly (31 Aug 2013)

Just got an email this morning. "10% off with this email only"  only to U.K. and for travel up to January.


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