No we haven’t been cancelled but just wondered what would happen ie, do they put you on the next ferry which may not have a dog cabin and do they pay for the extra campsite night or do they refund you and you make your own way home.
A couple of years ago we had our return from Santander cancelled. They said they would try to get us on the Sunday one. I wasn’t happy with that as they couldn’t guarantee we would get on. I asked them if there was one from Bilbao they said no. So my next question was how can we get home, he said we can get you on an overnight one from Caen tomorrow night. I told them that I couldn’t get there in time, there reply was you have 24hrs. I asked them to look at my booking and they would see I am towing a caravan. He said he didn’t know, I asked if he could get me on the Saturday night one with the same cabin. He did that and we received £350 refund and a 10% discount on our next trip out.
Done 'hundreds' of ferry journeys over the decades, mostly cross channel, but 4 to/from Spain as well, and can't think of a single cancellation that's affected us, nor can I think of anyone else I know having their crossing cancelled (as we are usually part of a British invasion of France by circa 60k motor race fans, who either know each other or mostly chat on the same fan forums, it's info that would circulate and be known about, that must total to 10s of thousands of crossings each year in total across a couple of week period!).
A booking cancellation, especially at short notice must be an incredibly rare thing, so not something I'd overly worry about, IF it did happen, then the travel insurance should cover any additional costs of extended stays/rebooked crossings, over and above what the ferry company didn't already cover.
About the only situations I can think of that would cause a booking to be 'cancelled' is if the ferry broke down or weather was exceptionally bad, then that would likely mean a delay rather than a complete cancellation.
Curious as to why you would consider it a risk?
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
All the info is in their on their website T&C and Conditions of Carriage that you agree to when you complete the booking form.
Basically it depends on the reason for cancellation. If it's a Force Majeur i.e. beyond BF control such as the consequences pandemics, lockdown or travel restrictions, war or threat of war, riots, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial disputes, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions, level of water, closure of ports, technical or engineering problems or other similar events beyond their control then basically they have no liability and it's up to you to get home, which is where travel insurance comes in.
If it's their fault and the service is at risk of being cancelled or a departure is at risk of being delayed by more than 90 minutes they will offer you the choice between (a) re-routing to the final destination, under comparable conditions, as set out in the transport contract, at the earliest opportunity and at no additional cost or (b) reimbursement of the ticket price within 7 days by method of payment. Alternatively, if the passenger agrees, the full refund can also be paid in the form of vouchers for an amount equivalent to the ticket price.
In practice there were quite a few cancellations recently due to the storms and BF did do their best to help people. However not everyone could be rerouted as there wasn't enough capacity/availabilty, especially on the Spanish routes, on the services that did run so many had no option but to drive through France to a French port. This particularly affected those with pets as the number of pets that can be transported on each sailing is controlled and pet cabins are highly sought after.
This left a number of very disgruntled people who had not read the T&C and had no insurance to cover them but they hadn't got a leg to stand on as they had not read the conditions they agreed to.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Brittany Ferries
via mobile 02/1/2025 at 7:09pm
