No fast ferries to UK this winter in Condor’s timetable

The document shows that the company’s newest ship – the Condor Islander – will make its first sailing to Guernsey on 1 November.

However, its introduction coincides with the Condor Liberation going out of service for maintenance for two months. And Condor has decided to focus its remaining fast ferry – the Condor Voyager – on travelling to France instead.

A Condor spokesman said the Voyager would then go into dry dock for six weeks at the start of 2024.

He confirmed the conventional ferries would provide the UK winter service.

‘By scheduling Islander and Clipper in November and December, we can provide a more resilient service in the winter months, particularly this year due to the extended, planned dry dock for Liberation,’ he said.

‘The introduction of Islander is a welcome addition and something we had been planning for years had Covid not intervened. It allows us to add capacity and improve connectivity on our key routes and creates an overall more weather resilient-passenger and freight service, especially during winter.’

The Condor Islander is not yet shown on Condor’s printed timetable, but travellers are able to book on the ship.

The first sailing will be from Portsmouth on 1 November and will take seven-and-a-half hours to reach Guernsey.

It will then be running alongside the Commodore Clipper – Condor’s other conventional ferry – meaning that on most days there will be two slow sailing options for islanders in November and December – an overnight sailing and daytime sailing – to link Guernsey and Portsmouth.

For those wanting to use a fast ferry, there are none in November and December, with the Voyager operating the first fast ferry sailing of 2024 from Guernsey to the UK on 3 January.

There are just a handful of fast sailings in January between Guernsey and the UK.

There are no fast ferry sailings linking Guernsey and UK around Christmas, but Jersey has been more fortunate, with fast ferry sailings to the UK on 21 and 29 December, meaning travellers can get from the UK to Jersey in just over four hours.

For islanders keen to travel to France, the new schedule is likely to be good news.

The Voyager will be making 20 direct sailings from Guernsey to France in November and December, with a journey time of between two and three hours.

The Condor spokesman said that St Malo harbour would be closed from January to mid February for maintenance, so the winter schedule will switch to Cherbourg over this period.

Guernsey’s school term dates have been taken into account on the new timetable. The autumn half term ends on 30 October, before the Liberation goes into dry dock.

The spring half term takes place between 12 and 16 February, and there are fast ferry sailings aboard the Liberation between Guernsey and UK around these dates.

The Condor Islander is Condor’s newest ship, which sailed from New Zealand earlier this summer. It has been moored in Poole since late August while refurbishment work is carried out.

Workers are in the process of installing a restaurant, brasserie and duty free shop, along with six pet-friendly cabins.

The new timetable runs up until mid March.