Disappointed in advance by holiday ferry timetable
DEAR Condor Ferries customer services, I write in reference to a recent broadcast email from Condor Ferries stating that ferries were able to be booked up until summer 2017. I am dismayed to see that for February half term 2017, the ferry service between Guernsey and France is simply not available. For a family wanting to travel to France for the week, leaving on Saturday 18 February, there is a five-hour layover in Jersey so arrival into St Malo is 8.55pm, leaving no time for driving very far upon arrival.
There are no return ferries at all on Saturday 25 or Sunday 26.
How is this possible? There are large numbers of Channel Island residents who take the ferries to France every February half term who drive to various different ski resorts. You have made this absolutely impossible for us for 2017.
Condor Ferries are supposed to service the Channel Islands with reliable ferries to and from the UK and France. Not having ferries available for one of the most important weeks of the year is astounding and short-sighted. I hope this is a scheduling oversight which will be corrected very soon.
I look forward to hearing from you.
ANDREA LORD,
Address withheld.
Editor's footnote: Ian Le Moigne, communications, Condor Ferries replies:
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your reader's letter.
At Condor Ferries we operate a network of different routes which we need to balance along with crew hours, tidal restrictions and the demands of our different passenger needs. All of these different factors mean that it is not always possible to satisfy the needs of everyone.
However, following your reader's letter we have reviewed the schedule and made some amendments to allow for better connectivity on our sailings between Guernsey and St Malo via Jersey and vice versa during half term week next February.
The changes are for departures from the islands to St Malo on Friday 17 and Monday 20 February 2017 and to the return sailings on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 February.
These have been made without incurring significant knock-on effects to the schedule and for passengers already booked on these days.
