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Ferry operator, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company has confirmed that provisional bookings for sailings to the 2023 TT will open next week, on Monday, 23rd May.

Provisional bookings, which are held with a deposit, are priced at £40 for foot passengers and £80 for vehicles.

Confirmation of bookings with final details will be sent out toward the end of 2022, with the final balance payments due in February 2023. Any bookings that are not paid in full will be put back on sale the following month.

Brian Thomson, M.D. at the Isle of Man Steam Packet, said: ‘After strong bookings for Isle of Man TT 2022, we’re anticipating high demand for 2023 TT sailings. Previously, first day bookings have exceeded the 5,000 mark within a matter of hours of the booking system opening.

‘We’re expecting our website and phone lines will be very busy on the 23rd May, but we’ve put in place several initiatives to ensure users have a good experience. This includes bringing in additional staff and updating our web booking system to include a queuing system, but would ask for the public’s patience as we deal with the high volume of customer inquiries.

‘The TT is a great event for the Island’s businesses, residents, and, most importantly, visitors and 2022 looks set to be a busy and highly entertaining festival for all, and we look forward to serving fans’ and islanders’ needs in 2023.’

Published in Ferry
Fastnet Line's Cork-Swansea route operated by the M.V. Julia will continue to be off service for annual dry-docking maintenance until the beginning of March. The next sailing will be Friday 4th March from Swansea at 20.30 hours. The route between Munster and south Wales takes 10-hours.
Bookings can be made on www.fastnetline.com up to three hours before departure. Amendments to bookings or a refund for a cancelled sailing can be made by contacting the ferry company reservation teams at the numbers listed below.

Reservations Office Ireland : +353 (0) 21 4378892

Open Monday - Friday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm

Reservations Office UK: 0844 576 8831

Open Monday - Thursday 8.00 am - 8.00 pm

Open Friday 8.00 am - 7.00 pm

Open Saturday and Sunday 9.00 am - 6.00pm

Published in Ferry

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).