Jersey and Guernsey ferry users frustrated by timetable wait

Passengers say they feel like nothing is being done as they face an "extremely frustrating" wait for winter ferry timetables to be published.

People in the Channel Islands said they had been unable to book any journeys to and from Jersey after December, while others were unable to get times for a slower service between Guernsey and Portsmouth.

One tourist said the delays had put him off visiting and other passengers had called for clarity on the situation.

Brittany Ferries and DFDS, which have ferry contracts for Guernsey and Jersey respectively, said full timetables would be available in the coming weeks. Brittany Ferries' schedules for it high-speed services was published in summer.

Last year DFDS published its schedule in August while Brittany Ferries' was available in July.

Liz Taylor said she travels from Jersey on DFDS ferries about six times a year to visit her father in the UK as well as for holidays.

She said she had been waiting for the schedule to be released to book a holiday to Austria, a process she described as frustrating because accommodation prices were creeping up.

Taylor, who said she faced similar issues at the same time last year, has made a formal complaint to Jersey's government.

"My complaint overall is that although the government has said that they've got some sort of monitoring, I don't think they're doing anything," she said.

Minister Gerald Voisin, responsible for the ferry contract, said there were "currently no planned revisions" to the concession agreement.

He said the agreement was kept under review at quarterly meetings of the Ferry Services Monitoring Committee which had members from the government, DFDS and Ports of Jersey.

"The concession agreement, which is available in the public domain, gives all parties wide breadth to deliver excellent ferry services for Jersey under its current terms and at this point, only 18 months into the agreement, I want to see a focus on this delivery rather than tinkering with the terms of the contract," he added.

Chris Russell said he had been trying to book a ferry since July between Portsmouth and Guernsey for his godson's wedding.

However, he said it still had not been released despite messages on Brittany Ferries' website saying the schedule was being updated and was due to be "released in the coming weeks".

Russell said: "That's been happening since the beginning of July, which is extremely frustrating.

"Literally every day I've been looking at the website double checking if the schedule has been issued.

"Ironically I think it could be like Oasis tickets because it could come to a certain point where everyone is diving onto the website to book their ferries."

Tourist Greg Vickers said he had booked a five-night holiday in Jersey in June but was still waiting for timetables to be released which had put him off visiting in future.

"It's much more complicated than say going to Skye, the Isle of Wight or even Ireland," he said.

DFDS, which secured a 20-year contract to service Jersey last year, said it had completed its 2027 timetables.

But it added the timetables were going through the normal coordination and consultation process with the port authorities across its network, including Jersey, Poole, Portsmouth and St Malo.

The ferry company said this was "routine" and hoped to finalise this process "within the next week or two" and have the final timetables published shortly afterwards.

A spokesperson for Brittany Ferries said the firm hoped to be a position to confirm its timetables for winter and next year "in the near future".

"Our 2027 high-speed schedule, linking Guernsey with Poole, St Malo and the weekly service to Jersey, has been available since the summer," the spokesperson added.

"Islanders and visitors can therefore already book their high-speed travel for next year."

Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook . Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook . Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk .

States says island could benefit from ferry cuts

'Getting things into the island is always a battle'

Calls for independent review of DFDS freight prices