 BLUESTAR FERRY TICKET RESERVATIONS |
Booking your Bluestar ferry ticket online is safe and secure.
Simply select your outward and return routes below, enter the number of passengers then click 'Get Price' and follow the onscreen help from there.
If you are not certain of the port name in your destination country click here for country specific ferry route information or click anywhere on the ferry route map below to view an interavtive map of all Bluestar ferry routes.
When booking your ferry ticket online a booking reference will be sent to you by email. On arrival at the port of departure present the booking reference number together with a photo ID and you will be given your ferry tickets.
A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, but also other forms, carrying (or ferrying) passengers and sometimes their vehicles. Ferries are also used to transport freight (in lorries (trucks) and sometimes unpowered freight containers) and even railroad cars. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services. A foot-passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi.
Ferries form a part of the public transport systems of many waterside cities and islands, allowing direct transit between points at a capital cost much lower than bridges or tunnels.
The busiest seaway in the world, the English Channel, connects Great Britain and mainland Europe sailing mainly to French ports, such as Calais, Boulogne, Cherbourg-Octeville, Caen, St Malo and Le Havre. Ferries from Great Britain also sail to Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Ireland. Some ferries carry mainly tourist traffic, but most also carry freight, and some are exclusively for the use of freight lorries.
Large cruiseferries sail in the Baltic Sea between Finland, Sweden, Germany and Estonia, and from Italy to Albania and Greece. In many ways, these ferries are like cruise ships, but they can also carry hundreds of cars on car decks. In Britain, car-carrying ferries are sometimes referred to as RORO (roll-on, roll-off) for the ease by which vehicles can board and leave.
Double-ended ferries have interchangeable bows and sterns, allowing them to shuttle back and forth between two terminals without having to turn around. Well-known double-ended ferry systems include the Staten Island Ferry and Washington State Ferries. Most Norwegian fjord and coastal ferries are double-ended vessels. Some ferries in Sydney, Australia and British Columbia are also double-ended. In 2008, BC Ferries will launch three of the largest double-ended ferries in the world.
Hydrofoils have the advantage of higher cruising speeds, succeeding hovercraft on some English Channel routes where the ferries now compete against the Eurotunnel and Eurostar trains that use the Channel Tunnel. Passenger-only hydrofoils also proved a practical, fast and relatively economical solution in the Canary Islands but were recently replaced by faster catamaran "high speed" ferries that can carry cars. Their replacement by the larger craft is seen by critics as a retrograde step given that the new vessels use much more fuel and foster the inappropriate use of cars in islands already suffering from the impact of mass tourism.
Hovercraft were developed in the 1960s and 1970s to carry cars. The largest was the massive SRN4 which carried cars in its centre section with ramps at the bow and stern between England and France. The hovercraft was superseded by catamarans which are nearly as fast and are less affected by sea and weather conditions. Only one service now remains, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
With the largest selection of ferry routes and operators bluestarferry.com is able to offer you the lowest ferry fares with online reservations on all ferries sailing from over twenty six different countries across Europe including ferries to and from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the UK.
Book your Bluestar ferry tickets to and from the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Holland and Spain online in advance to benefit from exclusive online discounts of on all major ferry operators including P&O, Stenaline, Brittany Ferries, Seafrance and Irish Ferries.
