veryoldbear

We won't be able to use the Barrow-in-Furness ferry then

It is some five weeks to the 1st July and I would expect many things to happen between now and then.

There are so many exemptions that herds of people will be able to come through without quarantine requirements: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules

I think the whole thing is bonkers, particularly as I could claim exemption under at least two of the categories

It's a game of tit 4 tat at the moment. I would rather hope there is some back room diplomacy going on. I expect that BF management are sweating on this at the moment, but my bet is still 01 July for start-up, and I'm going to hold my July booking until the last minute (particularly as I've got Commodores in both direction and I can guarantee I would lose out if I moved the booking). Toujours l'optisme.

I fear the whole thing is a bit of a muddle. I suspect that passenger services won't now start until 1st July simply because there will be no demand until then. There will be a lot of scrabbling about as the UK Goverment realise that this current plan has more holes in it than a very leaky thing and it will be subject to changes and relaxations over the coming weeks.

A whole day since anybody posted on this thread. I think we are suffering some sort of mental lockdown trying to guess what will happen next ...

Well, this evening's BF announcement didn't say very much, I suspect BF management are as confused as we are by the mixed messages emanating from the Powers-That-Be. It does however look more and more likely that passenger services are not going to resume for some time. Exactly what happens over the next 4-5 weeks is anybody's guess

There are clear advantages if you have a catamaran.

The French holiday and tourism season is very short. It used to be very much August only with all big organisation shutting down for a month with a mad scramble to second homes and the seaside. It's a bit more flexible now, but many hotels, restaurants etc rely heavily on making their pile July / August. If stuff isn't open then there will be wholesale bankruptcies and knowing the French the possibility of revolting hotel owners rioting and burning sheep in the street (or something).

https://www.ouest-france.fr/economie/tourisme/deconfinement-un-maximum-de-lieux-touristiques-pourraient-rouvrir-le-21-juin-6837789

It is completely unpredictable. I have a couple of bookings (July and September) which I am assigning probabilities of 50/50 and 70/30 at the moment, but if I have to park them as vouchers this year, so it goes, c'est la vie, I'm not going to lose sleep on it. I would quite like to get over to check the maison secondaire over, and I am quite reconciled to take the drain and a packed lunch if all else fails. I suspect that come Christmas it will all be behind us (like WW1)

I fully expect changes of direction on an almost daily basis over the next month. Some are genuine, some are just floating possibilities to gauge public reaction before finally settling onto a firm policy. All we can really expect are further surprises.

The huge problem that BF have at the moment is the absurd tango between Boris and Macron (and the EU) over lockdown / non-lockdown, quarantine / non-quarantine, exemption / non-exemption. It's all getting a bit tarsome (quote unquote). I really don't mind what they do as long as they come up with some sort of a plan and stick to it for more than 24 hours at a time. Grumble grumble whinge complain. I should imagine that BF management are tearing their corporate hair out over this dithering.

In theory my next trip is in six weeks time. Who knows what might happen by then? I reckon it's 50/50 at the moment, and may have to move it along a bit nearer the time. Contingency a) if the borders are still shut, renegotiate or b) if borders open and BF not running passengers, renegotiate and go the long way round via the drain. Simples.