Brittany Ferries are a pain in the balls for this. LD Lines were better (but you end up at le Havre which isn’t exactly the prettiest part of Normandy).
When we went with a tandem, I had to book one passenger plus bike, and one foot passenger. At check-in they split us up and made my wife walk through the ferry port on her own in the dark. Wasn’t impressed. We came back via LD where we just rode onto the boat as we’d expect.
Being pragmatic, the bikes just sit at the side of the deck and there’s space for hundreds. As long as you book the correct number of passengers I would just treat a bike plus trailer as a bike, book it on as that. They simply don’t have the space restriction or loading implications that cars do, so all you risk is some jobsworth fingering the small print – the guys doing the loading won’t care.
But worth noting that they may send your ‘non cyclist’ (be they stoker or trailer occupant) on a hike – so probably best to book yourself plus one child with the bikes, and your wife plus second child as foot passengers. Then you’ll have to walk both bikes through, but at least you’ll be able to look after the kids.
Then send Brittany a letter telling them how crap they are at this and CC it to the CTC.
Just my two cents, and yes I am bitter 🙂
