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Boating holidays in the school holidays : price-wise


Justin Smith

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We wanted to hire a boat from Herbert Woods* but were appalled to see the price they wanted for the last mid week break in May (which is when we have to go because of school holidays). Excluding Damage Waiver and fuel the hire charge was double (double ! ) what it would have been one week earlier. We couldn`t justify that and so, for the first year since we started hiring boats 10 years ago, we won`t be having a boating holiday this year. It`s quite sad. I know school holidays prices are "supply and demand" but I think it`d be justice if Amethyst Light remained unhired for that week ! 

My question is has anyone any tips about where one can hire boats which are not so horrendously expensive during the school holidays ? Or are there other times during the year when the school holidays increase is lower, not when it`s soddin` cold though !

* so as to benefit from their offer to swap it for a day boat to get under the Potter Heigham bridge.

Edited by Justin Smith
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Sadly this common not just in the hire boating industry. And seems to have got worse since schools have been able to fine parents who take their kids out of school for holidays (though strangely going on strike and closing a school doesn't invoke a reciprocal arrangement whereby parents can fine a school).

Since we took on child care responsibilities  for our granddaughter who has a parent who is a teacher we are effectively tied back to taking our extended hols in the school holidays once again and the prices charged for everything from the Eurotunnel crossing to site fees rocket in school hols.

I think the only thing you could do is shop around at different yards/boat choice and then hire the day boat separately if you need to.

Edited by MJG
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10 minutes ago, Justin Smith said:

We wanted to hire a boat from Herbert Woods* but were appalled to see the price they wanted for the last mid week break in May (which is when we have to go because of school holidays). Excluding Damage Waiver and fuel the hire charge was double (double ! ) what it would have been one week earlier. We couldn`t justify that and so, for the first year since we started hiring boats 10 years ago, we won`t be having a boating holiday this year. It`s quite sad. I know school holidays prices are "supply and demand" but I think it`d be justice if Amethyst Light remained unhired for that week ! 

My question is has anyone any tips about where one can hire boats which are not so horrendously expensive during the school holidays ? Or are there other times during the year when the school holidays increase is lower, not when it`s soddin` cold though !

* so as to benefit from their offer to swap it for a day boat to get under the Potter Heigham bridge.

Take the kids out of school holidays. I always did as do my daughters even today with the nonsense spouted by schools. People are too busy to have their lives ruled by people with a job as cushy hours wise as schools. You may get a slapped wrist by boss teacher but as my daughter explained very sensibly to her that as her two kids at that school were the top of the class in EVERY subject then could teacher explain the problem with the failings in their education. No further action.

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17 minutes ago, MJG said:

Sadly this common not just in the hire boating industry. And seems to have got worse since schools have been able to fine parents who take their kids out of school for holidays (though strangely going on strike and closing a school doesn't invoke a reciprocal arrangement whereby parents can fine a school).

Since we took on child care responsibilities  for our granddaughter who has a parent who is a teacher we are effectively tied back to taking our extended hols in the school holidays once again and the prices charged for everything from the Eurotunnel crossing to site fees rocket in school hols.

I think the only thing you could do is shop around at different yards/boat choice and then hire the day boat separately if you need to.

We have booked a cottage in Norfolk and are planning to get a day boat. The cottage was more expensive (than out of the school hols), but nowhere near twice the price.

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28 minutes ago, Justin Smith said:

 I know school holidays prices are "supply and demand"

Its not just "Supply and Demand" though. As already said, with parents fined for taking children out of school in term time, holiday operators of all types must have seen the number of term-time bookings from families fall to near zero. So they need to charge more money  on those weeks when they can sell their holiday in order to stay in business.

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16 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Take the kids out of school holidays. I always did as do my daughters even today with the nonsense spouted by schools. People are too busy to have their lives ruled by people with a job as cushy hours wise as schools. You may get a slapped wrist by boss teacher but as my daughter explained very sensibly to her that as her two kids at that school were the top of the class in EVERY subject then could teacher explain the problem with the failings in their education. No further action.

We want to take our lad on loads of holidays, esp international travel which we consider as important as his academic schooling. Therefore we will need to take him out of school during term time for some of them (we wouldn`t go to Australia / NZ in our summer and their winter.....) so want to use that device sparingly. As it happens he`s only just 5, and in Foundation Stage, so I really cannot see that taking him out of class would make any difference at all to his education. However, the school have an "outstanding" Ofsted report and we think that`s one of the reasons they`re apparently quite hot on this term time holidays thing, thus we don`t want to rock the boat (so to speak.......) when we`ll be taking him on a few term time holidays over his school career.

3 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Its not just "Supply and Demand" though. As already said, with parents fined for taking children out of school in term time, holiday operators of all types must have seen the number of term-time bookings from families fall to near zero. So they need to charge more money  on those weeks when they can sell their holiday in order to stay in business.

Sorry, that is supply and demand ! However, double the price is too high, it`s certainly put us off.

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4 minutes ago, Justin Smith said:

We want to take our lad on loads of holidays, esp international travel which we consider as important as his academic schooling. Therefore we will need to take him out of school during term time for some of them (we wouldn`t go to Australia / NZ in our summer and their winter.....) so want to use that device sparingly. As it happens he`s only just 5, and in Foundation Stage, so I really cannot see that taking him out of class would make any difference at all to his education. However, the school have an "outstanding" Ofsted report and we think that`s one of the reasons they`re apparently quite hot on this term time holidays thing, thus we don`t want to rock the boat (so to speak.......) when we`ll be taking him on a few term time holidays over his school career.

Yes I fully understand the way the schools hold people to ransom these days ( Five kids and nine grandkids ) To be honest though the child and its parents are what count even in a so called poor school. My bro in law went to an abysmal state school in Castleford but ended up with a first at Cambridge an awesome achievement in the late sixties despite the crap school. I understand you don't want to " Rock the boat " :huh:

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28 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

people with a job as cushy hours wise as schools

Sorry, Tim, but I have to flag up this particular bit of gutter press libel. You are many years out of date. I would never describe my daughter's job as 'cushy', but then perhaps she is unusually conscientious.

11 minutes ago, David Mack said:

So they need to charge more money  on those weeks when they can sell their holiday

And less when they can't shift 'em - it works both ways.

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Oh Gawd. Not him. Sadly, a fellow IoW resident.

My response when others complain about what an easy job teaching is/all those holidays etc is:

"OK. If it's such an easy job why aren't doing it?"

But then I might have responed to their question along the lines of "What do you like about teaching" by saying 'August!"

:P

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21 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

Oh Gawd. Not him. Sadly, a fellow IoW resident.

My response when others complain about what an easy job teaching is/all those holidays etc is:

"OK. If it's such an easy job why aren't doing it?"

But then I might have responed to their question along the lines of "What do you like about teaching" by saying 'August!"

:P

I couldn't have done the job but I could have just about survived on the time off and paid holidays.

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35 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Yes I fully understand the way the schools hold people to ransom these days ( Five kids and nine grandkids ) To be honest though the child and its parents are what count even in a so called poor school. My bro in law went to an abysmal state school in Castleford but ended up with a first at Cambridge an awesome achievement in the late sixties despite the crap school. I understand you don't want to " Rock the boat " :huh:

Getting to Oxbridge from a state school in the North is certainly an achievement, even more so if it isn`t want of the top state schools. I think a child`s attainment at school is down to all three, the child, the parents and the school. The latter does matter in maximising academic performance for a given academic ability, why else would so many people spend huge wads of cash sending their beloveds to Eton and other Public schools ? The obvious answer, if a child of a given academic ability will get higher grades in a "better" school, is to link university entrance offers to the average performance of the school the applicant attends. But back to the thread subject, the wife and I have a theory that schools are so bothered about this term time holidays thing because it affects their Ofsted rating, does anyone know if that is true ?

36 minutes ago, Dave Payne said:

We took the Mrs lad out of school just before the summer holidays, only by a couple of days, but it saves a few quid on a holiday abroad, we would have just paid the fine as the difference is quite a lot.

 

Just dont be an idiot like this bloke, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-39504338

I had a lot of time for him, though I think his case would have been a bit stronger (educationally) had he been taking his kids to, say, China, as opposed to Disneyland.

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Just a suggestion.

Many schools take pupils out of school during term time, they call them 'field trips' and class them as extending the child's education.

My suggestion, advise the school that you intend to take your son/daughter out on a field trip during the said dates and that you will take full responsibility for them during this period of time.

Well, if it's good enough for the school to do, it must be good enough for the parents to do also.

Kevin

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21 minutes ago, Kev's Halcyon said:

Just a suggestion.

Many schools take pupils out of school during term time, they call them 'field trips' and class them as extending the child's education.

My suggestion, advise the school that you intend to take your son/daughter out on a field trip during the said dates and that you will take full responsibility for them during this period of time.

Well, if it's good enough for the school to do, it must be good enough for the parents to do also.

Kevin

Or you could get them to misbehave sufficiently that they get excluded for the requisite period :cheers:

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When we used to hire we always used www.latelink.com. We never paid anywhere near the full price and always went in school holidays. The only downside is booking at the last minute, our closest was booking on a Thursday to go on the Friday.

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Can't say I'm surprised. We hired from Richardson's last month out of the school holidays for a reasonable price. The next people to hire the boat who picked it up on the same day we left it paid almost double what we did as it was half term. 

Don t think I would have been happy paying what they did as the boat had clearly had a hard season and was a bit abused on the outside although inside was spotless. 

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5 hours ago, Justin Smith said:

 

Sorry, that is supply and demand ! However, double the price is too high, it`s certainly put us off.

Yes, but what I meant to convey is that if supply is restricted (by limiting family availability to school holidays only) then the theory of supply and demand will push up the price to the point where there are still sufficient buyers to sell the holidays for those weeks. But if that price point (and the reduced price point for term-time holidays) doesn't give the holiday operator enough revenue to cover his costs, then he goes out of business. And nobody gets the holiday.

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This is why we ended up buying a share in a boat rather than hiring like we used to.

There is no wriggle room with the fines any more, and its not the school who enforces them, its the local authority.

We took our daughter out for a week in what was her last year at Junior school, and after the SATs had been sat (once out of the way they were doing nothing but play games, so much for education).
Forms were filled in and sent back from school, absence agreed but unauthorised. And a few months later lo and behold through came the fines, £60 per parent, per child, if promptly paid.
We paid the same day, because £120 is nothing compared to what the same holiday would have cost two weeks later (triple the total cost in fact).

Or the alternative is to lie. Our local school policy for vomiting or diarrhoea is to not allow the child back to school unless 48hrs have passed since the last episode, as long as you keep the school informed this could see you through the week easily. We've stupidly always been honest, and the last time it cost us.

 

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23 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Take the kids out of school holidays. I always did as do my daughters even today with the nonsense spouted by schools. People are too busy to have their lives ruled by people with a job as cushy hours wise as schools. You may get a slapped wrist by boss teacher but as my daughter explained very sensibly to her that as her two kids at that school were the top of the class in EVERY subject then could teacher explain the problem with the failings in their education. No further action.

Sorry but you're way off line with your comments about cushy hours. OK, class hours may be 9 - 3.30  M-F 39 weeks of the year but that's just the tip of the iceburg. Even 20 years ago my late wife worked the better part of half her official holidays. Several of my younger relatives teach and they do more hours out of th classroom than in. Long evening and weekend work is normal. Another point never mentioned is how much they spend on materials, pens, paper, computer consumables etc,etc

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12 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

Or the alternative is to lie. Our local school policy for vomiting or diarrhoea is to not allow the child back to school unless 48hrs have passed since the last episode, as long as you keep the school informed this could see you through the week easily. We've stupidly always been honest, and the last time it cost us.

 

This is the best route to go.

11 minutes ago, Slim said:

 Another point never mentioned is how much they spend on materials, pens, paper, computer consumables etc,etc

Why?

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34 minutes ago, Slim said:

Sorry but you're way off line with your comments about cushy hours. OK, class hours may be 9 - 3.30  M-F 39 weeks of the year but that's just the tip of the iceburg. Even 20 years ago my late wife worked the better part of half her official holidays. Several of my younger relatives teach and they do more hours out of th classroom than in. Long evening and weekend work is normal. Another point never mentioned is how much they spend on materials, pens, paper, computer consumables etc,etc

I meant realy the cushy hours schools actualy open as against real world hours for others at work. For instance schools close for about THIRTEEN weeks per year and every weekend I know teachers work hard.

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34 minutes ago, Slim said:

Sorry but you're way off line with your comments about cushy hours. OK, class hours may be 9 - 3.30  M-F 39 weeks of the year but that's just the tip of the iceburg. Even 20 years ago my late wife worked the better part of half her official holidays. Several of my younger relatives teach and they do more hours out of th classroom than in. Long evening and weekend work is normal. Another point never mentioned is how much they spend on materials, pens, paper, computer consumables etc,etc

And a lot (if not most) of that is caused by the amount of paperwork that seems to come with the job these days (never mind the marking). Schools don't appear to have got onto the technology bandwagon and teachers end up rewriting everything multiple times in different formats for different audiences when it should be written once and then the various audiences have it presented to them in the manner they need.

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On 15/11/2017 at 13:48, Justin Smith said:

We wanted to hire a boat from Herbert Woods* but were appalled to see the price they wanted for the last mid week break in May (which is when we have to go because of school holidays). Excluding Damage Waiver and fuel the hire charge was double (double ! ) what it would have been one week earlier. We couldn`t justify that and so, for the first year since we started hiring boats 10 years ago, we won`t be having a boating holiday this year. It`s quite sad. I know school holidays prices are "supply and demand" but I think it`d be justice if Amethyst Light remained unhired for that week ! 

My question is has anyone any tips about where one can hire boats which are not so horrendously expensive during the school holidays ? Or are there other times during the year when the school holidays increase is lower, not when it`s soddin` cold though !

* so as to benefit from their offer to swap it for a day boat to get under the Potter Heigham bridge.

Double the price seems like a big differential; I've just checked the prices of one of the local hire firms and the maximum differential between the lowest and highest equivalent hire is 30%. 

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16 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

This is why we ended up buying a share in a boat rather than hiring like we used to.

(snip)

Same here, and we don't have kids. The last straw was when we were on a fortnight's hire, which included an English Bank holiday weekend. The second week cost almost twice as much as the first one.

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