Dover-Calais ferry ticket options (2 Viewers)

[Barrackslass]

Just looking at booking the ferry on the Dover Calais route for the first time. I’ve read about the difference between the various ticket options, but seeing that there is leeway of 4 hours (subject to availability), is it worth booking the standard flexi over the flexi? What do other Funsters do?

 

[PhilandMena]

I used to just get the flexi on the return crossing to give me options on my return dates but dont bother at all now as the difference between normal and flexi is £50. It might be cheaper just to amend your ticket if you change your return crossing date. DFDS are the company to use, no cheap untrained ships crew and they are very experianced and consistant. Safe Travels.

 

[Birdy67]

I'd add that we've used Irish ferries a couple of times on this route recently and have another booking with them next week. It's around £100 each way, rarely more than this, and the last couple of journeys we turned up at Dover and Calais very early and on both occasions were put on an earlier sailing. They also offered us entry to the lounge on both journeys once we'd boarded for £12 total, so half price. Free tea, coffee, snacks and I believe wine although we didn't partake.

 

[Barryh]

We just get the cheapest ticket a few days before, but this is always out of peak season. We have arrived early and been asked if we wanted an earlier ferry and also arrived late and been put on the next available ferry. Have to say the new P&O ferries are very nice. We usually book through the caravan club which is usually about 10% cheaper than booking direct and you can amend bookings if you needed to for £20.

 

[Minxy]

We booked our recent crossings with DFDS using a special discount for English Heritage Members, we're not members but were still able to use it.

English Heritage | Offers | DFDS

Offer for English Heritage

www.dfds.com

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[Barchetta47]

Have to say the new P&O ferries are very nice.

I have to say I find the parking decks on the new ships a bit tight so usually go with the older ships. However P&O are going down to three ships from 1/6(?) and have sold the Spirit of Britain to Irish Ferries!!

 

[Brains]

I always get flexi tickets.
It costs marginally more
But if you need to make changes then it's easy.

In 2019 we bought tickets for a crossing in May 2020.
Pandemic arrived.
We moved the tickets several times, eventually to 2021 and then to summer of 2022.
So by the time we used then, nearly 3 years later we were paying a lot less that everyone else for our return trip.

 

[G7UXG]

P&O do a season ticket package. Buy 3 returns in advance (valid for 12 months), for a motorhome up to 7 metres long it’s about £175 return per trip. Supplement of £50 per metre (return) for longer motorhomes, but they charge by the 0.1 metre, so only an extra £25 return for an extra 0.5 metre.
Easy to change bookings online.

 

[Barchetta47]

Thanks for pointing that out it looks great value I didn’t know it existed.

 

[oldiesontour]

P&O Topcashback 8% cash back

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[Barrackslass]

Thanks everyone. We have a dog and so usually use the tunnel but as the prices are so high this year, we thought we would try the ferry with the dog lounge, hence why we are looking to use P&0 (I'm not sure how the dog would be left in the MH on the ferry). We live in Spain and only go over to the UK once a year so the season ticket package wouldn't work for us either.

 

[G7UXG]

We don’t have a dog but took a look at the doggie lounge. It looks good with individual booths to keep dogs separate from each other, and a small ‘doggie deck’ outside.

 

[Grasmere9]

We are looking to drive from Cheshire to Dover Friday 9th and get the Saturday morning ferry...any recommendations for somewhere near the port to stopover? Thanks

 

[G7UXG]

Canterbury Park and Ride.
£4 per calendar day, so if you turn up before midnight and leave after midnight, it’ll be £8
Turn up 1 minute past midnight and leave the same day it’ll cost £4

 

[Grasmere9]

Canterbury Park and Ride.
£4 per calendar day, so if you turn up before midnight and leave after midnight, it’ll be £8
Turn up 1 minute past midnight and leave the same day it’ll cost £4

Thanks

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[The Coops]

Canterbury Park and Ride.
£4 per calendar day, so if you turn up before midnight and leave after midnight, it’ll be £8
Turn up 1 minute past midnight and leave the same day it’ll cost £4

Set off early doors and use the park and ride and have an afternoon in Canterbury and less traffic on the M1/M25 Its about 25 mins to Dover from the Park and ride and the pub at the entrance serves decent food

 

[Grasmere9]

Unfortunately we can't leave until about 6pm...

 

[The Coops]

Unfortunately we can't leave until about 6pm...

No problem you can access and leave any time, if you go on the Canterbury Council website you can register for the New Dover Road Park and ride and it will ANPR your number in and out and take payment from the bank card ( Same for the Dartford Crossing if you register then no bother if you forget to pay!)

 

[stewartwebr]

We have been tunnel users for years going back to the days of Frequent Travellers tickets shared with other funsters. I never look elsewhere other than the tunnel. All this changed when I was sick of the U.K. rain and did a quick search for crossings on the CMC website. I was looking for the cost of the tunnel but did a search for ferries and was suprised to see Irish Ferries quoting less than £90 each way for 10m Motorhome. Crossing out was impressive on the Oscar Wilde in relation to loading and unloading. Ship was dire and food expensive and disgusting. Lesson learned, breakfast before sailing. Getting us from A to B was excellent and are now ferry converts. Hope the crossing back is the same experience. At the end of the day it’s 90 mins so who cares what the ship is like