Ferry vs Tunnel

I did a little pricing exercise a month of so back and Irish Ferries came out well and, it seems, you can use Tesco points with them. That said the exercise was for both sons and their wife/fiancee so three vans to visit the Normandy invasion sites so factoring in diesel and time Newhaven/Dieppe worked out best.

Depending on where we are going I always do a rough spreadsheet
 
We are currently in France and used the Tunnel for the first time - Brilliant….fast and efficient. But the big bonus was much less stress and anxiety for The Beauty Terrorist…..She hates the sea and always fought against panic attacks when using ferries.
Our return ticket cost less than £200 thanks to Tesco vouchers.
 
Both retired and Pippa stays with us all the time (yes I know she’s spoilt) she has anxieties-noise being the biggest.
We’ve used the tunnel every time with her so I think leaving her alone on a ferry would blow her mind!
This time we are using the ferry and the dog lounge.
I don’t shop at Tesco much so do not have a decent amount of vouchers to use.
As I said in my original post-
Ferry (at the day/time we’ve selected £253.
Tunnel (as above) £383.
 
I've used the tunnel twice.

The first time was shortly after it opened, just to see what it was like. I have to say that the train itself reminded me of some of the ones the chaps in the Hugo Boss suits laid on in the 40s....

The journey itself was perfectly OK, got you there faster and I can see why that would make sense if you were travelling for business but I never really felt the extra cost was worth it for my needs.

I'm a 2h drive from Dover and an early bird so I'm normally heading off in the small hours to catch one of the first (usually cheaper) ferries. Having a bit of time on the boat to get some breakfast and a coffee and a little walk around is quite a welcome rest stop for me and once on French soil I'm fed, watered and rested and ready to get some miles done.

The second time I went through the tunnel was last December.

A bit of an impromptu trip to France for Christmas and the New Year saw me arriving at the ferry port in the late afternoon on Christmas eve only to be told that Dover was shut! I didn't know they did that. The only option was to head over to the tunnel the following morning.

Given that this was a last minute thing in what was essentially not much more than a panel van, we'd decided to stock up on food in France on Christmas eve, however everything is shut on Christmas day. We had coffee, water and a couple of packs of instant noodles which wasn't quite the Christmas dinner we'd hoped for. Managed to find a boulangerie which was open so we got bread and pastries and a very nice coffee for breakfast and then drove around in the vain hope of finding supplies somewhere. We failed and so decided to go and hunt for a nice spot to camp and that meant smaller roads leading to smaller villages.

We were going through one of these random tiny places when we drove past an all you can eat Chinese buffet which was open!

A quick U turn and we feasted until we were fit to burst. Not a traditional meal, but a significant improvement on packet noodles!

Anyway, I digress (I do that a lot!)

The return journey was done with Irish Ferries. I've used them a couple of times now and have been really happy with the service and the prices. For not a huge amount extra I booked the VIP lounge which gives you unlimited access to a pretty decent buffet and some acceptable coffee.

They've become my 'go to' choice on the Dover -> Calais crossing

That said, I do understand how adding a dog to the equation would change things and why that would make paying the extra for a faster journey where your dog can be in relatively familiar surroundings and won't be affected by rough seas etc really makes sense.

Until I get a dog, it's ferries for me though.
 
Booked on irish ferries next Tuesday one way £100 used £80 tesco vouchers and paid them £20,the tunnel is to dear now even with our shareholders discount

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Kirsten said:
We use the tunnel and Tesco points so it becomes cheaper than the ferry . In France at the mo , came from Newhaven on ferry for a change, was a very long crossing imo and costing us same as trip to France on tunnel in December . Also we were made to park right next to ferry wall, and joy of joys our only cab door sometimes doesn’t work well from outside , bloody thing wouldn’t open ! we had to shimmy n squeeze into the hab door which only opened a couple of inches ..
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Hardly like for like equating prices of Newhaven/Dieppe summer crossing to a channel tunnel crossing in the depths of winter…….and don’t forget if you’re heading south in France you have saved mileage and possibly time.
 
Brains said:
All depends on where you are going.
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Why ? I use Dunkirk when I travel to Devon. I use Dunkirk travelling to anywhere & return via Dunkirk when travelling home to here in Murcia.
Barti Ddu said:
the newish P&O pet lounge provides a decent alternative. Dogs get VIP treatment - free biscuits, exercise area, etc., and humans get unlimited bean-to-cup coffee or cold drinks on the crossing.
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Unfortunately I think it was introduced to get customers back after the sacking debacle. It is rope a dope
jdk62 said:
Our return ticket cost less than £200 thanks to Tesco vouchers.
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But that isn't the price? The price is what it costs without any inducements like us normal people pay .

The tunnel was just about ok a dozen years ago but it was bad enough then with breakdowns.lack of investment over the 25 years hasn't helped. In the last two weeks there were 7 & 8 hours delays on last weekend of school holidays continuing in to the following week. Chaser who travelled last week was also delayed as was another poster a couple of days later.
 
We tunnelled it over to France a week ago. Sadly we lost our two dogs earlier this year so looked at ferries v tunnel. We only live 20 odd mins from Portsmouth ferry, so looked at this option first. 😮 despite Jane refusing to travel that long on a ferry, I discounted that on price alone.
Dover obviously cheaper route so compared tunnel prices. For the same time, day etc they weren’t that different with tunnel loosing by £45. With Tesco vouchers it was the same.
Now with two fostered dogs tunnel was the option to go for. We had snags with Daisy’s passport so with a quick dash to Ashford we got back to the tunnel and on a later train. Would have missed a ferry and had to wait.
Another positive for the tunnel; IMHO, is the ease to change travel time so easily and often.
 
Shrimp said:
Two of us and the dog.
Looking at crossing prices to France and back to uk, ridiculous Tunnel prices!
How many of you lot have voted with your feet to use a ferry instead of the train, with or without a dog (or two)?
Ferry (at the day/time we’ve selected £253.
Tunnel (as above) £383.
No contest!
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I always check the tunnel price but so far it’s always been a little over half the price to get the ferry!!
Absolutely ridiculous price!!!!
 
We eventually always used Hull when living in Greater Manchester. The convenience of leaving the ferry by 8am on return and home before lunch outstripped any savings by going south and having the long drag back up the country when returning home.

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I always used the tunnel when they had the frequent passenger scheme but the cost of using the tunnel is ridiculous so we now use Irish ferries for our Dover/Calais crossings. We always go by ferry to Spain
 
In case anyone has missed the DFDS ‘Motorhome & Caravan for the Price of a Car’ offer on another thread.

www.dfds.com

Caravan & Motorhome Offer | Newhaven - Dieppe | DFDS

Take a DFDS ferry to France and start your European road trip off on the right foot! Travel with your caravan or motorhome during selected times for a special offer!
www.dfds.com www.dfds.com

Don’t forget there’s also an additional 20% discount if one of the party is 60+ and the booking is made over the phone.
 
Googlebot said:
Perhaps I am unusual, I always leave the dogs in the van on ferries. It’s their home, is familiar to them and doesn’t have other dogs or kids running round them. They have fresh water and their own beds.

I wish I could join them.
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I do ... 🙃
 
I always use the ferry because i prefer it. Bonus is the price. I use Irish ferries - cheap and they take Tesco vouchers. I saw a dog on it last time too. They had a dog lounge (empty) and someone was walking their dog around the ship.
 
VXman said:
I always use the ferry because i prefer it. Bonus is the price. I use Irish ferries - cheap and they take Tesco vouchers. I saw a dog on it last time too. They had a dog lounge (empty) and someone was walking their dog around the ship.
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Was it barking orders? 😄

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We do like the tunnel, but its a bit expensive unless you can utilise Tesco points. Heading over to France via Poole next Wednesday, which is @ £180. Only using it as we are calling in at Essenjay for steps fitting otherwise we would probably have tried Newhaven Dieppe.
 
Next year, on our Northern Ireland Raid, we will cross into England using the tunnel (Chunnel?) mainly because we have never been on it and it seems rude not to use it, considering what it cost to build and the sheer engineering beauty of such a creation. I'm looking forward to it. My wife asked me 'what if it collapses while we are in it?'. I wasn't sure how to explain that one (she's Canarian, so you have to forgiver her) 😂
 
I live 4 miles from the tunnel and 14 from Dover. Our "goto" was always the tunnel on the bike or the car.

Sitting on the deck though started to become a misery after a long ride up to Coquelles. But, it was quicker when no delays and roughly the same cost.

Post Covid it's also become rather expensive compared to the ferry.

On my return trip to Assen for the MotoGP in June into July I was quoted £135 return on the shuttle. As I went with others I swallowed the £69 single outward, but coming back I did Irish Ferries for £32.

Trains were delayed outward due to a technical problem. The trains are shabby and the surface inside worn through to bare metal on many carriages.

In October we have three weeks away in the Moho. The Shuttle was £375 return. P&O including dog lounge £254. That's about 600 miles of diesel saved.

Ferry for us most definitely.
 
hja said:
We eventually always used Hull when living in Greater Manchester. The convenience of leaving the ferry by 8am on return and home before lunch outstripped any savings by going south and having the long drag back up the country when returning home.
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We'd happily use Hull to Rotterdam but a dog (and cabin) uplifts the cost by £160 plus each way....... so a one way car cost of £199 soon becomes £365 plus meals......Christ knows what a 7mtr MH would be.....! oh for the days when you could travel over for the weekend for less than the cost of the free food on board!

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Shrimp said:
Two of us and the dog.
Looking at crossing prices to France and back to uk, ridiculous Tunnel prices!
How many of you lot have voted with your feet to use a ferry instead of the train, with or without a dog (or two)?
Ferry (at the day/time we’ve selected £253.
Tunnel (as above) £383.
No contest!
Click to expand...
Figures are about what i got.
Going on the train on Monday...........................no dog.
 
We have to go in Aug school hols and just booked tunnel for next year £337 return and used £200 in Tesco vouchers
I did look at ferry but was well over double the cost
 
Not used the Ferry from dover or Calais for years, always used the tunnel going out and (Zeebrugge)Rotterdam - Hull to come home. Decided this summer (September 2nd)to come back on the P&O ferry from calais was a little cheaper than the train so tried it......never again. over an hour to get through passport control, only 6 vehicles in front. Kids and mothers running riot,,shouting ,,,,the boat stunk and dirty,, and the toilets,,,well, disgusting.
Food,very overpriced. Folk laid everywhere. slow to offload.. never again, I'd rather pay the extra for the train.

I do miss the Zeebrugge boat.
 
Phill D said:
Distance/ ease of travel to the port of embarkation along with ease of travel with the dog are key considerations for us.

I would no more consider leaving the dog on the car deck either in the van or in a kennel, than I would our kids when they were young.

Cost is in the equation but it’s not the key driver for us.
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We know exactly what you mean, and totally agree with you.
We had to be repatriated when our motorhome broke down in May. Only option was our dog put in a cage, on the car deck for six hours on the Dieppe to Newhaven route. Our dog was traumatrised, and still is at times of fear of being left alone and, if he even sees a cage he cowers.
 
Shrimp said:
Two of us and the dog.
Looking at crossing prices to France and back to uk, ridiculous Tunnel prices!
How many of you lot have voted with your feet to use a ferry instead of the train, with or without a dog (or two)?
Ferry (at the day/time we’ve selected £253.
Tunnel (as above) £383.
No contest!
Click to expand...
Newhaven to Dieppe on the noon ferry on 15August for £184 return two adults. A bit of discount in there but I can't remember what. CAMC probably. Cheapest we could get and a useful boost on the way down to Ole de Re

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