Travelling by ferry with our dog

[Davecrawf]

Just wondering if anyone has experience of doing the Portsmouth to Caen crossing with Britany Ferries, and taken their dog.
We understand that our dog must be left in the motorhome for at least 10 hours. This really seems to be a very long time for a pet to be left unattended.

 

[Verteuil Man]

I do not have a pet, so I am not sure of the procedure. However the 10 hour crossing will be the night sailing. The daytime ones are shorter. There are pet friendly cabins on the boats but the get snapped up very quickly. Below is a screen grab from the BF site and the procedures are different for each boat. One thing you should do when you get to France if you have not already done so is get an EU pet passport from a French vet. Save you a fortune.

If you follow the link you can select the boat to see what each boats proceedure is.

Brittany Ferries

www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

 

[Rollingwheels]

We are between Portsmouth and poole so have used both with our dogs, from memory they are about a five hour crossing so doable, now we go to Newhaven, very informal and easy and only a four hour crossing and easy parking paid or free in Dieppe

 

[Figaro]

One thing you should do when you get to France if you have not already done so

Unlikely you'll get a EU pp in France, better chance trying in Belgium, Germany or Spain

 

[Bill-H]

10 hours in the vehicle sounds too long. Is there not the option to put them in a kennel on board - there is usually an excercise area and you can visit them at any time - even as far as sitting with them on leads in the excercise area for the whole crossing. Have used pet friendly cabins on some crossings of longer duration but they are usually sold out way in advance. The crossings from Newhaven (4 hours) and Dover is only a couple of hours long to Calais or Dunkirk and my dogs are quite happy with that in the camper.

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[15edward]

You can download availability of dog friendly cabins on the Brittant ferries website

 

[RobertJary]

Have you considered Newhaven to Dieppe? Only a 4 hour crossing, much cheaper than BF and if you're over 60, phone to make your booking and you'll get another 20% off the crossing.

 

[Davecrawf]

10 hours in the vehicle sounds too long. Is there not the option to put them in a kennel on board - there is usually an excercise area and you can visit them at any time - even as far as sitting with them on leads in the excercise area for the whole crossing. Have used pet friendly cabins on some crossings of longer duration but they are usually sold out way in advance. The crossings from Newhaven (4 hours) and Dover is only a couple of hours long to Calais or Dunkirk and my dogs are quite happy with that in the camper.

I agree. When we made the booking from Portsmouth to Caen there wasn't any pet friendly cabins available, so we accepted the situation. However we are having second thoughts now.

 

[Davecrawf]

You can download availability of dog friendly cabins on the Brittant ferries website

Thanks, I have just checked and there's none available till April.

 

[Jonno1103]

Just wondering if anyone has experience of doing the Portsmouth to Caen crossing with Britany Ferries, and taken their dog.
We understand that our dog must be left in the motorhome for at least 10 hours. This really seems to be a very long time for a pet to be left unattended.

10 hours? They don't do a 10 hour crossing, they're shorter than that, maybe 7 max, remember an hour is always added in France. The 2 ships also have pet freindly cabins and the new ship arriving in 2025 has a lot more of them too. On ferries which only allow pets to remain in the vehicle there is always ample opportunity to visit your pet at regular intervals.

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[Davecrawf]

Have you considered Newhaven to Dieppe? Only a 4 hour crossing, much cheaper than BF and if you're over 60, phone to make your booking and you'll get another 20% off the crossing.

Might have to consider
I would have to lose the full cost of the BF crossing though.

 

[DBK]

It probably isn't 10 hours but 9 as the landing will be quoted in French time which is one hour ahead of the UK usually.

Assuming it's an overnight crossing I wouldn't worry, this is when the dog sleeps. Ours has done umpteen overnights from Plymouth to Roscoff without any issues. The returns are during the day and a shorter. No problem with these either.

 

[Bill-H]

I agree. When we made the booking from Portsmouth to Caen there wasn't any pet friendly cabins available, so we accepted the situation. However we are having second thoughts now.

and when you add on the 1/2 hr after you board before the ship pulls out and perhaps another half hour at the other end before they unload you. If you can't change the booking, do they have a kennel available? You can take turns with your dog in the excercise area and hope the weather is kind, take the dog bed and a blanket for you, perhaps a fold-up camp chair as well.
We've never had our dogs checked for their kennel/cabin booking once on board and I can't see an issue with you just taking them stright to the excercise area and just keeping them there - kennel booking or not.
We sneaked my friends dog as an 'extra' into our pet-friendly cabin for a Spain ferry one year - kennel was booked for it but it never went near the kennel and no one checked - I guess the ferry staff aren't bothered.

 

[Davecrawf]

It probably isn't 10 hours but 9 as the landing will be quoted in French time which is one hour ahead of the UK usually.

Assuming it's an overnight crossing I wouldn't worry, this is when the dog sleeps. Ours has done umpteen overnights from Plymouth to Roscoff without any issues. The returns are during the day and a shorter. No problem with these either.

Thanks for sharing your experience.
We have been thinking positively along those very same lines. So if we make sure our dog has a busy day, he should sleep for most of the crossing.

 

[varaizian]

You need to know where you can take your dog to "get comfortable" before the ferry crossing. We generally use Portsmouth and arrive from the west so the New Forest is very handy and at Caen there is the huge beach area. If you leave it until arriving at the ports there are only vast areas of tarmac and ours won't do anything there!

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[varaizian]

Brittany Ferries latest check-in with a dog is 90 minutes before the sailing time. Something else to factor in.

 

[Bill-H]

Brittany Ferries latest check-in with a dog is 90 minutes before the sailing time. Something else to factor in.

It used to be that after going through the check-in booths and parked up in lanes prior to boarding, you can get out and walk your dogs about, I seem to recall some ports even have enclosed dog walking areas next to the departure lanes.
Newhaven certainly does.

 

[Guigsy]

We've left the cats in the van for the relatively short crossing to Dublin. Once. Since then, we've got pet cabins. Going across the channel, we just use the tunnel.