Travelling to France

[Guzziando]

Looking to cross over to France at the beginning of September, 2 adults and 2 dogs, 3.36m Motorhome. I will not travel via P&O, as I will not give them my money after the way they treated their workers. DFDS do not seem to have a pet lounge, and we do not want to leave the dogs alone in the van during the crossing. LeShuttle seems quite expensive, even with the Tesco vouchers we have. What is the cheapest option to get across the channel and have our dogs with us?

 

[scousebird]

Irish Ferries have introduced a dog area on their Isle of Innishmore ship. It's a small, simply fenced area with tables & chairs.

 

[scousebird]

Irish Ferries take Tesco vouchers too.

 

[GAVLAD]

Part of the fun of going on holiday is pricing the crossings

 

[MichaelT]

Looking to cross over to France at the beginning of September, 2 adults and 2 dogs, 3.36m Motorhome. I will not travel via P&O, as I will not give them my money after the way they treated their workers. DFDS do not seem to have a pet lounge, and we do not want to leave the dogs alone in the van during the crossing. LeShuttle seems quite expensive, even with the Tesco vouchers we have. What is the cheapest option to get across the channel and have our dogs with us?

3.36m long MH wow are you midgets

Irish ferries sacked all workers a few years before p&o so best avoid them too. Tunnel expensive as they are still paying high wages so maybe they need to sack all their staff too so you can afford to use them.

DFDS are OK and if over 60 you get discount on Newhaven dieppe route.

We have dog and have used Brittany on poole cherbourg route as well as Newhaven and tunnel. Dog is fine in van as it's all familiar but it's up to you and how your dogs act.

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[brynric]

Although the shuttle can be expensive it is very convenient and the dogs stay with you in the van all the way. They don't know they've left the uk, except for the faint aroma of garlic when sniffing lampposts.

 

[Dave Scadding]

We always use the Shuttle, our Sprocker Spaniel would go crazy in a kennel and wouldn’t enjoy wearing a muzzle.

 

[Baggydave]

Looking to cross over to France at the beginning of September, 2 adults and 2 dogs, 3.36m Motorhome. I will not travel via P&O, as I will not give them my money after the way they treated their workers. DFDS do not seem to have a pet lounge, and we do not want to leave the dogs alone in the van during the crossing. LeShuttle seems quite expensive, even with the Tesco vouchers we have. What is the cheapest option to get across the channel and have our dogs with us?

We too will not use p&0 for same reasons.
Living in Eastbourne we use Dfds newhaven. 20 percent discount if phoning. We had two dogs which were fine. Easy relaxed service.

 

[Reallyretired]

We always use the tunnel otherwise our dog might wake up.

 

[Guzziando]

3.36m long MH wow are you midgets

Oops, 6.36m

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[rb62]

Irish Ferries have introduced a dog area on their Isle of Innishmore ship. It's a small, simply fenced area with tables & chairs.

On the Oscar Wilde as well,separate 'pet lounge' luckily ours is quite happy staying in the van.

 

[rod_vw]

Use the tunnel, yes it's expensive but Tesco chip a bit off that and it's very quick (35mins point to point) and usually convenient. With lithium and an inverter we have been known to brew up in that 35mins!

BUT don't forget to raise a complaint via their website if you are delayed. Our late summer 2024 crossing was delayed by an hour but the complaint gained a £40 voucher for the next crossing, 3.5 hours delay in 2023 gained a £90 voucher and in my inbox before we got to Calais!

 

[Oldrat]

Irish Ferries have introduced a dog area on their Isle of Innishmore ship. It's a small, simply fenced area with tables & chairs.

I immediately thought “very well trained dogs?”

 

[MichaelT]

Use the tunnel, yes it's expensive but Tesco chip a bit off that and it's very quick (35mins point to point) and usually convenient. With lithium and an inverter we have been known to brew up in that 35mins!

BUT don't forget to raise a complaint via their website if you are delayed. Our late summer 2024 crossing was delayed by an hour but the complaint gained a £40 voucher for the next crossing, 3.5 hours delay in 2023 gained a £90 voucher and in my inbox before we got to Calais!

So it's not actually quick at 35 minutes if you are always delayed?

 

[brynric]

So it's not actually quick at 35 minutes if you are always delayed?

I’m not sure how often it is delayed. One big advantage is the frequency of crossings, could be 3 each hour. If you arrive early you might be offered an earlier train.

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[MichaelT]

I’m not sure how often it is delayed. One big advantage is the frequency of crossings, could be 3 each hour. If you arrive early you might be offered an earlier train.

Yeah I know but in winter it's 1 an hour normally but if there's an issue in the tunnel nothing can move.

 

[Shrimp]

Looking to cross over to France at the beginning of September, 2 adults and 2 dogs, 3.36m Motorhome. I will not travel via P&O, as I will not give them my money after the way they treated their workers. DFDS do not seem to have a pet lounge, and we do not want to leave the dogs alone in the van during the crossing. LeShuttle seems quite expensive, even with the Tesco vouchers we have. What is the cheapest option to get across the channel and have our dogs with us?

Maybe you aren’t going to France if you won’t use any of the ferries/tunnel!

 

[LesW]

So it's not actually quick at 35 minutes if you are always delayed?

Used the tunnel many times, never been delayed.

 

[Guzziando]

Maybe you aren’t going to France if you won’t use any of the ferries/tunnel!

I think we are going to use the tunnel, as P&O are a no-go, and DFDS would mean leaving the dogs in the van, and we are not happy to do that. We are members of the Caravan and Motorhome club which seem to give a bit of a discount, or we can use our Tesco points, but we do not have that many of them, as we tend to shop in Liddle and Aldi. I notice the current offer by LeShuttle does not cover when we want to go, are there any other vouchers to be had? When is the optimum time to book, I am assuming the longer in advance you book, the cheaper it is, obviously excluded peak periods such as school holidays? Also, is it worth paying the extra for the 'standard refundable', as opposed to the standard? Thank you all for your comments so far, we do plan to go to Ireland in the future, so will need to do some investigating around the best means of getting there with dogs.

 

[Baggydave]

I think we are going to use the tunnel, as P&O are a no-go, and DFDS would mean leaving the dogs in the van, and we are not happy to do that. We are members of the Caravan and Motorhome club which seem to give a bit of a discount, or we can use our Tesco points, but we do not have that many of them, as we tend to shop in Liddle and Aldi. I notice the current offer by LeShuttle does not cover when we want to go, are there any other vouchers to be had? When is the optimum time to book, I am assuming the longer in advance you book, the cheaper it is, obviously excluded peak periods such as school holidays? Also, is it worth paying the extra for the 'standard refundable', as opposed to the standard? Thank you all for your comments so far, we do plan to go to Ireland in the future, so will need to do some investigating around the best means of getting there with dogs.

We had two lab x german shepherds. We normally used the over night newhaven/dieppe ferry. It was fine for them as that was when they would be asleep anyway. Never had any problems over 10 years. Sometimes used the daytime crossing too.

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[brynric]

We booked for our January trip using the Black Friday deals - which doesn’t help you at the moment. Obviously school holiday dates lead to premium prices. Days are also divided into price bands which can be helpful.
When we were younger we travelled overnight and stayed on the site at Cite Europe. Alas no more. Now we tend to aim for the 4:00 pm segment and have an hours drive to Le Crotoy if travelling south, A shorter drive to Graveline if going East. That happens to suit us driving from the Midlands in a day. I know some folk like to stay in the Uk and have an early morning crossing. So much depends on your approach to the trip.
I actually enjoy researching the best days and times to travel. Mrs B says I’m sad.

She may be right!