ferry crossing to France? (1 Viewer)

Mar 21, 2009
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Harwich, Essex
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We are going (for the first time) to France 27th July - 23rd August and having looked at the price of Ferry crossings Norfolk line are coming up best at £104 return which seems pretty good to me. Has anyone had experience of travelling with these? Are they flexible about changing the booking if we return earlier? Have looked on CC&C site and is about £20 dearer and Caravan club site quote won't load!
 
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stagman

Deleted User
We are going (for the first time) to France 27th July - 23rd August and having looked at the price of Ferry crossings Norfolk line are coming up best at £104 return which seems pretty good to me. Has anyone had experience of travelling with these? Are they flexible about changing the booking if we return earlier? Have looked on CC&C site and is about £20 dearer and Caravan club site quote won't load!

Norfolkline usually charge extra if van over 6mts .I have always found Sea France the cheapest and flexible with their return crossing being between £50 to £100 .Most I have paid for changing time is £10 .If you got Tesco vouchers the Tunnel may be your best option:thumb:

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lufcdave7

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May 12, 2009
163
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Rochdale
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We've just booked with Norfolk Lines for the 20th July, £100.02p return. Only wanted extra for m/hs over 9 metres. They were a good £50 cheaper than SF/PO.
 

gazznsam

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May 15, 2009
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i've always used norfolk line, travel at 'unsociable' hours to get the cheapest prices,

we always went out on the 04:30 sailing from dover.... heading down at about 6pm, sleeping parked in the free motorhome and caravan parking bays on the quay side (free during the night)

that sailing arrives in dunkerque at 08:00 local time, perfect for a days drive.

coming back we would get the 02:00 sailing, and when in dover park up on the quayside again and sleep, put a couple of quid in the meter to get a ticket, it will give the time starting from the charging period, then you can sleep past the begining of the charging time without the warden banging on the door.

we also always bought single tickets, buying the return when we wanted to return, takes seconds to do online of you can phone em, or even just buy the ticket a the office on the docks, for the early morning sailings there's almost always room, henve why they are cheaper.

but norfolk line are very flexiable with tickets, we bought a return once as it was on a special offer, changed the return date 3 times, no charges for doing so,

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pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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we always use norfolk line....cheapest and very flexible. return to port early/late and they'll try to get you on an earlier/later ferry.
the only charges are if the normal price on an early/later ferry is more than the original, then you pay the difference.

forget the CC bookings....usually more expensive than doing it yourself and a £10 charge every time you make changes as you must go through the CC booking line. :Angry:

Dunkirk is a very easy port to get out of but, for some reason, we can never find it straight away on returning:Doh:
 
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jaygee
Mar 21, 2009
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Thanks for all the replies. We have now booked with Norfolk Lines total cost £98 - a bargain I think!
You've also answered my question about where we could park up and sleep before catching the 2am ferry!
Going for a month - first time abroad so a bit aprehensive.
 

pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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have a good first trip,

easy to say but nothing to be apprehensive about...just be careful on the roundabouts and when you wake and drive off remember to drive on the wrong side.....so easy to forget after a kip.
i'v done it more than once:Blush:

a piece of card with "DRIVE ON RIGHT" printed on and placed on the steering wheel works.

a couple of days and it comes naturally...most of the time:Doh:

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Locky

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May 28, 2009
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Kent
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We are going to France on 15th August for the first time in our Motorhome.

We have previously used Eurotunnel when we have taken the car and was just about to pay £250 for the motorhome.

Thnaks to this post i have just booked with Norfolk line for £99!

Thank you.:thumb:
 
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jaygee
Mar 21, 2009
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Glad to be of help!!
We have a left hand drive car at our house in Spain where we go for several weeks at a time every year. It comes more natural driving on the other side of the road and we actually find it unusual when we return home to get used to the UK way!!
Rule of thumb - steering wheel in the middle of the road - providing you have a left hand drive vehicle of course:ROFLMAO:
 
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jaygee
Mar 21, 2009
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Glad to be of help!!
We have a left hand drive car at our house in Spain where we go for several weeks at a time every year. It comes more natural driving on the other side of the road and we actually find it unusual when we return home to get used to the UK way!!
Rule of thumb - steering wheel in the middle of the road - providing you have a left hand drive vehicle of course:ROFLMAO: still it will be nice not to be in the suicide seat for a change. Only problem is OH says I have to have a go at driving, up to now my excuse has been that I didn't like driving LHD on UK roads because I couldn't judge the width.

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ronald4874

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Oct 31, 2008
175
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Poole Dorset
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Ferry Crossings

Surely the ferry crossing price is only a part of the overall cost of the journey. In my case, living in Poole, the ferry price is about £250 whereas if I went to Dover the price can be as low as £100, OK £150 cheaper. But the extra mileage soon eats into the ferry savings. As an example Dover trip is 360mls, on the other side an additional 250mls to get to the same location, ie an additional 600mls. fuel cost at 25MPG is 24Gals at £5/gal equals £120.
One must now ask the question is the £30 saving worth the time an effort. I have from time to time done the Portsmouth/Bilbao trip and calculations have shown only a £10 saving if I went via France on the road, resting and sleeping for 2 nights was far better and incidently , quicker.

Ron W
 
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jaygee
Mar 21, 2009
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We only live a couple of hours drive from Dover so only compared prices of ferries from Dover. We actually live in Harwich but worked out the cost (and distance) of going Harwich to Hook van Holland and then driving to where we wanted to go was far more than driving 2 hrs to Dover!
 

RichardnGill

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Sep 22, 2007
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We have just booked with P & O Dover to Calais for 3rd August out and 13 August back for an 8.5 meter van it was £75. It is a 23:55 out and 10:55 return sailing.

Could be worth a try getting a price from P & O


Richard...

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TDH

Jun 22, 2009
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P&O were by far the cheapest when we went out at the end of May - £32 for our camper and two adults on the 22.30 sailing, Dover-Calais.

We've also done all the calculations about coming home; Bilbao/Santander-Portsmouth or St Malo-Portsmouth. We've decided that its better for us to travel up the Atlantic coast - I'd rather be in my van than on the ferry basically, and it costs a fortune to come back from Spain (£400ish as opposed to £155 from St Malo).
 

Lincolnshire Rover

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Feb 12, 2009
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We are going to France on 15th August for the first time in our Motorhome.

We have previously used Eurotunnel when we have taken the car and was just about to pay £250 for the motorhome.

Thnaks to this post i have just booked with Norfolk line for £99!

Thank you.:thumb:

We use Eurotunnel frequent traveller account works out @ £96 return very flexible crossings you only book at least 24hrs before you travel each way wether you go for 1 day 17days 35 days or whatever and no loss for cancellations . Just open an account pay £390 up front for 10 crossings ( 5 Returns ) to use within 12 months with an extra £9 each crossing for a motorhome paid for at time of booking no vehicle length limits well worth it .We have just returned from our 3rd trip since 1st May :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 

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