Help with best price for first ferry booking please (1 Viewer)

[Hils and Glenns]

We're thinking of booking Newhaven to Dieppe. It will be our first trip so need the benefit of your experience to get the best price. Can we get an over 60's discount? Or would it be better to book through the Caravan Club or to ask a funster to share their frequent user code?

 

[Lenny HB]

Book direct with DFDS or at the port to get 20% discount for over 60's.

Tel: 0800 917 1201 Free phone No. that connects you to their French call centre. If you pay in Euro no charge for using a CC and often works out a few quid cheaper.

 

[Hils and Glenns]

Book direct with DFDS or at the port to get 20% discount for over 60's.

Tel: 0800 917 1201 Free phone No. that connects you to their French call centre. If you pay in Euro no charge for using a CC and often works out a few quid cheaper.

Thanks Lenny

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[suavecarve]

Just be careful if you use your computer to check prices then return half an hour later with the same details. you ll be shocked how much it goes up in that time.

I am now going P and O cos DFDS peed me off so i told them to lump it. Why didnt i go with the tunnel. Still kicking myself

 

[Lenny HB]

Just be careful if you use your computer to check prices then return half an hour later with the same details. you ll be shocked how much it goes up in that time.

I am now going P and O cos DFDS peed me off so i told them to lump it. Why didnt i go with the tunnel. Still kicking myself

Just need to clear your cookies and the price comes back down.

 

[Easyliving]

We paid about £183 return for a Newhaven - Dieppe crossing in June, 7.5 metre motorhome with the over 60s discount.

Sounded like a good deal to me.

Paul

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[suavecarve]

I tend to get £110 return Dover Calais in the summer but booking early and unusual times if that helps 7.2 metre van on P and O - funnily its 6.9 metres on DFDS

 

[Lenny HB]

We paid about £183 return for a Newhaven - Dieppe crossing in June, 7.5 metre motorhome with the over 60s discount.

Sounded like a good deal to me.

Paul

Can be a lot cheaper if you book a couple of months in advance, only paid that much when we booked the week before going usually pay around £55-£70 each way but I think it's gone up a lot this year.
Even if it's dearer, if we are heading south or south west, it is worth it for us as we only live 20 miles from Newhaven and it saves us 400 miles on a round trip.

 

[busby]

Just be careful if you use your computer to check prices then return half an hour later with the same details. you ll be shocked how much it goes up in that time.

I am now going P and O cos DFDS peed me off so i told them to lump it. Why didnt i go with the tunnel. Still kicking myself

Never had a problem with DFDS using Newhaven Dieppe,,I always ring them to get my 20% discount,,,,BUSBY

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[Lenny HB]

Just had a bit of a shock, checked this years prices, double that of last years looks like around £250 return after discount for a 7m van. Last few years nearly always gone Newhaven/Dieppe, may only use it now when heading south west.

 

[weekenders]

We booked Newhaven to Dieppe 28th June, cost £219.60 2 adults plus dog

 

[pyro]

Just be careful if you use your computer to check prices then return half an hour later with the same details. you ll be shocked how much it goes up in that time.

I am now going P and O cos DFDS peed me off so i told them to lump it. Why didnt i go with the tunnel. Still kicking myself

That's because they set a cookie the first time. EasyJet do the same. Either delete the cookie and then try, use a different computer the second time or use "in private" browsing, save me a lot of money, that trick

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[DBK]

Just be careful if you use your computer to check prices then return half an hour later with the same details. you ll be shocked how much it goes up in that time.

I am now going P and O cos DFDS peed me off so i told them to lump it. Why didnt i go with the tunnel. Still kicking myself

I thought that had recently been shown to be an urban myth? There was a thing on the TV about it. The explanation given was there are often only a limited number of cheap tickets and if you delay, coming back to the site later, the cheap tickets may have been sold. An industry "insider" also asked why on earth would they do it? If someone didn't buy a ticket on the first visit, is putting the price up for their second likely to persuade them? Of course not.
They also did some tests, deleting cookies, and found no difference. Can't remember what channel it was on or the programme, some consumer thingie I suspect.

 

[pyro]

Deleting cookies worked for me using EasyJet, which is pretty much fortnightly with us.

Example: First check: Luton - Lisbon £87 return, second time, same computer £111 the next day, other computer, £89

Putting the price up the second time could be a ploy to convince a reluctant customer to book before it goes up again. That's why you get all these DFS adds claiming special prices in a sale, and telling you what the price will increase to the day afterwards

As above, easily tested, and it worked for me

 

[suavecarve]

@John Laidler

Unfortunately not an urban myth.

My work colleague and I were booking the same ferries over and back in September for xmas markets. 2 computers, right next to each other. We were obviously trying P and O, DFDS and tunnel so we were logging in and out.

The DFDS site that she was logged into stayed open on her computer gave the cheaper price and i had to log back in after the other 2 and got the extortionate price.

Now, knowing the system they use with the cookies, and always up for a reasonable disagreement, and being at work ! I decided to ring them up and get them to explain to me.

They never offered the paltry excuse of only a few tickets left, they just said you can buy them off the computer at the price they say. No reasonable explanation offered and i wasnt offered the prices she was getting on the other puter. "Consumer choice" was they quoted at me.

Now, occasionally, ok more often than not, i can be a pig headed knob of the highest order. So i told DFDS I will be taking my "Consumer Choice" to P and O and they would be dipping out on the 8 journeys i would have used them for this year. (i Know i should be using the tunnel but i was an idiot as well as a knob)

Now i have always been in the mindset of dont make a threat unless you are prepared to carry it out. So i am with P and O this year.

It has happened to me before with DFDS and i jsut went into work and booked instead of home, (obviously in a better mood that day) Easyjet have form as well as pointed out by @pyro and he is right IMHO about ppl having a panic and purchasing before it goes up again.

No doubt they work it out that using cookies to up the price outweighs knobs like me who go elsewhere just to be a pain and cutting their nose off ....

PS the only way i know how to delete cookies is remove all history, which isnt so bad but i have to sign into everything again

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[pyro]

@suavecarve Better put than me, but entirely consistent with my own experiences

As a point of interest, you can use "in private" browsing on Windows explorer to temporarily circumvent cookies. Or load up another browser such as FireFox or Chrome

 

[suavecarve]

@suavecarve Better put than me, but entirely consistent with my own experiences

As a point of interest, you can use "in private" browsing on Windows explorer to temporarily circumvent cookies. Or load up another browser such as FireFox or Chrome

I can do the other browser, that is not beyond my comprehension of computers.

 

[Hils and Glenns]

I've found the same thing with revisiting sites like easyjet. The price definitely increases. I do the searching for tickets and then Glenn buys them on his laptop. The price has usually reverted to the original price.
As for the Ferry I phoned them as advised by @Lenny HB to get the discount. £216 return. I am happy with that at short notice. We're never organised enough to book a long way in advance.

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[ianandkath]

just booked for june.
10 metre van and the dog
£150 return, can't wait .

 

[Larby]

Just booked a day trip for 4 on Sat 25th March with an offer code, £19 + 6 bottles free!
Tried booking the MH, bit dearer at £999.99 EACH WAY. I'll take that as a no then !
or £42 each way if not the same day. Not bad for 7.9m x 3m with P & O

 

[gus-lopez]

@John Laidler

Unfortunately not an urban myth.

My work colleague and I were booking the same ferries over and back in September for xmas markets. 2 computers, right next to each other. We were obviously trying P and O, DFDS and tunnel so we were logging in and out.

The DFDS site that she was logged into stayed open on her computer gave the cheaper price and i had to log back in after the other 2 and got the extortionate price.

Now, knowing the system they use with the cookies, and always up for a reasonable disagreement, and being at work ! I decided to ring them up and get them to explain to me.

They never offered the paltry excuse of only a few tickets left, they just said you can buy them off the computer at the price they say. No reasonable explanation offered and i wasnt offered the prices she was getting on the other puter. "Consumer choice" was they quoted at me.

Now, occasionally, ok more often than not, i can be a pig headed knob of the highest order. So i told DFDS I will be taking my "Consumer Choice" to P and O and they would be dipping out on the 8 journeys i would have used them for this year. (i Know i should be using the tunnel but i was an idiot as well as a knob)

Now i have always been in the mindset of dont make a threat unless you are prepared to carry it out. So i am with P and O this year.

It has happened to me before with DFDS and i jsut went into work and booked instead of home, (obviously in a better mood that day) Easyjet have form as well as pointed out by @pyro and he is right IMHO about ppl having a panic and purchasing before it goes up again.

No doubt they work it out that using cookies to up the price outweighs knobs like me who go elsewhere just to be a pain and cutting their nose off ....

PS the only way i know how to delete cookies is remove all history, which isnt so bad but i have to sign into everything again

Although I use DFDS all the time they do have serious problems with their set up. If you access via the French site it is a different set up to the UK site & with dearer prices & , last time I looked only one 'length' for a motorhome.
The Uk site has 2 choices for length with a motorhome but if you ring dfds with a query , the system that they are using has 2 choices for length & 3 choices for height ? Last time I saw the
" MH height < 2,35M " was in 2014. When I had a query & rang them last year the woman could not understand why I had a different screen showing even though I deleted the site , cleaned cookies & reloaded exactly what she said. Still ended up with a completely different screen.

Another problem they had last year was using the .com site & booking in euros it added it up as pounds. When I queried what was going on they apologised & said they were attempting to rectify the problem but in the meantime use the .co.uk site to book.

Another problem they were having in the summer was if a crossing was full up for 'pet travel ' ?? I kid you not, amazed me as dog is in the vehicle. Then it was showing ALL crossings as "cannot take Dog" .
When I rang to ask whether they actually were all full It was another glitch. That was when I asked why it could be "full" when the animals are in the owners vehicles to be told that they are still limited to an amount of pets that can be carried on one crossing. Learn something new every day.

& cookies , I clear mine every time I turn it off. minimum once a day.

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[suavecarve]

Just booked a day trip for 4 on Sat 25th March with an offer code, £19 + 6 bottles free!
Tried booking the MH, bit dearer at £999.99 EACH WAY. I'll take that as a no then !
or £42 each way if not the same day. Not bad for 7.9m x 3m with P & O

That is cheap. I thought i did well £110 return but over easter and 6 months in advance

 

[Larby]

That is cheap. I thought i did well £110 return but over easter and 6 months in advance

Single or return is approx £63 each way normally, the £42 is for maximum of 5 day return. I was quoting the £42 each way to compare to £999.99.
Gone up around £5 on last year but still the cheapest.