Eurotunnel tips (1 Viewer)

[injebreck99]

Taking our M/H abroad for the first time in 10 years,for about 10 days, would like to travel via the Eurotunnel, is it OK to turn up and book in the early morning, going about 20th September,or is it advisable to book in advance, (we don't do Tesco's.)
Also, how can I alter the headlamp beams to R/H dip on my 09Ducato based M/H.??, I don't particularly want to stick anything on the outer lenses.

 

[lesleyjean]

I would most definitely book online at least 24 hours before departure.

In February we could not get online in France and just turned up. They wanted to charge us 475 euros. We did have three dogs with us though.

We would not pay that amount so we went to City Europe into McDonalds, got online and booked for the next day costing £173 but £90 was for the 3 dogs.

Always book, never just turn up, it's a big ripoff.

Forgot to add, this was returning from Calais to Folkestone.

Lesley

 

[keith]

If you check prices on their web site you can see Tuesday appears to be the cheapest day to travel.

Calais to Folkstone always comes up more expensive, why? Maybe the French are being ripped off for a change. Tried booking our return in April this year but it was about 6 times more expensive than the ferry .... guess which one we chose?

As a comparison I have just booked our trip for next December for £123 one way Folkestone to Calais. :thumb:

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[Jaws]

And no matter what, it is still TWICE the cost of a return trip using DFDS :thumb:

 

[JJ]

And no matter what, it is still TWICE the cost of a return trip using DFDS :thumb:

... but you are not sick for an hour with the tunnel...

JJ :Cool:

 

[blamehofman]

Dont do what I did on the return to England . Put channel tunnel in the sat nav and with it still showing 30 miles to go driive up to the booth to be told your a day early and cough up a £120 quid extra to pass oh: Never thought it was the English side doh!!

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[slobadoberbob]

book in advance

We always book early.. get a better deal.

We also use the tunnel as we have a dog.. we do not want to leave Ezzie in the RV on a car deck... in the tunnel she is with us all the time.

Yes it is expensive compared to ships, but as JJ says no seasickness and it is faster.

Bob

 

[Oldyamyam]

And no matter what, it is still TWICE the cost of a return trip using DFDS :thumb:

Dead right! We are travelling with car and caravan from folkestone to Calais in June for £105 return and that is not in the early hours but at 1400 both ways.

Dave

 

[Heyupluv]

... but you are not sick for an hour with the tunnel...

JJ :Cool:

I agree JJ,... No sea sickness, a lot quicker...Sat in your own motorhome with the extras...Eating your own food, Your own toilet, and not queuing for a pee, No long walk for a pee...sat in good seats, have a lay down if you want,read a book, set your sat ready,straight onto and off the motorway both sides, check in very quick. 30mins and you are over..if you have dogs they are with you, no rough sea's..nobody being sick at the side of you..............a little more expensive but a lot better

AND YES BOOK EVERY TIME AS OTHERS HAVE SAID....We have already booked our trip, normaly 6 months in front.....don't forget you can change a booking online yourself at no extra cost ....I think you are allowed 11 months from the date you had made, this may be ok in January.....but I am not sure if it is the same at the end of the year, meaning the cut off date in November...... no changes after November???? not 100% on the cut off date

Mel:thumb:

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[Gunner29]

WHAT

£90 for the dog is a bit steep. We drove to France in Jan via the tunnel and it was FREE but was told it would be £30 from Calais to UK. Went back with DFDS and that was £30 but a much cheaper ferry than tunnel.
Book early is always the best option

 

[slobadoberbob]

it is nearly always £30

We have been paying £30 for the return leg on euro tunnel for as long as I can remember... think it was £25 once.. but it is the charge for the pet to have the chip read at Calais .. pays for that small compound for the dog to have a wee and the building exec., Going out of the UK, they are not interested.. and only one tiny bit of grass and a one tree... Ezzie finds that very interesting .. lots of sniffs.

We are going over on the 5th June again.. booked that last year... as we are 45' overall with the trailer it is on the limits and we had to use C & CC to get the club rate and get it booked.

With the small trailer we can do that on line often as cheap if cheaper than the C & CC... as we cancelled our C & CC membership we will be booking the next trip direct whatever.

Bob

 

[JayDee]

As for the second part of your query, I don't know of any way to 'bend it' without sticking something somewhere. There are headlamp protectors that clip over the headlamp but I don't know if they are available with bean bending built in. However, if you don't want to gunk up your headlamp (though it comes off easily with meths (NOT white spirit)) you can always apply the stickers to the protectors.
There is an exchange on this forum
Link Removed

and this might help

Link Removed

I do just apply the deflectors to the lens and (touch wood oh haven't had any problems - yet. But there are folk on here that have.


John

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[Popeye]

I haven't used the tunnel yet, and disagree with your feelings towards the ferry, probably because I'm one of the fortunate few who does not suffer from sea-sickness.

The ferry is part of my holiday, it is longer in time and that too is part of the enjoyment in fact I wish it was even longer. Walk around the deck taking in the fresh air and watching the smaller boats crossing, stop for a full English breakfast and coffee to die for. Highly recommended on the French Ferry lines.

Maybe if we still had dogs we would feel differently.......each to their own.

As regards headlamp beam benders this is WOT I WRIT on a previous thread yesterday. Avoid the sticky card that blocks the light from dipping to the left, "Go Outdoors" have started supplying beam benders like we had 30-40 years ago with the Lucas Clip On Amber Beam Benders.

But these ones are small about the size of the paper blockers, most impressive and still less than a fiver.....Griff

Go for these [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Streetwize-Headlight-Car-Deflectors-Driving/dp/B0019MMKN8/"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Streetwize-Headlight-Car-Deflectors-Driving/dp/B0019MMKN8/[/ame]


Not these [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-Eurolite-Converters-Driving-Europe/dp/B001P5SPJW/"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-Eurolite-Converters-Driving-Europe/dp/B001P5SPJW/[/ame]

 

[slobadoberbob]

RV's do not bend

RV's .. well certainly the Ford E350 and E450 chassis have headlights that dip up and down, not side to side, so do not have that issue.. For the car we have tended to obtain from a dealer a masking kit. I am sure they must be available for the standard european chassis which most motor homes are built on.

I love ships and often go on cruises.. but can get sea sick and one of the worse ever bouts was out of Calais... we finally got in the channel then could not get in to Dover and run up and down the coast for 3 hours and still clouted the wall of the berth... never again. At least on a cruise liner of 100,000 tons plus they feel a bit more stable than the small cross channel tugs.

It is really the speed and the fact the dog is with us that makes it a must for us... No risk of grounding the tow bar on a deck as you board... yes had that on a Stenna Line ship 20 years back... another story.. cost a gearbox (they paid)... but having these days used the tunnel so many times I would never go back to ferries regardless how cheap they are. If I want to look at boats or the sea, I can do that from the shore side over here or over there.

Bob

 

[chatter]

when it comes to beam deflectors i use a headlamp protector and stick them on that, no need to remove them in the uk, they pass the MOT, having plastic lenses on my vehicle i use the plastic protector as an extra saftey measure against anything cracking the actual headlight plastic cos if that happens its a whole new unit not just the 'plastic glass'

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[scousebird]

When we lived in Liverpool the ferry was part of our trip, after a long drive south it gave us time to unwind and have a decent meal but now we live near Dover we want be be over the Channel ASAP so have used the train for years now.

The ferries are cheaper but you have to watch the additional charge for your length, that can bump the price up, Eurotunnel don't even ask for your length. We are going early September on a Friday tea-time, returning on a Sunday tea-time and it's costing us £163.00.

 

[Jaws]

Errrr...
For as long as I can remember I have just used a bit of black tape..
It is good enough to get left hand drive vehicles through the brit MOT and works really well.
Total cost is about 3 minutes and maybe 5" in total of black tape !

 

[sedge]

I have to say, with a long car and even longer caravan, it's far cheaper for our eldest to go on the tunnel than the ferry. And that's in school holidays.

And yes they were impressed ! So they are doing it again this year. Twice!

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[Roryboys Dad]

Has anyone ever been stopped and/or fined for not having a beam deflector fitted whilst driving in France?

 

[slobadoberbob]

I do not do the car

Has anyone ever been stopped and/or fined for not having a beam deflector fitted whilst driving in France?

Whey I take the car over on the trailer I do not do the car... only tend to use it in the day time and not night... I suspect it is not legal, but if need be I could put some electrical tape on as I have in the past or pay £8 to Hyundai for the kit

Bob

 

[Mr Colpot]

Ok - so we dont have a Dog - we pay £120 return on the tunnel (out 2120 on Friday and back 0920 on Sunday) compared to £75 return on the Ferry (out at silly o clock in the morning (0045) and back similar. The Ferry used to be part of the journey for us, but now so is the 30 min train journey. By the time I have set the clocks backwards or forwards and added or removed the beam deflectors we are there. Customs all done at one end so just drive straight out at far end and on the way.

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[injebreck99]

Eurotunnel update

As an update to my origional post, I have just booked a ferry trip with DFDS fronm Dover to Calais, for £88, sailing 21st Sept at 0800, returning 29th at 10.00, seems a good deal to me, wife origionally was adament it had to be the tunnel, but reconsidered when the prices were viewed !!

 

[slobadoberbob]

I hear there is going to be storms on those dates

As an update to my origional post, I have just booked a ferry trip with DFDS fronm Dover to Calais, for £88, sailing 21st Sept at 0800, returning 29th at 10.00, seems a good deal to me, wife origionally was adament it had to be the tunnel, but reconsidered when the prices were viewed !!

I hear there is going to be bad storms on those dates with force 9 winds


Bob

 

[injebreck99]

In hat case we will go to plan B, Cley in North Norfolk. !!

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[SaschandGin]

We went for our first MH'ing voyage through the tunnel and were really impressed. We arrived 2 hrs early for our 2100 or so trip and were told we could get on next train with no extra charge. On our way back we arrived 4.5 hrs early for our 0030 train and after getting our dog checked they told us again that we could go when we wanted for no extra cost. And off course that was cheapest time and cost £30 for the dog.

Oh, we never thought about the lights but didn't drive much at night anyway so wouldn't have bothered anyway

Enjoy your trip!:Cool:

 

[slobadoberbob]

out of interest a few years back

We went for our first MH'ing voyage through the tunnel and were really impressed. We arrived 2 hrs early for our 2100 or so trip and were told we could get on next train with no extra charge. On our way back we arrived 4.5 hrs early for our 0030 train and after getting our dog checked they told us again that we could go when we wanted for no extra cost. And off course that was cheapest time and cost £30 for the dog.

Oh, we never thought about the lights but didn't drive much at night anyway so wouldn't have bothered anyway

Enjoy your trip!:Cool:

Out of interest.. a few years back I popped over to France for the day in the car and did not do my head lights... was getting a bit dark for the return journey given the time difference.

As I came in the to the French tunnel terminal I got stopped... I have my fogs on and no headlights .. thought I would be clever as i had not put the deflectors on... it cost me an hour with the police..

Bob

 

[autocruiser2]

Tunnel v Ferry

Going over in June for 3 weeks and want to start near Cherbourg, easy Portsmouth to Cherbourg living only 40 mins from Portsmouth,unfortunately well in excess of £500.
Looked at other options and decided tunnel was best at £174 return.
With tunnel you get 2 hrs either side early or late at no charge and many crossings.
Exit from tunnel to motorway is very quick.
I once spent more than 1 hour getting out of Dover docks due to many boats arriving at the same time

Different subject I used to take a 3.5 ton van into europe frequently and always used the black electrical tape on the glass with no problems

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