Okay you lot ... giz some info on crossing the little pond!

[Minxy]

For years we've used the Euro Tunnel Frequent Traveller scheme to go to mainland Europe but of course that's no longer an option (unless someone has some tickets they won't need and haven't twinned with anyone else on their account ... I live in hope! ), consequently we're having to look at how we get abroad so, due to not having Lily anymore who was scared silly of ferries, we can now consider them again.

I've had a shuftie at the various routes, ie Dover to Calais, Dover to Dunkirk, Newhaven to Dieppe, and the prices for these don't have much between them at their 'face value' however I know there may be some discounts available through clubs and/or age concessions but I'm not au fait with them so rather than trying to wade through the various websites for the info could you lovely funsters please let me know. Some of the crossings for the return leg aren't available yet so if you know when they are likely to come out that would be useful to know too.

Info:

• 2 adults plus 3 dogs
• 6.4m MH
• out by mid-December and return mid-February (travel insurance runs out on 14/2/23 so need to return by then)
• prefer not to go at stupidly silly o'clock
• 60 days max (due to house insurance restriction)

 

[ManTheVan]

Depends where you are and where you want to go, I suppose. We’re lucky to have Plymouth only 40 mins away and have used both the Brittany Ferries St Malo and Roscoff routes, but have also used Portsmouth-Caen and Poole-Cherbourg.

The Plym-Ros route has a v convenient overnight route that departs at 2200 and arrives at 0800. You can get on board and ha rink or land a nice meal before a stroll with a Cognac on deck and then a good sleep. During the winter, the Plym-St Malo route is also great.

Plenty of generous folk here will gladly share a code for BF with friends, which gives you 10% off.

 

[Arnside037]

Having done all routes except Hull Rotterdam, oover the years our remaining preferred routes are Newhaven Dieppe for any route west of Paris ( Loire Dordogne Brittany Languedoc Spain) and Dover Dunkirk (but get times right no weekends or school hols and Bank Holidays) for anything east of Paris (Alps, Luxembourg and Germany. Austria).
In each case drive down day before and park up then get a 7am ferry. Relives stress due to the drive down.
Excludes the Tunnel.

 

[Cal54]

We have used the ferry for the first time this month (Dover/Calais) and came over with P & O. Yes I agree we should have boycotted them but the wallet ruled the heart. We used them purely because they have a pet lounge ( one of the dogs couldn’t be left in the MH as she frets too much) and it was a fantastic facility. We have used the tunnel up until this crossing but the ferry worked out about £120 cheaper, hence the choice.

 

[Soycd]

For years we've used the Euro Tunnel Frequent Traveller scheme to go to mainland Europe but of course that's no longer an option (unless someone has some tickets they won't need and haven't twinned with anyone else on their account ... I live in hope! ), consequently we're having to look at how we get abroad so, due to not having Lily anymore who was scared silly of ferries, we can now consider them again.

I've had a shuftie at the various routes, ie Dover to Calais, Dover to Dunkirk, Newhaven to Dieppe, and the prices for these don't have much between them at their 'face value' however I know there may be some discounts available through clubs and/or age concessions but I'm not au fait with them so rather than trying to wade through the various websites for the info could you lovely funsters please let me know. Some of the crossings for the return leg aren't available yet so if you know when they are likely to come out that would be useful to know too.

Info:

• 2 adults plus 3 dogs
• 6.4m MH
• out by mid-December and return mid-February (travel insurance runs out on 14/2/23 so need to return by then)
• prefer not to go at stupidly silly o'clock
• 60 days max (due to house insurance restriction)

Not a direct solution, but if you want to keep using tunnel how about Tesco Clubcard points? We have Tesco credit cards and use them for everything we buy. We have not paid anything for the last 3-4 crossings we have made. That’s 2 people in a PVC.

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[MichaelT]

Depending where you are going once over the water and how long you can leave dogs but we crossed Poole-Cherburg 5 hour crossing dog left in van and it was good and very civilised port. P&O now have a pet lounge you can take dog in so that is a good option, we are going back on tunnel but they will have to sharpen the pencil on prices to use them again, even with tesco vouchers. Newhaven dieppe you get 20% discount by phone and dogs in van but 4 hour crossing.

 

[suavecarve]

Not a direct solution, but if you want to keep using tunnel how about Tesco Clubcard points? We have Tesco credit cards and use them for everything we buy. We have not paid anything for the last 3-4 crossings we have made. That’s 2 people in a PVC.

I need more info on the Tesco credit card.
I put my details in of £700 spend outside of Tesco every month but nothing in Tescos and no Tesco fuel either (because of location and Lidls!) and I would get a £2,50 voucher every 3 months or £10 p.a. which would equate to either 30 or 40 pounds off a tunnel journey which is about 100 pounds more expensive than Irish Ferries.

Am I totally missing the point of this ?

 

[Lenny HB]

Newhaven/Dieppe is our favorite as if going down the the west side of France saves us 400 miles on a round trip compared to Dover. 20% discount if over 60, makes it the same price as Dover/Calais.
And Newhaven is only just over a half hour drive for us.

Harwich/Hook of Holland and Hull/Rotterdam very cheap at the moment but long crossing may not suit the dogs.

C&CC give 10% of most routes we have already saved over 50 quid this year for the cost of our 22 quid membership, (one tunnel return & a single Amsterdam/Newcastle).

 

[Manic]

With the dogs I would think Dover/Dunkirk, Dover/Calais due to the shorter travel time.

 

[Sheddy]

I need more info on the Tesco credit card.
I put my details in of £700 spend outside of Tesco every month but nothing in Tescos and no Tesco fuel either (because of location and Lidls!) and I would get a £2,50 voucher every 3 months or £10 p.a. which would equate to either 30 or 40 pounds off a tunnel journey which is about 100 pounds more expensive than Irish Ferries.

Am I totally missing the point of this ?

You can use your vouchers on Irish Ferries

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[coroner]

We took our 2 pooches Via Harwich to Hook of Holland in April returned June when we travelled to Turkyie excellent morning boat arrived teatime with pet cabin friendly outside cabin would thoroughly recommend this route booked via caravan and motorhome club the price is still very reasonable looking at doing it again next year

 

[gus-lopez]

I always use Dunkirk>Dover & direct with dfds that way any change you can do using email,chat or last resort phone but that is premium rate. I use a flexi when travelling in to the Uk as able to use any ferry 3 days either side of booking.

 

[Lee Fryer]

Newhaven/Dieppe you have to phone to get discounts

 

[Minxy]

I need more info on the Tesco credit card.
I put my details in of £700 spend outside of Tesco every month but nothing in Tescos and no Tesco fuel either (because of location and Lidls!) and I would get a £2,50 voucher every 3 months or £10 p.a. which would equate to either 30 or 40 pounds off a tunnel journey which is about 100 pounds more expensive than Irish Ferries.

Am I totally missing the point of this ?

You can use them on some ferries as well as Eurotunnel, unfortunately the amount of points you get when used other than at Tesco is a lot less so it takes longer to build up a good amount to get a voucher which you can then exchange. You can opt in to the Christmas saver scheme which means you only get one larger load of vouchers in October/November (can't remember which!) rather than smaller amounts throughout the year, that's what we do. We have a Tesco credit card and if we shop at Tesco (groceries/fuel) we use that as you get more points but as most of our shopping is at Aldi/Lidl etc we are now using our Chase debit cards there which give 1% cashback which, even allowing for Tesco's 'face value' tripling, is much more beneficial.

 

[Soycd]

I need more info on the Tesco credit card.
I put my details in of £700 spend outside of Tesco every month but nothing in Tescos and no Tesco fuel either (because of location and Lidls!) and I would get a £2,50 voucher every 3 months or £10 p.a. which would equate to either 30 or 40 pounds off a tunnel journey which is about 100 pounds more expensive than Irish Ferries.

Am I totally missing the point of this ?

As I said we buy literally everything with the Tesco CC. Whichever shop/service I use, even for the smallest amounts and it seems to gradually build up. I even bought a whole kitchen from Howdens 5 years ago, with the card that racked up a few points. I booked a tunnel crossing for near Christmas 2 weeks ago and think I had to pay £3 to make up the difference. Currently have a balance of £115 vouchers so that will give me £345 towards our next tunnel. Having said this we generally head towards Germany, then down so the tunnel suits us. All depends on where you are going I suppose. Last time I went on the Dover-Calais ferry it was hideous, no where to sit, and very crowded. I would not use the Tesco CC abroad though, think it's a 2.5% charge to do so.

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[Minxy]

Not a direct solution, but if you want to keep using tunnel how about Tesco Clubcard points? We have Tesco credit cards and use them for everything we buy. We have not paid anything for the last 3-4 crossings we have made. That’s 2 people in a PVC.

Yes that's what we used to do pre-ET Frequent Traveller, we used a load to go to Ireland in July which saved us a lot of dosh on the crossing, and still have loads left which we could use for ferries - not the Tunnel though as the price is over twice that of a ferry and the dogs are more expensive too so it doesn't make sense to waste the benefit for a small gain when we could get a much better 'return' by putting them towards a ferry. I'm not sure if using Tesco vouchers is the best way for ferries though when taking into account discounts etc which can be had separately, hence my interest on what's offered by them. One thing to bear in mind when using Tesco vouchers for ferries which I discovered when looking into crossings to Ireland was that some of the operators had different prices for Tesco voucher customers and were higher for the same crossing than not using them so they were adding a 'surcharge' for the benefit which was stupid. I went with direct with P&O in the end as they came out cheapest and one of the shortest crossings for the pooches.

 

[Minxy]

Newhaven/Dieppe is our favorite as if going down the the west side of France saves us 400 miles on a round trip compared to Dover. 20% discount if over 60, makes it the same price as Dover/Calais.
And Newhaven is only just over a half hour drive for us.

Yes I've been looking into prices for the N/D crossing and was surprised at the cost compared to D/C or D/D. Its the time the dogs will be on board that I'm not sure about especially with our little Bella will only be 7 months when we set off, it does appeal though with it meaning less mileage when we get to France.

Harwich/Hook of Holland and Hull/Rotterdam very cheap at the moment but long crossing may not suit the dogs.

The H/R one would be ideal as it's only a few miles from us but it's way too long a crossing unfortunately, same with H/HH, when you add in the cost of a cabin etc it's silly money and I'm not sure we'd be able to have 3 dogs on those crossings.

C&CC give 10% of most routes we have already saved over 50 quid this year for the cost of our 22 quid membership, (one tunnel return & a single Amsterdam/Newcastle).

How has it only cost you £22 for C&CC membership?

 

[Minxy]

Depends where you are and where you want to go, I suppose.

Down to Spain/Portugal for some warmth ... if I could I'd go tomorrow as this colder weather is doing my no favours at all and the thought of 6 months of it, along with the darker nights once the clocks go back, is getting to me.

 

[Lenny HB]

How has it only cost you £22 for C&CC membership?

Old fogey rate kicked in at 60, I think it's 65 now.

 

[Minxy]

Old fogey rate kicked in at 60, I think it's 65 now.

Can't see anything about that, just a discount when using sites etc.

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[bobnick]

Balancing £££s against convenience. Tunnel. You can keep the dogs in the van for 40 ish mins.

 

[Lenny HB]

Can't see anything about that, just a discount when using sites etc.

I think you have to be a member for 25 years and you have to apply for it, they don't publicise it anymore but I think it's still available. They now call it Veteran membership.

 

[VXman]

I need more info on the Tesco credit card.
I put my details in of £700 spend outside of Tesco every month but nothing in Tescos and no Tesco fuel either (because of location and Lidls!) and I would get a £2,50 voucher every 3 months or £10 p.a. which would equate to either 30 or 40 pounds off a tunnel journey which is about 100 pounds more expensive than Irish Ferries.

Am I totally missing the point of this ?

You can use it for your Irish Ferries crossing - makes it even cheaper.

 

[VXman]

Can't see anything about that, just a discount when using sites etc.

I wondered about this - just put my details in £45 and I'm 60

 

[Lenny HB]

I wondered about this - just put my details in £45 and I'm 60

See post#22
I think they put the age up to 65.

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[Riverbankannie]

I think Newhaven - Dieppe discount of 20 % is only for old fogies, and I believe Minxy not there yet - lucky thing!

 

[Lenny HB]

I think Newhaven - Dieppe discount of 20 % is only for old fogies, and I believe Minxy not there yet - lucky thing!

I thought she just got there.

 

[Minxy]

I think Newhaven - Dieppe discount of 20 % is only for old fogies, and I believe Minxy not there yet - lucky thing!

I thought she just got there.

No I haven't ... I'll be 'there' in March 2023 but hubby being 5 years older than me qualifies!

 

[Lenny HB]

No I haven't ... I'll be 'there' in March 2023 but hubby being 5 years older than me qualifies!

As long as the lead passenger is over 60 you get the discount.