How to book a ferry

Ok, this is a shameless attempt to get the forum to make my life easier alongside a chance for a slice for STW. But why not?

I want to travel from England to France by ferry. I’m not that bothered about which route, or even the exact date or time, I’d just like to be able to compare prices (for a #vanlife van) and crossing durations on different routes at different times and pick what will work best for me. Google reveals various aggregator sites, plus the individual companies. Which sites has anyone found to be good, offer better deals etc? Is it best to use an aggregator to see the options but then book direct?

Quite a few sites give a little cut to STW so please add links!

Thank you 😘

I use Direct Ferries. It’s not that easy to compare routes (you have to change the to/from) but you can at least see the prices and times for different operators on the same route.

in general the routes nearest to Calais-Dover are cheapest, those further down towards Brittany are more expensive. We paid £1k nearly for a car and bike rack for an overnight Portsmouth-St.Malo (inc. cabin) in May (I write this in. Brittany now!)  I think Calais-Dover would be around 250-350x dependant on season and time of day.

Edit: I didn’t find any benefit in booking direct. Some operators run sales over Christmas for the summer but not that frequent.

If you’re going south-west, Brittany Ferries Portsmouth to St Malo is a good one, one sleep and an early start and it’s saved you a fair bit of driving from Calais. The Gironde is about 4 hrs away.

I recently paid £245 return Dover – Calais for July/August booking direct with P&O and that includes pet lounge access. My #vanlife vehicle is classed as a big car though, Mercedes Viano xlwb.

Irish ferries is usually cheapest for my bil when he takes his work van over to France. Tesco points are you friend as well.

Do you have Tesco Clubcard points?

I Use Direct Ferry’s. They got me on an Irish Ferries crossing dover calais in june in the Motorhome for £210 return.

Ive used both of theee to compare ferry times in the past

https://www.directferries.co.uk/

https://www.aferry.com/en-gb/

They both have the same underlying data in terms of routes and ailing times as to be frank there are only so many ferry routes. Not sure about pricing. Don’t forget eurotunnel too, not always a lot more expensive and depending on your route may be better – it’s certainly a lot quicker and less hassle than the ferry

https://www.leshuttle.com/uk-en

Where in France ? I rarely do the short crossing because I’d rather pay a bit more for a longer crossing to avoid the M25, the Dartford crossing, higher tolls in France, higher fuel/leccy costs, more time driving and less time sitting on a sun deck watching one coast disappear and another appear.

I’ve booked Caen Portsmouth and Harwich Hook of Holland. IIRC they were 20e and 30e more than the short crossing for a car with two passengers booked on the respective company websites.

Changing dates and times can make a big difference to price. In general the cheapest price will get you the most traffic free driving and least busy charge points for an EV.

P&O are the company that fired all of their UK staff without notice and rehired international agency staff who earn below the UK minium wage – might be a consideration for you.

None of the other crossings are anywhere near as cheap or as fast as Dover/Calais. Even with the toll charges/fuel. Plus you have a much greater choice of sailing times.

Long ferry journeys are boring as hell and can get quite unpleasant if you suffer from sea sickness (especially if it’s gets a bit rough whilst you’re attempting to enjoy the Brittany Ferries buffet!) If you take Dover/Calais you can literally be halfway down France by the time the any of the Brittany ferries have unloaded. I would much rather cruise down France and stop for lunch/tea at a French restaurant than be stuck on a ferry most of the day.

Long ferry journeys are boring as hell and can get quite unpleasant if you suffer from sea sickness (especially if it’s gets a bit rough whilst you’re attempting to enjoy the Brittany Ferries buffet!) If you take Dover/Calais you can literally be halfway down France by the time the any of the Brittany ferries have unloaded.

Depends on your journey length. We use the longer/overnight crossings as a chance to “sleep whilst still moving” – we’ve got 5hrs+ simply to reach even Hull, and an overnighter means we wake up, disembark and have a full day to travel ahead of us.

Ferrysavers usually. Mostly Dover to Calais but have done Portsmouth to St. Malo before,  which is more expensive but we were going to the Bordeaux area, so it made sense.

https://www.ferrysavers.com/

It’s horses for courses. I’d rather be asleep on the ferry or standing outside looking at the view than sitting in the car trying find a way past Paris to get west.

But that’s the joy of the freedoms and choices we have

Depends on your journey length. We use the longer/overnight crossings as a chance to “sleep whilst still moving” – we’ve got 5hrs+ simply to reach even Hull, and an overnighter means we wake up, disembark and have a full day to travel ahead of us.

Last time I was on the Postmouth/St Malo ferry the onboard wake up call was around 4:30am, what a great night’s sleep that was. I’ll take a hotel room in Calais any day of the week.

the ferrys seem really expensive this year – £300 each way for a car on the portsmouth/poole routes over the summer holiday, we’re down in the south east so often just chug across to dover – it seems like eurotunnel is less bad-value than the rest this year, but the pro/con is that you don’t get to wander round and stretch your legs as much, which can be a nice break if you’ve got a longer leg on the uk side

Where in France are you actually wanting to go to? If you’re going to the Jura or Vosges, a Portsmouth to St Malo ferry would probably be unwise while the Dover-Calais would be most convenient.
I just book direct with the ferry company. The prices below are the same whether direct or via DirectFerries.com. Takes about 3 minutes to check the respective companies..Irish Ferries, DFDS and P and O…although we now just use Irish Ferries (used to use Eurotunnel 5 times a year)
If you’re travelling from Northern England, the UK side of the journey down and back times are more critical than the actual ferry.
(I did a quick random check. 11am Wed 12th June outbound, 5pm Wed 19th June inbound.
Irish Ferries…£202
P and O………£204
DFDS…………£212
Eurotunnel……£323

Good point, from Tod it’s very much worth considering the overnight ferry from Hull if prices are ok – offset the price against the price of a hotel (although with #vanlife that may be less of an offset)

Also when route planning consider your crit’air sticker number. If an older van you might be crit’air 3 or worse, so that will limit some city/region areas. Mine’s a euro 4 diesel and that’s a crit’air 3 (pretty poor.)

https://www.france.fr/en/article/crit-air-anti-pollution-vehicle-sticker/#what-are-the-regulations-in-force-3

Rotterdam ot Hull (or Zebrugge before it was cancelled) was my preferred way home. 50 minute drive home from Hull and start work!! But the prices are silly recently even when you take into account the savings on fuel, tolls and hotel. I can’t do it nowadays any way as we have a dog so channel crossings are the way forward.

I would rather do the tunnel, but again when we priced it up it was nearly double the cost of the ferry.

Saint malo to where I go in the pyrenees (near(ish) Foix) is 2 hours less drive than it would be from calais, so it just doesn’t make sense to me, for a more expensive and much longer crossing. You can save on tolls by going the Rouen route but personally I’ve always found more of a pian in the arse than going round Paris.

Going the Alpes way it doesn’t make sense to not go dover/folkestone- calais/dunkirk, or use the over night to Rotterdam/Amsterdam.

Also don’t forget to calculate your fuel to make teh best advantage of the prices in Luxembourg. Also, Steinfort has a small 24hr station just off the roundabout near Arlon / IKEA which can be helpful if its really busy. Price in Luxembourg is set nationally so the price is the price no matter where it’s sold….

Bestial Chill & Grill looks interesting …

If you’ve got a Tesco clubcard, you can use the points to offset the cost of using the Eurotunnel. For example, my wife has gone to visit her parents in Rouen this last week, it would have cost £300, but we had £100 worth of vouchers.  Before the Eurotunnel opened we used to take the Newhaven to Dieppe overnight ferry, which we hated.

We use the Eurotunnel even when going as far as Saint-Malo. The drive if long is much preferable than sitting on a ferry and for us living in Leicester, getting to Portsmouth is not an easy journey.

Plus the Eurotunnel is less susceptible to adverse weather conditions.

Seriously…a detour to Luxembourg? That’d make an 8 hr Calais to Grenoble journey take at least 2 hours longer and add 60+ miles on…but I might save a tenner on fuel…I can’t imagine what it would add on to a journey S, SW or W ?
Going off topic now but the viamichelin app/website will show tolls on the autoroute. and there are many apps for fuel prices (which can be extorionate on the autorute or 50c a litre cheaper 1 km off at a junction)

Always use the Tunnel and Tesco Clubcard Vouchers. Both this years trips in the camper were booked and paid for when it was a 3 for 1. We also swapped at the same time last year for next years June trip. The vouchers need to be used before the 12th June so as the June/July dates aren’t out yet will need to book alternative dates to use the voucher and then amend the booking once the dates are available.

The 2 for 1 offer isn’t as attractive but still makes it a worthwhile saving on a European holiday

Seriously…a detour to Luxembourg? That’d make an 8 hr Calais to Grenoble journey take at least 2 hours longer and add 60+ miles on…but I might save a tenner on fuel…I can’t imagine what it would add on to a journey S, SW or W ?

when I was more cost-focussed I’d drive down via belgium luxembourg then down the E23. It’d avoid all the tolls, saving £60 each way, and use ~30% less fuel (same distance but driven at an average of ~60 instead of ~80), plus a cheap fill-up saving another tenner – all in its about £200 return cheaper, which if you’re a student and heading out solo is a decent saving. Total time from the port is around 12 hours instead of 9, so it can be viewed as earning £30/hour

In scotland booking the ferry is easy.

It’s getting ona different ferry after yours is cancelled that takes skill.

Unfortunately fuel in Luxembourg isn’t what it was. It’s pretty much as UK now

According to maps Portsmouth Leicester is 2h55 and Dover  Leicester 3h29.

Caen Portsmouth 68e when I bought two months ago for this Summer. I could have had the short crossing for 50e.

Caen Portsmouth 68e when I bought two months ago for this Summer. I could have had the short crossing for 50e.

I’ve just checked Brittany ferries and Portsmouth to Caen 25th July, for a large car with bikes on the back is £450 one way and it takes 6 hours!!

£160 on a random Wednesday in October.

I’d be interested where you got it for that price @Edukator. Although it’s still a 6 hour crossing…

Edit: £60 ish for a foot passenger.

Brittany Ferries web site. The same crossing is 207e if booked today because the early bird rate has expired. Car and two people. The return we booked Harwich Hook of Holland at 218e, sorry can’t be bothered to check what that would be if booked today.

P&O = vile organisation.  Please avoid…

Irish Ferries pulled the same staffing trick about 20 years ago. They can get in the sea too.

@Edukator 👍