To France and back can I book two day trips and use them for a week's holiday?

Nurselayer

Hi MSE'rs,


Me and my better half are looking at taking the car over to France in May for 4 nights. From what I can see, booking a ferry across and back on the dates we want to leave/return will come to about £110. However if we book a day trip on the way out it costs £30, and if we book a day trip on the way back it's also £30 - thus saving us £50.

Are there rules about not using the return portion of day trips? Can we use the return portion without having done the outward part first?


In short, can we make this work?


All help gratefully received.

hollydays

I've heard you can't do this.

janiebquick

Alas, the ferry operators have been on to this for a while and cross-check car registrations on both legs. Even a French friend who lives in the UK but tried uisng her mother's address in Paris for the return ticket didn't get away with it.

bagand96

It's against the T&Cs of the day trip tickets. When you don't return the ferry company can charge you the difference for the full single fare. And there have been stories of them doing exactly this.

xHannahx

Don't do it. It's within the ferry terms and conditions for serveral operators they will bill your payment card for the full amount of what it would of cost.
Also I've read stories of refusal to travel on the return leg without the full price payment being made if the outbound leg hasn't been used.

It's often cheaper to book a UK -France - UK retrun than France -UK single so people doing the single were booking returns starting from France and being declined travel for not using the outward leg.

Moto2

Twice in the last couple of years I've failed to make the return journey part of a day return ticket.
Once, the job I was doing over-ran & I didn't make it back for another 2 days - had to buy another ticket but they (P&O) never tried or asked for any more payment.
Last December, I again missed getting back the same day with P&O on a day return and ended up returning the following day on the tunnel.

So I'm not entirely convinced they're on the ball as suggested.

Maybe try a day return with 2 different carriers? - let us know how you get on

hollydays

Is it worth taking the risk?
Plus don't be surprised if they decide to search your vehicle.

hollydays

Just keep an eye on hukd ferry offers . Ferry prices on standard routes can drop dramatically.

Shelldean

Look at dfds they're often cheaper