Channel ferry price comparison

nellynerd

I've been looking for the cheapest cross-channel ferry (or tunnel) price for our trip to see relatives in Belgium at half-term. 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 car.

But I'm becoming really frustrated at the search engines I've found through Google. Some ask you to specify the route you want - but I'm not too fussed. Others give you one price but then ask you to specify the sailing times (even though you've already done it) before churning out a completely different price.

I can't find a MoneySavingExpert guide about ferries. Can anyone suggest the best way of getting a good price?

BernadetteN

Why don't you just use Norfolkline?

I work in Calais and from experience, the queues during peak periods can often mean long waits on the motorway before the ferry port, unlike at Dunkirk (Loon Plage) where Norfolkline sail to where queues are never so long.

Secondly, Loon Plage is 20 minutes less driving than Calais to Belgium.

You can buy one way fares each direction for £19 during off-peak times (well that's what we always pay) although the half-term cheap fares may already be gone.

I find the people who travel with Norfolkline have often been recommended the service by work of mouth for its cheapness. There are far fewer Brits who use this service than P&O (brand loyalty?), loads of money savvy Eastern Europeans, a fair amount of British Armed Forces Personnel (word of mouth).

pompeyrich

It's just a case of trawling through the websites really, There are only 5 Companies operating on the short crossing routes so shouldn't take too long. Norfolkline and Speedferries are considered the cheapest, P&O and Seafrance in the middle and the Tunnel dearest. If you want to check P&O use poferriesonline.co.uk as opposed to poferries.com, the link shows their last minute fares. You are looking about £56 return with Speedferries, £70 return with P&O, £100+ through the tunnel, maybe less if you choose a short break

nellynerd

Thanks for your help BernadetteN and pompeyrich. I'll do it the old-fashioned way and ask each one!

I was just hoping that, having used cheap flights search engines before, that some genius had come up with a similar one for ferries. All the sites I've used so far which claim to 'find the best price' are very clunky and seem put together with cheap sticky tape. If there are any web geniuses out there, fancy having a go? Something like the flights search engine on MSE is what I'd like to see but anything must be better than what's there already!

pompeyrich

Not sure if a scanner type site would work with all the different options the ferry companies offer, day, afternoon, evening, landing or non-landing, short break, 10 day, period returns, singles, flexible, non-flexible, semi-flexible tickets to name but a few. I know there are flight scanners but most people normally double check on the airlines own web-site after using a comparison site anyway. Somewhere like daytripper.net can sometimes alert you to special offers but the prices change hour by hour so even they can soon become un reliable.

angel

I also think that you should use Norfolkline. We went to Bruges earlier in the year and they were the cheapest and have the added bonus of being close to Belgium ... I know, someone has already kinda said that, I just wanted to agree!

shown73

Try www.day-tripper.net Not sure how up to date it is, but usually plenty of useful info. I've often used Norfolkline too, but do be aware that it is a longer crossing, and shopping/restaurant facilities are pretty basic. Depends what you want, and where you are going, I suppose. On one memorable journey, we crept over on one engine, then couldn't dock in Dunkirk due to high winds and no bow thrusters working. crept back out into mid-channel and rolled around for another two hours waiting for a second tug to come from Calais. They are not often that bad, luckily, generally no worse than some of the others. Friendly and helpful, with a disabled lift if needed, up from the car deck.

bunking_off

Have you tried www.ferrysavers.com?

Would back what others say about Norfolkline...far less stress than the Calais route. If you fancy splashing the cash, I can recommend an upgrade to their first class lounge (£10 per person each way) - enough tea/coffee/soft drinks/munchies to keep you going, and when we travelled we had the place to ourselves both directions. Only issue I'd highlight with Norfolkline is because it's a quieter route, if a ferry does get cancelled you'll have longer to wait.

Tabmow

If you have any Tesco Deal vouchers you can use them to pay for Eurotunnel crossings and maybe P&O but I think they are stopping P&O soon. On the Eurotunnel.com website it's fairly esy to see how time of day and day of the week influences prices.