I ventured £50 on a day trip, Dover to Boulogne, on the new LD Lines Norman Arrow high speed ferry; this fare was for 2 passengers and small hatchback, return.
The boat is excellent, being about 2 months in service, I think. Very spacious passenger acommodation with airline seats amd drop-down tables. Three shops on board, one doing hot and cold drinks, pre-packed sandwiches, filled rolls, croissants and panninis. There was a microwave for customer use to heat the paninis. Another shop selling papers and magazines, motoring accessories, sweets and chocolate, tobacco products and, of course, the indispensible "Princess on Board" stickers! Towards the stern there was a bar selling hot and cold drinks, wine and beer.
Check-in was, frankly, laborious and slow. Produce one's on line booking form, staff then print a 'ticket' and a boarding pass and hand write a hanger to go on the rear view mirror.
Ticket is taken off one 100 yards further on and one drives on board. There are two decks, a tall lower one which takes trucks and anything tall or with a roof box. The layout is 'U' shaped so one drives on, round the U and finish up facing the rear, ready to be first off.
The Upper deck is not nearly as high, one ramp, leading up to it from the lower deck and the same U layout. The problem, certainly on the top deck was that many cars did not have enough 'lock' to get round the U without making a three point turn and cars are parked so close that the passengers have to get out before the driver completes the parking. If you are on the top deck you are likely to one of the last off the boat
Crossing was smoth on a flat calm sea and took the advertised 60 minutes but left 25 minutes late. Check in at Boulogne was shambolic. There were three manned check in booths but no laid out 'lanes'. This resulted in about 5 queues forming to get to them and a lot of bad tempered barging in, hooting, fist waving and the like.
Auchan on the outskirts of Boulogne, inland across the M way was excellent and I took a quick run up to Calais to collected pre-ordered drinks from Sainsbury's. They accept an order on-line, phone you if there is anything they can't supply, and it is in a trolley ready to pay for and take away which works very well.
Overall the route is good value for money but loading and off-loading, thru the stern only - not drive thru, is slow and laborious. one spends as long checking in, boarding and getting off than one does on the crossing. If going to Boulogne and/or the fares suit one's plans I would say OK but it hasn't converted me from the Tunnel or a more conventional ferry.
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>Overall the route is good value for money but loading and off-loading, thru the stern only - not drive thru, is slow
Thats the design of the boat and where the speed comes from, twin hulls, very pointy, to raise out of the sea a little and skim, means you cant have a front loading ramp.
To my mind, high speed ferries across the channel at that point are a waste of time. If you want speed take the chunnel.
where HS ferries do make sense is on the longer runs. The HSS Stenna Hook of Holand was superb, and the Condor to Jersey and St Malo was also great. One to Normandy would be good
They are very very thirsty on fuel tho.
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To my mind high speed ferries across the channel at that point are a waste of time. If you want speed take the chunnel.
I used the Newhaven-Dieppe fast cat a few years ago, that was a good compromise for me.
For people living on the south coast, anywhere west of Portsmouth, the drag over to the tunnnel can be quite painful.
Any fast service based between Newhaven and Poole would be a good option for lots of people, especially if you're going west once you disembark.
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just count yourself lucky. living in devon the local option to france is the ferry from plymouth. the cheapest option for me to get to my parents in central brittany in north west france is to take a day off work to drive east to dover, cross from dover to dunkirque and then drive west across france to the olds'. then repeat the whole opperation when i want to come back.
i might be stubborn but i won't pay 200 quid for the local option.
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Brittany Ferries runs the old Condor Vitesse and Express on services to Cherbourg and Caen (Ouistreham) for a large part of the year, weather permitting.
But you have to 'go west, young man'.
We once took the Legend coupe on a weekender from Weymouth to St Malo on Condor Vitesse - the biggest of its class. Nobody thought to check but the car was actually a couple of inches over the length limit - I think it was 4.5 metres then. Had to take two bites at every turn while loading and unloading and when they got us into a space eventually the nose of the car was visible in the back of the upstairs bar!
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ps: I'd rather swim the western channel than ever get trapped overnight in Newhaven again.
Edited by mike hannon on 10/08/2009 at 12:07
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AE - I well remember the Harwich/Stena HSS. I was with the military at the time and I got a year's unlimited travel on it for £600 - this was when the return was about £175 so a good bargain. It was not meant to sail if the waves were above a certain height or sea state. One night it was a bit marginal but they went anyway and halfway across the bows dug in and the thing came to almost complete stop. At Hook there was a very large number of just driveable cars but mostly with no working lights, front or rear, as all they had been shot into each other by the decelleration. I think it woking the Irish sea, from Holhead or Larne at the moment; it was VERY heavy on fuel, as you say.
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there's a Stena HSS runs from Stranraer to Belfast. Just been refitted.
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I have to say that "La Manche" is not a crossing I like to take at speed.
I much prefer a relaxed breakfast, take the newspaper to the loo for a contemplate, then have a coffee and sit, chill, doze a bit, walk the deck etc. If on P&O, you cannot beat Langans if your budget stretches that far.
If I go with friends and they suggest the Tunnel, I tend to throw my hands up in horreur! Can't see nuffink through the winda's. Boring!
For me, ever since my first crossing in 1963 it has been part of the holiday, a part to be savoured.
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I agree with Tack. Part of the holiday. Great system up north, Drive on at Hull 4.30 onwards. Find cabin, couple of pints, top class meal. Sleep til about 6.30am, great brekkie then off into continental Europe at Zeebrugge at 8.30 with a full fresh day ahead.
Ted
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I agree with Tack. Part of the holiday. Great system up north Drive on at Hull 4.30 onwards. Find cabin couple of pints top class meal. Sleep til about 6.30am great brekkie then off into continental Europe at Zeebrugge at 8.30 with a full fresh day ahead.
Yes thats fine, when you are leaving Hull, I can see the attraction. The journey back to Hull must be like the last meal of a condemned man heading for the gallows......
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Went from Hull to Rotterdam with friends last week - not bad, lot of drinking on board though which is an unattractive trait in the British. Loading was compromised by a computer failire on the way out. Luckily we were early.
Hull ? Jury's out but better than Holyhead - trust me.
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Having spent 2 years on Anglesey, in the mid 60's I can safely say that if you wanted to give the World an enema, Holyhead is probably where you'd place the pipe!
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You don't have to get involved in anything Hullish. One road straight through from M62 to the George V dock. In and out quickly on a bike ! 110 miles home, all M.Way, in time for lunch with SWMBO.
From Hull and Halifax and Hell, the good lord preserve us ! ( add Holyhead )
Ted
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And Newhaven!
Come to think of it, Dover's pretty grim as well.
Edited by mike hannon on 11/08/2009 at 06:45
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any port in a storm ... seriously, having used Eurotunnel many times, I'd now go for a sea crossing to France. The Tunnel is such a bland, boring - altho fast - experience, whereas driving onto a ship does make you feel you're leaving a country to go to another. Perhaps they should have pics of the white cliffs inside Tunnel trains!
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I have used most routes at some point, and from the NE the Hull option is certainly the best (if not a little pricey). I have been on the Hull - Zeebrugge route a few times and found it very relaxing. Booked on the Hull - Rotterdam in a few weeks time. @Pug was it overly rowdy??
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Rowdy is the wrong word - wasn't bad on the way out, on the Sunday night it was very busy with Dutch people, one of the bars got very busy and very smelly (stale beer). Top tips - try to get a cabin on Deck 8, makes it a lot easier to find ! Go for your evening meal as soon as you board and likewise with breakfast - get there as soon as you can before the locusts descend !!
Edited by Pugugly on 11/08/2009 at 11:11
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Went as a foursome a couple of years ago through Hull.
Got a free upgrade on way back, 2 cabins, didn't know what to expect as all cabin doors are the same.
Entered a different world...large cabin with 2 windows. Large en-suite, white dressing gowns, free mini-bar, fruit, television and room to walk about.
So different from the normal ' cell '.
Ted
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The homeward cabin (Dutch Ship) had a very strange stain on one of the benches that doubled as a bed - I didn't sleep in that one but if it had been in a Hotel I was staying in I would have asked to be moved...
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Come to think of it, Dover's pretty grim as well.
paradise compared with Calais
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I've never been trapped overnight in Calais, thank the deity.
I remember well one night going into a Shepherd Neame pub in Dover and asking for a pint of Spitfire (before Wetherspoons got hold of it), only for the barman to admit they didn't keep it. And that was before we tried to get something to eat...
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