Suggestions for ferries to and from Europe..?

[BMWnHOG]

Starting from Scotland....riding South to Portsmouth...

Ferry from Portsmouth to Santander.
Then
A week later, Ijmuiden/Amsterdam to Newcastle?

Any advice on best price company?
Thanks

[Temporaryescapee]

Have used Brittany ferries for the first leg - wasn't badly priced.


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[Matty Gofun]

As far as I'm aware only one company sails from Pompey to Santander, Brittany Ferries and only one company sails from Amsterdam to Newcastle which is DFDS. So the question seems moot. Unless somebody knows better?

[BMWnHOG]

Tried one booking facility......£396.00 inclusive of cabins each way and breakfast.

Tried a second.....from memory - the one we used in 2010 and was quoted £509.00

Jeez, where does the extra £110 go??

[BMWnHOG]

Google saying 6 hrs 40 mins.....

[moggy 1968]

tunnel everytime

it's so much more flexible, if you miss your slot, you just jump on the next one. When you take into account your booking in times as well, it's vastly quicker too to calais.

I used to always get the ferry, until one time it was cancelled due to bad weather and I had to get the tunnel. I haven't caught the ferry since!

For where your heading even allowing for the extra drive it works out miles cheaper than catching the ferry to santander. Takes about a day and a half to drive, although you can do it in one day if you get a whizzy on and really kill the miles

[backofbeyond]

Originally Posted by BMWnHOG

Starting from Scotland....riding South to Portsmouth...

Ferry from Portsmouth to Santander.
Then
A week later, Ijmuiden/Amsterdam to Newcastle?

Any advice on best price company?
Thanks

So is your route to take a week meandering between Santander and Amsterdam? If it is then the tunnel isn't really much help - or any of the short haul crossings come to that. As far as I know (and others have said) Brittany ferries are the only option to northern Spain so they have your wallet open at gunpoint if you want to travel that route. Last time I used them it felt like spending 36hrs in the motorway services, so not a particularly pleasant experience although the on deck whale watching class (or whatever it was) did pass an hour or two.

My experience of the tunnel is exactly the opposite of Moggy's. Every single time I've used it, without exception, there's been a problem or a holdup and it's taken longer that the ferry would have - and it's been twice the price of the ferry. At least you can get something to eat on the boat (even if it's not exactly a gourmet experience) whereas the time before last on the tunnel all I got was a toilet on the shuttle so overflowing with cr@p it was literally running out the door. Maybe (probably) I've just been unlucky but it's not that often I'm so tight on time that the hour matters.

Don't get me wrong though as I'm no great fan of the ferry companies either - their customer service is non existent and I regularly get stuck for surcharges for turning up early / late. I've had to sleep overnight in the terminal at Dunkirk when the computer said no on a half empty boat and their bike tie down arrangements are, well, lets just say could do with some work. but a three hour delay going out on the tunnel and then a four hour one coming back (my last tunnel trip about a year ago) will take a bit of getting over.

[BMWnHOG]

Had heard of the toilet issues on the train or the terminal - whichever you were talking about.
If the damn ferry company hadn't screwed up the Rosyth-Zeebrugge crossing....

That said, first time was 2006 for £185.00 return, with cabins, great food (really excellent).
Year later, different ferry operator and the price was more than double!