 Poster: A snowHead
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With a last minute change of plan we are now on a ferry tomorrow. Haven’t take a ferry in about 15years!
So wondering what the lie of the land is. We’ve got a fully flex ticket, which seems to suggest we can get any ferry, but there is a disclaimer that at busy times that might not be possible. So wondering if it’s worth trying to get there earlier in the hope of an earlier crossing or not.
Also in the FAQ it’s says last check in times are 45 mins for cars, but after customes and security, on the tunnel you check in and then go through that, is the ferry different? Should we aim to be earlier on the assumption there might be queues before we reach the check in stage?
Also, with the current situation I’m assuming it’s probably going to be chockablock, do they have the equivalent of the dreaded Eurotunnel overflow car park that you get stuck in for hours before even being allowed to the check in booths?
Do they end up like the tunnel where it effectively turns in to a first in first out situation regardless of your booked crossing time?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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In my experience they'll fit you onto the first ferry with a space regardless of your booked time. I imagine they'll be busy tomorrow though!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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At Dover you go through immigration and customs before the ferry check in. More likely to be queues for the former.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We haven’t been on the ferry for some time but in our experience if you wanted to eat in the decent restaurant it was worth hot footing it up there pdq. I think in recent times we paid the extra and went into the club bit where you could eat. In the old days with the kids it was a bit more pot luck.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@ish303, you haven't said which ferry company you are going with. On DFDS they currently give you a voucher for a complimentary meal (breakfast).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Pay the extra and go Club class
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The order at Dover is:
French Immigration where passport, covid status and declaration gets checked
UK passport control
On the way to check in there's a random security check which pulls out the occasional car for checks.
Check in, where unless they are completely fully booked they will put you on the next ferry although if you are flexible you may get on even if the next crossing is fully booked.
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| Weathercam wrote: |
| Pay the extra and go Club class |
On DFDS club class (with its separate lounge) is currently unavailable.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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When we travelled 2 weeks ago, the P&O catering was VERY limited. Both restaurant and cafeteria closed, the only hot food available was pizza or a “curry in a cup” ready meal from the coffee shop.
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We have used DFDS recently. On the cheapest ticket they still put you on the next ferry. Today may be different, but numbers of cars have been tiny - a dozen or so, they have been operating at about one-tenth capacity. No queues, but last time they were security checking everyone just so they didn't get bored standing around. On DFDS you get a basic meal included, but no other catering available.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We’ll just in case anyone is interested, we rocked up about 9:15am and it took about 1hr 25mins to get through French border control. Once through that it was straight through check in and in to the lanes for the ferry.
As skiinghamster said, a lot was shut, basically it was the duty free and coffee shop at the front that was open, but it did have a reasonable selection of sandwiches, panini, croque monsieur, and the pizzas were ok!
Ferry was delayed 30mins departing.
Checks at the border were pretty straight forward, they just wanted to see vaccine status and negative test, we only had to hold them up so they could see, they didn’t take them off us and scrutinise them.
We used the chronomics lateral flow test, we got the pdf confirmation in under a minute from submitting the details and picture.
BTW don’t bother taking your kids to the arcade, almost all the games were knackered and not working properly!
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FAQ
