 Poster: A snowHead
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@admin, How's the catering on DFDS now? last time I used them it was worse than school dinners.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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This appears to be the services equivalent of shrinkflation, offer less for the same price.
Have seen this quite a bit lately with companies such as BA and Club Med making their loyalty programs less rewarding. Seems to be the preferred solution compared to hiking prices even more. I guess this is a little more stealthy.
Will probably still end up using the Shuttle due to speed, but its sad that they have severely gutted one of the great benefits of this service.
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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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@chocksaway, it's hardly gastro-wonderland but it's good enough that I always get a meal.
Basic food but decent value imo eg. Fish n chips or curry n rice, or a full English for about £13-14 including a drink.
I usually travel at night so there's nothing at all to be had on the French motorway at that time.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I went on a day trip on the Dover to Dunkirk DFDS ship a few weeks ago and the cooked breakfast was very good. The fish and chips coming back was ok for the fish and not so good for the chips but they are bringing in Harry Ramsden’s fish and chips which should be better. We had decent lattes at the lighthouse cafe.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@chocksaway, is DFDS French now? I do miss the Sea France bistro .
Thinking we may give the ferry a go in September, but not keen on winter as one of our gang gets very seasick. He's flying to Amsterdam next weekend while his friends are getting the ferry from Newcastle.
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@chocksaway, I hope it is better than the last visit I made to a Harry Ramsden's. I have far better local chippys
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| admin wrote: |
@chocksaway, it's hardly gastro-wonderland but it's good enough that I always get a meal.
Basic food but decent value imo eg. Fish n chips or curry n rice, or a full English for about £13-14 including a drink.
I usually travel at night so there's nothing at all to be had on the French motorway at that time. |
Step up from the luke warm sausage in a mouldy finger roll a travelling companion was served on an LD Lines some year's back!
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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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@Hells Bells, @chocksaway,
DFDS is Danish and on the Danish stock exchange I believe. They have a Dover office which runs the Dover to Dunkirk route with British flagged ships. I’m not sure which DFDS office runs the Calais route which has French flagged ships, but the catering appears to be the same apart from an extra option of the pizza restaurant on the Dunkirk route.
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@snowymum, Indeed, but it is the rump of Sea France and both Cote des Dunes and Cote des Flandres are French Flagged (according to Vessel Finder) and on the Dunes (which has a very chequered history with French Union activism) last time it was very much French staff.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@chocksaway, We did DFDS two or three years ago (we think that Mrs Nemisis caught Covid during the crossing, but that's another story). The bar offering (with a french crew) was vodka + tonic or tonic - no gin anywhere. I was on coffee so not a problem.
I haven't used the tunnel for years, but do use Irish Ferries - definietly acceptable - their club lounge or whatever has been excellent value
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Descriptions of catering on cross-channel DFDS routes sound somewhat different from the (Danish flagged) Newcastle to Amsterdam ships - very decent standard, but no budget options (unless you smuggle your own).
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Someone mentioned that if you arrive too early for LeShuttle, then they ‘turn you around’. Out of interest, just how do they do that? I mean, the terminal is self-contained and the booths have lines of cars - is there some sort of exit from the other side of the booths into local roads, or something?
EDIT: Yes, if you look on Google Earth there’s a lane marked ‘EXIT’ on the other side of the booths. This takes you under the elevated loading access road which loops round back. That road then joins the road exiting the off-loading road and you can drive back to the junction just before the terminal. Of course, there must be a way to turn people away, if only for the odd case where someone has got the date wrong or booked for the wrong vehicle etc.
So, I’m assuming that if you arrive too early they don’t give you a boarding ticket but do let you through the booth barrier and tell you to follow some Exit signs. You then join the cars de-training from the train, and take the slip road which goes off to the main junction. You then go round at the junction, rejoin the M20 briefly, exit for Eurotunnel, and repeat the arrival process. Perhaps after hanging around for the requisite time. And perhaps finding that a queue has built up in the meantime and you miss your train 
This would be fine if Eurotunnel published an accurate real-time figure for the length of time you have to queue. But my recollection is that any information is fairly vague in this respect. It doesn’t help that the last two times I’ve been approaching the place, the LeShuttle app has suddenly demanded - on the day and time that I’m likely to be driving - that I re-login again, using my username and password, before allowing me access. Which is tricky enough for a passenger and impossible if you’re driving on your own.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Mon 24-03-25 9:18; edited 3 times in total
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You know it makes sense.
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@LaForet, it happened to us once and yes you just get routed back out. We were told of the services at the next junction north (iirc) and we hole up there for an hour before going back.
And yes, part of the problem is it's very difficult to time it right.
But it has only happened to us once.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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So what is the ‘Do not arrive more than … before your departure’ time? 2 hours?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@LaForet, "at least 1 hour but no more than 4 hours before departure" (or for flexiplus, just the same day). Unless there are significant queues, a 3-hour window ought to be fine, even for those travelling some distance.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@LaForet, at the time we got turned away it was because we were more than 2 hours before, though I don't think it was more than 3. Just had a uninterrupted run on the M25 which is pretty rare. And I presume there was no option to bump us up so in order to keep the terminal free they sent us away. It was a few years ago.
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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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Came through Eurotunnel this evening.
M25 wasn’t too bad, so arrived healthily early for 1924 train. (1635)
Auto booth at arrival didn’t give us the option to change to an earlier train, so I presssd the help button and the operator confirmed no earlier options as it was too busy. (I thought it was pretty quiet tbh, but what do I know)
So we drove round and were just thinking of a healthy dinner at Burger King, when I realised we had not taken the correct turn into the service area and were instead queuing at passport control…
When we got through and arrived at the next control booth, the lady said “ooh, you’re a bit early aren’t you?” - I apologised and she said not to worry I’ll get you can get an earlier one, it’ll be the third one out.
We left on the 1738. Result. Arrived over an hour and a half earlier than anticipated…
We then lost a bit of time as they couldn’t open the doors on the train and half the cars had to reverse out. We were stuck in the middle and by the time it got to our turn (to reverse out) they had managed to open the doors and we drove out normally.
Still, we were able to get. to our overnight hotel the right side of midnight.
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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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@Richie_S, according to customer services, some of the trains are running at reduced capacity at the moment , which explains our wait in the boarding lanes on Sunday, so I'm guessing that is why they keep saying they are busy and can't put you on an earlier train.
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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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We arrived early for our return crossing last Sunday morning. We were hoping to get bumped onto an earlier train. In the end we did depart 30 minutes earlier than booked. The info boards stated that they were having technical problems and were apologising for earlier delays. I think that they were only running two trains per hour.
Family have just travelled to the Alps overnight. (with young school kids). Got to Folkestone quite a bit earlier than planned and were bumped onto an earlier train (1hr 40 mins) without charge. They were in Tignes by 9.30 this morning.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Richie_S, me and my daughter travelled out last thursday, 27/03, had originally booked a 19:30(ish) booking as i thought my daughter would have an issue getting to me in time, to travel to folkestone.
in the end we arrived at the Folkestone around 3:30pm, only option to travel earlier was 18:30 free of charge, all others were full, though a 16:30 crossing was available at a cost of £70  .
obviously, i binned that one and took the 18:30 free of charge, we were the only car in the check in booths, nothing around us or coming in behind. parked at the terminal, and there were only 5 other vehicles in total in the car park, and half a dozen other travellers inside the terminal, only other time i had seen it that empty was around 3am in the morning.
i enquired in the customer services office about an earlier crossing, at first he started talking about the revised T&C's, but i informed him that the booking was made months before, so he said we could try and get on the 18:00 crossing even with our window hangar stating 18:30. in the end by the time we sailed through border and passport control we were loaded on to the back of the 17:30 crossing, though for some reason we sat on the train for 15mis before the train departed late.
i cannot understand why they just did not fill up any spare space on any of the earlier trains that departed whilst we were waiting, it does not make sense to me, as potentially it frees up my booked space for any other earlier arrival?
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We then lost a bit of time as they couldn’t open the doors on the train and half the cars had to reverse out. We were stuck in the middle and by the time it got to our turn (to reverse out) they had managed to open the doors and we drove out normally.
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funnily enough me and my daughter were discussing this on the way back last Sunday, when sat in the train waiting to exit at Folkestone, as i jokingly mentioned that (whilst marvelling at, what is still beleive, the tunnel to be in an engineering sense a feat of human achievement) i would not want to be a car that broke down and had to make others wait for some kind of recovery, or vehicles behind me reversing out. my daughter said she would not be able to reverse out if she was on her own, but would have to abandon it for others.
on a side note, on the way out, we were both arguing with each other that the trains carry out a loop at either end, so as the trains face the correct direction when loading/unloading, i was that confident i was going to draw it out that night as she would not believe me, in the end she saw sense!!!
i have since seen on youtube that when the train leaves the tunnel on the french side, it carries out a form of figure of 8, so as all the strain on the wheels are not on one side, if the train either turned clockwise or anti clockwise.
yes i know, i need to get a life 
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@ecureuil, surely by definition, if it turns say clockwise at Folkestone and anti clockwise at Calais, it has to be achieved by a figure of 8, otherwise it will be either clockwise (or anti clockwise) at both terminals, i know it is a clockwise loop at Folkestone, so it must leave the tunnel at calais, go out towards the left, then head right and go under (or over) the track clockwise, then start to turn anti clockwise to head back to the platforms.
its obviously not an equal shape figure of 8, it was just a figure of speech on you tube to explain it, TBH i have never taken a lot of notice of it before, it was just a conversation between myself and my daughter last week
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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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Think it's counter clockwise at both ends. Google maps helps and if it's sunny you can track the position of the sun as you loop round.
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@BergenBergen, no, it is definitely clockwise at Folkestone, we followed the geography of the local area when we exited the tunnel last week, and the change of direction of the sun also convinced my daughter that there is a loop 
if you stood with your back to the tunnel entrances at folkestone, the left hand tunnel is france-uk, right hand tunnel is uk-france, as you leave the fr-uk tunnel, the track skirts around the terminal on the right hand side, between the service road and the M20. then enters a tunnel just below vehicle check in, then exits a tunnel close to the eurotunnel control centre, then goes on to each platform, this is as you follow the track on google maps.
obviously, this is in normal operation.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| admin wrote: |
I used to spend £500+ per annum with le Shuttle.
The new CEO came in, a few years back, dropped the frequent traveller package and I think I've done just one crossing with them since.
I hadn't even tried the ferries until then but I actually find DFDS to be a preferable option most of the time now. |
We do 4/5 return trips a year to France and use the DFDS Multi-Trip offers, currently £69 each way and totally flexible. One occasion we checked in, car broke down in the waiting lanes, got towed home, sailed next day on the same ticket. On another when Dover closed due to extreme gales we cancelled the booking the night before and put it back into our pool of unbooked crossings and did a last minute tunnel crossing.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@terrygasson, agree that at Calais it is an anticlockwise loop / u-turn followed by a cross-under. I can see that it sone might describe that as a figure of eight!
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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One of the benefits of the DFD multiticket is that you can give them to someone else...my father and I share them as I now live overseas and it is very good value as we always use the full allowance between us. Just a few dates to avoid unless you want to pay a surcharge but these are set out well in advance.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've also recently found the "enshittification" of the Eurotunnel bookings - am looking to book for our New Year trip. My original plan was to book an outbound for early morning and an in bound at the normal time, then when the Eurostar prices are released, check to see if it's worth going by train instead of driving - after all, tickets are fully refundable, I know as I've previously booked eurotunnel tickets "just in case" we could get away but then had to cancel and got a full refund. Except they're not any more, unless you but flexiplus, it's a £20 fee for a refund. I'll hold off booking for now
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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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@nbt, just looking myself, I have a trip to book for late summer, but very undecided. No longer reasonably priced and less flexible .We often add a couple of days on at either end of our trip after we've booked, take a different vehicle, or even amend the dates.
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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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For what it's worth, I just came through 3 days ago on the Friday that most schools finished for Easter.
Bog standard ticket. Checked in at 330pm for a 5.15pm departure and was put on the 415 train at no charge, so they're still being fairly fluid with logistics. They could have easily made me a customer of the departure lounge for an hour to make some cash and sell the value of flexiplus.
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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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@garyyb, but I'm guessing you booked your ticket before the beginning of March when the new T&Cs started? Only applies to bookings made after that date.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We booked mid March so I presume I'm on the new T+Cs. The small print said I could be up to an hour late for check in.
I'd love to see the game theory in their IT over how to balance footfall and revenue in the shopping centre vs. queues that can't be monetised, giving people a positive experience by putting them on an earlier train etc
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@garyyb, OK, it will take one major incident for chaos to break out I guess, and they will have to over-ride.
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| garyyb wrote: |
For what it's worth, I just came through 3 days ago on the Friday that most schools finished for Easter.
Bog standard ticket. Checked in at 330pm for a 5.15pm departure and was put on the 415 train at no charge, so they're still being fairly fluid with logistics. They could have easily made me a customer of the departure lounge for an hour to make some cash and sell the value of flexiplus. |
Same here - I arrived early on Friday and I was put on an earlier train. I always avoid the drive through the shopping centre car park, bypassing the people checking the hangers, by taking the flexipass cut through to the right once I’ve gone through checkin which goes straight to border control (best to use the most right non-flexi booth). Once through I proceed to the waiting lanes and normally get out in the lane that is being filled.
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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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*Not for viewers with pets.
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@Hurdy, I've been reading up on this.
It depends which level you buy and there's a limit to how many you can give away.
On the smallest 'bronze' package U can't gave away any. Silver you can give away 2 etc.
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FAQ
