 Poster: A snowHead
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Did a quick search on the forum and don't think anyone has mentioned this yet but if they have I apologise. Speedferries have got an excellent promotion on at the moment allowing you to book "open" tickets, booked a couple at £50 a time.Tickets are going fast thou I believe, so don't delay if you want to take advantage; details below:-
All tickets, which are booked between the 10 and 16 June 2005, are
automatically issued as SuperTicketsT and will be valid for travel until
30 June 2006.
You can make up to a maximum of 10 SuperTicketT bookings (single or return
trips)
Please be aware that the 25 December 2005 is a dummy date and strictly
reserved for open bookings, which must later be transferred to actual
sailings before 30 June 2006. Thus, there are no sailings on 25 December
as the port of Dover will be completely closed. If you make an open
booking on the 25 December the first amendment is free, whereas each
subsequent amendment will be subject to the £10 standard amendment fee.
SuperTicketsT are strictly personal and for non-commercial use only.
For full Terms and Conditions for SuperticketT, please consult our website
www.speedferries.com. On the right hand side of the Home page you will
find a button named "Terms & Conditions for SuperTicketT". A click on this
button will display the full text.
Hope some of you find this usefull 
Rgds
Rich
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Type23, if I didn't have to leave the dog in the car, we'd be using the Speedferries service, but will be doing Eurotunnel instead.
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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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Type23, thanks for that, just collared my tickets for the 05/06 season,perfect
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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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Your welcome Frosty, thought it was too good a deal to miss. Been thinking of driving over for Ski season but just couldn't plan that far ahead, so having flexibility of open ticket is superb. The prices the regular ferry companies charge is extortionate 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Helen shame about not being able to use the service because of the dog. You must be in a similar position to me i.e Ski apartment will hopefully be ready for X-mas but exact date is yet to be decided ? so open ticket fits bill.
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Tunnel still cheaper at £39.00 per trip frequent traveller deal? 
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boredsurfin, I'm not a frequent traveller cross channel so I assume I won't get that deal. I havn't researched this much, just thought the ferry deal seemed ok, think I paid about £140 last time I took a car anywhere near a boat. being lazy here, how do I qualify to get the Tunnel deal ?
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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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boredsurfin,
Think you'll find that isnt strictly true, this is from Eurotunnels website :-
As a frequent traveller, we can offer you our best prices for travel during quieter, "off peak" times - just £39 per single trip - how does £78 return sound to you for your main summer holiday?
However, if you do need to travel at peak times, then you can simply pay a supplement at the time of booking your trip (£20 or £30 depending on the day of travel).
So actual ticket for return journey could be £108 ! whereas speedferries it's £50 !
Rich
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Think I should of said in my initial post that the speedferries deal is £25 for single or £50 for return both "open" tickets
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Frosty,
To be frequent to pay £39.00 you need to make 5 return trips (or 10 x 1 way) on Eurotunnel Folkestone Calais. The speed of the crossing is of course, still the quickest. With their new website you can see when the cheapest slots are and thus plan your day/time of crossing accordingly.
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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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boredsurfin, With Speedferries it's only 50 mins - truly brilliant, and you can get away with arriving 20-30 mins before sailing.
Helen Beaumont, Can't you leave the dog in the car?
BTW I missed my ferry last week (my own fault), so resorted to Norfolklines again. They were £29 one way that day, SeaFrance were £80, and I didn't bother to check P & O as they're always more expensive! Norfolklines are also getting 3 new ships in September which will be Ro Ro, so loading will be quicker. Rumour also has it that they will cut 20 mins off the crossing time. They also don't make extra charges if you're coming and going at longer intervals etc. Tickets are commutable too. More expensive (and longer) than Speedferries, but definitely the next best thing. 
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Easiski - so if you miss a speedferry cant you go on the next one??? (like with P & O)??? That would be the thing that would worry me as traffic is so unpredictable.
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You know it makes sense.
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Most of the channel operators offer Airline pricing online now so it might pay to shop around.
Eurotunnel have released theirs in the last week. P&O have run theirs for a few months now.
Norfolkline will run to Dunkerque so it will add both sailing and car time to the journey.
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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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The Sunday Times travel section today has an article on this very matter! May be of interest to some of you snowheads
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Poster: A snowHead
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easiski, we're not sure how she's behave if we left her in a strange place on her own. She's not destructive, I know, it's Julian who feels like this actually, I tend to think she'll be OK.Hate it if she vomited all over the luggage though!!DFDS to Amsterdam from Newcastle have kennels you can put them in. I'd agree with your comments on Norfolk lines too, we even ate on the ship last time, nice roast dinner.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Dont Speed Ferries have a lot of Problems with the weather with winter sailings ? ie; not 100% reliable ?
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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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stanton, yep, I'm not sure what happens if a sailing is cancelled due to bad weather, probably worth checking, the channel can get very bad storms, I was once on a ferry arround 1977 or so when it sailed across in a force 10 gusting 12, the weather was so bad that the doors onto the deck had been roped shut, god knows what would have happened if the ship had started to sink, to make matters worse we got to Dover and then had to wait outside the harbour for more than an hour whilst they moved another ship out of our berth, I reckon 98% of passengers and crew were seasick ! Couldn't happen these days as they won't let modern ferries sail in that kind of weather as they just can't cope with it
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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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D G Orf,
I had a similar trip in 1979 . 32 hour busride through a snowy France from Andorra . Finally made Calais only to find the Port was blocked by French strikers. We then went onto Ostend 4-5 hour sailing turned into 8hours . Force 10+ people throwing up all over the place. We had to wait outside Dover docks for hours while the sea subsided. THe good old days
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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jayne durham, Usually, yes. However I failed to register that on Tuesdays the last ferry is 14.45 and thus there wasn't another one until Wed morning. It was cheaper to take the extra Norfolklines trip than to stay in a hotel in Dover for the night!
Helen Beaumont, You could get her used to staying in the car while you go shopping and so on, then she'll think it's perfectly normal. My old dog wouldn't stay at home, (she howlked continuously and tore everything up) so had to come with me and wait in the car - she loved it. It was a nightmare in summer as even with water and air and shade people were constantly putting nasty notes on the car!
Frosty, That's exactly my problem, and the "old guard" companies get away with selling cheap booze cruise day tickets but if there's a gap they multiply the price by 1000! The two exceptions are Speedferries and Norfolklines. I really resent this policy from P & O, SeaFrance and the Tunnel - I always travel low season, would be happy to adjust my sailing times to suit, and usually book well in advance - how dare they try to charge me £350 return when drunken bums get a day return for £32!!!! How dare they try to put Speedferries out of business because they have reasonable policies!!!!
I don't see why Speed One should be any more liable to cancellation than any other ship - she's huge! If the seas are heavy then she travels slower (of course), but I've been 3 times so far and one trip was in fairly heavy seas - no problem. 
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D G Orf,
The sailing in heavy weather isn't exactly correct, they can certainly cope with the storms, in fact in heavy storms they will be out sailing as the ports will have kicked them off the berth and they will have laid up near Sandwich waiting for a berth to become available.
What generally happens in that Calais is the most suspectible to bad weather as it is an more open port than Dover, and they need the ships off the berths for fear of damage to the berths. The shps are then left to sail up and down the channel awaiting a slot at Dover.
It isn't the ferry companies that want this it is the clearing out of the ports that condemns the passengers on the ships. Of course the Ferry company might sometimes benefit by on-board spend but generally the cost aren't worth the bad PR that they get lumbered with.
easiski,
Try P&O and Eurotunnel's website for 'airline' pricing. If you are as flexible as that then they must have something for you. Lots of money has been spent to do just what you are asking
For example, cheapest one way with car with P&O in August is £46 available today...!! Details 1 car, 1 adult sailing at 0415 on the 11th.
There is quite a lot of choice throughout the month as well.
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JT, I recall reading something a few years back which stated that modern car ferries are inherently unstable in high seas due to their slab sided nature, older car ferries like those built in the 1960's were much more stable, in fact the former Royal Yacht Britannia was based on the design of a car ferry of its era, Fast Cats cannot safely opperate in high seas as they become very unstable across waves as do all cats, what I don't know is how big a sea they can opperate in as it varies with hull dimensions
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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 a lot of use for skiing hols but Brittany Ferries still use the traditional style of Ro-Ro vessel. Because they want to get their vegetables over while still fresh under any weather conditions. It's a cooperative set up purely to assist the farmers of the region.
These slab-sided Dover-Calais monsters frighten me. Same problem with the huge Caribbean Cruise Liners - absolutely hopeless in a hurricane. If they are caught in the open they are in trouble whereas a yacht with a keel and not too much by way of topsides is often safer well out to sea in bad weather than being bashed around in harbour.
On topic - isn't the main problem with Speedferries that they only have one vessel - so any problems however caused seriously stuff the schedules ?
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kuwait_ian,
They are saving up for another one, whether they get it this year I don't know.
I do know the Dover ferries are at sea in Force 10's or what ever the channel can throw at them and that is because the ports kick them out. There is nowhere to berth and they generally form a queue to get into Dover up the Kent coast towards Thanet. They have bow thrusters for manourverabilty and stabilisers. To all intents and purposes they are an Ocean going vessel as many have been created from such. They might have a big top structutre added but most people carrying ships do so.
Not sure the unstable arguement carries much water as the safety criteria is high. I am not sure about the bulk head issue but a major review was implemented after the Baltic sea disaster a few years back.
Anyway, back to topic...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
On topic - isn't the main problem with Speedferries that they only have one vessel - so any problems however caused seriously stuff the schedules ?
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kuwait_ian,Maybe the advance booking fees are the deposit for a new boat?
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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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Or may be if they save a little bit harder they'll be able to buy the Channel Tunnel soon 
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boredsurfin, Shouldn't be difficult, offer them a couple of quid, at least if the speedferries chap was running the tunnel it might actually be reasonable price to use
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You know it makes sense.
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| JT wrote: |
| Not sure the unstable arguement carries much water |
Pun intended?
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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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easiski,
No problem, its a competive market...or should be...!!
The biggest cross channel operators have been hit not by Norfolkine, Sea France or Speedferries but by the cheap airlines
which is why they have all recently implemented the same pricing systems.
In the near future Norfolkline will be a large competitor via Dunkerque but it is the cheap air fares that does most damage.
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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 have often despaired of getting any sense out of the P & O website. It's even worse if you telephone - you have to give a precise date, to get a quote, when what you want is to be able to see a run of prices, as on the superb easyJet "calendar view". I have had surreal conversations with some of their operators. "when do you want to travel" "whenever its cheapest, I'm very flexible." "You have to give me a date and crossing, or I can't quote you a price". All this on peak cost phone line too. Time and time again I have clicked on the "last minute deals" button on the website, and never ever found a thing.
And when you get on the boats, P & O are a disgrace. I once found myself in the cafeteria with a load of French school kids who were completely confused by the "meal deal" whereby you could get various stuff and a fizzy drink for £7.99 or whatever. It was extremely confusing even to a native, there was not a single word of French up on the price lists, and none of the staff appeared even to care. When I had used my best French to elucidate, the kids were even more confused.
Last crossing, I wanted a main dish, but nothing else. There was just another damned P & O "deal" which included a pudding, which I didn't want. Yes, of course I could have it without the pudding, but for the same price! I had a packet of crisps in the bar, instead. Again, no attempt to produce a menu in French. Imagine going Brittany Ferries, and finding no English written or spoken!
I am going to try speedferries. I am not a bit surprised P & O are struggling. Their pricing policy is Byzantine and non-transparent. Even though I only live 10 minutes from Portsmouth I would only ever go P & O when I have enough Tesco "deal tokens" to go free.
End of rant.
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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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pam w, I could not agree more. Toilets appalling, childrens play area vandalised in the previous week by drunk passengers and not repaired, closed off with broken chairs!!!! all this from a blue chip co that operates cruise ships too and as or the prices of everything on the boat, unbelievable. I'll try my luck with speedferries single boat
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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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Going by P&O? Eat in the Langan's Brasserie - peace and quiet for the whole journey, good quality food and excellent service. Costs just a few pounds more than going club class (without food) and worth every penny. In my opinion, the best way to cross the channel - but not necessarily the cheapest with other operators dropping their prices.
I agree that the cafeterias are horrendous - but they do make the decent restaurant look very good value!
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FAQ
