to not go on holiday via Dover-Calais this year?

[vindscreenviper]

Every year for past 20 years I have used the ferry or Eurotunnel to start my summer holiday but after last years stressful, shitty experience with Operation Stack and delays in the tunnel I've booked an overnight crossing. I don't even care that it's costing 4x as much because I think exactly the same things are going to happen this summer.
Is anybody else changing their holiday plans, or is it just me over-thinking it and wasting money to avoid something that's probably not going to be a problem this year?

[AllTheMadmen]

I dont know vind, it seems to be marginally better but then the problems last night on the ferry....

we are going dover - dunkirk this year no other option.


what worries me more is reports that migrants are being slipped ferries uniforms and being smuggled over as staff.

now it doesnt bother me that the odd migrant is doing this - however it worries me, someone wishing to cause harm on the ferry could exploit this.

[Sairelou]

YANBU. I live in Dover and OpStack is a huge PITA. Although apparently they are doing some sort of lorry park at the old Manston Airport to help deal with it . Not sure when that is being put in place though probably never when they realise it is a shockingly shit idea

[vindscreenviper]

I was on a few Operation Stack threads last summer Sairelou, lots of stress for locals and people setting off on holiday.
I ended up booking a hotel in Ashford for the night before our crossing because of it, that cost £200 including meals for the four of us. And it was just a crap start to our holiday, coming back we sat in queues for 4 hours on the French side so a shit end to the holiday too!
This year it'll take 30mins to drive to the ferry in North Shields then a few extra hours driving through Holland which will make a nice change from the A1/A14(hate that bit of road) etc.
I'm quite looking forward to it.

[AllTheMadmen]

vind where are you going?

why not try dunkirk, its only 30 mins away from calais and there was no issue there last year and hopefully none this year.

[MillionToOneChances]

The camp at Dunkirk is growing...

[lapsedorienteerer]

We have accommodation booked for a week in France in early July and I'm in a right dither over which crossing option to book! We will have the dog with us so usually use Eurotunnel, I'm almost tempted to cover all options by booking a ferry and Eurotunnel!!

[wannabestressfree]

We were having this discussion tonight. It definately puts us off....

[Milliways]

I had said I didn't want to do Dover/Calais after we got stuck last year but after reading some of the Camping threads I would like to go to the Annecy or Chamonix region, and to go via Cherbourg or Caen for that seems daft.
Maybe we will do UK this year again and see how things are in 2017.

[vindscreenviper]

We normally do a week in Fontainebleau (south of Paris), week in the French Alps and 2 weeks in Provence AllTheMadmen but this year I've decided to shake things up a bit so it's Bavarian Alps, Interlaken then French Alps. So the landing in Holland will be ok I think, lots of (free) motorway through Germany.
The camp at Dunkirk seems to be getting bigger too, we used to stay overnight near Dunkirk or St Omer before our return crossing but I don't fancy doing that now, it all looks a bit grim.

[vindscreenviper]

How about a Newhaven-Dieppe crossing Milli? Both Annecy and Cham are fantastic places once you get to them, but yes a Normandy/Brittany port is the wrong direction
We considered Ireland or Scandinavia instead but I really don't trust it not to piss down the whole time, on summer holiday I NEED SOME SUN

[FadedRed]

We're off soon to Southern Europe via Hull-Zeebrugge. Avoiding Dover-Calais. Overall will be 200+ miles less driving, about the same length overall journey (not including delays) and about £150 more expensive, but worth the peace of mind.
Overnight on the ferry, but good sailors, so not a problem.

[vindscreenviper]

Hi Faded would you normally go via Dover?
I'm paying £580 instead of the usual £150, but I've got us a posh cabin.
We've done this crossing before for short breaks to Holland, the DC love the whale-watching and the all-the-pudding-you-can-eat buffet.

I'm not being unreasonable at all am I?

[FadedRed]

Viper Yes, we would normally go Dover-Calais, have done same trip once or twice a year for past several years. We are in the Midlands, so much shorter distance to Hull. The £150 difference is working out the difference including the shorter driving distance overall and autoroute tolls, but maybe we are being optimistic?
You saw whales? Wow! We had to go to Cape Cod to see whales!

[MillionToOneChances]

Have you actually seen whales??

[vindscreenviper]

No whales spotted, but the DC spent ages looking through binoculars claiming every small ripple was a shark/whale/dolphin. DFDS have somebody from the ORCA charity on board giving talks & leading wildlife spotting sessions, it fills in the time better than sitting in traffic on the M20.