Ferry to Calais Advice

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We've booked a holiday in France and decided to drive. We've booked a ferry at 11 from Dover to Calais with Irish ferries and would really appreciate any advice about boarding as I'm feeling really nervous about arriving on time!

We're travelling from Liverpool and planning to leave at 2am so that we are there by 8ish. Is that enough time? We have to have checked in an hour before the ferry is due to leave.

Any tips or advice would be amazing!

And also advice for the return from Calais next week which will be at 9pm.

Check for overnight motorway road closures for maintenance usually 9-6am.

Thank you, we've mapped out and checked for all the closures so I think we're good there. I'm driving us most of the way there and the. DH will take over then to get us to the ferry and through France

Obviously give yourselves plenty time and keep an eye on live traffic. Once you get to Calais everything is well signposted just look out for the Irish Ferries signs and you’ll be fine. Same at Calais for your return, it’s all very straightforward and well signposted at the port.
If by some chance you do miss your ferry due to traffic they’ll just put you on another one. Lots of ferry companies are linked anyway. We turned up for our DFDS sailing early so they put us on a P&O which was leaving earlier.
Honestly don’t worry.

Is it possible to leave the evening before, drive down to Swanley, south of the Thames, then stay in the Premier inn or the travelodge at dartford or the ibis at Thurrock?

Thats the back of the journey broken, you’re about an hour from Dover and can have a breakfast at the hotel in the morning.

You’re both refreshed for the next day then.

I tend to find travelling down the night before better too. It breaks up the worries!!

You do all the worrying about what you forgot to bring on the way down. Then have a nice meal and good sleep before you start the, "what if something goes wrong worries" 😁😁

We do this trip every year and I don't worry too much, but it does feel like a lot to think about.

Its about 5 hours from Liverpool to Dover, (we're doing it next Thursday!), so your timings are good.
Border control changeover is 8am, which causes a delay, so aim for before then.
In case of delays on the ferry make sure you have food/drinks in the car because they can and do run out at the terminal, particularly late afternoon/night. We had a nightmare four hour wait in Dunkirk without any food or drink being available, which is why we use the Tunnel now!

We always stay locally the night before, so that we know we are in the vicinity in the morning. For info we now live in France but used to drive down and back regularly.

For a 9pm sailing home, I'd also book a hotel for that night before a drive home the next day.

As an example, we got off the ferry in Portsmouth just over a week ago at 1pm, 45mins to get through the passport control, and then a 3 hour journey took nearly 6 hours to get to Nottingham.

The motorways in the UK seem to be 50mph after 50mph and half the journey back to Portsmouth was at 50mph, so do bear that in mind when travelling.

If your ferry leaves at 11, it’s enough to be there at 9. So of you’re aiming for 8 you have some buffer.
They sould also let you on the next ferry if you were late, or one earlier (probably a 9am one) if you arrive at 8 and there isn’t much of a queue.
Enjoy your trip!

I'd want to get there before 8. Dover can be a fucking nightmare at the best of times.

To add, I travelled during this summer holiday and the whole process from arrival to passing check in happened between 6:40 and 7:55.

We can't stay locally before, that would have been ideal. We've got a hotel booked on the way back and we're spending a few days with family in Kent so that won't be a problem.

I'm not worried about the driving down really and am currently in nights mode so can be awake at 2 to drive no problem. I'm just stressing about the time that we need to arrive by and how we get on to the ferry but if it's well sign posted then we should be fine.

So we're probably best aiming to get there for before 8? After 10 we won't be able to check in at all. We have paid the extra insurance so we can change the times if we need to.

You can't really miss Dover Docks!! You should be ok for passport control at that time in the morning.

We did similar last year - but got to Dover very early! We managed to get an early ferry. Getting out of the ferry at Calais is easy - you are basically in France already - so you don't need to go through customs or passport control once you leave the ferry.

Have fun

I suppose that depends on how many drivers you have and how far you've travelled on the day.

At that time, I would try to get a hotel in the UK.

We got to Dover for 7:45, sailed through the queue and then we were put an earlier ferry. Hope our journey back is as easy!

Excellent

Have a great holiday

Thanks for updating. It's nice for a lurker, like me, to know how it went and useful for anyone else with the same trip ahead of them.

Yay! 🎉 have a great time!