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Original poster

Dover Calais

46 replies

buzzy1 · 01/07/2015 21:49

Have Dover to cal crossing booked for the end of July and getting anxious about how it will be with everything that's goin on.. The crossing was cheap so am contemplating doing newhaven to Dieppe, but the prices have shot up, am looking at £400 instead of under £100.. wwyd?

OP posts:

DoreenLethal · 29/07/2015 08:24

Has anyone changed their crossing and is it ok to do?

We changed a month ago; it cost us about £30 more which we were happy with. We are off on Friday and now doing Newhaven>Dieppe there and Dunkirk>Dover back.

I knew it wouldn't be resolved in time so that's why I decided to get it changed.

mummymeister · 29/07/2015 10:18

the situation is getting worse by the looks of the news again this morning and no one is getting to grips with it. I think there will be a massive standoff soon between Eurotunnel, the French and GB government that will see the chunnel shut to make a point. DH was there 10 days ago. the massive queues the lorries all shoving in, then the horrible atmosphere as you left the tunnel. none of it good. peace of mind is worth a couple of hours delay and a bit of an extra drive in my opinion. If I were a Eurotunnel share holder I would be very on edge now as this will knock on to next year and see people just refusing to take the chunnel.

Fleurdelise · 29/07/2015 11:06

Has anybody used the Eurotunnel in the last 24 hours? We are booked to cross 8.30 Saturday morning and I am now worried it will not go as planned. I know M20 is closed, we are coming from outside London and it should usually take us around 2 hrs to get there, I now think we should probably allow more like 5hrs?

LocatingLocatingLocating · 29/07/2015 18:48

How is the ferry situation, compared to the Eurotunnel issues?

alseb · 29/07/2015 21:41

We are meant to be going to Calais this Sunday with DFDS ferry. Does anyone have any further information about the current ferry situation? Thanks.

TheRachel · 29/07/2015 21:45

I don't have any information, but made the decision today to go dover- Dunkirk instead of Calais.

LocatingLocatingLocating · 29/07/2015 22:42

How does going Dover- Dunkirk help? Sorry if I'm being dense, but I thought the concern was on the Dover end in terms of delays etc.

5madthings · 29/07/2015 22:51

We are going Dover to calais, early morning, will avoid the m20 getting there and have factored in extra travel time. We have had an email from p&o to say ferries operating as normal and am following them on twitter where they update regularly.

alseb · 29/07/2015 22:54

Thanks everyone.

TheRachel · 29/07/2015 23:08

Dover-Dunkirk doesn't help with the Dover side of things, but does avoid the problems in Calais.

PastaLaFeasta · 31/07/2015 19:50

Anyone got recent experience or updates?

I was thinking of doing Newhaven to Dieppe but the price has rocketed in a couple of days. Or we brave Dover and do Dunkirk for a lot less. Reports are of 2 hour delays in Dunkirk, presumably Calais has longer delays. I'm hoping arriving at 7:30am will help avoid the worst in Dover and we may be wise just booking the homeward leg via another route. The kids are 5 and 3 so its not fun ravelling at the best of times.

Methe · 31/07/2015 20:20

No update from me except from my stress levels have skyrocketed :(

We travel on Thursday. We're leaving home 3 hrs before we would normally.

susannahmoodie · 31/07/2015 21:27

We are leaving in the morning from Newcastle at 5am. Crossing is at 1.55 on Ferry, so leaving longer for journey than we usually would, but feeling sick about it. We are travelling with 2 ds age 4 and almost 2.....eek.

We were due to go on tunnel and then there was a mix up with the size of our vehicle so they transferred us onto ferry. Just worried we are going to be stuck not moving forhours with 2 grumpy boys.

But then perhaps it will be better on ferry as they will have a chance to stretch their legs....

Wish us luck!

DoreenLethal · 01/08/2015 02:08

Evening all. We left home at 9am in the midlands and came Newhaven to dieppe, which was fine. Just in le mans now...having driven down here at night.

One thing is that they are doing passport control once you are off the ferry so just bear it in mind, never had this before and it really held up the onward journey - 30 mins extra in our case.

Also, loads of people hitting the road at night to get a head start on their trip dahn sarf. So be prepared for tomorrow.

Good luck getting over here.

Ledkr · 01/08/2015 02:25

We are in France now, Dover Calais on the 18th only prob was bit of congestion right near the port.
Ds came over yesterday morning and it was all fine.
We all go back in a week so fingers crossed.

PastaLaFeasta · 01/08/2015 13:46

Sounds like the media are hyping it up and causing some people to cancel or rearrange their travel. Twitter is reporting its all good and on schedule which is great as if assume Saturday is a busy travel day. I'm going to hold tight and hope it's clear for us in a week and a half.

Luckily we are already in the SE, we will aim to be there two hours before, so leaving at 5:30am for our 9:25 crossing. DH is not happy. Google maps isn't reporting the M20 closure strangely but Twitter says it is closed.

Good luck!

Enchufla · 01/08/2015 13:53

The traffic is very very changeable down here at the moment. One day the a20 (ashford to folkestone) might be absolutely chocka, then others its fine but slow. Just give it plenty of time

sunseeker66 · 01/08/2015 14:26

We sailed Dover to calais 10 days ago no problems what so ever. Due to sail back tommorrow just phoned P&O who said roads are clear at moment and crossings on time so fingers crossed all ok.

MrsUltracrepidarian · 03/08/2015 19:59

I think things will be better now for peeps who booked ahead, partly because those who have not booked are not doing so unless they really have to.
I travel often on Eurotunnel, but always booking just a few days ahead - am avoiding it for now, so suspect others are doing the same, so Eurotunnel are able 'catch up'.

5madthings · 16/08/2015 10:17

We went on the 30th July and came back 14th Aug, on the way we just avoided the m20. We had no problems at all either side. I think the media are hyping it up a bit. You can check on twitter or the highways agency for updates re operation stack and road issues. But as I said we had no problems at all.

IThinkIveBeenHAD · 20/08/2015 10:32

thanks for update 5 mad!! going soon too and worried.

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