Ferry questions

[Alexandra07]

Hi everyone, I have some specific questions about ferries. We have booked the Dover- Dunkirk route with dfds.

1. Does the whole family need to be in the car when entering the ferry? Can my husband drive the car and my daughter and I just walk in? I don't want to b try to squeeze out of a tiny gap between cars, I am pregnant.

1. When do they check about the food you bring to France from UK? Apparently I am not allowed to bring any meat or diary products. Can I bring them and consume them in the ferry? I was thinking about cheese and ham sandwiches or pizza. I was hoping I can bring milk with us too. We travel on a bank holiday and shops will be closed in France.

Thank you!

The gaps aren't that small, my dad was a 5XL and managed. If your really concerned you could ask them but I doubt they would guarantee anything.

Uk to France is extremely limited now (thanks Brexit). Check the Gov website, but I've just returned, and you can literally take no animal products in or anything of animals origin (chocolate etc).

France to Uk is more leniant and you can bring in animal products etc for personal use.

Sorry, I realised I didn't answer your Qs

No, you would have to go on in the car as foot passengers (booking seperately) go on a different way. You would also need to pay for a car and 2 foot passengers.

I believe you can take it on the ferry to eat it, but if customs stop you, they may remove it as no guarantee you'd eat it.

Don't know about food, but yes you have to be in the car.
You can ask about extra assistance for boarding, you should be able to get out before being parked up, but harder for disembarking.

Yes, you have to be in the car. There is normally plenty of room to get out but you can contact them before if you might need assistance.

I have always taken picnic food on the ferry and nobody has ever said anything. Strictly speaking you can't take meat or dairy products into the EU but I think you would be unlucky to be checked. DFDS used to offer a free meal with your ferry ticket but I don't think they do this in peak season.

Op,I've just looked it up as we're travelling tomorrow to France in our camper. Tomorrow ( if that's when you're going is indeed a BH (Labour Day). It says almost all supermarkets will be closed on Labour Day, less stringent on other BHs.
I'm taking bread, pasta, sealed tomato sauce, fruit juice ( not sure that's allowed but taking the risk, anyway). Taking chocolate ( a Cadbury's bar too.
Hope you have a good trip and holiday.

You all have to be in the car to get on the ferry- you can't just walk on.

Food: if you are going to be checked it will be by French customs. Here is a link to the official French website:

www.douane.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2021-03/10/travellers-what-kinds-of-food-and-plants-can-you-bring-with-you.pdf

So basically: no meat, dairy and very limited fruit.

We travel fairly regularly- the douanes are not checking every car to see if you have a ham sandwich, if they do check and they find one, you may have to throw it away. Larger quantities could lead to big fines and possibly being banned from entering the EU. We normally takes some vegan spread, bread, fish, hummus that sort of thing.
It boils down to : how lucky do you feel? Do you really really want to be explaining to a grumpy French customs officer at 05.30 exactly why you have a cool box full of bacon and cathedral city?

We have never been checked, but have seen people being stopped and prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

Thank you all for your replies!

@Oneearringlost we are traveling in may half term, on Monday that's bank holiday. I hope I can find something open on the day. Enjoy your holidays!

@averylongtimeago your post made me laugh! The UK gov website doesn't mention anything about fruit! It gives this link: https://food.ec.europa.eu/animals/animal-products-movements/personal-imports_en

Apparently I can have limited amounts of snails and mussels but no ham sandwiches! 😂

I travel quite often.
They can check you on both sides. I've personally been check coming into France, coming into the UK and leaving France. But not leaving the UK, so far.
Don't worry too much about the ferry, I've done it pregnant, it's not all that narrow. You are probably thinking it's like a car park, but it's more than that.
You are travelling presumably round 29th? It's the least bank holiday of the bank holidays, a while ago it was almost cancelled as a bank holiday, and we are all bank holidayed out by then, there's today, then 8th, 18th, by the time we get to 29th, all we want to do is shop! I think you will definitely find things open on the outskirts of Dieppe.

We regularly travel to France. As has been said, you'll all need to be in the car unless you go as foot passengers. There's plenty of room to get out of the car.

We travel in a motorhome with a very obvious fridge 😁 No-one has ever opened the fridge door to check for milk or any other banned products.

I'd be astonished if your sandwiches were confiscated. And I dont think there'd be an issue with a pint of milk. The worst that would happen is that they'd take it off you, but that's unlikely. You aren't going to be banned from the EU!

@Alexandra07 The DFDS ferries from Dover to Calais and Dunkirk are car ferries. There is no option for foot passengers, so everyone has to be in the car/van/camper. What you could do is ask about priority boarding and being allocated an "assistance" parking space next to the lifts, so that you don't have to walk too far on the car deck.

Regarding taking food into the EU. You might be checked at the French border (which is actually at Dover) and again, you might be checked at Dunkirk. As others have already posted, you might have to throw away any ham sandwiches etc. that they find but you'd be in bigger trouble if you have a cool box full of bacon, cheese, pork pies, frozen lasagne and raw meat.

The food on these particular ferries is actually quite good. The fish and chips are excellent and reasonably priced. There was indeed a time (after the first Covid wave) when there were very few passengers and freight lorries and DFDS were offering free meals, but that has ended.

Otherwise, "emergency food" - pizzas, milk, cooked meat, bread etc. - can be bought at the mini-supermarkets at the motorway services and larger petrol stations, even on public holidays.

Thank you all for the feedback!