Ferry to Netherlands - expensive!

[wineschmine]

Hi all,

Does anybody travel by ferry and could give me a few tips?

We are in the east of Scotland and would like to get the ferry to Amsterdam (or similar). I found a Newcastle to Amsterdam route that would be ideal, but for 2 adults, 2 kids and a car it's coming out at over £1k. This is on DFDS. I also tried P+O, similar route, and it was also over £1k.

We like camping holidays, Eurocamp or similar, and I'm just getting fed up airports and flights.

Because we live in Scotland, it would be a lot of driving to get right down to South of England for ferry or the tunnel, which is why I was thinking ferry to Netherlands from north of England (Newcastle and Hull seem to the the ports, I think).

Any tips/suggestions very welcome!

Thank you, good advice.

And yes, I noticed on the website that it said the windowless cabin "might be noisy"

I wouldn’t bother paying extra for a window, you can walk around the boat to see outside. With P&o they give 3 price options so if you select the lease flexible that is cheaper.
flying would probably cost you as much if not more, all the prices have gone up a lot recently.

The weather will be similar to weather in uk in October.

@LiquoriceAllsorts2 yes, I think I've ruled it out for October.

Looks like will be next easter or summer.

with P&o if you book in January you normally get an early booking discount. Don’t know if ddfs offer something similar

We do this loads, often the prices are so high that we drive from Scotland to the Eurotunnel and drive through Belgium, Glasgow to Rotterdam in 14 hours!

The Hull boat is nicer I think but the Newcastle on has places to eat before you get on so you can save a bit that way. Last time we just paid in advance for the dinners as it killed a bit of time too. Hard to get a cheap crossing through, I'm delighted if we can all go for less that £700!

£700 would be fantastic! I can't see anything for anywhere near that.

I think one of my debit cards might offer Cashback on P+O, that might save a bit.

Will take a look.

IMO ferries are always way more expensive than you expect. Scotland to northern ireland on the ferry with a car and 4 people is unlikely to be under 500quid, for example!

We've done Hull to Rotterdam a few times as live near Hull.
Did Harwich once. Harwich is awful to get to, took forever on windy roads. It's also a shorter crossing which means you get tipped off at an ungodly hour.
Hull much better.

We live in Newcastle (about 20mins from the ferry terminal) and we sailed Hull Rotterdam last year as it was soo much cheaper, even adding the fuel.

We live in Manchester and the drive to Harwich was ok, not that bad.

my dh vetoed Hull as it’s a P&0 ferry- remember how they treated their staff last year? Sacked the lot of then with no notice.

We love it, so nice to have a leisurely drive to Hull, no stressing at all. We always go windowless cabin as the kids slept longer as there was no daylight. In fact once we slept through the alarms…..

The main road to Harwich has been upgraded from the winding country lane that it used to be to a regular wide A-road. Getting there for the night ferry to Holland, the road is usually very quiet.

Arrival time at Hook of Holland is 7 a.m. The Hull ferry arrives at about the same time - it often sails past as we're queuing on the quayside to clear Passport Control at the Hook.

As for costs compared with flying etc. - You're paying for convenience as much as for the transportation. Overnight ferries give you two additional days of holiday; you arrive having had a good sleep and breakfast; you can take as much gear as you can fit into the car; the ferry is an adventure rather than the hassle and stress of airports and flights. IMO well worth the extra money (and remember to take into consideration the additional fuel costs, car parking, and car hire that you'd pay if flying).

@Havanananana yes , I think that is the way we are looking at it. As an extension of the holiday and for convenience rather than just cost.

Thanks all for your input and advice x

It's cheaper the earlier you book.

If you’re booking with canvas or eurocamp (even just for a night or two) you get a discount on the ferry.

If you go for Hull to Rotterdam, try to time it to get the pride of Rotterdam in both directions. Not sure if it's still the same as its been quite a few years since we did it, but the staff on the Rotterdam were mainly Filipino and were a delight and so lovely with the kids and everything just felt a little nicer. We started going on holiday for an uneven number of days so we could get it both ways.

Its really expensive this year, we actually flew and did a different kind of holiday - this was in term time too, plus on a motorcycle which used to be cheap!

We are hauling ourselves over to dover as it's so much cheaper later this year, just £29 each way, Plymouth is closer

Take food onboard, their food is pretty basic we found last summer. I usually grab a rotisserie chicken, Salads and bread for evening meal, might take my own beer too but usually get coffee and a croissant/bacon sandwich before landing,

Car hire has also gone up dramatically since covid, so if you are avoiding doing that that’s an extra saving to think about!

Oh really?? I didn't know this! Going to take a look now...

If you’re going in autumn or early spring the sea can be rough. Once we’ve spent a lot of money to book the buffet op front… but the sea was so rough i got seasick and didn’t eat any of it. Since then we always choose to bring a safe neutral picknick on the ferry.

Travelling on weekdays is often cheaper then weekends. I really like the DFDS newcastle ferry because you have a proper night on it. We also tried Hull and Harwich but the kids need time to explore the boat, enjoy the view, eat something and then you also need to sleep.

It's cold in October for camping... (voice of experience)

If you are considering the ferry from Hull, one civilised airport option is Humberside. The flight to Schipol is exactly one hour. You don't need to turn up hours in advance because there'll be a maximum of two flights departing at about the same time. Current price £82 pp each way.

Tesco used to allow you to use their tokens for the ferry. They were part of the boost tokens where they were worth 4 times their value. I used to save my tokens for the ferry. I had a tesco credit card and used it for everything so had a lot of points saved every year. I booked the tickets as early as possible and always saved significant amounts. I am not sure if they are still offering boost points towards ferries but it's worth having a look.