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!

We are also in the east of Scotland and travelled to the Netherlands at the beginning of July via the Newcastle/Amsterdam ferry. I think we were in the region of £800 for the car, 2 adults and 2 kids. We booked in January using the early bird offer - think it was 20% off. We loved having a car and found it easy to get around.

Same here. January early bird offer is good! First day back at work today

Have you tried end of August? Dutch summer holidays are also only 6 weeks, but the kids are often back at school last week of August. Won't help you if they're mostly British families though.

We've done the Hull and Newcastle crossings many times.
Windowless cabins never bother us - we're asleep most of the crossing anyway.
It's possible to get vouchers using the Tesco Club card for some ferry companies.
Also, the 2 main Camping & Caravanning clubs in the UK offer discounts with some ferry companies. Joining costs about £60 for a year, and you don't need to use them for anything else. (Other discounts are available too, eg extra 10% off at Go Outdoors).

Been both ways and the Hull ferry is so much nicer than the Newcastle one.

Food is nicer and staff lovely! (Pride of Rotterdam)

Newcastle one had a lot of drunk people on.