Best ferry route for the north east

[grantmac]

Just to point out in one of your earlier posts Lochladdie, above you mention ferry from Hull to Amsterdam; thats not quite correct. The ferry from Hull goes to Europort, Rotterdam. The ferry from Newcastle goes to Ijmuiden near Amsterdam. Frankly would recomment the former for acess into Europe but it does add a couple of hours to your journey down from Scotland. Also after the summer is better than before for weather normally

======

Cut from a parallel thread.

Richard

 

[LochLaddie]

Just to point out in one of your earlier posts Lochladdie, above you mention ferry from Hull to Amsterdam; thats not quite correct. The ferry from Hull goes to Europort, Rotterdam. The ferry from Newcastle goes to Ijmuiden near Amsterdam. Frankly would recomment the former for acess into Europe but it does add a couple of hours to your journey down from Scotland. Also after the summer is better than before for weather normally

Hull was a typo, the current thinking is Newcastle. I used Hull this year and did not enjoy the homeward bound run, would prefer the Newcastle shorter run home.

 

[grantmac]

Hull was a typo, the current thinking is Newcastle. I used Hull this year and did not enjoy the homeward bound run, would prefer the Newcastle shorter run home.

Thats fine. Prices are a bit more expensive and the ships are really old. i personally dont like that crossing but yes, it does add a few hours to your trip home

 

[Doc]

Thats fine. Prices are a bit more expensive and the ships are really old. i personally dont like that crossing but yes, it does add a few hours to your trip home

They are doing a lot of the cabins up on the Hull P&O ferry and we find them and the ship ok.

 

[grantmac]

They are doing a lot of the cabins up on the Hull P&O ferry and we find them and the ship ok.

correct, they have gotten a facelift and are much better. The Newcastle boat is a booze cruise boat, lousy food, expensive and crappy cabins. Also bike stowage for me is not great either compared to the other 2
Just my opinion, I use all 3 crossings regularly

 

[Doc]

correct, they have gotten a facelift and are much better. The Newcastle boat is a booze cruise boat, lousy food, expensive and crappy cabins. Also bike stowage for me is not great either compared to the other 2
Just my opinion, I use all 3 crossings regularly

I only use the Hull crossing. Seen pics of Gerard's cabin on the Newcastle ferry and it looks spot on.

 

[gerarddwatts]

I only use the Hull crossing. Seen pics of Gerard's cabin on the Newcastle ferry and it looks spot on.

In fairness Chris, that was a Commodore cabin, and they are more expensive.
I would never go out on a Friday or back on a Sunday to avoid squads of noisy drunks....the journey to and from Hull is the clincher for us.
I like DFDS.....but it’s lucky we are not all the same innit!

 

[Doc]

In fairness Chris, that was a Commodore cabin, and they are more expensive.
I would never go out on a Friday or back on a Sunday to avoid squads of noisy drunks....l

Ah ok. I made the mistake of showing Jayne and she was cabin jealous.

 

[grantmac]

In fairness Chris, that was a Commodore cabin, and they are more expensive.
I would never go out on a Friday or back on a Sunday to avoid squads of noisy drunks....the journey to and from Hull is the clincher for us.
I like DFDS.....but it’s lucky we are not all the same innit!

Just wish they would upgrade their fleet. The 2 ships are over 35 years old and for ferry’s thats getting pretty tired. The other 2 crossing options have much younger vessls.
DFDS should have made enough money on freight on the rest of their fleet over the last years to think about it. I work in this business and am suprised they havent done anything to make their position more attractive.
A couple of the newer bigger ferry’s would make it all a lot better
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that this crossing is still seen as a party boat so no will to invest.

 

[gerarddwatts]

Still live in hope that the Rosyth crossing will be re invigorated, but very unlikely I fear....
DFDS did a deal several years ago to get 2 newer boats from the Med for the Newcastle crossing, I believe, but it all fell through.
I hear what you say about the booze cruise but I have to say I've avoided this aspect so far...perhaps by being a bit careful about when I travel?

 

[ragerover]

I looked at ferry’s today for september
Holy Sh@ £900 return from Newcastle or £250 from Hull

Or am I pressing the wrk g button ?
That’s nuts
Newcastle would be easy for me as it’s 10 Mike away and I’m always late but not at that premium

 

[jgp]

The price from Newcastle averages at 2 to 2 1/2 the price from Hull. On prices alone don’t know why you would pay the extra.

 

[Bayman]

I also checked DFDS for September, quote was £880, and that was for the cheapest cabin. Going to use the Euro Tunnel £110.

 

[Neil W]

For me the Newcastle ferry has a major disadvantage over the Europort route if you are heading South East towards the Alps of being stuck for an extra 2 hours plus on the motorway system in the Netherlands (some of the busiest in Europe) with their ridiculous 60 mph speed limits.

Plus DFDS are bloody expensive and their boats are getting a bit shonky and old , plus last time we used the route the food was bloody awful

 

[Deleted account 240831001]

I also checked DFDS for September, quote was £880, and that was for the cheapest cabin. Going to use the Euro Tunnel £110.

We still use the Harwich - Hoek ferry even though we’ve moved up to the NW because the ferries are pretty good, they load bikes first, the prices aren’t bad and it’s a few miles closer than the tunnel.

 

[grantmac]

For me the Newcastle ferry has a major disadvantage over the Europort route if you are heading South East towards the Alps of being stuck for an extra 2 hours plus on the motorway system in the Netherlands (some of the busiest in Europe) with their ridiculous 60 mph speed limits.

Plus DFDS are bloody expensive and their boats are getting a bit shonky and old , plus last time we used the route the food was bloody awful

couldn't have put it better myself....as to the speeds on the motorways, if you crank it up to around 115 - 120km/h you should be OK. any higher and you'll get ticketed.

 

[grantmac]

We still use the Harwich - Hoek ferry even though we’ve moved up to the NW because the ferries are pretty good, they load bikes first, the prices aren’t bad and it’s a few miles closer than the tunnel.

I use this the most because I live both in London and The Hague so its the most convenient. Also you don't have to be at ferry so early. Boarding time at Harwich is around 2100. Indeed bikes get loaded first and therefore you are also off the first. Arrival time in Hoek van Holland gets you on the roads around 0800 - 0830. Beware of rush hour and your speed especially on the smaller roads to and from the ferry as there are cameras everywhere in NL.

 

[Deleted account 240831001]

I use this the most because I live both in London and The Hague so its the most convenient. Also you don't have to be at ferry so early. Boarding time at Harwich is around 2100. Indeed bikes get loaded first and therefore you are also off the first. Arrival time in Hoek van Holland gets you on the roads around 0800 - 0830. Beware of rush hour and your speed especially on the smaller roads to and from the ferry as there are cameras everywhere in NL.

My wife has had speeding tickets twice within 20 miles of the Hoek and unsurprisingly blamed me both times

Things have improved with the road changes over the last few years and I’ve found that you can be clear of any congestion pretty quickly and as long as you stay patient because of the speed limits you can get the miles in quickly enough. I’ve made it to both the north of Denmark and into Poland in a day and you can’t really complain about that if you’re on a limited time scale trip and your goal is to get through Germany as soon as possible.

My only complaint is that they’ve stopped serving the jugs of beer in the standard passenger lounge so you have to be cheeky and try your luck in the truckers lounge

 

[Neil W]

Current DFDS prices for Newcastle Ferry for one passenger and bike , thought that Hull was a p#ss take. With a weekend crossing it wss over £1200

 

[stever1]

There you go. Much cheaper from Ull