DFDS vs. P&O North Sea

Boxerboy55

Boxerboy55

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I’m about to book a ferry for June and am surprised seeing a huge difference between DFDS (North Shields) and P&O (Hull) to Netherlands.

It looks like I’ll take the extra miles to Hull as the price difference is £337!

Same dates. Monday & Monday.

I know prices vary between days of the week so I try to avoid weekends, but DFDS are just being silly asking £323 for a bunk one night compared with £170 another night.

£408 against £745 return trip.
 
theyve both always been crazy for cabins when the actual passenger fare isnt too bad

which is mad
 
Nowt wrong with the Hull ferry. If you go for a better cabin I think the Dfds ferry has better cabins. I haven't used them but seen one of the lads pics from here pics. Think it was Gérard.
 
Doc said:
Nowt wrong with the Hull ferry. If you go for a better cabin I think the Dfds ferry has better cabins. I haven't used them but seen one of the lads pics from here pics. Think it was Gérard.
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I use DFDS ferry most years, I just mess about with the dates and you can get a reasonable price. If however you are stuck to certain dates I can see this being expensive.
 
Certainly always use DFDS in preference to the horrors of a trip to/from Hull! Sorry Hullers!
It is certainly more expensive, but suits better in terms of timing/travel.
Usually get Commodore cabins which are definitely more expensive! Commodore cabins are generally excluded from the early bird discounts etc. But I'm on me holidays!
Always pays to pick your days carefully to avoid stags/hens/parties/children/etc.
Looks as though the much promised Rosyth ferry has died a death again, sadly, so there is not much competition across the North Sea.
I was prompted to search after my comments above and there is still talk of the Rosyth-Dunkirk connection, but it needs cash...government cash...so it will probably remain just that...talk.
 
A short while ago the did a 20% off, pity you missed it. For me in Aberdeen, Hull is a 7 hours ride, which being time constrained is a factor. The other was P&O dumping their expensive UK labour for a cheaper alternative, and I've not yet forgiven them for that.

I paid about £500 for me, bike and cabin in September, going out Friday, back on a Saturday.
 
Since I live in NE Scotland, I generally use DFDS from Newcastle. When we looked at crossing last summer they wanted around £1000 for the round trip so we looked into going from Hull which was several hundred cheaper.

I'm crossing on Friday with DFDS from Newcastle and this time it's around £440.

They are playing the game well I would say.
 
John Armstrong said:
A short while ago the did a 20% off, pity you missed it. For me in Aberdeen, Hull is a 7 hours ride, which being time constrained is a factor. The other was P&O dumping their expensive UK labour for a cheaper alternative, and I've not yet forgiven them for that.

I paid about £500 for me, bike and cabin in September, going out Friday, back on a Saturday.
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DFDS clearly employ all UK staff 🤣🤣 from the famous UK city of Manilla
 
I live less than an a one hour ride from the DFDS ferry terminal in North Shields and we used it each time we were going riding on the continent. The prices have significantly increased since Covid, so I have sailed from Hull over the last few yeard, the saving is worth the travel. The Hull ferry also gets us on the road at an earlier time in both directions.
 
Have been looking at DFDS and Hull ferries for my next holiday.
DFDS seem to have also hugely increased the cost for a motorcycle. It's nearly the same as taking a car on board.
Like the convenience of getting to Newcastle but am seriously thinking of Hull despite my dislike of P&Os sacking of its UK staff.
 
I've used DFDS from Newcastle in the past but last year decided to use P & O from Hull as it was significantly cheaper. Yes its a bit further but the boarding time is a bit later so gave us more time to get there and we had some food before you go on the ferry, avoids the expensive food on board.
 
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I live less than 30 miles from Newcastle and it is still significantly cheaper to travel to Hull, plus if you are heading through Belgium towards central and Southern Germany it also means a lot less time stuck on the Netherlands road network.
However IMHO P&O are still a bunch of cnuts for the way they treated their UK staff or I should say double cnuts for dropping the Zeebrugge route (which was still profitable) or even triple cnuts for blocking anyone else stepping in and taking over the route (which both Hull and Zeebrugge still want)
 
Neil W said:
I live less than 30 miles from Newcastle and it is still significantly cheaper to travel to Hull, plus if you are heading through Belgium towards central and Southern Germany it also means a lot less time stuck on the Netherlands road network.
However IMHO P&O are still a bunch of cnuts for the way they treated their UK staff or I should say double cnuts for dropping the Zeebrugge route (which was still profitable) or even triple cnuts for blocking anyone else stepping in and taking over the route (which both Hull and Zeebrugge still want)
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The couple of extra hours heading down from NE Scotland were offset if you were heading to the south of France, and went to Zeebrugge. Now that's no longer an option, yes they are cnuts!
 
Thanks for the heads up - booked DFDS today from The Toon for the beginning of September, seems a reasonable price. Quite a lot further to Hull from Inverness. Long time since we travelled to Europe, looking forward to it.
 
ThreeDawg said:
Thanks for the heads up - booked DFDS today from The Toon for the beginning of September, seems a reasonable price. Quite a lot further to Hull from Inverness. Long time since we travelled to Europe, looking forward to it.
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Just a heads up, at Ijmuiden last year it took an hour from docking to getting out of the port, partly due to the number of immigration personnel there and the number of UK persons having to have their passports stamped. Wasn't too bad for me, but there was a couple of Polish riders who had an 8 hour ride to look forward to. I learnt a few Polish swear words! Coming back, it was about 20 mins from docking to escaping the port, which amazed me.
Also, most of the Netherlands motorway seemed to have a maximum limit of 100kph, during the daylight hours as I rode down towards Maastricht.
 
Ijmuiden. Sept 24. Yup it was a good hour+ from docking for me to get through passport control. Not like the old days where the Dutch border control would wander down the queue of bikes, check your passport and wave you through in groups.

That 100km/h daytime limit on the Dutch motorways is a right PITA particularly when you get past Amsterdam where the roads are more free flowing. That 6 lane motorway with the outer lanes empty as everyone jogging along at around 100km/h. Dutch are too keen on speed cameras to take much advantage of those empty lanes.
 
Wicker said:
Ijmuiden. Sept 24. Yup it was a good hour+ from docking for me to get through passport control. Not like the old days where the Dutch border control would wander down the queue of bikes, check your passport and wave you through in groups.

That 100km/h daytime limit on the Dutch motorways is a right PITA particularly when you get past Amsterdam where the roads are more free flowing. That 6 lane motorway with the outer lanes empty as everyone jogging along at around 100km/h. Dutch are too keen on speed cameras to take much advantage of those empty lanes.
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I find myself usually cruising past vehicles with speedo needles stuck on 100 kph while I’ve got my GPS set on 110 to sail past them.
 
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