P&O Ferries

Had a rack of ribs for £15 in the brasserie. The meat fell off the bone — just how it should be. Served with fries and rocket (usually also with tomato and onion rings). The portion was very big, but I was very hungry!

Pour se faire un trip chez nos amis les «british», il y a le train, l’avion et le bateau! Grande première pour moi il y a quelques semaines: la traversée en voiture… dans un ferry boat!
RDV à Calais pour embarquer les voitures dans ces énormes navires qui font la traversée une dizaine fois de par jour. Point d’arrivée atteint entre 30 et 45 minutes plus tard: le port de Douvres où tout le monde se concentre doublement pour tenir la gauche! (FYI — les routes anglaises, c’est vraiment weird le premier jour!).
Pour en revenir à la traversée, nous avons eu 2 ferry complètement différents; à l’aller, c’était un bateau plus ancien et moins confortable… il avait quelques dizaines d’années de service derrière lui. Pour le retour par contre, c’était un bateau très moderne et récent avec une boutique tax free beaucoup plus fournie. Plus de confort également au niveau des sièges et fauteuils mis à disposition.
P&O Ferries, c’est donc un excellent moyen de s’évader le temps d’un weekend et de prendre la direction de la côte anglaise qui regorge de coins sympas! Vous avez déjà des A/​R à partir de 41 € par voiture… A 2 ou avec un couple d’amis, faites vos comptes, c’est intéressant! Pour une journée, je déconseille; les trajets restent assez longs et épuisants pour faire tout d’un coup.

After an uneventful night in London, our tour bus cross the sea via ferry. P&O Ferries is extremely efficient and on time. Once everyone was onboard, the ship opens up the upper floor which includes shopping, dining, and an arcade. The gift shop was fairly large with a good selection of souvenirs, beauty, fragrances, and alcohol. The café was very basic and the lines were really long so I just got the sandwich instead of the hot food. The sandwich was pretty bland but decent. The bathrooms on the ship however were very cramped and needed to be serviced more often. If you can race your way to the front and nab a table overlooking the ocean– its not a bad way to travel. I have a very weak stomach and did not get motion sickness, although one girl on our trip did get very sick.

Located beneath the famed white cliffs of Dover (in reality, concrete gray and dismal) is the P&O Ferries port where we bid adieu to the U.K. and excitedly awaited our passage across the English Channel to France.
Our group was instructed to get off the motor coach, walk through a small office to present passports to the officials, get a stamp, then cross a tarmac-​like area to the rest-​stop where we had a half-​hour wait before boarding the ferry. Getting on and off the ferry does require walking up and down stairs or a ramp, which was not easy for the oldest member of our tour group who used a cane.
Once on board the huge vessel, I was struck by one thing: a smell reminiscent of moldy rags. Combined with the swaying motion of being on rough seas, I started to dread the roughly 1.5 hour crossing ahead while the feeling of being trapped only intensified.
We choose to sit inside on a high deck lounge area with faded carpets and upholstery that may once have been red but now appeared pink. Following us, a wave of youngsters flooded in and took over the lounge. Needless to say, the weird odor and food smells wafting from the onboard cafeteria, the bob-​and-​sway motion of the vessel, and the rising cacophony of kid voices combined for one big headache with a nauseous lump in my throat. Going outsideonto the deck was out of the question with the freezing air and sea spray washing board.
Best to note that this is purely transportation with decent amenities but its no luxury cruise to your destination. For me, on a dreary day with no view to speak of, this is a less than exciting way to depart olé England and catch the first glimpse of France.

This ferry really surprised me. It is very big and was so spacious. There is a bar, restaurant, casino, cafeteria and duty free with lots of nice things. There is plenty of seating and wifi in the waiting area.

We were driving from London, toward Belgium, Holland and France and needed to get across the English Channel. We were planning to take the Eurostar car train, but not booking in advance, were shocked at the cost and decided to take the ferry instead. The ferry was costly too, but less so. Maybe because we waited until the last minute? Who knows.
As others have said, I’ve been on smaller, local ferries, but nothing this size… it was massive like a cruise ship! On board was something else, plenty of comfortable seating, a lounge, a coffee shop, a brasserie. It wasn’t cheap but the options are there.
From waiting in line to drive onboard until we drove off in Calais was over 2 hours. The crossing itself was about an hour and a half and was very pleasant. We didn’t have a lot of interaction with the staff, but what little we did was friendly.

I was shocked how huge the P&O ferries are. I was only used to the small ferries I took from Long Beach to Catalina Island or the SuperCat in the Philippines. The P&O ferries are like cruise ships.
The trip from Calais to Dover is only 90 minutes, so there is plenty to do to kill the time. The only complaint is that there isn’t a deck in the front of the boat that you can take decent pictures and the windows are kinda filthy so it’s not worth taking photos of the outside. It’s too bad because the white cliffs of Dover are a pretty spectacular site to behold.
I’m not sure how much the prices are since it was part of our tour package, but I think it would be cheaper than taking the high speed train.

Yes they are cheap and yes you get what you pay for.
They have a main canteen area that serves English breakfast fry ups, hot and cold beverages and cold snacks at cheap prices, games arcade, slot machines, duty free shopping hall, outside deck (not much), tax free Bureau de Change, Costa Coffee shop and a Club Lounge (which you have to pay extra for). Not bad for a 90 minute journey but do avoid the snack vending machines. its a rip off!