Eurotunnel > Reviews (12)

Picture the scene. A nice sunny day, driving back from holiday. Up to Calais. Then a one hour ferry trip across the channel to Dover. However this one hour ferry trip would last 12 hours. Involve rescue helicopters flying above. Have the captain tell everybody to stay in doors, whilst 40-50 feet waves splashed over the windows. See grown men praying to God that they would live. Have sick all over the place and cutlery and food flying everywhere. Imagine complete mayhem, as the coast guard would not allow the ship to dock, because it was too dangerous, and the ship would just have to stay out in the channel.

This isn't fiction. This happened to us a few years back and ever since than my daughter has been petrified to travel by boat. It hasn't bothered us too much, as we have travelled by plane. But this year I wanted a trip to Disneyland Paris, and wanted my car. The answer was ................. Eurotunnel.

I had never been on Eurotunnel before and to be honest had no idea what to expect. I have a couple of thousand pounds worth of Tesco Clubacrd vouchers (yes you heard right) so I thought I'd use some up. I went to their website to look at the times that would suit me. The train travels regularly- I think a couple of times an hour - and is on the move 24 hours a day. I chose my timeslots and rang the number given. I also had to mention I was paying with Tesco Clubcard vouchers.

The guy who answered the phone spoke English but had a French accent, and was superb. He was really friendly. He told me that if I arrived late, I was okay providing it was within the 2 hour time slot. If it was after that, and the price was dearer, I'd have to pay the difference. Providing I was no later than 24 hours they would honour my booking.

This worked out great for me, as I had a long journey on the England side before I even arrived at Folkestone, and I didn't want to waste my tickets. If I'd have paid there and then he'd have sent me an email. As I was paying by vouchers, they had to wait for them to arrive. I sent my vouchers off, and within a week I had my code mailed to me. The price for those paying by card, is comparable to ferry prices, so you are not paying much more - if any!!

On arriving at Folkestone, we were met by another very friendly Eurotunnel person, who happened to be outside her booth. She keyed our details in for us in the self service machine, and as we were early told us to park up, and wait for the next train.

Within 30 minutes we were on the train. Driving aboard the train was a strange experience, and once on we were locked in a carriage with another two cars. The Eurotunnel staff advised used to keep our windows down, and if we were to walk around the carriage, not to walk in front of the parked cars, for health and safety reasons. We also had a toilet in our carriage, which another 2 carriages could also use, via a doorway in our carriage. The carriage was really clean, and my daughter says the toilets were as well.

Within 35 minutes we were in France.

Superb service. Absolutely faultless.

On our final day I suggested we stayed at our resort for the day, rather than keep to our time schedule. The kids were enjoying the pool, and the weather was in the 90's. Mrs Stebiz was also happy getting a bit of a tan. Upon arriving back at Calais, later in the evening, we again went through the Self Service. Very easily done. There was even number plate recognition. It acknowledged we were late and offered us another time about 90 minutes later, at no extra charge.

After going through border control, we again entered a very clean carriage. Within 35 minutes werewere back on English soil. The service, yet again, had been absolutely superb.

I cannot recommend eurotunnel highly enough. It is a superb, modern, clean service with staff (well the ones I met) that would grace any company extremely well. Although personally I would travel on a ferry again, it might be a few years, before my daughter isn't travelling with us. In the meantime I'm more than happy to use eurotunnel. To be honest I find it a lot less hassle than a ferry anyway.

Copyright stebiz 2010 - also on dooyoo.co.uk