I've been on Sea France ferries a few times now, and, lucky for me, its service is always consistent.
Last weekend, me and my partner decided to go on an impulsive day trip to France, so late Saturday night, we booked returned ferry tickets to Calais from Dover.
Booking the tickets was, in ... Read review
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Advantages: Cheap, the ferry was really nice inside, beautiful scenery Disadvantages: Expensive food and gift shop
I've been on Sea France ferries a few times now, and, lucky for me, its service is always consistent.
Last weekend, me and my partner decided to go on an impulsive day trip to France, so late Saturday night, we booked returned ferry tickets to Calais from Dover.
Booking the tickets was, in itself, a little bit of a nightmare if you take into account how many different companies are trying to sell you tickets for the same ... ...to fill out a form and then it'll tell you how much, so it can be time consuming if you're wanting to shop around.
After looking at a few different sites, we found one (I can't remember what it was) that had foot passenger tickets as £6 each, which was cheaper even than the Sea France website.
The next morning, we had a two hour drive from our town to Dover, but once we arrived in Dover all our tiredness was completely forgotten, ... more
I've been on Sea France ferries a few times now, and, lucky for me, its service is always consistent.
Last weekend, me and my partner decided to go on an impulsive day trip to France, so late Saturday night, we booked returned ferry tickets to Calais from Dover.
Booking the tickets was, in itself, a little bit of a nightmare if you take into account how many different companies are trying to sell you tickets for the same ferry, some more expensive than others, and often you have to fill out a form and then it'll tell you how much, so it can be time consuming if you're wanting to shop around.
After looking at a few different sites, we found one (I can't remember what it was) that had foot passenger tickets as £6 each, which was cheaper even than the Sea France website.
The next morning, we had a two hour drive from our town to Dover, but once we arrived in Dover all our tiredness was completely forgotten, as we remembered and saw the beautiful white cliffs of Dover, and the massive ferries we were about to get onto.
We arrived at check-in only to be told we literally just got there in time as they were boarding the bus right then to take passengers to the ferry. We raced outside to the Sea France bus, they checked out tickets and we got on. This took a matter of 3 minutes, so there wasn't any waiting around.
The bus then drove up the port, so we were nearer, then dropped us off near the ferry we could get on. One thing I should mention here is that there are either a lot of stairs, or a lot of ramps = lots of walking. There were lifts but it said they were for disabled folk, so be prepared for all this walking if you come to Dover (and Calais too!).
Once on board the ferry, we waited up on until we left. As usual, the ferry left dead on time, meaning none of our precious time in France would have be taken from us (just make sure you don't turn up late like we almost did!). The operation was quick tight in making sure everyone got on and off and everyone was on time, which is a good thing.
On board, we decided to check out the food. This is one bad thing - it is expensive. And the prices were in euros so, if you're not a walking currency converter, you won't know exactly what your paying in £s. I chose a portion of chips for 2 euros (I didn't think that was too extravagant) whilst my boyfriend chose lasagne for 8 euros (ouch!). They don't take debit cards on board, so make sure you have a credit card or are prepared to pay in cash (they take euros or pounds).
The food was good though, so apart from the price, no complaining there.
There is a gift shop on board, but this was also fairly expensive so we didn't spend very much. They sold lots of wine and ciggarettes, but because of the no duty free thing anymore you could easily get them for that price in this country!
We spent most of our journey sitting out on deck watching the sea, which was a beautiful site. There were loads of places to sit inside the ferry too, all of which looked themed, and very beautifully decorated. It was clearly well taken care of, and cleaned lots.
When we arrived in Calais, it took a while for them to get us off the ferry, but once we stepped off, that was that. Simply. A bus took us to the arrivals bit so we could get out the port and into Calais, and it was all very easy and simple.
This was the way we chose to travel to France we were going in holiday.
We have travelled with Sea France previously and they keep sending us these cheap offers.
We Booked our sailing about 4 months ago, we then realised we needed to change the date we sailed 3 weeks before we were due to go, so we phoned and changed departure dates easy no problems.
The port and loading bay was easy to find in Dover we got there about 15 minutes before we were ... ...sailing time. There was a small queue we gave the ticket collector our ticket he gave us our return ticket back he glanced at our passport.
We were given a number to hook on our mirror in the middle of the front window screen; we drove on to the ferry and were waved into a parking space. We climbed out of the car taking money and passports with us. We looked around found the stairs leading to the decks, we checked the car deck number and our position, ...
mumsymary 30.11.2002 (29.02.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of SeaFrance Ferries
Advantages: Prices are quite good Disadvantages: Not enough space here... see below
...from the MD's secretary at SeaFrance giving her sincere regret at the service we got whilst on board. She has sent both of my letters to the head purser (??) at SeaFrance who apparently deals with all complaints and inccidents on board any of the SeaFrance boats. She has also offered a discount of 50% of any booking made by me or my family on a SeaFrance ferry that will include entry to the VIP lounge and free meals!!! Sounds like a success to me!!
...
smallwren 23.09.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of SeaFrance Ferries
Advantages: Good way to travel Disadvantages: Dependent on the weather
In my lifetime, I have been on about 30 ferries I think. Various trips to the Continent and Ireland have taken me on loads of different companies and types of boat but none can rival the SeaCat out of Newhaven, Sussex. In 1987 I went to Spain with the school on a trip and we had to go by coach. We went from Newhaven to Dieppe which took about 4 hours on the boat. Newhaven was at the time a busy port but not to the same extent as the more often used ... ...during my use of the port in 1998 that there was only one boat operating out of the port now, the SeaCat. you can make your own conclusions on this. Channel tunnel, cheaper air fares and a smaller continental contingent using the port all all to the decline. When We arrived at the port, it was very different to how I remember. Customs and loading was very casual. Everyone drove onto the huge catamaran and off we went. Its very spacious inside but ...
andycharger 17.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of SeaFrance Ferries
Advantages: Cheap and clean Disadvantages: Not the most luxurious ferry line
...choice on my list was SeaFrance - desperation if the other companies were fully booked.
The company is, as you can guess from the name, French and so are all the staff and signs onboard, so if you feel this could be a problem - be warned. They are very polite and professional and of course their English puts our French to shame so you shouldn't have any difficulties at all.
The ferries themselves were functional to say the least, and after using ... ...OK they are cheap and to be honest it's only a 90 minutes crossing so as a regular form of transport then fair enough.
However, if you want to treat the ferry trip as part of your holiday, then spend a little extra and go via other means. The other lines can offer different things - better on-board shopping or a faster service. They are also less likely to put the stabilisers out, should the crossing get a little rough - sometimes it's like being ...
em_moreton 31.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of SeaFrance Ferries
Advantages: Cheaper Disadvantages: Poor quality service
...written of my experiences with Seafrance after I was refused an earlier crossing at the ticket booth by one girl, but managed to get a place on the same ferry at another booth half an hour later. The response of Seafrance that the half full delayed ferry had places half an hour after I had first tried, was that a number of vehicles had not turned up within the thirty-minute deadline.
I was refused an earlier crossing at 18:54 when there was most ... ...another half an hour to complain to the rude person at the ticket office who refused to assist, which meant that I again had to queue up for immigration before arriving at another ticket desk when there was miraculously now places available. The ferry was only half full and had plenty of room on the car deck.
This is the third crossing now where I was refused a request on an earlier sailing, and managed after allot of inconvenience to eventually ...
Dralloc 05.10.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of SeaFrance Ferries
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Advantages: Very cheap, friendly drivers, great hotel. Disadvantages: Not good for young children
more interesting with jokes over the microphone, but we were glad to get to Dover, where we boarded the ferry. The SeaFranceferry turned out to be very nice, with cafes and a bar, onboard shopping. We didn't really want to get off!
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Advantages: Cheap and Cheerful - does the job! Disadvantages: Not much to do on the boat, not good if you get motion sick!
spent most of the time nursing a beer and trying to smoke whilst being showered with rain/sea-spray and trying to stand up.
I know I am being grumpy, but if you don't mind how you travel or you are just going for a booze cruise, I would probably recommend a ferry crossing, I have however heard rumours that SeaFrance are better (we saw a SeaFranceferry that left after ours, over take our ferry on both journeys!).
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