BIG Ferry Comparison: DFDS, P&O, Irish Ferries - Which is Best from Dover?

[Music] hello in this video we travel on the flagship of each Dover Ferry operator we sailed with four vessels operated by three Ferry companies to both Calais and Dunkirk looking in particular at the check-in and boarding the onboard experience including the general Ambiance of the ship the club Lounge duty-free shopping and the food offering [Music] thank you as an ex Seafarer myself I'll also talk a little bit about where each ship is registered we'll also look at how dogs travel and finally the price I paid and how to book most of all did we arrive at our destination Port feeling relaxed and ready to drive or stressed and ready to flop now Euro tunnel is undoubtedly the most efficient and the highest frequency way to get across the English Channel and it's great if you are traveling with a pet if you have limited Mobility or if you are simply in a hurry because you stay in the car but it does offer a quite perfunctory and Spartan experience so how are the ferry operators fighting back are they elevating the onboard experience to make it more luxurious more like a cruise or are they all involved in a race to the bottom let's find out we'll start off with a Crossing from Dover to Dunkirk with dfds foreign at Dover we first pass through French immigration and officially enter France from here we followed the signs to check in [Music] as you can see there are no cues for the dfds car check-in and the agent who we dealt with was chatty friendly and helpful Lane 40 yeah cheers thank you bye in all cases you'll be given a hanger to put on your rear view mirror which has details of your Lane number in this case we want Lane 40. at your lane you just park up and if you have time which we didn't you can visit the amenity building the ship ended up arriving 30 minutes late so we boarded a little late ourselves the Dover to Dunkirk Crossing is the only Dover Crossing where all three ships are pretty much identical unless one is off the run and offer a consistent experience no matter what time you sail today we are sailing on the Dunkirk seaways sister ship to the Dover seaways and delft seaways the vessels were built by Samsung in South Korea in 2005 to 2006 and have had extensive makeovers since 2016. at a gross tonnage of 34 500 tons they can each carry up to 1 000 passengers their car decks boast 2 000 meters of lanes which can accommodate 200 Cars and up to 120 Freight vehicles the dfds vessels to Dunkirk are the only fairies operating out of Dover that are registered to the UK under the British flag we'll talk more about that later in the video once you've parked it is essential to make a note of the nearest stairway and your deck these vessels are huge with three vehicle decks and multiple stairways there are lifts available for those who need to use them dogs have to travel in the car on the car deck which is less than ideal when surrounded by screaming car alarms I was traveling with my mother today and Mum and I went straight up to the premium Lounge where we were warmly greeted by a crew member but if you're expecting something like a business class Lounge in an airport prepare to be hugely disappointed we entered to find the lounge to be anything but premium it was very busy and very noisy with kids watching cartoons on devices competing with the TVs that were around the room the premium Lounge is set up for families sprawling on sofas not for individual Travelers or couples it was so busy it was challenging for me to film because of respecting people's privacy although I managed to sneak some footage towards the end of the trip there is nowhere to work in here there are a couple of small tables but no desks and there are no dedicated power outlets to charge your devices one gentleman ended up having to leave his phone charging on the floor the food and drink offered is included in the 12 pound supplement and I was delighted to see that Not only was decaf Breakfast Tea available but soya milk to go with it too there's a bean to cup coffee machine if you want a caffeine fix as well as pastries macarons biscuits fruit and crisps soft drinks are also available and after departure each adult is offered a glass of Prosecco the crew member in charge of the lounge was friendly and attentive and she kept everything stocked up apart from the crowded and noisy Lounge the rest of the ship was actually more relaxed [Music] foreign for food options there is a cafe there's a pizza pasta and salad bar and there is a self-service restaurant the main Seven Seas self-service restaurant is at the front of the vessel and is a lovely space the ship's General appearance was smart and very clean mum and I checked out the duty-free shop which offered a good selection and excellent prices we were looking for some perfume for my niece and this was 20 pounds cheaper than on the High Street however the price ticket wouldn't scan there was an issue over the advertised price on the shelf and it took almost 10 minutes for the staff to sort out their error despite the price on the ticket being correct as we later verified on a later dfds sailing we were forced to wait and made to feel uncomfortable at the end of the transaction we could have done without the sarcastic comment from one of the shop assistants which together with the stressful Ambiance of the premium Lounge put the dampers on what might have otherwise been a very pleasant Crossing upon arrival at Dunkirk rejoining the car was straightforward and we waited a reasonable 10 minutes or so before driving off our destination today is Calais for our return Crossing to Dover again with dfds [Music] unlike Dover where you go through passport control before check-in in Calais you check in before passport control and unlike the friendly agent at Dover the agent here in Calais was Sullen and was either having a bad day or she just didn't like her job there was no explanation or anything so if this is your first time at Calais and you're unfortunate enough to be greeted by someone like that take a look at your Hangar and you'll see which lane you need to aim for in this case Lane one one two five next stop is French immigration to be Stamped Out of France where the officer was chirpy and friendly as was the UK border Force official at the next passport stop in Calais as well as in Dunkirk dfds have their own huge duty-free stores that you can browse while waiting to board your Ferry you'll also find a cafe and toilets here Goods cost the same as on board the ferry but there is a far wider selection especially wine mum bought some Christmas chocolate and I couldn't resist a bottle of botanist Gin from the island of Isla which was a bargain 24 pound 99 for a liter dfds is by far the best operator when it comes to duty-free shopping as you will later find out [Music] soon it's time to board the dfds called dorpal built in 2021 the court doorbell is the newest Ferry operating out of Dover and also the longest at 214 meters weighing in at forty thousand three hundred and thirty one tons her garage decks offer a mind-blowing 3 100 meters of lanes that's just shy of two miles of vehicle Lanes she can carry up to 1 000 passengers her registered Home Port is Le avra and like all dfds ferries between Dover and Calais she sails under the French flag [Music] all the passenger facilities are on one deck deck eight in very modern commercial style the layout of the ship forces you to walk through the shop to get to the main restaurant at the front there is a cafe too but no pizza and pasta Outlet as there was on the outward sailing as you would expect from a brand new ship the accommodation was stylish and contemporary and the Ambiance uplifting there is no bar you buy your tipples in the cafe or there is the Seven Seas self-service restaurant as we were among the first aboard we luckily didn't have to queue mum went for fish and chips and I had a chickpea tagine with rice my tagine was hot and spicy and very tasty but mum's fish and chips well they looked as if they'd been held for quite a long time they weren't exactly fresh but they were okay we paid 23 pounds for these two main courses without drinks not exactly cheap but the going rate for a ferry nevertheless the Seven Seas Restaurant is a very pleasant place to dine and to watch the countless number of lorries board The Vessel to the Moon after returning our trays we walked back through the shop and I noticed that the queue for the tills was blocking half of the available walkway and even the crew member at the information desk was flogging booze and meaning you'd have to queue and wait if you wanted to ask a simple question unlike on the outward crossing the premium Lounge was an oasis of calm the Haven that I was craving in this instant it was worth every penny of the 12 pounds per person supplement the lounge was substantially larger than the one on the Dunkirk Ferry and boasted a plethora of USB ports and EU style sockets dotted around to take care of your device charging needs just remember to take an adapter for your UK plugs obviously the person who commissioned the Christmas trees also got caught out the good food and beverage offering and the lack of anywhere to sit and work were the same as on the previous Ferry [Music] thank you we enjoyed an excellent relaxing Crossing but it was just slightly tainted when it was time to rejoin the car despite the ship having over three kilometers of car Lanes the stairways are very narrow and unable to comfortably deal with the hundreds of passengers that are using them at once this in my opinion is poor design as such it took us about 10 minutes of shuffling and being shoved about to get back to the car where it is then so much of a rush to disembark I didn't even have time to set up the camera in the car it just wasn't a very dignified way to conclude an otherwise comfortable and relaxing Crossing so that's the experience with dfds but how do they compare with Irish fairies and p o let's find out the next day with my mum back at home I headed back into Dover this time to sail with Irish fairies being only a couple of days before Christmas the port was very busy kudos to the management of the port of Dover who placed a couple of Staff members to manage the queue of cars and I quickly made it through French and UK passport control the check-in for Irish ferries however was another matter I arrived to find a huge queue and just one count them one car check-in Booth open and despite ninety percent of the cars in the queue being right hand drive it was on the left hand side p o and dfds had more booths open and shorter cues a second Irish ferries Booth did open after about 15 minutes but it remained signed for lorries not cars and I ended up spending a total of 20 minutes in the queue however at check-in the agent was polite and helpful and I was given my hangar with an explanation of which lane to follow unlike dfds and pno Club class tickets with Irish fairies include priority boarding so I once again had no time to check out the amenity building in Dover because of the time taken in the check-in queue I was waived forward to board the vessel a full 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time this was more like it my sailing today is aboard the Isle of inishmore the flagship on the Dover routes for Irish fairies she was built in 1997 in the Netherlands and is registered to the port of Limassol flying under the flag of Cyprus otherwise referred to as a flag of convenience it is a contentious issue and conditions for the crew are questionable information sources about flags of convenience are listed in the description below this video the Isle of inishmore has a gross tonnage of 34 000 tons can carry a whopping 2 200 passengers and has 2060 Lane meters on her vehicle decks if you're traveling with pets they have to stay in the car at over 25 years old she is definitely showing her age but the overall Ambiance on board was welcoming and cozy passenger accommodation is split over two decks with the club Lounge on a third coming up from the car deck I emerged at the center of deck 7 by the information desk forward on Deck 7 is the cafe Lafayette which on this sailing also doubled as the bar cleanliness wasn't all it could be as you can see from these cups left over from the previous voyage [Music] foreign [Music] towards the AFT end of deck 7 is the pub but as you can see this is closed today [Music] up on Deck 8 at the forehead end is boylan's Brasserie don't be fooled by the Posh name it's a self-service cafeteria but with an upmarket seating area it made for a very pleasant part of the ship and while the hearty Irish breakfasts look good I was disappointed that there was no vegan cooked breakfast option other than beans on toast or egg on toast for the veggies there was however a cooked gluten-free breakfast available the prices of the food were similar to those of dfds with a full Irish Breakfast coming in at 14 pounds 95. heading towards the after end of deck 8 we find the duty-free shop while there were a couple of Bargains to be had like four liter bottles of spirits for 40 pounds the prices were in general considerably higher than dfds the perfume my mother bought was six pounds more expensive than dfds while this bottle of wine at nine pounds 49 was available from Tesco in Dover for seven pounds the botanist Gin from Isla that I bought at dfds for 24.99 was an eye-watering 46 Pounds 99 with Irish fairies a whopping 22 pounds more expensive but what is interesting is that the price ticket implies that the High Street equivalent is 61 pounds 99 per liter yet if you look at the Sainsbury's website you'll see it's available for 50 pounds a liter 35 pounds for a 70 centiliter bottle and is the same price again from Asda and direct from the brookladic website so you're actually only saving three pounds on the high street price where are Irish fairies getting this misleading 15 pounds saving from one wonders as the ship is sailing under the flag of Cyprus whether or not they have to comply with UK or French consumer laws it does make you wonder at the rear of the ship there is a strange Atrium it's like an enclosed outside space and not the most comfortable place to be in the winter outside deck space is very limited just a couple of small Promenade decks up on deck 11. and that's it also on Deck 11 is the club lounge and be aware that while it's quite the climb from car deck 5 there is no lift access therefore people who cannot manage a lot of stairs are excluded from the club lounge if you need something let me know thank you so much and what a Pity that is because it turned out to be the best Club Lounge experience of all four Crossings being up on Deck 11 the views are superb and the lounge is plenty spacious enough to cope with many guests without feeling crowded I was warmly greeted by the attendant Lana whose friendliness and attentiveness absolutely made my journey the food offering was superb included in my 12 pounds Club class supplement was Bean to cup coffee tea soft drinks white wine fruit muffins pastries brownies shortbread cheeses pretzels cold meats dried apricots nuts and seeds granola yogurts and fresh fruit salad if you fancy to cooked breakfast you pay extra for this and it is served at your table while there were no workstations as such in the lounge there were plenty of UK sockets and USB ports available there is also free Wi-Fi for Club passengers Lena remained available in the lounge for the entire trip unlike every other operator's premium offering even a plant muncher like me could get their money's worth from the offering and Lena had a carton of oat milk in the fridge for my granola and for my coffee remember too that club passengers also get priority boarding full marks to Irish ferries for value of the four Crossings I made this was the only one that operated on time despite the foggy conditions yes this ship is old yes it's flying a flag of convenience but honestly of the four Crossings I made this was overall the most enjoyable one thing I noticed as the ship unloaded was that priority boarding does not necessarily mean priority disembarkation but that ended up not being an issue as exiting Calais Port was fast and slick sadly my experience with Calais was about to change dramatically for the worst [Music] having turned around I headed back to Calais port to check in for my piendo sailing as the Irish fairies Crossing was punctual I reached check-in 2 hours and 20 minutes before the book departure of my piano sailing to Dover this was just as well check in with piano was smooth and the agent extremely polite and friendly the Polar Opposites of the grumpy dfds agent last time I was here um but the queue for French passport control foreign oh my word with only two booths open it was a stressful 35 minute cue swearing at all the Germans who kept pushing in of course when a third Booth opened later I was unable to access it UK border Force controls didn't seem too bad but a combination of a delay processing the card directly in front of me followed by a computer glitch Once I arrived at the booth saw me spending another 30 minutes in this queue thank goodness I had not trusted the 45 minute minimum check-in time or I would have missed my Ferry I eventually arrived at the car Lanes one hour and 15 minutes after checking in the misery continued as piano do not lay on an immunity and a shop building like dfds so there is nothing to do but sit in your car or pop to the perfunctory toilet thank you there is a sand pit next to the toilet building for those who are traveling with dogs freezing because if I put my heater on I get this guy's diesel fumes in the cabin not having a good day [Music] after sitting for over an hour on the car park unable to see the one information board because I was too far away from it we started boarding at what should have been departure time Our Last Ship of the video is the piano Spirit of France built in 2011 in Finland the spirit of France along with her sister ship Spirit of Britain are the largest in the English Channel at 49 000 tons she can carry 2 000 passengers and has 2 700 Lane meters which can accommodate over 1 000 cars like the Irish ferries vessels she is registered in Limassol and flies under the flag of Cyprus dubai-based pianos track record of both safety and employee relations is considered by many to be an absolute disaster recently in 2022 after the mass sackings of the workforce by video message one piano vessel subsequently failed its marine and Coast Guard agency safety examination three times before eventually getting its safety ticket nevertheless I boarded the spirit of France with an open mind and high expectations especially as entry to the club Lounge on p o is 24 pounds that's twice the price of Irish ferries and dfds first impressions of the club Lounge as we sat in Port were excellent for a start it's huge there appeared to be a wide selection of food and drink available as well as the usual Bean to cup coffee tea soft drinks pastries crisps Etc piano justify the price of their Club Lounge offering with the offer of hot food and alcohol all included in the price of course if you're driving there is little point in the offer of a GNT but I was curious to see what the hot food offer was like I was also delighted to see a proper space to Work featuring desks power outlets and even USBC power delivery sockets a unique feature of the club Lounge on the spirit class of ships is this outside deck area which must be lovely in the summer back inside I poured myself a complimentary drink the polite and friendly attendant Melvin took my food order informing me that the plant-based options were Curry and rice spicy Mexican bean roll tomato soup or a fishless finger wrap having had Curry previously on the dfds sailing I opted for the Mexican bean roll when it arrived I was disappointed to see how small it was I wish I'd ordered a soup as well but Melvin was nowhere to be seen as he was managing this huge Lounge on his own and I believe he was away in the galley fulfilling other passengers orders the role itself which you can see is actually a pastry was okay but the pastry itself was soggy and chewy to be honest you get much better quality in Greg's and I think any self-respecting Greg's employee would have thrown this item into the bin but worse was to come still hungry I helped myself to a Falafel and caramelized onion wrap from the fridge whoever decided that caramelized onion was a good pairing with Falafel obviously hadn't tried it in my opinion it was disgusting I couldn't eat it I took myself off to the cafeteria to see what other food was available when I arrived I was pretty horrified the waiter service restaurant and the self-service restaurant have both gone all there is now is this very Spartan and uninviting Food Market you have to take a basket just like you do in a supermarket take the food you want and pay at self-service tills the only hot food on offer was the same as that available in the club lounge and as you can see my Mexican roll had a value of just two pound fifty but that's hardly worth the 24 pound Club class supplement is it there was no menu on display and there was absolutely nobody about I later inquired the information office where I could purchase something like fish and chips and was told that this is in fact available from the Food Market you just have to find somebody and ask them the lack of proper menu the lack of Staff the lack of servery and the lack of choice puts piano at the very bottom of the barrel when it comes to food options on board it was pretty depressing [Music] elsewhere this formerly Grand and opulent ship now just looks sad bare and tired I had a browse in the duty-free shop the selection of items wasn't a patch on dfds or Irish fairies and prices were once again higher than dfds this tank array at 14 pounds nine Pence was 12 pounds 99 on dfds and there was no botanist gin to make a comparison there back in the club Lounge now that the ship was underway the vibration was intrusive and anything but relaxing so while the Piano Club Lounge is very nice the vibration is something else we're right at the back of the ship over the engines and you can hear the vibration going on from the glasses Etc and you can feel it through the floor not the most relaxing place to put a club Lounge p and O's Saving Grace is its new initiative the pet Lounge at the moment p o is the only Dover Ferry operator that allows you to travel with your pets rather than leave them in the car but you are supposed to pay the supplement for the pet Lounge that supplement is six pounds per person plus six pounds per pet for that you get tea coffee water and an exclusive lounge with sockets and USB ports and access to an outside pet area this is a fantastic initiative and is something that I've been banging on about for years although it is worth noting that my local Ferry operator Caledonian mcbrain does not charge for using pet lounges on its Ferries I did notice on this Crossing that one family had opted not to pay the pet Lounge surcharge and had hidden a dog under their table in a regular passenger space but as I did not see one single member of Staff cleaning or patrolling the lounges during the crossing I guess this just went unchallenged overall the p o experience was one of crushing disappointment it was the most expensive Crossing yet delivered the least in terms of value for money or customer experience I drove off in a bad mood feeling like I'd been mugged as we enter the port of Dover for the last time let's talk about the price dfds and p o normally offer promotional fares such as day trips on their own websites that you cannot get elsewhere as we traveled both ways with dfds on the same day we qualified for the day trip Fair which was 39 pounds return with the car plus an extra 12 pounds per head for the premium Lounge in each Direction this made a total of 87 pounds but this fare cannot be compared with the others I paid as it is a promotion the Irish ferries and piano Crossings were single Crossings therefore I had to pay the full fare however where both operators will tell you that you get the best fares on their own websites this is about as true as their claims about duty-free prices I booked both my Crossings through the Caravan and motorhome Club even though I didn't take the Caravan as you can see Irish fairies wanted 73 pounds for the basic Crossing 85 pounds including the 12 pound Club class supplement whereas the Caravan and motorhome Club prize was about 10 percent cheaper at 65 pounds 70 which ended up being 76 pounds 50 including Club class P and O is considerably more expensive they quoted 82 pounds 60 on their site for the basic Crossing which would have been 106 pounds 60 including the 24 pounds Club class supplement the Caravan and motorhome Club quoted 75 pounds 60 for the basic Crossing and I paid 96.60 including Club class sadly I couldn't check the prices with the camping and caravanning Club as their website was having a bad day so to sum up in terms of overall experience dfds Nails it the British flagged Dunkirk Ferry is the best Ferry overall in terms of comfort and general Ambiance but the premium Lounge is too small and we could have done without being made to feel uncomfortable by Prue and shrewd in the duty-free shop the French flagged Calais Ferry has a far better premium Lounge but it does have the slight feel of a floating shopping mall dfds has a solid food offering on board excellent shoreside facilities in Calais and Dunkirk and is the best choice for duty-free shopping by a huge margin closely following dfds in terms of customer experience is Cyprus flagged Irish fairies despite the old and tired vessels the Irish ferries Club Lounge offering is the best value by a long stretch and like dfds Irish ferries have a good hot food offering for all passengers foreign the race to the bottom is piano fairies their cypress-flagged ships are sadly mere Shadows of their former opulent selves the food offering is terrible and the only saving grace is the pet Lounge for dog owners who don't want to leave their pets in the car so there you have it folks I hope you enjoyed that and I hope you found it useful if you did please do give this video a like subscribe if you don't already and also please do share it with your friends on social media this video was completely self-financed and is impartial so if you are feeling generous do please buy us a coffee I've got a link to our buy me a coffee page in the description below this video to help us make more videos but more importantly please do just give us a like And subscribe to the channel thank you so much for watching it just leads me to say from Google and from me thanks for tuning in there what do you reckon Google did you enjoy that well I know you couldn't come but it's all that animal health certificate business thing you know oh he never smiles doogle it could be a bit more cheerful I could be a bit more careful no no [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Andrew Ditton

Views: 87,315

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Id: flLsEA5KkC8

Length: 37min 26sec (2246 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 08 2023