longtemps Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I normally travel to Calais by Sea France and book direct with them. If you have to unexpectedly return home early they charge you a mere £10 if you re-book your ticket at the office on Calais docks. This week I got a very nasty surprise. I had made the mistake of travelling by P&O [this time they were a few quid cheaper than Sea France when I booked last year through the Caravan Club]. I had to come home early and the extra cost charged for changing my ticket was £60 !! I e-mailed them querying such a huge cost and got back the usual "drivel" re terms and conditions etc; though I did not expect anything else. Incidently the ship was half empty! So draw your own conclusions - it might be initialy a few quid cheaper, but is it really worth the risk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Hi, about 18months ago we were booked with seafrance and decided to return a day early stood in ticket office while they sorted paperwork wondering " how much " to our suprise they charged nothing ! casey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Momma Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 A couple of years ago when returning from Europe, we had booked on a particular ferry from Calais (P&O) but arrived earlier than expected. When we pulled up at the ticket window I said nothing but they let me through and onto the earlier sailing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry1956 Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 Hi, last year norfork line wanted 75 pounds to get the early boat, and for years they had no ticket charge fees at all. needless to say we waited for the next boat and watched the 10 only cars board the first boat. michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 In April we arrived 3hrs early at Dover and apologised at the booth and very kindly said it wasn't a problem and we would be put on the 6pm ferry, no charge at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcob Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 Hi Last year we went to france with P&O. The weather was bad so we were going to to come home a day early, went to the office in Calais to change the booking, they wanted to charge me £60 extra, I only paid about £62 return to go over. So we stayed overnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 P&O's Website includes the following in the FAQ section: "Why have I been charged £60.00 to amend my booking at the port? Any amendment made to a booking under our semi-flexible fare structure is subject to a £10.00 (€14.00) amendment fee, and an additional charge equivalent to the difference in price between the sailing originally booked and that of the new sailing. This supplement is determined in accordance with changes in demand for the sailing specified and principally, the proximity to your sailing date and time that the amendment takes place. In addition to covering the administrative cost involved in providing new documentation to our vessels, the additional fee also reflects the value of the space that you occupy, in terms of recovering part of the higher fare that applies for bookings made on the day of travel." I would have thought this policy is the norm rather than the exception - there is likely to be an 'administration' charge for amending a booking and, if the cost of the revised sailing is higher than the original sailing then it's not unreasonable to expect to pay the difference. For instance, Sea France's Terms and Conditions say: "- Modification When our offers are amendable, the corresponding expenses are indicated in the specific conditions for those offers. Admin. costs for changes to bookings are applied per trip and per modification for each change of departure time, departure or return date, number of passengers and type of vehicle. If you select a different date or time with a cheaper crossing than the one for which you have already paid, you will not be entitled to any refund after the crossing. If the crossing has a higher price, you will be asked to pay the additional balance. You will also be asked to pay the difference between the initial price and the price applicable on the day on which you change your booking..." Last year, when there were problems in France obtaining fuel, we decided that it would be sensible for us to return to the UK several days earlier than we had planned. Brittany Ferries (BF) advised that, in our case, we should really approach the travel agency (MTC) through whom we had originally bought the ticket, but agreed to the amendment and did not impose the normal £25 BF admin. charge. Plainly, if we had decided to return to the UK using a BF route and/or crossing-date/time that we knew would have been more expensive than the one we had originally booked, we would have anticipated having to pay the difference between our original booking and the revision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 It could have been part of flexiable booking where, if you book early enough the tickets (ferry, airline) are going for a song, nearer the time the price shoots up, the can drop off at the last minute as the vehicle is not filled. A couple of years ago we paid P&O £65 to change and get an earlier booking. This year we made a dash up through France to keep in front of thebad weather. We`booked our tickets trhough the Caravan Club who then charged a £10 fee + ferry cost, (Now I think going up to £20 fee) CC came back with two sailings Fee + $45 for the same day and Fee + £5 for next day mid-day. Not too bad, considering they did all the work, changed the booking. When we arrived, we were put on an even earlier ferry ! Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 terry1956 - 2011-06-26 2:58 PM Hi, last year norfork line wanted 75 pounds to get the early boat, and for years they had no ticket charge fees at all. needless to say we waited for the next boat and watched the 10 only cars board the first boat. michael Since Norfolk Line were taken over by DFDS they're a lot more accommodating. No charge at all this year (end of April) for getting an earlier boat home, whereas the old outfit used to charge an automatic €10, plus (never "minus") any differential fare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 last year used Tallink ferries for crossing from helsinki to tallin Estonia. arived early at port, asked if we could get on earlier ferry, yes no problem, but the crossing is cheaper at this time. got refunded the difference. Take note english companies!!!! :-D :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cattwg Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Tony Jones - 2011-06-28 10:39 PM Since Norfolk Line were taken over by DFDS they're a lot more accommodating. No charge at all this year (end of April) for getting an earlier boat home, whereas the old outfit used to charge an automatic €10, plus (never "minus") any differential fare. That’s interesting Tony, for family reasons we have had to amend our booking with DFDS. I did this by phone via their booking offices and was charged a £20 amendment fee – fortunately there was no additional crossing charge. Did you get your earlier boat by simply turning up early at the port or did you do it ‘officially?’ Cattwg :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Just turned up early - which we'd done once with the old Norfolk and been charged, so I thought DFDS were more flexible. Maybe just the person we saw on the day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cattwg Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Tony Jones - 2011-07-02 5:49 PM Maybe just the person we saw on the day! I think you are probably right. We did just that two years ago (Norfolk Line) and there was no charge!?! Cattwg :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brians dad Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Thanks for highlighting the P&O £60 charge for altering your booking. I had been researching ferry prices for September, and was tempted by P&O, about £10 less than Seafrance this year (and more cheerful staff as a bonus!). However, Seafrance are offering for a limited period 'flexible fare', no charge for alterations (presumably even at the port) for an extra £5 each way. So for a bit extra, I do not have to worry about being stung for Ryanair style surcharges for what used to be regarded as normal customer service. Meanwhile I can put up with grumpy staff for 90 minutes, though now that the fear of redundancy and bancrupcy sees to have receded from Seafrance, they may have returned to what passes as happy for French transport workers. Incidentally, last year, my return fare Dover / Calais was £39, this year £110! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Quite often it's pot luck who is in the booth, a few years ago coming back with a caravan arrived at 6:00pm booked on midnight ferry girl in the booth wanted £180 to put us on the 8:00pm crossing, drove off came back ½ hour later made sure I went down a different lane got straight on the 8:00pm ferry no extra charge I think it was P&O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneyBun Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 hi fghjkjk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneyBun Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Hi we went to France for the first time this year.Booked P.O Ferries via Caravan Club £118.00 return Dover to Calais.We arrived early at Dover and were offered an earlier crossing at no extra cost. We changed our booking for our return date and were charged £10.00 by the Caravan Club. We arrived early at Calais and were again offered an earlier crossing at no extra cost. Was this a good price we have just been quoted £109.00 Return to the I.o.W by Wightlink !!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Re price/ferry changes We returned a couple of days ago, and arrived at the port 2 days before our scheduled crossing. P&O wanted £60 to amend the crossing details, so we declined, and asked if there was an alternative, The lady in the box, played with her keyboard and found that if we waited another day, we coud get a ferry for a supplement of £5 at either 0900 or the 1000 ferry in the morning (tuesday 5th). She suggested we could stay overnight in the carpark as well. We decided to find the nearest France Passion site (at Cap Nature, Audinghen,) and overnighted there, and opted for the 0900 ferry and a £5 supplement. I guess the Monday sailing was more popular and they could charge more for it, Supply and demand no doubt. Tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryW Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Cattwg - 2011-07-02 5:04 PMTony Jones - 2011-06-28 10:39 PMSince Norfolk Line were taken over by DFDS they're a lot more accommodating. No charge at all this year (end of April) for getting an earlier boat home, whereas the old outfit used to charge an automatic €10, plus (never "minus") any differential fare.That’s interesting Tony, for family reasons we have had to amend our booking with DFDS. I did this by phone via their booking offices and was charged a £20 amendment fee – fortunately there was no additional crossing charge.Did you get your earlier boat by simply turning up early at the port or did you do it ‘officially?’Cattwg :-D Sorry not my experience last weekend. Arrived at Dunkirque 2 days early (last sat), Went round to the port Sunday at 7 am local time told no room on 10:00 as "we would displace a freight vehicle we could come back at 11:00 and see if there was room on the 12:00". We decided to return to our Aire and phoned the office when it opened only to be told we could not cross until 02:00 Monday morning, went back to the aire again and used our original crossing. Won't be using them again two days sat watching Sealink and PO crossings pass by all day is enough for anyone!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postnote Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Remember guy's, you get what you pay for! Cheap is not always the cheapest. Look and learn ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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