Many years ago I travelled back from Santander with similar conditions with my then wife who was heavily pregnant. Huge silver trays of prawns were being upended in the fancy restaurant. People took refuge in the cinema to take their minds off their condition. They were doing well until the Mr Creosote sketch.
We are on board! So 90 minute wait then on the ship so 30 mins late sailing. 
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We started off using the ferries⌠always loved having a full-English breakfast in the dining room. If the weather was bad, we were often almost the only diners⌠so had wonderful service.
One year, the swell was so bad, I could have sworn I saw the tentacles of an octopus or other seamonster through the windows⌠
and no alcohol had passed my lips⌠
In later years, we used the tunnel for speed ⌠great, but not so entertainingâŚ
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Used the tunnel a lot when the 10 ticket carnet was around but really double the ferry and with pets on board its a pretty high price already.
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Have you looked at the new pet lounge on P&O.
That looks just wonderful! We took our two Airedales to Ireland many years ago. Going, they were in a cage in the hold, so we had to ask to go and see them. Coming back, Clara was in a cage up on deck right outside a bar. Donât know where Smudge was. We didnât get much sleep checking up on her. Mind you, they loved Ireland!
The tunnel doesnât work that well for us - living in the midlands and travelling to the Morbihan means that Portsmouth-Caen (or possibly Cherbourg) is our normal route. Portsmouth-St Malo is the nicest, and closest to chez nous but it tends to be more expensive as it is a longer crossing and, the real killer, leaves too early on the overnight sailing to finish work at 5:00 and be in Portsmouth for 7:30 (not least because leaving work is normally more like 6:00).
The tunnel is actually about he same door to door but three hours drive on the UK side and six or more on the French side with no appreciable rest in between compared with two hours drive in the UK and three in France with at least a couple of hours kip on the boat.
That seems lovely. We used the pet cabins on one of the adapted Brittany Ferries a few years ago. Only offered UK to Spain, so we had a bit of a coastal drive on arrival.
Twin bedded cabin perfectly comfortable and a largish dedicated pet run on deck. My two dogs managed to hold their business all the way from UK to Spain because a boat deck without grass is not a garden. Only downside was that it was an overnight journey but that did give us a nice rest between the long drives.
Not dreadful by any means. We did it twice. Only difficulty was it booked up very far in advance because there was a limited amount of âpet cabinsâ. I gather they now have more routes, including to Caen.
Absolutely, mind you, it was a close run thing getting them back to the car and coming off the ferry - the whimpering alerted us to the fact that we had to find the nearest bit of scruffy terrain on the dock!
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Is that a poisson dâavril?
I do hope not!
DFDS allow visits to the pets in the cars during the voyage so they settle very well.
Yes aware of P&O"s pet lounge but havenât forgotten the appalling way they treated the staff and the knock on effect to the people of Dover.
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We came to France on Monday 27th. Our Portsmouth LeHavre night ferry was cancelled due to industrial action. We managed to switch to Plymouth Roscoff same night and that sailed.
Yes, BF normally try to switch people onto another ferry - but itâs a pain when eg you had a cabin booked and thereâs none available on the service to which they divert you.
Which might be completely different - we once had a phone call about half an hour before we were due to set off letting us know theyâd booked us on a Calais->Dover ferry when we were due to return from (canât quite recall) Cherbourg or Caen!
Hi Billy. All they gave us was an offer to book another route at the same price. Luckily we didnât have the cat this time. Pet cabins are like henâs teeth at the best of times! Roscoff added about 100 miles to the journey, but not much time compared with our normal back route. The roads were pretty good, we found. Certainly another option for us in the future.
We might fly to Gatwick on April 11th. Hopefully the strikes will be over?
We were due to sail Portsmouth to Caen yesterday. Car developed a problem - think itâs a wheel bearing. Car dealer very busy but told us to leave vehicle with them and they would try to look at it. Flex tickets but Easter approaching. Weâre at Portsmouth Naval docks. At least itâs not raining!
Wheel bearing changed much to our relief. Crossing tonight hopefully.
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