European ports & onward travel

OUT OF HOURS BULLY'S TRUCKSTOP BAR (INTERACTIVE)
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(This post has turned into a bit of rant… but it’s also looking for alternative ideas and there are a few of those alternative ideas mentioned near the end)

Are truckers really the only sure clientèle left for ferry operators?

This surely has to be a massive wasted opportunity for ferries.

Consider the following:

I needed to get from Amsterdam to Poole. This really should be easy.
Unfortunately, I had 45kg of luggage from work. In addition, I fly for work all the time so I thought I’d look into alternatives.

What I really wanted to do was get a one way hire either in the UK or all the way down to France with Europcar, since I didn’t want to be lugging all that luggage around train stations.

I never could get that one way hire. In order to get a hire car from NL-Fr you need to find a French plate car in the area you are picking it up. This involved calling up the desk at Schipol every day at random times and asking… and it never happened the 3 days I tried. I decided the one way hire fee Harwich-Poole was probably going to be too much. So I had to go via Clapham Junction with 3 bags at 45kg and no lifts.

We all know cars are too expensive (£600 for my campervan Poole-Cherbourg) but it doesn’t even work as a foot passenger either because unlike airports there are no transfer services (AFAIK?).

In short, it is better to sign up for a carsharing service and go well out of your way… or go through the hassle of airports. Also if you have the choice of course, travel light. In hindsight I guess I could have got to France by rail and then straight to Cherboug. The dump a wreak on the port city outskirts doesn’t seem professional to me.

I find this frustrating to have a port on my doorstep but really difficult to make use of! But have I missed something? Are ferry operators really so short sighted as not to interacts with connecting services?

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I don’t get the problem.I’ve travelled all over Europe and the Mediterranean Islands regularly for years without ever flying and always using my own car.From here Dover to Calais covers just about every destination you can think of,with further crossings from the mainland european Mediterranean ports for the Med Islands,without breaking the bank.All the other longer ferry crossings between here and the continent are an expensive,relatively infrequent,waste of time,unless you’re running at truck type fuel consumpton levels,let alone all the aggravation,inconvenience and expense involved in flying or using trains and renting a car.

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Yes I think you have a point. I have a high top campervan but it does 35mpg and about 17p/mile all in so Poole-Cherbourg via Dover is £84 & 9hrs extra one way. For me the Dover ferry was £90 after midnight.

If I was Amsterdam-Newcastle it would be £103 & 11hrs. Times from viamichelin.

Just a bit annoying have to drive to Dover because I usually want to go down to the south of France or Spain. I’d love to spend time in Normandy but the thought of driving all the way round and back again puts me off. I used to live in Plymouth. It would have been great to go to Spain with the camper via the ferry. Instead what we did was flew to Spain and hired a car one way from north west to south east.

Need a smaller car of course.

I notice Seafrance went bust though earlier in the year, taken over by a Co-op finally. Here’s hoping prices go well…

I’ve been reading up on hitchhiking and carpooling. I think if you can travel light it’s tons easier. Maybe I should buy a surfboard/luggage and have it delivered to my hotel when I get there - could be another way of doing it! hmm