Dover to Calais with P&O Ferries

Just a couple of weeks after we’d booked our tickets to and from France with P&O Ferries, the news broke of them sacking hundreds of workers and suspending all services, pending inspection from UK authorities. Unfortunately, with non-refundable tickets, we were stuck with our choice and watched with anger, frustration and concern as chaos once again struck the Port of Dover.

As the months passed and the news died down, P&O recommenced sailings and all seemed to settle down. Then, just a couple of weeks before we were due to travel, chaos once again struck the Port on the first day of the school holidays, with reports of people queuing overnight, having missed mid-afternoon ferries. Once again, things settled down and the news died down, however it was due to all of this that meant a 0430 alarm on the first day of our holiday to travel the mile from Dover’s Premier Inn to the Port of Dover’s Eastern Docks.

As we entered the Eastern Docks we were almost immediately put into a queuing system for French border control, with there being six queues that were filled and then released one at a time towards the four passport booths. Fearing this was where the horrendous queuing started, we were pleasantly surprised to only have to wait around 10-15 minutes before we were at the border and having our passports stamped to enter France.

Having passed through border control successfully, the next stop was check-in, for which there was pretty much no queue and within a couple of minutes our passports had been checked again and we were given our lane number for the 0750 departure across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Having made it through the all the parts of the process without much pain at all, we were parked up in one of the lanes with about 90 minutes until departure. Thankfully, close to docks 7-9 (I’d hope there’s another for the low numbered docks) is a small services containing a duty free shop, Burger King and most importantly, a Costa. Although our early start did now seem unnecessary, it did mean we were now towards the front of the coffee queue, something I was extremely grateful for.

As we sat and enjoyed our coffee and breakfast, the queue for Costa got longer and longer and by the time we headed back to the cars (about 45 minutes before departure) it was almost to the main doors of the services. So, although the early start wasn’t required to get to the ferry on time, it was to get a coffee before boarding. As we got back to the cars, our ferry arrived on its inbound voyage and about 15-20 minutes after arrival all of the vehicles were off and we were ready to board.

I’ve got to say that the boarding process was very efficient, with it being about 10 minutes from it beginning to us settling down at a table in the family lounge at the front of the ship. Our ship for the 90-minute sailing across The Channel was the Pride of Canterbury, a 31 year old, nine deck ‘Ro-Ro’ vessel, which has previously carried the name European Pathway. As with all of the vessels belonging to P&O Ferries, Pride of Canterbury is registered in Cyprus, allegedly for tax purposes following Brexit.

Of the nine decks, three are vehicle decks, whilst three are completely inaccessible to the public. This leaves the top three decks for passenger use throughout the crossing, although deck nine, the top deck, is only partially accessible at the rear for the outside area. Decks seven and eight are the main passenger decks throughout the sailing, with the majority of the stairs from the car decks bringing you out on deck seven.

There’s a reasonably good range of facilities onboard the Pride of Canterbury, with deck seven being home to the Family Lounge which contains a bar selling hot & cold drinks along with snacks and sandwiches. The Family Lounge also has a children’s corner and, on our sailing, had a children’s entertainer and so can get quite loud, so bring some decent noise cancelling headphones.

Deck seven also has a separate coffee shop (that wasn’t open), the duty-free shop and the access doors for foot passengers. Deck eight has further facilities with a restaurant and premium lounge (access can be purchased when booking), along with the lounge and dining for commercial drivers. It also has a pet area towards the rear of the ship, next to the access to deck nine and the outside area.

Having had breakfast at Costa before boarding, we decided just to get some coffee onboard the ship. These weren’t horrendously priced (about the same as at a railway station or motorway services) and were actually Starbucks expresso and so tasted half decent.

With us sailing on a beautiful summer’s morning, we decided to head up to the open area on deck 9 to watch our departure from Dover and enjoy the views and sea breeze. Of course, the most notable feature of any departure from Dover are the famous White Cliffs, however Dover Castle and the Western Heights were also clearly visible as we made our way past the sea wall and into the English Channel.

Sailings across the channel usually take around 90 minutes, although some crossings with P&O indicated that they took longer (over 2 hours), so make sure you check the timings when booking. With the weather clear and calm, we were able to see Calais before we had even left Dover and watch as it grew ever larger throughout the journey. The journey passed quite quickly and we were soon making our way along the French coast on the approach to the Port of Calais, France’s busiest passenger port.

As we docked, announcements were made initially asking everyone to stay seated and then requesting that people return to their vehicles ready for disembarking. From us passing the sea wall of the Port to the vehicle doors opening it was only about 15 minutes, so the docking process is very efficient and we were soon driving onto French soil. With all the border formalities completed prior to boarding, the arrival into France is extremely easy, with us driving past an unmanned customs post and onto the French motorway network.

All in all, based on the disruptive events at Dover throughout 2022, we were very lucky to have such a smooth journey through the port and across the channel with P&O. Whilst we’re unlikely to travel with P&O again based on their treatment of staff, if you do travel with them then the journey can be perfectly pleasant. However the Port of Dover can be very temperamental and so I’d certainly suggest an early sailing and staying overnight in Dover itself, to make your journey a bit less stressful.