As a child, I travelled though Dover a fair few times. We always used to go on a one day booze cruise to buy cheap wine, beer and Orangina at the hypermarkets via a Sealink ferry, usually with a cheap ticket from the Sun or Daily Mirror. We'd sit in line with the hundreds of other cars, all doing the exact same thing, come rain or shine. Dover was a busy hub, being the quickest way across the Channel for so little money.
How times have changed. Our arrival at the port, albeit under the strain of being 48 minutes late, did allow me to see just how few people now used the ferry as a way across to France - they're all of course carrying out the journey via one of the dozens of trains that leave Folkstone daily, and arriving in just 35 minutes. With such speed available, why would you bother to take the ferry these days when it takes up to two hours?
Price (cheapest options at two days notice)
Train : £70 for the car and passengers (Euro Tunnel)
Ferry : £42.50 for the car and passengers (DFDS)
Duration
Train : 35 minutes, stuck in your car, inside a high speed box with no windows and a very bored family.
Ferry : 2 hours. Relax, watch the White Cliffs of Dover disappear, have a fry-up and a fairly decent coffee, take in some sea air, burn out the kids with the on board playground ready for a nice long sleep in the car, and watch France slowly appear on the horizon (on a clear day). Onboard shop for buying duty free goods.
Destination Options
Train : Calais only
Ferry : Calais, Dunkirk, Boulogne, plus more. We chose Dunkirk, as it dropped us closer to our final destination, thus saving fuel costs.
Crowd Factor
Train : Like Alton Towers on a Bank Holiday weekend.
Ferry : Arrive up to 56 minutes late, and STILL get waved straight on. (*see note)
Trump Card
Train : Novelty factor of driving your car onto a train. Exciting, but only once.
Ferry : Romance of boarding a ship (albeit a cross Channel ferry), and heading into open water.
*following a totally disastrous trip to Dover, we sadly left no room in the schedule for traffic, an empty fuel tank, an accident (not involving us), a dodgy bonnet catch which made our bonnet violently shake in the 70mph winds and driving rain on the motorway, or a Houdini child escaping from his seatbelt - twice. Arrival in Dover was well after the 'one hour prior to check in' requirement, but because Dover is now a ghost town, we were able to drive straight on, (although with the trucks, not on the car deck) just 4 minutes before sailing. I can't imaging that being allowed on the train...!
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