# Newcastle or Hull



## wug (May 19, 2011)

We're in Scotland so a ferry from Newcastle or Hull would be a convenient way of getting to the continent and then driving to southern Spain, rather than a horrendous drive to Portsmouth/Plymouth.

Any thoughts on the relative merits of DFDS vs P&O?

Thanks.


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## subfiver (Oct 15, 2011)

We're in Lancashire and use P&O Hull-Zeebrugge regularly to get to our boat in Burgundy.

Cabins are comfortable (no advantage in "outside" cabin, btw), staff on York are OK, better on Bruges but service is good on both. Cabins have always been clean and the food is remarkably good and plentiful. Buy your meal ticket when you book the ferry. Limited accommodation for dogs, in kennels. I'm prone to sea-sickness, I've never succumbed on one of these boats.

Having said all that, if I were going to Spain, I'd risk the Bay of Biscay I think ....

EDIT: are there no services from Rosyth these days ?


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I think Newcastle goes to Amsterdam and Hull Zeebrugge. Both of these are a little further north of Calais and a long and expensive crossing.

As your heading south anyway why not just break the journey up a bit and stop at a couple of places in England you maybe fancy seeing on route and go from Dover?

I know what you mean though, we live at the top of the Yorkshire Dales and I hate the 320 mile slog to dover but its doable in a day for us (just).


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## dipper17 (Jul 30, 2011)

Hi

We have used both of the ferries and there is not much difference between them. The distances are roughly the same as the extra mileage to Hull is offset by the extra from Amsterdam compared with Zeebrugge.

The Newcastle boat is a bit less plush than the Hull boat but both are very smooth. Loading is the same on both so nothing to choose there.

Both of the ferries are very expensive to eat on especially as they use the Euro as their base currency and they have a captive audience in any case. We usually take a goodie bag up to the cabin for our meals. When I took my motorbike from Newcastle to Amsterdam I paid £103 for the one direction and my food bill cost me a whopping £35!

One other bit of advice is to try and book a twin bedding cabin as opposed to a bunk cabin as getting down from the top bunk can be difficult in bare feet as the ladder only have narrow rungs.

All in all we use Newcastle for Germany and Austria trips and Zeebrugge for France. If you cost out the difference in mileage and fuel costs and ferry costs it is actually very close in price to using the Dover-Calais £50 tickets, but it saves you a lot of time as you do a lot of your travelling whilst you are asleep.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Michael


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## dipper17 (Jul 30, 2011)

Hi

BTW the Rosyth ferry is not running ATM and last time I enquired it was double the cost of the Newcastle boat. I don't know if there are any plans for another company to try this route - will have a search for any information.

Cheers

Michael


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

I agree with BarryD, I would take an extra day in England, there are some nice stopovers, and do the Tunnel or Dover Calais ferry.

Why pay for a cabin, when your already driving a mobile bedroom


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## ralph-dot (May 10, 2005)

I would pay to avoid driving in England.

I think P&O is cheaper and Zeebrugge is a much better port to drive from.


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## mags52 (May 9, 2010)

We have done them all. We did Newcastle to Ijmuiden to go to France having worked out the mileage through Holland and Belgium was slightly less than through England and we thought that the roads on the continent would be better (and diesel cheaper).
The drive through Holland was great - fantastic motorways but once we got into Belgium and Northern France it was a really hard slog. Heavy traffic and some poor connections between major roads. 
When we go via Hull-Zeebrugge it is very quick to get into France but much further for us on this side (we live in West Lothian).
We've also done the tunnel route and were really hacked off by the M25 and finally we've done the Western crossings but the big downside of that is that the crossing is as expensive as the Hull one and you still have to drive hundreds of miles to get to the port. The advantage of the latter is that you are well down in France when you get off.
We tend to chop and change according to budget, prices and time of year. 
BTW on the Newcastle crossing the meals are expensive but excellent. An alternative is a cafe bar which serves quite decent hot meals (although based on something with chips usually). The Hull crossing also has expensive but excellent food but their alternatives are not so good.
That turned into an essay!
Happy travels!
Mags


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

I do not worry about which crossing I use after all I am never in a rush and start my hols the moment that I lock the front door.

Our favourite has to be tunnel crossing.
Although I am much nearer to Hull.
Dave p


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

ralph-dot said:


> I would pay to avoid driving in England.
> 
> I think P&O is cheaper and Zeebrugge is a much better port to drive from.


Well we all have opinions, that's why the OP asked the question.

I personally love driving in England, Scotland, Wales, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain and anywhere else I can get to in my MH

Would love to hear why you dislike driving in England though.


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## wug (May 19, 2011)

Thanks to all who've taken the time to reply - definitely some food for thought in the different opinions.

Just a note on why I don't want to drive to Dover/Portsmouth/Plymouth. We lead a very sheltered life up here in Lochalsh (near the Isle of Skye) - a traffic jam is 4 vehicles in a row and we're not accustomed to the level of traffic we've found in England since we started motorhoming 4 years ago. Having never driven anywhere busy for about 20 years our first trip down to Newcastle was frightening as soon as we got near - the dual carriageway A1 suddenly filled up on all sides. Similar experience on the M6 near Blackpool.


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## musicbus (May 1, 2005)

My favourite is the tunnel but it is a pain to get to and its probably only about 50 quid more expensive to go via newcastle when you take into account more than 1000 miles return to home at UK fuel costs. Fuel in IJmuiden is around eu 1.20 or a quid on todays exchange rates

We have tried all the options including the now non existent rosyth zeebrugge ferry and I have no doubt if I was in mid - southern England I would use the tunnel but 476 miles sth on m1 or m6 m25 etc No thanks. 

100 miles one sleep and I am in Europe on holidays with cheaper fuel and often more considerate drivers especially on motorways.

That will spark a few LOL


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## ralph-dot (May 10, 2005)

steco1958 said:


> ralph-dot said:
> 
> 
> > I would pay to avoid driving in England.
> ...


Because our (I am English and drive here every day) roads, are overcrowded and the road sense of British drivers is appalling.


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## dovtrams (Aug 18, 2009)

Hull to Zeebrugge for us every time, great boats, reasonable food and not to pricey if you book meals at same time as tickets. I can understand OPs opininion about driving in England. It is a shock to the system as soon as you hit the motorways, where have all these vehicles come from? This is nothing disparaging, just a fact, a traffic jam here is four or five cars!

Whatever way you choose to go, enjoy yourself.

Dave


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## selstrom (May 23, 2005)

The driving distance using Newcastle-Rotterdam or Hull-Zeebrugge is the same but the drive from Newcastle to Hull is a lot easier than that from Rotterdam to France.

Dover-Calais is only 110 miles longer if you use A66 to cross to A1M, then A14 to M11 thus missing worst part of M25, all the bad bits of the M6 and the M1 in its entirety.

Do not know how big your motorhome is but with our 8.5m Dover Calais £88, Hull-Zeebrugge 644. Even allowing £40 for the additional fuel Dover Calais is £516 cheaper, I can stand a little stress to save such a sum. If you have a 6m motorhome the saving is £120 less.


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## subfiver (Oct 15, 2011)

> but with our 8.5m Dover Calais £88, Hull-Zeebrugge 644.


This scared me a bit!

Using P&O website I picked a day in March (which is when I'll next be travelling) set height at 3.1m, length 7.5m and got a price of £194, for two adults. Went back & set length at 8.5m and got a price of £219.

These are for an inside 2 berth and don't include food and are single tickets

How do you get a £644 fare ?


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

ralph-dot said:


> steco1958 said:
> 
> 
> > ralph-dot said:
> ...


I don't get that experience, perhaps its different in your park of the UK


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## selstrom (May 23, 2005)

My mistake I booked 2 Cabins, now agree with £219.

Still a big saving using Dover


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

It comes down to one thing, MONEY.

The Hull port is up near us but we travel down to Dover as i don't think the huge cost of the crossing can be justfied.

Every time i get a costing online you are talking aroung £500 return from Hull and about £60-£70 from Dover.

Paul.


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