Service from Newhaven to Dieppe

[Clarkkent]

First time I’ve travelled between Newhaven and Dieppe for years. This was always my favourite sea route because it reduced my driving distance in both England and France compared with Dover and the crossing time was bearable. I also loved the entry into Dieppe, tying up practically in the main street. (Of course, that has now gone and we do at least have an easier access and exit from the port.)

Impressions – based on outward journey only:

Ship – Côte d’Alabâtre is quite a nice ship. Admittedly it was by no means full, but it was clean and comfortable with lots of circulation space. Food and drink costs were quite reasonable. Main negative was absence of Bombay Sapphire in shop.

Port – Newhaven was, and remains, the armpit (polite version) of England. Access for cars is now through the old foot passenger terminal down beyond the railway station. I had prebooked and had to collect my ticket from the terminal sales desk where there was a long queue waiting for service with only two people working there. Several people joined after me. Each person in the queue seem to take about five minutes to be served and departure time came perilously close. Just before my turn, an official appeared and asked if there were any car drivers in the queue – about half a dozen of us put our hands up. My time at the desk – collecting my ticket – took about 20 seconds! It then took another 20 minutes to board the ship.

Crossing – Ship left 35 minutes late but arrived in Dieppe on time, crossing time only about 3 hours. We even slowed down before entering the port to allow the other TML ship to depart.

The fare was £41 in each direction booked through Aferryto.com. The crossing was pleasant and calm. P***-ups in breweries comes to mind about the organisation at Newhaven, but although this was annoying – you can’t expect Dover or Portsmouth slickness everywhere – the overall impression was fine.

I’d do it again because I,m here in france.

[Thibault]

Thank you for giving your impressions of the "new" service.  We are only a few miles from Newhaven and are contemplating using the crossing.  We would be very interested in your impression of the return journey (that is if you are returning[:D] ).

The collection arrangements for the tickets sound rather silly - is it a temporary arrangement or permanent?

[Robert Le Macon]

We've just done the Newhaven/Dieppe crossing with TM for the first time. Very quiet so there was no queuing. Collected tickets as above and then parked by big gates to await boarding.The lady who gave us our tickets also appeared to be passport control and Head gate opener! Any way, once on board we got our cabin (£20) slept for 4 hours ang got off in Dieppe reasonably refreshed and happy. It was the old ship so a bit frayed around the edges but a saving of about £300 on our normal Portsmouth/Poole to Cherbourg or St Malo made everything alright.Even the extra hours drive wasn't a problem. (Dead of night, no traffic)

Coming home was a different story. We arrived in good time at Dieppe(1030am for a 1230pm crossing) By chance I decided to go to the TM desk to discuss terms for a cabin. It was then that the lady informed me that the crossing had been cancelled and the chances of getting on the 9pm crossing were slim. After initial lack of communication and information TM gave me the option of driving to Calais and crossing with Sea France rather than risk missing out on a slot on the later crossing. I took them up on this and arrived in Dover 30 minutes later than I would have arrived in Newhaven. With an onward journy to Sheffield the change of arrival port was no problem.

The main problem was a pompous British woman who berated the poor French staff and then demanded to be put on the 9pm crossing. They did thier best under trying circumstances and I saw the pompous woman later on the sea France ship

 If the ship breaks and the skipper says it's not safe that's good enough for me. Shouting at a receptionist and anyone else who comes into range is pointless and rude and this type of attitude is the main reason we have nothing to do with brits once we arrive at our house.[:@]

I'd like to apologise to TM on behalf of the woman although I doubt she could see anything wrong with her behaviour.

I for one will travel with TM again. Thier prices are competitive, the old ship was adequate for the purpose and if its broke again in August I'll drive up to Calais and sail from there!

Rant over, sorry but she made me seethe.  

[Clarkkent]

I returned yesterday. People waiting to board told me about the cancellation the day before.

The TMF computer system appears to be very slow and this is the reason for slow progress at check-in. After each click of the mouse the poor girl had to wait ages for a response to appear on the screen.

The return ship was a very strange looking vessel called the "Dieppe". It was clean but obviously not in the first flush of youth. Judging by some of the signage it has spent its earlier life in the Baltic.

It seemed to take a very long time to empty it of its arriving vehicles and we boarded it about an hour and a half late. It should have arrived at Newhaven at 15.30, I drove off at 17.20, straight into the Brighton area rush hour. Fortunately, the M25 was fluid except for some congestion around Heathrow. But I still arrived home too late to engage in a planned social activity.

Would I use the service again? For all its problems it is cheap. If I can save £200 on BF prices then I can put up with its idiosyncracies.

Two moans though:

My ticket showed a price of £30 - the agent, AFerryTo charged me £41. Was there really an agent's markup of over 33%?

The port of Newhaven is disgusting. What sort of welcome is this decaying, dirty, squalid dump to visitors to England?