Ferry, bus, plane…

The first pass holder seat availability on Eurostar from London I found is on 20 December to Rotterdam...

Hi Canuck

I may even have more worse news: just read that on several very busy pre-XMas days not the staff on board but the SECURity check guys/ladies want to go on strike-strikes are prevalant everywhere in EUR, mostly in transportation the last monthes due to rampant inflation and steady wages. Both 16 and 18 dec. were mentioned. And due to insistance on airline-like checks, this will mean noone can board.

And in general yes; this €* is a big stumbleblock to use passes-but frankly: the combined cost of a passday+ the at least 30€ surcharge makes a normal ticket often cost not that much more.

The non train ALT is evident: Bus (flix), fly, or the rather slow and cumbersome local train-ferry-train other side. Often a busticket cost less as the 30€ surch. for direct train The latter: see seat61.com on howtodo it

@mcadv Please check fares before you claim such a thing.

The cheapest available fare in the timeframe requested is €178 for 1 train, the others are €224, which is considerably more expensive than a pass day plus reservation.

Is there a chance something will open up if people cancel their reservations? Like if I call SNCF or if I keep checking for reservations

even a reservation to Brussels or Lille would help 

On Eurostar? No, you would be wasting your time with this. Passholder reservations will not re-appear because they are linked to the regular fare brackets not actual passholder numbers.

If you really want to make that journey you should look at alternatives sooner rather than later.

Obviously flights France - UK is the obvious option. Train-Ferry-Train is also possible as is booking bus connections that travel by ferry or drive-on rail tunnel.

I’m afraid that because of the way Eurostar allocate passholder seats any cancelled seats join the full fare allocation. Your only option is full fare Eurostar plane or bus. The option via Dover Calais is not recommended (see Seat 61) for reasons why. The bus costs £112 for 16 Dec when I last looked.

The only usable ferry route to France now is Newhaven - Dieppe with 4 hour sailings at 10am and 11pm.

There's also Dover - Calais. P&O said they continue to accept foot passengers:

https://twitter.com/seatsixtyone/status/1596176489732780032

If you can get a reservation then yes, last time I checked, only a few days ago, it was not showing any bookings, They seem to be available again now.

P&O have been spectacularly unreliable since their mass staff sacking meltdown earlier this year, I’d be very wary of relying on them or recommending using them.

It used to be a usable but slow route with 30 minute check-in and the ability to turn up, buy a ticket and get on the next of 20+ sailings per day.

Now they will not sell a ticket at the port, only offer 2 or 3 sailings a day if any and insist on check-in 90 minutes before boarding. But if you can actually get a booking and get to the port early enough then it is still (just) usable.

Check out  Hull to Rotterdam ferry with p and o or Harwich to Hook of Holland.

Also low cost from a UK regional airport Ryanair fly to Paris Beauvais or even KLM to Amsterdam 

According to an article I read in the latest edition of Hidden Europe magazine (by the authors of “Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide”), P&O is the only ferry company which accepts foot passengers on the Dover-Calais ferry route, and then only on 4 sailings a day. 

It’s worth noting that most of the ferry companies do allow you to turn up on a bicycle, even when they don’t accept foot passengers. So the creative purchase of a beaten up bike in Dover might be an option.

I travelled as a foot passenger on the Portsmouth-Caen ferry route quite recently, which worked fine (although it’s a 30-minute bus ride from Caen city to the ferry port). 

This company is unethical and a thieves. DO NOT BUY PASSES WITH THEM.