Having booked to take the caravan to the Isle of Wight this year any opinions which ferry crossing to use and are any better when travelling with 2 dogs?
Which Ferry Crossing
- Thread starter David.R
- Start date
Damian
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- Mar 14, 2005
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If you have not opted for one of the deals as offered by some of the sites in conjuction with the ferries, then the choices are either Wightlink which run from Portsmouth to Fishborne, or Lymington to Yarmouth, both of which are a 30 to 40 minute crossing.
Red Funnel operate from Southampton to East Cowes and is an hour crossing.
Prices are pretty much the same, maybe a couple of pounds difference, but price also varies on what time of day you cross.
The very early or late afternoon are cheaper than the main part of the day.
Dogs on both operators crossings can either be left in the car, or taken on the top deck but not in the lounges, which is not too bad except for the number of steps up to the top deck, and also if the weather is good. If it is wet, then expect to get very wet!!
Caravans do NOT need the status aerial, or spike, removing, there is plenty of headroom without having to touch them.
Food and drink on the ferries is expensive !!
Red Funnel operate from Southampton to East Cowes and is an hour crossing.
Prices are pretty much the same, maybe a couple of pounds difference, but price also varies on what time of day you cross.
The very early or late afternoon are cheaper than the main part of the day.
Dogs on both operators crossings can either be left in the car, or taken on the top deck but not in the lounges, which is not too bad except for the number of steps up to the top deck, and also if the weather is good. If it is wet, then expect to get very wet!!
Caravans do NOT need the status aerial, or spike, removing, there is plenty of headroom without having to touch them.
Food and drink on the ferries is expensive !!
Hello David.R.
I think a consideration is where you are coming from. If is the east then Portsmouth, west is Lymington. Midlands - take you pick. Portsmouth and Southampton are all served by a good road network, Lymington is not so good as you need to go through the forest and no doubt via Lyndhurst and depending on the time of day, its traffic problems. If your coming from the East or North and choose Lymington exit at J2 of the M27 and go to Lyndhurst via Ashurst. This way you will miss the bulk of the traffic. We spent a week on the IOW last year and had a fab time. Stayed at Orchards which is good site, sailed via Lymington and its about 35 mins across. We live local hence why we went from Lymington. Enjoy.
I think a consideration is where you are coming from. If is the east then Portsmouth, west is Lymington. Midlands - take you pick. Portsmouth and Southampton are all served by a good road network, Lymington is not so good as you need to go through the forest and no doubt via Lyndhurst and depending on the time of day, its traffic problems. If your coming from the East or North and choose Lymington exit at J2 of the M27 and go to Lyndhurst via Ashurst. This way you will miss the bulk of the traffic. We spent a week on the IOW last year and had a fab time. Stayed at Orchards which is good site, sailed via Lymington and its about 35 mins across. We live local hence why we went from Lymington. Enjoy.
There are quite a lot of good deals on caravan sites on the IOW which include the cost of the ferry.
Excluding the ferry to the Channel Islands the cost of travelling to the IOW is one of the most expensive ferry crossings anywhere.
We find Portsmouth is the best as the access is dead easy with a van.
Excluding the ferry to the Channel Islands the cost of travelling to the IOW is one of the most expensive ferry crossings anywhere.
We find Portsmouth is the best as the access is dead easy with a van.
We did the Lymington crossing with a dog last year and I 'm not sure if there are different ferries, but certainly dogs were allowed in part of the lounge area, but it was lovely sitting up on deck with her.
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