Awaycation Autumn 2024 - Ferry Booked

After several attempts I managed to get through to P&O at Dover to book the ferry for our trip in October.

Why not use the online booking system? Because we wanted to use the Tesco Clubcard vouchers we had been saving for about a year against the fare.

I had already been on the Tesco Clubcard site and cashed in £90 worth of vouchers that when used for travel they end up doubling in pounds sterling. That gave us £180 against the overall fare.

On the Clubcard website it took less than 30 seconds to login and cash them. I had the email with the codes for Tesco seconds later.

That's when the fun started. You have to call P&O on their Dover 01304 number, and that's where the holdup is.

Firstly I tried before lunch and was told the average wait time was 50 minutes. I decided to hold off and try later. Mid-afternoon the time had gone up to 77 minutes. So once again I cancelled the call. I had to use my mobile as the landline wasn't working as we had fibre installed and the phone wasn't working.

The reservations office closes at 6pm so I set an Alexa reminder for 5pm to have another go. Luckily the starting wait was 33 minutes and this very slowly ticked down. After 40 minutes the message said I had less than 30 seconds in the queue. I quickly change to using the headset to make the call easier. I used to hate wearing it when working but it is so much easier and frees up both hands! Finally at 44 minutes I got through. The booking took about 15 minutes and I gave them the three (yes three) codes that made up the £180. It helped to have the military alphabet open in another window so that I could go through each ten digit code!

So we are booked on the 1005 ferry out of Dover on the P&O Pioneer and back two weeks later on Liberte. So that's Claire, me and of course Reggie in the pet lounge both ways for £258 less the £180.