When we travel to Europe we usually opt to take the ferry to either Calais or Dunkirk, depending on our destination.
Though a bit longer than the tunnel, we like being able to get out of the car and let our children let off a bit of steam.
The ferry crossing is usually the start of a long car journey so it really helps if we let our children out for a bit of free play.
Every ferry we have travelled on has had a soft play section or small play area.
The play areas wildly vary and even within in the same ferry company they can be totally different so it really is just luck.
One time we even had a children’s entertainer on board!
Depending on your ferry company you can also sometimes get some free activities or crafts for your children.
This can be as simple as complimentary colouring pages or once we got a little pirate kit with crafts and build your own binoculars.
We always opt for the ferry over flying (if the destination is no further than 3 hours from the ferry crossing) because flying with toddlers can be stressful. Plus you can take more stuff if you drive.
As well as the best option for toddlers, the ferry crossing is also often the cheapest.
We don’t tend to choose a crossing time when our toddlers will be asleep as this will mean we are stuck in the car instead of being able to use the ferry facilities. Or dare I say it – wake the children (lightening clashes).
We usually leave our house earlier than usual to make the most of our first day of holiday and this also makes them a bit more tired so hopefully they will sleep for some of the journey from Calais.
We do, however, chose a time they would sleep if we take the tunnel because there is nothing to do. I would also chose the tunnel crossing for small babies as it is much quicker and they won’t need that time to run around.
As the crossing time is quite short we really do just pitch up near the soft play and let them run around.
I used to pack the children’s things to keep them occupied but it is a pain trying to carry toys on top of the toddlers (and duty free wine) up and down the plenty of stairs on a ferry. Don’t count on the lift as you will have to wait ages. For this reason we don’t even take the pram on deck.
We also rarely eat because it is expensive, and we really just want to utilise this time to let the children get all of their energy out before the long journey ahead. But we do pack snacks as when does a toddler not require snacks.
After using the ferry several times and finding out what works best for our children we can now often do a 3 hour journey from Calais and our toddlers sleep for most of it.
I hope this was useful for your next holiday and that you can take some of the advice, feel free to contact me here if you have any other questions about the ferry crossing with toddlers.