About your booking

You can book direct with us online or by telephone. You can also book via travel agents or ticket vendors, who have a special arrangement with us. You are welcome to contact us to verify if a certain company is one of our suppliers.

When booking with us you will need to inform us of the full name and date of birth of all the individual passengers travelling on the booking. All names must be in accordance with each individual’s passport or valid photo ID card. It is at all times the passenger’s responsibility to supply us with the correct name and date of birth.

If booking a return crossing with a different number of passengers on each leg of the journey please get in touch with us to make your booking.

When booking by phone or in person, you must pay a service fee of; £5/€5 on Dover-Dunkirk & Calais routes and £10/€12.50 for short breaks (such as mini cruises & hotel breaks), £30/€35 for tailor made holidays, and £20/€25 for crossings with a vehicle and all other bookings on our overnight routes. No service fee will be charged when booking our Newhaven-Dieppe route.

The products which can be booked through our website can also be booked by phone through our customer service.

When booking by phone or in person, you must pay a service fee of; £5/€5 on Dover-Dunkirk & Calais routes and £10/€15.00 for short breaks (such as mini cruises & hotel breaks), £30/€35 for tailor made holidays, and £20/€25 for crossings with a vehicle and all other bookings on our overnight routes. No service fee will be charged when booking our Newhaven-Dieppe route.

Payment of journeys and other products must be made when you book unless otherwise noted. The confirmation advice is only valid in combination with the credit or debit card used for payment and, therefore, you have to bring that credit or debit card with you to check-in.

The booking is only binding with DFDS when payment has been received. You can pay with selected credit / debit cards and online payment methods.

There are many different reasons why your card payment may have been declined, we do not have access to information regarding your card and cannot see why a transaction has been declined. Please ensure that the card details are entered correctly, and that you have sufficient funds in your account to make the payment. If you are still having problems, you may need to contact your card issuer.

In the first instance you should double check your online account here before creating a new reservation with DFDS as a booking may have been generated.

Online debit/credit card payments can be declined for the following reasons:

• Entering incorrect card details including card number and CVV code.
• Incorrect Card validity dates
• The 3D security password been entered incorrectly
• The card provider has rejected the payment request.
• Your bank may flag any unexpected activity on your account.
• Billing address entered correctly.

Sometimes online card payments can be pre-authorised but it is then rejected by our payment system automatically, the transaction is voided for a number of reasons.

You will receive notification that your payment has been unsuccessful. In these circumstances, you will find after checking with your bank that the funds have been authorised for payment from your account. However, in this situation DFDS has not received any payment due to a rejected transaction. The monies are therefore frozen by your payment card and then it is automatically returned to your payment account within 3-5 working days.

If your monies are not returned to your payment card within 5 working days, please contact our customer service department. We will require your card number together with the transaction ID from your bank and their email address. This will enable us to contact your bank requesting to pre-authorise the release of the frozen funds back to your payment card account.

The confirmation advice is your travel document, which you should take with you to the departure terminal at the port. The confirmation advice gives you entitlement to transport with DFDS and other services ordered. No other separate document will be issued. All vouchers will be issued at the port of departure.

Please note, that it is your responsibility to check that all information on the confirmation advice is correct.

Booking confirmation emails typically arrive within about 30 minutes, but sometimes take longer depending which email provider you use.

Please check your Spam, Trash, Junk or Bulk email folders for the booking confirmation email. Some email providers occasionally incorrectly divert legitimate emails to these folders.

If you have not received a booking confirmation email, please visit your account here and download a copy of your booking confirmation.

You have the opportunity to cancel certain types of bookings via our website, or by telephoning us direct.

The rules for cancellations made by you may vary depending on the travel category as categorised in the booking terms and in any event subject to availability.

Upon cancellation of packages and other travel arrangements, such as for example ferry bookings or Mini Cruises, you will incur charges (“cancellation charges”) on a scale related to the period of notice given to us. Any refund to which you are entitled on the cancellation of your booking will be subject to a deduction for cancellation charges.

You have the opportunity to change certain types of bookings via our website, or by telephoning us direct.

The rules for changes made by you may vary depending on the travel category as categorised in the booking terms and in any event subject to availability

Should changes to the booking reduce the value of the booking then the original cost is still valid.

Changes in the route, date, time, passenger numbers or vehicle type for non promotional fares will result in any increase in price from the original fare and the fare applicable on the day you make the amendment being charged plus an amendment fee.

You are unable to make changes to your booking online once the journey has commenced. To change any parts of your booking whilst travelling, please contact us on live chat or for Dover-France or Newcastle-Amsterdam bookings call 0344 848 6090 and for Newhaven-Dieppe bookings call 0800 917 1201.

You have the opportunity to change certain types of bookings via our website or by telephoning us direct.

Changes in the route, date, time, passenger numbers or vehicle type for non promotional fares will result in any increase in price from the original fare and the fare applicable on the day you make the amendment being charged plus an amendment fee.

Route	Name Change	All Other Changes
Dover - Dunkirk/Calais	None	£20.00
Newcastle - Amsterdam, Copenhagen - Oslo and Baltic Sea	£10.00	£20.00
Newhaven - Dieppe	£10.00	£10.00

Flexi fares are available on our Dover-Dunkirk & Calais routes. They offer an attractive fare with greater flexibility, should your plans change. Flexi fares include the following flexibility:

• Depart on any sailing within 72hrs either side of your booked crossing for no additional costs on arrival at the port, subject to availability.
• No administration fees – only pay the difference in fare price to travel more than 72 hours either side of the booked crossing.
• Fully refundable if cancelled 48hrs or more prior to departure (upon written request to Customer Services Cancellation).

We do not recommend that pregnant women who are in week 34 or more travel with us. After that date, DFDS will be entitled to ask for a medical certificate demonstrating fitness to travel.

We recommend that pregnant passengers obtain travel insurance that provides for appropriate cover in case of complications. Be aware that there may be limitations in the insurance coverage for the later period before the date of birth. It is your responsibility to stay informed as to whether you are covered by travel insurance or not. DFDS do not assume responsibility for this.

Travel Insurance

Our travel insurance can be added on to your booking for our Newcastle Amsterdam - Copenhagen - Oslo route during the booking process online.

DFDS travel insurance is arranged by Voyager Insurance Services Ltd on behalf of Allianz Global Assistance (underwritten by AWP P&C SA and is administered in the United Kingdom by Allianz Global Assistance. Allianz Global Assistance is a trading name of AWP Assistance UK Ltd).

Voyager Insurance Services Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

DFDS Newcastle Limited is an appointed representative of ITC Compliance Limited which is authorised and regulated by the FCA (their registration number is 313486) and which is permitted to advise on and arrange general insurance contracts.

These details can be checked on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website at www.fca.org.uk/register.

Find out more here.

European Car Breakdown Assistance

Most motor breakdown assistance covers the UK only and does not cover you abroad. To travel abroad, customers will need to take out ‘European Vehicle Assistance Cover’ to ensure that they are fully covered in the event that they breakdown or have any motor related difficulties whilst outside of the UK, available on our Newcastle to Amsterdam route.

Find out more here.

DFDS always listens to passenger feedback and we recognise that it is valuable in helping us in improving our services.

In the unlikely event that a problem cannot be resolved on board or at the destination itself, and you feel that you have reason to complain, then you are welcome to contact our customer services by phone or in writing.

We ask you to contact us within a reasonable time after discovering the problem and no later than 2 months after the journey took place or where the service should have been performed.

You can send your complaint to our customer service via email: uk.customercare@dfds.com.

When submitting your complaint please write your booking confirmation number in the subject line of the email and advise us of your day and evening telephone numbers. In this way we are able to investigate the matter fully and get back to you as quickly as possible.

For more information please download a copy of our complaints procedure below.

Read our Booking Terms & Conditions here.