2. Buying your ferry tokens
There are plenty of Ticket Kiosks around the city, although the one that is pretty well famous these days is ‘Carlos’ from Agencie de Viajes on the Zone Commercial, just a mile out of Algeciras city. The coordinates for the Agency are (36.17932 -5.44126). Old man Carlos is the owner of the agency who still works in there. Well I say work, he generally creates chaos for his daughters who run the show.
You must travel to ‘Carlos’ and buy the tickets face to face, there is no online facility with their agency and they are significantly cheaper than on line ferry companies. You can park your van in Carrefour’s car park just across the road or in the street opposite the agency. Please bear in mind that Monday seems to be their busiest day. We had to queue out of the door for our second trip to Carlos, on a Monday. His agency is perfectly placed for last minute shopping with Carrefour and Lidl within walking distance and you are about 15 minutes driving time to the port.
Finally Carlos has brought his company into the 21st century and now you can pay by credit card. Although if you want to buy some Dirhams, which we suggest, then you must pay for these by cash. You are now only offered one ferry firm to sail with which is AML and based on our second trip experience they are far superior vessels to the FRS and Transmediterranea. AML offer six crossings 0230, 0630, 1030, 1430, 1830 and 2230. Our sailing in 2023 was €310 for a 7.5m motorhome and 2 adults. This has gone up from the 200€ we paid in 2020.
When you go to Carlos, you will need your V5 and passports and money, of course. Then you leave with your open ticket voucher, Immigration Entry Card and a free gift of wine and biscuits. And that’s it – all done in under 45 minutes depending on the day you arrive at Carlos.
Top Tips for your tickets
1. Take the early sailing – 0630. Given the reputation for ferry delays and Customs Checks in Tangier Med, we chose the early morning sailing on both visits to Morocco. Our thinking was, get on the first ferry and there will be no impact for backlog from previous ferry delays. Also when arriving in Morocco, there’s only one boat load of vehicles to deal with, so the process should be more efficient. You also guarantee landing in Morocco just about in the light, which if this is your first time and you have any apprehension, is sensible.
2. You don’t book a specific sailing. You receive a printed token and take it with you to the Check-in, at least one hour before your desired ferry departure. If the boat’s capacity has been reached you will be put on the next departing ferry. Although if you take the ‘red eye’ ferry as we did in 2023 at 0630 there will be very little traffic. There were just 100 vehicles and only five motorhomes.
3. Take enough cash to exchange into Dirhams. Carlos does have cash to exchange and it seems that now there is no limit to what you can buy. We bought just €100 of Dirham with a rate of €1=10MAD.
4. Don’t worry about not speaking Spanish. The admin team speak French and English, although old man ‘Carlos’ – the god of Morocco tickets – does not. Hand signals worked pretty well. He doesn’t work behind the desk though so don’t worry – his admin team area great.
5. Complete your Immigration Entry Card before boarding the ferry. This will save you time and stress when queuing up to get your passport stamped. Completion notes are in the next section.
6. Keep all your documents and tickets together. I know it might sound a patronising tip, although in the stress that inevitably comes with ferry embarkation, arriving in a new country and not knowing what is expected, having everything in one envelope keeps your sanity in check. And I talk from experience and Myles will back me up for sure.
7. If you are travelling with pets, please ensure that get an Animal Health Certificate valid for only 24 hours from a local vet. It will cost you around €110. This is on top of your required Certificate from your animal’s Titre test. For clarity over the pet situation, one of our Chat Room team went to the horse’s mouth and got a definitive response. This is the transcript. Hope it might help.
1. Can you confirm that if the blood sample is taken within the EU, we will be allowed to travel to Morocco and back within three months.
* To come back to the European Union, the animal must be (before leaving the European Union) identified with transponder + EU passport and vaccinated against rabbies.
It is necessary to have an antibody test for rabbies: the blood sample must be taken in the EU and sent to an approval lab and the result must be written in section VI of the passport by the vet of the animal.
If you follow the steps mentioned above you will not need to wait for 3 months in Morocco.
If the test is taken in Morocco, or outside the EU you have to stay there for three months from the date the blood sample is taken, before returning to Spain.
2. Do we need a health certificate to travel?
Yes. Please note that this health certificate must be issued within 24 hours by a local vet before your arrival in Morocco. In addition, after getting the health certificate, you must come to our office to get the final export certificate.