Club Site Vouchers
There have been many threads over the years about the benefits, or otherwise, of Camping Cheques. My personal experience is that the purchase of cheques as part of an ITX package has given us very substantial savings-this year over £300 on the BF price.
Many comments have been made about why Camping Cheques are not for some but one that gets mentioned is that the sites available are not suitable, and as most know the choice has been diminishing so it is interesting to see how the introduction of the Clubs site vouchers will be viewed.
I have seen comments that the price is high but as other have said in other threads it is all relative. For example there are sites in Switzerland that can now be used with the vouchers which would suit us. Our stays at Trologot would be slightly more but in reality the additional cost of buying 4 vouchers as opposed to 5 cheques is just £8.05.
So what would the price comparison be? We always start our research by looking at the prices for a BF crossing from Plymouth to Roscoff both ways on the Pont Aven which means Thursday night out Sunday morning back. Looking at prices across a range of options I notice that BF prices for next year are lower but the prices below are for a crossing as described with a 2 berth inside cabin outbound on the same crossings as we used this year.
Brittany Ferries £433
Direct Ferries £573
Caravan Club £433
Club with 4 vouchers £312.17 (£400.50 total)
This makes the cost of the ferry £120.83 less than the next cheapest option so for many people this may make a crossing the have not considered attractive and this shows that when planning we need to keep our options open, not assume anything and check-check and check again.
Comments
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Allan, Your figures surprise me.
I have quotes from the Club for exactly the Plymouth ferry crossings you mention (7 June out and 24 June back) and the return prices with a cabin outwards are £428 without vouchers and £479 with four vouchers. So £51 extra to have the four vouchers for those dates.
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I suspect that David might be right about Camping Cheques. Perhaps not going out of business but being a shadow of their former selves. If they decide to go completely electronic where does that leave the options for ITX fares? Probably why the Club have introduced their own cheques as a way of maintaining that offer. I think the next five to ten years is going to be very interesting as there will be many changes in how we do things that will affect us and our hobby. Far bigger changes that we have seen in the past 40 years?
David
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hi eurortraveller, the figures I quoted were obtained a few minutes before posting and are for a crossing on 17 May out and 17 June back, but thanks for helping make my point about checking!
I have also been looking at other potential trips in 2018 and find that on the Harwich-Hook there are no discounts obtained by getting vouchers, but then the price is only £135 anyway.
Looking at options for a possible trip to Portugal-inspired by AD-the cost options re Roscoff V Santander are getting harder to justify with Roscoff return on my dates, in April, being £329.70 as against £1055.40 for Santander.
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Hi David, yes looked at the options of Roscoff both ways, Santander both ways and one of each.We have done Roscoff out Santander back before but would probably do Santander out and Roscoff back this time which would be £660.10.
This makes it £330.40 more and I reckon on saving app £200 on fuel/sites/food so the net 'cost' is app £130. The last time we did this type of trip I think it was app £100 more so not a massive change for us now but years ago would have ruled it out.
It does seem,from yours and eurortravellers comments, that Roscoff crossings are attracting good discounts. If only they would bring back the Tuesday lunchtime crossing on the Pont Aven with a first night at Trologot I would be really happy!
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harryb - according to the Clubs Venture Abroad Brochure all the sites in the brochure bar two which are named will take the vouchers. One per night outside of July and August and two in those months. It will be interesting to see if the sites know about this next year as I have bought some myself!
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I have looked at this years brochure and if you take the basic "from" price as being the low out of season price then Night Vouchers at £21,95 are very expensive. All but one of the sites in the Aquataine and Brittany region are far lower than that by as much as 30+%.
As I asked in another earlier post. When comparing with the Venture Abroad brochure, camping cheques and ACSI how has the club pitched this price
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Hi harry, for me the price of the vouchers has to be compared to the price of the cheques as both are a necessary element of an ITX fare so, as I need to buy 4 vouchers as opposed to 5 Cheques to get the ITX then that is an extra cost for of just £8.05. If I then pay the maximum of €19 for the night not covered by the vouchers by using my ACSI card that puts the additional cost up to app £25. For this investment I get a saving of £120 so I am £95 in pocket.
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Hi All
Bit late to this discussion but just had quote on P&O web site going out Hull to Rotterdam 27th May returning Zeebrugge to Hull 8th July £463.
CMC web site coming out at £480.88.
Rang overseas dept today to price match ended up with better deal without using price match.
£435.40 including 5 nights campsites or 4 site vouchers
£437.35 including 5 camping cheques.
Taken camping cheques as might give me more flexibility of where I use. In any event saved money on original ferry prices.
Seems best plan is to get an idea of prices using websites but then make phone call to club. Lady was very efficient and helpful with all the options.
Just need to look on Camping Cheque website and see if any sites take them on my tour.
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Wouldn't the crossing from Harwich save you hundreds of pounds? I know it is probably a bit further to get to from Cheshire but even if you stayed on a CL for a night it should produce a significant saving. Obviously it's up to you and your own preferences but just wondered why you've discounted Harwich.
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David, How does about £160 sound? Last time we went, last year at the end of April it cost £130 return, car, caravan and 2 adults, day crossings each way. We stayed on the same CL near to Harwich for £13 per night, so total would be nearly £160.
Not sure what price is this year but would have thought it would be a consideration at least.
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BTW - We make the trip from Mold, M6 onto A14 straight to Harwich. Tiring, agreed, but we find anything over 150 miles tiring. We can recover on the ferry. Good idea to stay at Delft Houst for first night and try not to arrive on a weekday so as to avoid rush hour in Rotterdam.
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Thanks Valda for heads up on Camping Cheque website. Been looking on site which doesn't seem that user friendly. (too used to my ACSI app).
Wherenext as Deleted User User has said journey to Harwich from Cheshire not great.Hull is an easy 2 hour drive for us on a Sunday afternoon.We like to do overnight crossing as can then travel a good distance once disembarking. Just priced up Harwich on website for my dates overnight crossing £341.20 so about £90 cheaper but happy with that for easy UK journey.
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The Camping Cheque Website (new version) is dreadful, the number of sites taking them has reduced over the years and many of the sites are in the middle of no where (which I appreciate some will be quite happy with). I often wonder if the company behind them will go out of business one year. ACSI are a far better bet with choice but unfortunately does`nt discount the ferry fare. So all in all personally the clubs voucher is`nt such a bad deal, depending how and where you use them combined with a ferry.
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Hi, In regard to the Harwich crossing the prices for my outfit was £135 so a saving of almost £180.
It would also for us avoid quite a bit of toll roads and is only a few miles more than Dover but we only used it as we can visit family en route.
In regard to the overnight you can stop in the approach lanes, as we have, if that is suitable for your travel plans.
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