Club Site Voucher Savings
Due to awaiting a hospital stay we were unable to book our ferry till this week for a holiday in August, which is unusual for us as we usually holiday from mid May to mid June.
I was expecting to pay a significant ammount, which in comparison to the ususal price it is BUT taking a deal with vouchers makes a significant difference.The price booking direct with BF is;
Outbound Sailing
Vehicle and Passengers 479.00 GBP
Inside large 2 berth/4 berth cabin with ensuite facilities 1
89.00 GBP
Return Sailing
Vehicle and Passengers 450.00 GBP
Total 1018.00 GBP
The price with the club is £690 for ferry only but with 4 vouchers is;
Outfit Detail: Car Up to: 5.00m / 1.80m
Caravan Up to: 7.50m / 2.70m
Passengers: 3 Adults, 1 Child
EXTRAS
4 x Overseas Site Night Vouchers Card Number:
Booking Total £579.18
If you take off the voucher cost then the club price for the ferry is £491.38 saving £526.32
I have seen comment that vouchers are expensive compared to ACSI but with savings of this magnitude they seem to be a very resonable replacement for the defunct camping cheques and also appear to be accepted at a far greater variety of sites than cheques.
Comments
-
Hi TG, I should of course have mentionned that it was the Plymouth-Roscoff crossing! This route does seem to consistently attract good discounts by way of the caravn going free.
I seem to recall thatyou have commentd on the lack of similar discounts for MH and wonder if that is linked to the 'new caravan and car'?!
0 -
But basically good advice from Allan and Jean - thank you.
I always wonder why the Club doesn't publicise these potential savings on some crossings more forcefully - or allow members to see website ferry prices with these vouchers as well as without them, and make the comparison for themselves.
It seems we have to phone the Travel Desk and negotiate days, dates, times and routes in order to get the full picture of fares.
Any movement on this for next season, Rowena?
0 -
Basically yes, AD, but trawling through this website reveals 15 exceptions - sites in Venture Abroad where they can't be used.
And I have never found a way to get an on- line ferry price with these new vouchers added in.
We really are groping in the dark with this one and not getting much help from head office unless we phone.
0 -
Ah.. yes! Thanks.
0 -
I'm just not understanding the cost of these vouchers at £21.95 which works out about £5 more than the dearest ACSI price. Every site we used this year is in the said brochure and at the time we were there there wasn't one of the sites prices anywhere near the voucher price and also the brochure price was cheaper in the majority of cases. One site I used from the brochure was from £13.89 so why would you need a site night voucher.
Am I missing something.
0 -
Err yes-the £526 saving!
I have used Camping Cheques for many years and whilst sad at their demise, our favourite site was a Cheques site, the main reason for using them was to access the ITX fares packages.
ACSI for all its benefits does not do that and the fact that vouchers does is a big plus for members. I know that the route that I use, Plymouth-Roscoff, seems to be particularly discounted and of course will not appeal to many but I do believe that there are also many who would discount the longer sea routes if unaware of the savings that could be made.
Just to confirm the prices are for the same crossing with a cabin and I was surprised to find that the first price that showed included the cabin as my experience has been that you get the crossing price and then have to add the cabin.
Doing a quick check there are more sites that I would potentially use with vouchers than there were with Cheques and, using Harry’s £5 price difference, with the minimum 4 Cheques I bought it has cost me £20 to access a saving of £526
0 -
Should have mentioned that, as I always do, I got a price online then called the travel service. I like to talk through the details as a check and also wanted to confirm that Cheques are indeed no more.
0 -
David did you add 4 vouchers £87.50? it requires 4 for the discount.
The crossing I was checking out was
Plymouth Roscoff out, return Santander Portsmouth. The ply - Ros return is also good value.
Total cost for car, caravan, 2 adults + inside 4 berth cabin 1 way and outside 4 berth other way + 4 vouchers came to £663.10 or £780.50 without vouchers. Brittany Ferry fare £823.00
So as the OP said a big saving taking the vouchers.
allanandjean, no nothing to do with the price of ferries making us change
although the Dover Calais route (which we don't normally use) is twice the price with a caravan opposed to the MH, most of the BF routes work out cheaper through the club. Hull ones can be eye watering with a caravan unless you get a 'special' deal MH's don't seem to get them on that route but the price is usually good if you travel Monday-Thursday. I did notice that some sailings were not available through the club but were available on the BF site, if I had wanted one of these I would phone the club to check it.
Edit: meant to say the route I was looking at with caravan would cost £758.68 with the MH
0 -
Harry, A quick check ( now that AD has taught me how to do it ) shows that I can buy a Plymouth/ Roscoff return in September from this Club ( car + caravan + 2) for £343. If I add 4 of the Club vouchers to make a package the price will also be £343 so I would graciously accept them.
Both prices were without adding in cabin costs and were the cheapest I found - but every day and every ferry time was different.
Brittany Ferries themselves are asking £424 return for the same crossing dates - without any vouchers of course .
0 -
Alan and Jean & ET
Yes I can accept what you are saying and it does sound logic when explained like that.. 4 NV's are £87.80 but under the old CC's system you had to buy a minimum of 5 so just about an equal price
I also note the ITX fares can be gained by using the club to book a site for 4 nights instead of cheques. So there may be benefit of doing it that way and then still using ACSI for the remainder of the holiday.
The last time I bought CC's was last year at £16.95 now I note the cost is between €16 & €19 so a bit disappointed that the club have pitched their price so high.
0
