Portsmouth-Caen ferry costs......is it me?
Thought it was time to get the ferry sorted for our annual 3 week jaunt to France next September.
We went Portsmouth-Caen last year so thought we would try it again.
Brittany Ferries direct price was £424.
Caravan Club was £364 but with 3 Camping Vouchers INCLUDED, the price came down to £292.65!!
Now, I acknowledge that since retirement, my brain works slower than before. BUT, how can this strange pricing structure work? I naturally booked it with the 3 vouchers (must be worth £60??) .
IIRC, it was the same strange pricing structure last year.
Is it just me?
Comments
-
No - that's how it works! Buying Camping Cheques (or sites) means that rather than just booking a ferry, you are buying a 'package' of accommodation and ferry, which gives you access to an ITX fare (Independent Tour Excursion). In your case the additional cost of the cheques brings down the ferry element by more than the cost of the cheques.
Take advantage whilst you can! Spend the saving on enjoying your holiday!
Incidentally, if you can't use the Camping Cheques there are always people who will buy them from you.
0 -
Its brilliant. We have the same package as harryb for May and again in August but that is about £30 dearer. As I am not always a good traveller we splurge out and have a cabin on the 14.45pm ferry so we can get our heads down for a couple of hours in comparative
peace.0 -
Harry, if you book on the phone it's a minimum of three to get the ITX deal but you have to ask for seven to get the prices and/or book on the website. We always did this as we used seven with no problem but now book over the phone as it's also, when we
did it earlier this year, cheaper as well by a few pounds.0 -
Sadly this wonderful offer is not available to motorhomers
Harry, there is/was a note on the ferry page that says only 3 cheques required if you phone in, it was also discussed sometime ago on a thread on CT, but its a wate of time looking for it.
0 -
........ and people think shopping on the internet is easy. Well maybe it is but not with the Caravan Club. Why when you want to do something associated with the club web site is it so difficult. They tell you to book ferries and cheques ON LINE in a big
red box. Your attention has now been drawn to this so you click to open. WRONG, you should always read the small print as the saying goes because if you carry on reading before you click it shows a link to camping cheques in red followed by “phone this number”
but what about the link in red, after all it does say camping cheques, so your click on it. Hey presto it opens up a new page this time with a bright green link to "Buy Camping Cheques And A Ferry Crossing". click to open. sorry you can now only buy 7 cheques.
So you've gone round and round and got nowhere. Like I said, it’s so difficult.So why is it that you can buy three cheques + ferry over the phone but book on line and you have to buy seven.
Also isn’t there supposed to be an offer on camping cheques where you pay for 6 and get 7. Can’t find that either.
Perhaps Hazel can explain,
0 -
It's a simple 'fix' in the software of the website, and almost any numpty could do it. The 'field' which is set to take the number of Camping Cheques has been 'set' with a minimum value of 7, and so it won't accept less. It would take seconds with normal
web software to change the minimum value to three, and save the changes, but no doubt for the Caravan Club website people it will prove much more difficult.0 -
It's even more murky and muddled.
We tell each other about the mystery pricing of bargain basement ITX ferry fares - the Club never does. Ever seen an explanatory article in the magazine about them?
So the ordinary punter goes on line and gets a quote for a ferry fare and clicks buy now - not knowing that adding in some wretched unwanted cheques might get him/ her a better fare - on certain routes. Does
the website flag that up? Does the club flag it up? Is he told which routes and which times and what the alternative prices are? Or are many members left in ignorance year after year unless they prod and click around the clunky website to find out for themselves
by trial and error? Or we tell them about it.0 -
Its not just the ferries and ITX fares. When we returned to overseas touring 5 years ago we booked our last night site at Chateau de Ganspette through the club, I think it cost us £32, why didn't they advise us about cc's it would have been half that. We
have found out lots of very useful information on CT, so a big thank you to all who regularly post the same information, it must get frustrating yet you do it with good will. We find we are still learning from others on here.0 -
Whilst not an 'answer' to the questions above I believe that the onus is on the individual to check,check and check again. I try to get the best deals and this means that I check both the internet based prices AND call to confirm and ask if there are any
offers my preferred route OR any other suitable routes depending in my plans. I also stress that I am flexible and ask for the best prices around my travel dates. I then compare the info before finally making my booking.This year over the phone got the best ITX deal with BF and 3 Camping Cheques,the operator made me aware of the 7 for 6 offer though.
Last year we were looking at Dover routes but Harwich was cheaper so booked that as it suited our plans.
0 -
Morning Harry
Sorry I have not replied sooner, but I have been out of the office for two days.
From the camping cheque page
here there is heading at the top of the page "Camping Cheque Offer" if you click on this the following
page gives details of the 7 for 6 offer.I completely agree that the offer should be on the Camping Cheque page and I have passed this on to the digital department.
0 -
Hazel - I'm afraid I can't see anywhere to click to take me to an offer of 7 for 6 cheques, and unfortunately the information given on the page you link to isn't correct. It still states 7 cheques have to be purchased (which we know is actually only 3) and this is in two separate places on the page.
Perhaps you need some of us eagle eyed sleuths to proof read some of the web pages before they are published.
.0
