2020 Ferry Cost Comparison
A couple of days ago saw a link, on another forum, to a ferry booking site that had an offer for Newhaven to Dieppe crossings.
I sent this to our MH friends, who have used this route for their last two trips abroad, and then decided to have a look at what my usual, Plymouth to Roscoff route came out at for 2020.
As mentioned in another thread BF will be releasing there prices very soon so looked at a return crossing out 2/4/20 and back 19/4/20, which are on the Pont Aven,with a two berth inside cabin going out.
France Ferry Bookers/Ferry Direct is £585
BF direct is £480
Club is £325.60 with 4 site vouchers
Take off the value of the vouchers, we have always used ours, and it is then £237.80.
Comments
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Alan, nice to see the caravan/MH differential is alive and well in 2020..
Pont Aven price, same dates for us (6.4m, about half your unit length) is £500...and, of course, no vouchers.
our usual Poole-Cherbourg rout, same dates, is £334.
perhaps i just need to say we are a 'caravan'
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Even from Plymouth there are too many variables - for instance to go across for a week later this month before winter sets in - the Club ferry price is £49 dearer with 4 site vouchers than it is without them. But at other dates the vouchers do reduce the ferry price. And at other times my 30% Club Voyage discount plus free breakfast on the way out and free day cabin on the way back really kicks in. Too many variables altogether.
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It certainly does pay to do your homework when it comes to ferries.
We are looking at going back 'over there' at the end of the month.
This time however it will be the longer ferry to Bilbao. There is little to no difference between either of the clubs prices or that of BF.
However with a nice 10% discount from a 'friend' the price with BF is some 60€ less than the clubs.
I always shop around when it comes to ferries (much as anything else) but it does have to be a' bargain' for us to travel from some of the ports. I always work out the costs of fuel, overnights stops, and the timings of the ferry. Of course 'where' the ferry goes into is also taken into account. There is no point in us getting a ferry to say Caen, if we are going to the Alsace.
We have in the past used, Hull, Dover, Portsmouth and Plymouth. Returning Dunkirk, Calais, Caen, Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. Some of these we have been fortunate to get an ITX fare using Camping Cheques and now Night Vouchers.
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Thanks Tammy, and sorry to read your sad news last week, but I don't know many B&Bs in Brittany which accept the vouchers. .
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me too, i just assumed from to op that the new prices had been released.
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Hi All, sorry for any confusion but I did say this quote was for a crossing in April and BF prices would be released soon.
I have looked just now and the BF website says summer 2020 now available but have been unable to get a price, I presume its just too much traffic for their site.
In regard to the vouchers yes they have to be used on sites in the clubs overseas brochure and yes we are lucky as that includes sites that we have always used,but even if you were to discount the vouchers then, on this route at least, you will still make a saving.
In the past there have been posts re the disparity between car & caravan and MH prices but, so far as I can see this is due to sailings where the caravan goes free and that's down to BF not the club.
All the offers from the club are at;
https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/overseas-holidays/book-a-crossing/ferry-offers/
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Hi euror, yes many variables but so rewarding when you get through them and achieve a substantial saving!
We have considered the Club Voyage option but, on this route over several years now, it cannot match an ITX from the club.
The cost of this using Club Voyage, assuming a 30% discount, would be £336 which is more than the ITX but then you have to pay £75 for Club Voyage making the cost £411 against £237.80.
I have no doubt that there will be times CV pays off but for us with our usual route and times the clubs has consistently been far, far cheaper.
Have now tried several times and the BF site is struggling.
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Just been looking at fares for Portsmouth - Santander out 23rd May. Ouistreham - Portsmouth return 4th July. Car, caravan 6.5m and 2 adults.
Brittany Ferries £490, out £295 return £195
Club with 4 night vouchers £645.30
So even if taking off the site vouchers at £87.80 that leaves the club ferry price at £557.50
I have used the club's ITX fares for years and have never known anyone beat them. So what's gone wrong here. I'm hoping that as this is the release date of fares then the ITX fares haven't filtered through yet.
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Harry, The Club price includes a basic two berth overnight cabin for the journey to Spain. For your Brittany Ferries quoted price that will be an add on extra - £85 I think, but check.
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ET
Thanks for that. I've been back onto the Brittany site and the prices above are for a van up to 6m. This is a default setting which I missed. My van is in the band 'up to 7m' which adds another £55 to the figures above. Before I could check the cabin price the web site crashed so I will leave it until tomorrow.
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Hi Harry, just done price check and BF is £670 and club £586 with 4 vouchers so ferry cost is £499.
My likely trip Plymouth to Roscoff return with cabin going out is £650 with BF and just £320 with the club making the ferry £232
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it looks like A and J BF direct price of £480 isnt much different from our £500 other than their unit is twice as long....
ive mailed BF to ask why the discrimination as we pay twice as much per metre..
moving on to CC, even if they cant provide the same level of savings on the fare itself (why not?) they could at the least offer the same vouchers to MH as they do to Caravanners....theres no need for any discrinination there....why should caravans get a huge discount AND some addition vouchers?
i will be reporting this post and writing to the club to see what their view is
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BB I do wonder at times if any of these companies look at the charges.
I've noticed that on a car/caravan booking that if you choose the over 1.85cm height of a car it can add another £30 - 50 to the price.
WHY the caravan is well over 2m (2.6m in our case) so that determines what deck you go on, the height of the car (when towing) should not make any difference, its not like they unhitch you and put the car on a different deck lol.
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AD, i do agree with you and the vouchers may not be as useful as seems, however there might be one or two sites we visit that are on the list.....but its the discrimination thats annoying with nonreasonable explanation available.
ive emailed the club regarding the voucher issue.
TG, i wholehearted agree with you, totally bonkers....how can a few inches on a car make a difference when the caravan towers over it?
...and how can a caravan unit 13m long be half the price of a 6.5m MH?
no doubt answers to these and other questions will be revealed shortly
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Best of luck with your emails BB.
As to the vouchers we have 4 that we got with an ITX fare earlier this year.
We were keeping them to use in Spain this Autumn (not worth it in France as their sites are so reasonable)
Turns out that many of the sites that are in the C&MC overseas brochure will not accept them, waste of time getting them unless like AD says they make the ferry cheaper.
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Do you need to book night vouchers to get ITX rates. I think you can book 4 nights at a site/sites instead. I had a Roscoff booking a few years ago and booked fours nights at a site near the ferry port as a stay before my return. The site price I believe was €16 per night so cheaper than vouchers
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got a reply from CC...still talking
something must have changed in the past three days because i tried the same search on the same route/dates and the price came down to £427 and it added in the vouchers without asking for them...
£500 and no vouchers on previous attempt.
odd.
the other thing i dont know is how do folk know which routes are being discounted...is there a table with specific days, routes, times etc?
without this, one could spend ages trying different options.
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