Terrible website for booking
The old format was a lot easier to use, but this new one is a load of rubbish and very frustrating to use.
Trying to select the dates was a hassle as could not scroll to the month and if I move the screen downwards the calendar disappeared and it was a real hassle to get it back up.
I had to click on my car length several times before it would accept the length. Then had to go through the same process for the height.
I managed to select a crossing which I thought was rather expensive, but it said that if I select 4 vouchers the crossing will be cheaper so did this only to find that the crossing I had selected had all the details wiped out and had to start again.
Maybe less frustrating to pay the extra and join the BF Voyage club? Very disappointed with CAMC and their booking website. Is it perhaps easy just to phone?
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There has been lots of complaints about it I'm afraid and its not got any better. I've now stopped booking through the club as its far to much hassle. If using BF I use a friends code and if using P&O I use Forces Travel as they usually give a better price.
The club tend not to listen to feed back it would appear they just merrily carry on.
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what a terrible indictment, but unfortunately it is true, I never book ferries etc via the club and use similar methods as yours, and i have to say when it came to getting refunds etc during the present crisis, it would appear to have been less hassle dealing direct with the likes of BF.
I sometimes wonder why i pay my membership fee, cant remember last time we used a club site in the UK, going overseas we always sort out our own sites, even using a club recommended site in Spain was less expensive just turning up than booking via the club, routes etc, the only good thing has been Red Pennant and the club were very quick to refund our monies this time when our planned trip to Spain was aborted.
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Hi All, this is a subject that has been aired bfore and I have a feeling of deja vu as the exact same post appeared on Caravan Talk earlier today!
I am aware that it depends on when you are going, the route and the outfit BUT for us the saving of a combined afre are in the hundreds of pounds every time we hve used it-Plymouth to Roscoff car an caravan.
After the poster on the other forum sid the price they were getting was over £700 I got the following quote 30 minutes ago;
Hi, just got a price for Portsmouth-Caen, usually the cheapest route, and it is for a 5mx1.8m car and a 7.3m van with 4 site vouchers as follows;
Portsmouth
03 Sep 20
14:45
Outbound
MONT ST MICHEL
Caen
03 Sep 20
21:30
Caen
27 Sep 20
08:30
Return
NORMANDIE
Portsmouth
27 Sep 20
13:15
Crossing: Deal available
Basket total: £252.80
If you take off the cost of the site vouchers the ferry cost is £165!
Yes, it is a fiddle, and can get frustrating, but having saved £437 on one trip I will keep using it.
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AandJ
I can agree with those prices. I nearly always use that route for France and have never bettered the club price. I don't understand where some of the BF quotes come from.
This year, going to Germany/Austria I used Stena to Hook of Holland and I got a price of £194.80 from the club. This was without vouchers. That, again, was a lot cheaper the going direct.
Alas that has been cancelled now
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It is a terrible indictment but as you say true.
We booked our ferry to Spain this year through BF direct (I think we were on the same one) I never had to contact them or anything. They got in touch with us, an email and refund voucher within days of them knowing the ferry was cancelled.
Some folk on here are still waiting for word from the club and they were travelling before us.
We still keep memberships going but rarely use club sites, they are to expensive and we prefer CL's.
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All well and good if they are the routes and the times that you want.
We have used just about every crossing at some point or other but we don't take a crossing at a time that doesn't suit us or a route for that matter.
The route you quoted above is one we have used but we are not keen on the arriving at Caen at 21.30 if it can be avoided.
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Hello Allan Guest, I did also mention on the CT website that we had a twin axle plus 3 dogs however although the price was mentioned, the price was not the big issue.
The big issue as per my OP on this forum was about using the website for the booking as found it very frustrating. It seems that every time the CMC "improve" the website, it gets very difficult to use.
Hence my question about either phoning CMC about a booking or joining BF Voyager Club.
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I find it really strange that when I book a crossing or a campsite I never have any problem with the system, prices etc.. When booking a crossing I always carry out three checks and the majority of the time the club gives me best value for money and never any hassle
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Hi Surfer, As I commented the site can be frustrating but must admit that I presumed the price was a significant issue.
I always phone to make the booking, after I have looked at the options, and that has been a mixed bag of results but it allows me to ask about any 'new' offers that may not be obvious.
So far as the Club Voyager membership is concerned I post below the text of a post I made last year as it will hopefully explain my reasons for not joining.
Also as you are aware there are quite a few kind souls willing to let others use their membership to get a small discount;
"Club Voyager costs £75 to join plus £75 annual fee so in year one it costs £150.
But as we don't want to make an unfair comparison lets discount this and see what the costs would be if it was 'free'.
You would get 'up to 30%' ,but lets assume it actually would be 30%. That gives a saving, on the BF price of £705, of £211.50 making the price £493.50.
The club ITX is £355.20, so a saving of £138.30 for us as we use the vouchers. If we didn't use them we would still be saving.
But ,don't forget this is all assuming that the Voyager Club was free and as it isn't you are still looking at a saving of £288.30 in year one and £213.30 every year after that by buying an ITX as opposed to Club Voyager were prices and discounts to continue as they are now.
There are other perks but for us the only one that would apply would be the 10% on restaurant prices so saving about £5-6
I see that as a fair and reasonable comparison, you may disagree, however, the aim was to simply pass on information that members could potentially benefit from."
I would presume that the cost saving, of over £500, that you could make by using the Caen route and going a day later would trump an awkward website?
One last point, some have seen the site vouchers as a negative as they can be more expensive that a similar ACSI, for example, site but even if you do not use the vouchers, which we always do, you still make a massive saving.
The other option is to book sites, rather than vouchers which is often a few pounds cheaper but even if you save say £5 a site that's only saving £20 over using the site vouchers.
As I said elsewhere lets hope this is a problem we have as it means we can get away!
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Thanks Alan. As mentioned it is also the length that is a factor. On the BF website I can adjust so that it is under 13m but cannot on CMC website as it always comes to over 13m thus increasing the price.
IMHO they need to get a new designed in for the booking website. I did try it last year but as we have a twin axle I had to phone in so gave up. Previously no issue with booking a twin axle using the CMC website and was able to adjust the overall length of the combined outfit.
Seems every time they do an "improvement" on the website members have hassles afterwards. I am using the latest version of FF and do not have an issue doing the booking on the BF website.
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fwiw ...
When there is calm seas cheerfully maybe saving some money via the two clubs is helpful but there can be risk using a third party agency.
When the water is choppy or rough :- Delays, breakdowns, Port diverts, dog cabins or kennels needed, cancellations, refunds, out of hours or weekend contact ?, re-arranging crossings or lastly the latest CV19 travel fiasco & switchboard chaos.
Eurotunnel direct booking with Eurotunnel prevails for me. Not perfect of course.
Never never again booking through either woeful CMC or CCC.
M
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We are not keen on arriving at 21.30 either, so don't use that crossing.
Where possible we prefer an overnight crossing but that's mainly because we have a long way to travel from Scotland so rather than staying on a site and taking a day ferry, we travel during the day and sleep on the ferry.
When arriving at 21.30 in Caen most folk stay at the campsite there, it stays open for the late ferry but its advisable to book a pitch. The site is called Riva Bella and is in the Acsi book.
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Hi damo, this was an attempt to help Surfer see the possible savings so I had no other plans in mind however, we have done this crossing man years ago and stayed Hautes Coutures.
If it suits our destination, and sometimes even when it doesn’t, we use Plymouth- Roscoff overnight on a Thursday as this is on the Pont Aven and sails at 2030 so not too late to enjoy the lovely restaurant.
This crossing is also £100 cheaper than Friday morning so even after paying for a cabin you are in pocket and get all of Friday to travel.
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Edit:think we may have stayed at Riva Bella-a long time ago and very late!
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There is a MH aire adjacent to the harbour and several others within a twenty minute drive as well.
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As said the crossing is not a problem, the problem seems to lie with the CMC website for booking i.e. if selecting car length I have to select it several times to get it to lock onto the selected length plus some other quirks.
I have now used the website several times to familiarise myself with it and besides the selection issue I would not class it as user friendly.
However all plans for visiting France in September went out the window last night after OH spoke with SIL who has now filled OH with fear and dread. She is now adamant that we will not go to France no matter what!
To say I am annoyed is an under statement!
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I found the Club's ferry booking website easier than Brittany Ferries when booking a motorhome.
Brittany Ferries have brought in a ridiculous change which cross references the registration number against the dimensions of the vehicle. As almost every coach built motorhome is larger than the donor vehicle, the website stops the booking process and you have to then ring Brittany Ferries instead.
No such problems on the Club site - and it was cheaper
John
PS The ferry has since been cancelled and I'm still waiting for a travel voucher.
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