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Hi,  Our thoughts are already turning towards next summer, if we have one , and we fancy a couple of weeks on the isle of Wight.

We know that you can get all inclusive deals for sites to include the ferry crossing, and we also know you can use Tesco Clubcard points to get deal vouchers for the Wightlink ferry's.

The question is which works out the cheaper , has anyone any experience of travelling using either of these and if so what is the cost in peak season.

Any comments greatly appreciated, I have looked online but the ferry company's don't advertise prices so far in advance.

Thanks

Ray

Sorry just to clarify this is a price for car and caravan the van is 7.06m long.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/reviews.asp?revid=1730

We used Southlands in the last two weeks of September 2007 and let the site arrange the ferry as part of their package for us (using Soton) - I did calculate separate site and ferry costs (Red Funnel I think?) and the package via Southlands worked out about £30 cheaper (not huge but less hassle). 

As we were out of the main season, it may be a different ball game for you, but even if you only save the admin worry, it may be worth just letting the site handle it?  

We have travelled to the Island during August and used our tesco vouchers.  Its really easy to do and only takes a few minutes and worth it as we dont actually pay out what really is a lot extra to your holiday. 

If I remember rightly its about November that they have next years prices.  You do have to ring up to book and the price may differ slightly to the internet price. 

I think its also cheaper if you travel early in the morning or late at night, did find some offers like that by browsing their website.

Good luck

Hi Ray

We went to IOW first 2 weeks in june & got a really good deal including ferry, beware if you are travelling from Portsmouth we arrived early & there's nowhere to park, the carpark across the rd is small & was full & the cost after 20mins was a ridiculous price, also we had to leave our hol 3 days early & when we asked at reception about changing ferries they quoted a £30 admin charge, got on to whightlink direct & they changed it no problem & no fee. Always handy to know!!

Enjoy your hol.  Linda

Many thanks for all your information so far,

We do intend to travel mid week as this is usually is far quieter and cheaper than weekends.

hopefully we will have collected enough in tesco vouchers to go a long way towards paying for the ferry crossing, as you quite rightly say even though you are paying for it, using the vouchers it seems like your not.

I think it will be from Portsmouth as the tesco vouchers are to use with Wightlink ferrys so that restricts the options somewhat.

just have to decide on where to stay now.

Quote: Originally posted by Ray R on 23/9/2008

.........just have to decide on where to stay now.

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We have been several times and our fave site is Ninham. We have always found it works out cheaper to book the ferry ourselves but this is because we dont mind travelling on an early ferry therefore getting the cheaper prices.

We have a trailer so get stung for that on the ferry. We have always found Red Funnel cheaper than WIghtlink.  This year I tried to book Wightlink using my Tesco vouchers but felt ripped off so didnt use them (have sent them back to Tesco to be turned back into points).  In August Wightlink wanted £165 (i had £100 of Tesco vouchers) and Red Funnel wanted £108. I preferrd to pay the £108 of my own money and save my points for something else.

The ferry companies rarely have offers for longer breaks (over 4 nights). We have found playing with the Redfunnel website and choosing the saver fare and playing with the ferry times. We usually find it cheaper to travel on a Sunday. We once got a 6am Ferry as it was so cheap but now usually opt mid range and get the 8am ferry. It can save loads. Once you get to 10am the fare rise. When we travel home we usually book a later ferry usually 9pm and again this is alot cheaper. We actually usually get an earlier one - they just let us on if we turn up earlier but this cannot be guaranteed.

Hope this helps.

Agree with emvid1, we found Red funnel cheaper than Wightlink.

But when you're ready to book, go online and play around with the times and if you're flexible the dates too. I found that by going out at 7pm on Friday (peak season) was much cheaper than going at 6pm. In fact it actually worked out so much cheaper to go Fri eve than Saturday morning that even though we had to pay for extra night on site, we still saved money. Then we travelled back over a week later on the Sunday,  but by not sailing till mid afternoon, again it was cheaper. So have a play with times and dates. Luckly with camping you're not tied to a Saturday to Saturday booking.