Quote: Originally posted by Forboy on 17/10/2019
Hi Monty15,
We stay at Camping Cappuchines in Ranville last May for a stopover, nice site but charged 40 euros for a family of 4 with a ACSI card! We pre booked as well. If it wasn’t 22.00 I would of turn round and found somewhere else.
That's interesting Forboy! There were 3 adults on our pitch, and we had a large 6 man tent and a small 2 man tent on our EHU pitch in first week of June, and with no ACSI card it came to €27.45/day (pro rata for 4 that would have been €33.50/day), we stayed for 7 days, it was pre booked but paid for on arrival, no special deals of package discounts, just a private booking. We were there for the very popular D-Day Anniversary events and it was quite busy. Friends joined us (2 adults & a 5 year old child) with their motor home, they paid the same adult per person rate as us on their h/s pitch. Wonder why you were charged so much more?
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"i booked with the CAMC and i was not already a member but the discount and the included cabin (rather thna having to add it on) made the crossing cheaper even taking the cost of CAMC mambership into consideration"
As bailyjake says it is possibly cost effective to join if the routs and pricings work for you.
If you need a caravan club price just post the crossing and outfit details and I will get one for you.
We always use Portsmouth to Caen at 14.45 going out and then return from Roscoff to Plymouth at 09.45. This year it has just cost us £252.80 to book through the Caravan Club and that includes 4 Site night vouchers. The sites we plan to use for the first 4 nights cost approx £18 a night so 4 nights would cost £72. If you deduct that from the total, that makes the ferry £180.80 if my maths is correct!
The price to book direct with Brittany Ferries for the same times was £555 so even if we weren’t members of the CMC it would have been worth it to join.
I've just done a cost comparison for our trip in August with our folding camper to the Vendee. we looked at Dover-Calais (our usual route) and going Ports - St malo returning Caen to Ports. There is 5 of us we would need 2 cabins.
Taking all costs into account (crossing cost, diesel, tolls, food and drink on board, club voyage mebership and discount) it would work out £7000 more to go the Brittany ferry route. There is only 300 driving miles difference in the round trip due to our locality to Dover. This is more then the cost of the camp site in France for 2 weeks.
We did the drive to Vendee in just under 8 hours on our last trip. with the roads being so good it didnt really seem like a tough drive. Cruise control helped also :).
It is a shame as i like the idea of traveling the majority of the way while sleeping, but not at that cost difference.
Post last edited on 31/10/2019 14:19:15
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Ttdave, There's a whole lot of difference between going from Portsmouth to Caen in an afternoon sitting in the free lounge, and your price for going to St Malo overnight with two cabins.
We live about 7 miles from Portsmouth. If we are going down the west side of France and on to Spain and Portugal we catch the 2.45pm BF sailing. When we get to Caen, because we have a Motorhome we drive on around the ring road and stop at the free MH Aire in a small village just off the motorway. We are usually in bed by 10.30pm ready for an early start in the morning without having to drive around Caen at peak time.
The actual crossing from Dover-Calais is much cheaper but with all the extra time and fuel it comes out about the same.
On the return journey we reckon we are at home before the last units have disembarked from the ferry!!
ttdave £7000 sounds very expensive. For that I would want to fly first class and stay in a 5 star luxury all inclusive hotel.....with a butler.
I was planning on going folkstone to Calais on the tunnel next year but I weighed up the costs and Portsmouth Calais over night and returning in the day worked out £100 more expensive when all of the fuel and road tolls and additional overnights were taken into account. I recon saving on the travel time is worth £100. I have just booked the ferry.
I was going to use the tunnel because with my kids in the cabin and only 5h I don’t get much sleep.
------------- First van bailey ranger 550/6
Now the proud owner of a coachman amara
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I’ve just got a price for Newhaven to Dieppe crossing with DFDS with cabins for late May for £245 return but it leave at 23.00 on a Friday & set sail on the return at 23.59 Saturday. The problem with this sailing is it worth getting a cabin for roughly 3 - 4 hours sleep?
I’ve looked at CAMC for Portsmouth to Caen sailing but it’ll cost me £525 return
£700! not £7000 😊 We are only 45 minutes from Dover so it the best option for us. Get the ferry at 06:40 and we get to the site around 16:30. We can also take the tabletop freezer full of meat which we wouldn’t be able to do on the overnight ferry.
Quote: Originally posted by ttdave on 31/10/2019
£700! not £7000 😊 We are only 45 minutes from Dover so it the best option for us.
Post last edited on 31/10/2019 20:07:51
£700 seems more like it! If you're only 45 minutes from Dover it makes sense to use that crossing although I'd be greatly vexed at losing a whole day travelling like that - horses for courses!
We're about 30 minutes from Portsmouth and taking an overnight crossing means we don't really lose the equivalent of a whole day that driving up to Dover and then back down to Caen or St Malo to begin with, it means we can be in the Vendée without spending the whole day travelling!
We've just booked our summer crossing, it came in at about £670, I'm willing to pay that rather than have to take an extra days holiday which I'd have to to go via Dover and is also a luxury I don't have.
Quote: Originally posted by ttdave on 31/10/2019
£700! not £7000 😊 We are only 45 minutes from Dover so it the best option for us.
Post last edited on 31/10/2019 20:07:51
£700 seems more like it! If you're only 45 minutes from Dover it makes sense to use that crossing although I'd be greatly vexed at losing a whole day travelling like that - horses for courses!
We're about 30 minutes from Portsmouth and taking an overnight crossing means we don't really lose the equivalent of a whole day that driving up to Dover and then back down to Caen or St Malo to begin with, it means we can be in the Vendée without spending the whole day travelling!
We've just booked our summer crossing, it came in at about £670, I'm willing to pay that rather than have to take an extra days holiday which I'd have to to go via Dover and is also a luxury I don't have.
If it was £670 for me I go that route also. It’s showing as £1153 for the Portsmouth routes for me. 5 people with high load and trailer. Over night there and afternoon back. Dover Calais is £230.. 🤷🏼♂️. As you say, horses for courses 😊.
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