duetto owner Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 both disappointing, always hard to book as they open to non members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 Hi Lorna We are members of both the main clubs but do tend to make more use of the CC. Joined The Motor Caravanners Club one year but don't really do rallying and are not really struck staying on someone else's driveway on the 'Safenights' scheme. I would also say that, in general, we have found CC sites to be of a higher standard and enjoy being able to choose a pitch rather than be allocated the warden's choice. Although it is getting more difficult (risky) to just turn up at a site it is still possible to be spontaneous - providing you are not 'set' on where exactly, or rather which site, you want to be at. School holidays and weekends are, of course, the most congested times and due to the recent increase in families taking camping up this is set to carry on for a while. We have always taken a dog (or dogs) with us and they have, without exception, loved the life. Did use Dover/Calais ferries to start with but dogs do have to remain in the vehicle on the car deck and you are not usually allowed down to check them. On longer routes (e.g. Portsmouth - Bilbao) they now have kennels on one of the upper decks and you are allowed to visit, feed and exercise them there. By far the best way for us is the Channel Tunnel. They are much more flexible now with regard to journey bookings. Whenever we have turned up early (on either side) they have put us on the next available train (even if that was a more expensive crossing) and the dog(s) stay with you in the vehicle for the thirty five minute crossing. An added bonus if you are a Tesco customer is the scheme MelB referred to - Tesco points at 4 times their face value gives us a free crossing with our normal annual shopping/diesel costs. You will have to pay the £30 administration fee for each dog separate though. Good luck and enjoy the camping. David ps - one other thing I meant to mention is that the CC produce an excellent book on european touring with all the advice you need on the various countries, vehicle and driving requirements etc and recommended campsites. It is The Caravan Eurpoe Book. Vol 1 covers France, Spain, Portugal and Andorra and Vol 2 the rest of europe. We find it a very valuable resource and you can see details at the following site: http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/planning-your-trip/overseas-trips/overseas-caravan-sites/caravan-europe-guide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LORNA Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 Thanks David - yet more encouragement and advice to add to our plans - thanks goodness you lot are out there - would make some avoidable mistakes other wise! Just to clarify: the Eurotunnel option will allow (in your experience) travellers with dogs to board early without penalty? Lorna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 LORNA - 2010-02-03 11:37 AM Thanks David - yet more encouragement and advice to add to our plans - thanks goodness you lot are out there - would make some avoidable mistakes other wise! Just to clarify: the Eurotunnel option will allow (in your experience) travellers with dogs to board early without penalty? Lorna Hi Lorna I'm not sure it's only passengers with dogs - just that we have always had at least one with us - but each time we have travelled we have usually arrived up to two hours earlier than our departure time (hard to judge with a trip from North Yorkshire to Kent) and have always been directed onto the next available train without having to pay any extra. I do recall one trip where we were only about one hour early and had to wait for our train but you could see it was busy so expect there just wasn't any spare capacity on the trains before ours that time. A few years ago I was returning from Spain some four weeks earlier than my ticket was dated for and just rang eurotunnel who changed it straight away for me - again without cost. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mel wood Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 LORNA - 2010-01-31 5:09 PM Can you get 'open' tickets on the Chunnel or ferries or are the penalties reasonable enought to take risks? Sorry Lorna, I missed thie enquiry. With Sea France it is possible to pay extra for a flexible ticket for the return crossing. We did this once. However on a couple of other occasions we just had a particular date booked for return and changed it as necessary at Calais on the day we wanted to return. There were no problems getting on the next ferry (it was in the same price band - that is important) and we just had to pay an administration fee. I can't remember the cost but I think it might have been £10. It was certainly cheaper than having paid for a flexible ticket. Do note though this was NOT in peak season (school holidays). I'm not sure how easy it would be at peak times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo3090 Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 Lorna, you can take dogs on Sea France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mel wood Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 Lorna, On my earlier post about changing day of return from Calais I didn't state that the altered date has to be before the return date on the original ticket. (Sorry if that is obvious.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LORNA Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 Thanks again for all the personal experiences and advice. My husband had secretly treated me to CC & C membership whiilst this thread was ongoing and the pack arrived earlier today. Was a bit disappointed at first glance not to find a book on camping abroad - do you have to pay extra for this? Lorna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mel wood Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 You can ask for the Carefree brochure of continental sites. You can book through Carefree how much or little you want (or even just use the Carefree guide to find out about some continental sites). If you are able to go abroad out of high season then many of us would recommend you obtain the ACSI book and card for discounted sites. For comprehensive Europe guides I would many of us would recommend buying the Caravan Europe books from the Caravan Club. There is information about driving requirements and much more for individual countries. The details about the campsitedsare provided by CC members so you don't get owners' 'spin' but comments from members who have used the sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 Lorna Dogs on ferries/chunnel: no problem on any of the short channel crossings, if you arrive a few hours early at either, within reason, they will allow you on the next available crossing, so long as it's not in a much higher price band and/or it's not busy. Sometimes you may be asked to pay extra but it does depend on the circumstances. Getting on an earlier crossing than booked with dogs hasn't been an issue in my experience. When we went on the ferry last year and arrived at Dover at teatime on Saturday, our crossing wasn't scheduled until 2.45 am, it was a case of pay Sea France a silly amount, or wait, we went to bed early and had a few of hours rest on Dover seafront before getting on the ferry at our booked time. On our return leg with P&O we were due to come back at 00.35 hours on the Monday (bank holiday), I think we paid £10.00 to get on an earlier crossing - 22.30 hours I think but can't quite remember now!). Sea France charge £30 for each dog but ONLY on the crossing from France, so free outwards. P&O charge £15 per dog for each trip, ie £15 outwards, £15 coming back. Norfolk line charge £30 for each dog, again this might only be on on the journey from France (need to check that one). Eurotunnel charge £30 per dog for the crossing from France only, free outward from the UK. We booked outwards with Sea France (£54.00 using a discount code which gave £6 off) and coming back with P&O (£37.50 + dogs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LORNA Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 Looks like it might be a good idea to join the CC then! Oh well, I enjoy a good read and it helps keeps the dreams circulating! Thanks a lot for the detailed pricing. Just done a quick internet search with no discount codes (are these from the Club membership schemes?) and for 2 adults plus dog got £162 for Eurotunnel in school hols and £102 Seafrance in school hols. Will continue with my research and thanks for advice which I will act on! Lorna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 The beauty of the Tunnel Lorna is you dont spend anything once on ;-) unlike the Ferry where its very tempting especially when you have children with you! you can easily end up paying the same by the time you have bought all the treats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LORNA Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 Excellent point - never thought of that but certainly have experienced it on ferries. We don't have children take now but those shops and restuarnats are very tempting!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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