Ferries............ (1 Viewer)

[Charlie]

I asked for help with our first trip to Europe in another thread . Here if I may I would like some help with how to book a ferry. Where to do it and a few other daft questions.

I'm not great with computers and a dyslexic to boot so I get easily confused when trying to do these online tasks many of you do with ease. So please bear with me. Call me thick if you like I'm used to that.

I/We joined the Camping and caravan club thinking and hoping we could get some help and also get some discounts by booking through them. They could not have made the booking more difficult and after a couple of hours and many attempts at getting a price I had to throw in the towel.

I then tried Brittany ferries and eventually got a price of £410 but couldn't work out if it was for one way or return. It was from Portsmouth to Roscoff....

Is it possible to book the outward journey and have an open ended return ticket ? This would allow us to travel and see how we get on and stay for say 3 to 6 weeks or if we wanted to return in a couple of weeks ?

Or would we have to book the outward journey only then the return separately ?

Where is the best place to look at all the prices for say over a few days ?

What I'm doing is putting in a date for instance the 30th of August which is a Sunday and a time. I put 9.0 for departure.

I have no idea whether the day or the time makes much difference to the prices...

Sorry if its a lot of questions on what is a boring subject but Im completely stumped ! Once I have done it once or twice I will be fine.............................Well I hope ..

Thanks !!

 

[Flamenca]

You can book a ferry crossing for just one way and, yes, the day of the week and time do make a difference. I will look at prices to Roscoff around the 30 August and PM the figures to you. What length/height is your motorhome and how many people travelling?

 

[chaser]

Have a look at this
http://www.ferrysavers.co.uk
Not suggesting you use them but if you put, England in the departure box it comes up with all the ferries then you can use it to decide and go direct to the one you like.

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[Flamenca]

Portsmouth/Caen leaving at 14:45 on 30 August looks a reasonable price at £164 (for August). Price is one way. I can provide code to get you a 10% discount of this figure.

 

[CWH]

What a brilliant question @Charlie , so glad you asked it We're not quite ready to try our first ferry trip yet but the more I can learn in advance the better so thanks also to those who've replied

 

[Charlie]

You can book a ferry crossing for just one way and, yes, the day of the week and time do make a difference. I will look at prices to Roscoff around the 30 August and PM the figures to you. What length/height is your motorhome and how many people travelling?

We we have an Autosleeper Kemerton which is 6 metres long and 2.7 high. It has a cycle rack on the rear door.
It's just the two of us my wife and I .

We are not stuck to any specific days or dates as my wife is retired due to ill health and I work part time on a needs basis. This means I can please myself.

Thank you !!

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[FIDGET]

Portsmouth Caen 1st Sept 6.7mtr moho 2.9 high , return £330 with another funsters (friends & family discount code)

 

[Charlie]

Portsmouth Caen 1st Sept 6.7mtr moho 2.9 high , return £330 with another funsters (friends & family discount code)

Is that one you've booked or an example ?

What is the discount code ?

 

[Puddleduck]

Nothing to do with ferries but just to say dyslexia doesn't mean you are "thick" - it means your brain is wired slightly differently than some other people and you will have another skill that most don't have

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[Charlie]

Nothing to do with ferries but just to say dyslexia doesn't mean you are "thick" - it means your brain is wired slightly differently than some other people and you will have another skill that most don't have

I made a very decent living working with my hands.

I sincerely hope my flippant comment is taken with humour and does not offend anyone. I poke fun at myself in order to relieve the tension when things computer and technical get the better of me...

 

[Old Soldier]

I made a very decent living working with my hands.

I sincerely hope my flippant comment is taken with humour and does not offend anyone. I poke fun at myself in order to relieve the tension when things computer and technical get the better of me...

No probs Charlie, I often call myself names when the computer does not do what I'm trying to achieve and it almost always my fault anyway!! Hope you get loads of help on this forum, it's what it is really good at...giving help to those who need it.

 

[Puddleduck]

I sincerely hope my flippant comment is taken with humour and does not offend anyone. I poke fun at myself in order to relieve the tension when things computer and technical get the better of me...

No offense here Charlie - taken in the spirit it was written. My daughter is also highly dyslexic and is brilliant in her own field. She also laughs at herself.

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[juleshe]

This and your previous thread are also proving very interesting and useful to us as we hope to make our first trip across to Europe next summer. You're certainly not alone with your queries.

 

[vwalan]

you could just ring the ports and book over the telephone . done it loads of times .
most travel agents will have timetables and costs available .

 

[Yorick]

Condor ferries, 30th August - £112.50 Portsmuth - Cherbourg

http://www.condorbooking.co.uk/ExtResnew/anitexmlgateway.aspx?LANGUAGE=E


Poole - St malo - 2nd Sept = £240


Ignore Brittany ferries. Condor are around 1/2 the price

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[9526]

Some good advice in this thread for you Charlie

I would add the following....

Do you have any teenagers in your family? if so get them to help you with the computer stuff (particularly with searching online for deals)

Also I'm sure if you attended a rally or meet, there would be a funster or two only too happy to go through the process with you.

 

[Yorick]

Some good advice in this thread for you Charlie

I would add the following....

Do you have any teenagers in your family? if so .....

Leave the little bastards at home

 

[Charlie]

Condor ferries, 30th August - £112.50 Portsmuth - Cherbourg

http://www.condorbooking.co.uk/ExtResnew/anitexmlgateway.aspx?LANGUAGE=E


Poole - St malo - 2nd Sept = £240


Ignore Brittany ferries. Condor are around 1/2 the price

Is that return ? The Poole St Malo ?

Thanks .

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[Charlie]

I have after several hours found Plymouth to Roscoff for 425 return.
If there is a funster discount code that might help . Or if being a member of the C&C club .

Not that I can see where we enter a code that will be another day cussing the PC

 

[Carol]

Hi Charlie, glad you got some good answers, but soo sorry I find it really hard to open your threads, the clowns face I find so off putting, good luck with your planned holiday

 

[Lenny HB]

As you are looking at Portsmouth nhave you considered Newhaven Dieppe crossing a lot cheaper 20% discount for over 60's. You have to do the booking by phone or at the port to get the discount, can also pay in Euro to save a few quid.

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[Granjan]

I find it can be pretty time consuming to book the ferries / sites and you definitely need to write things down, print quotes or take a screen shot (I do this on my ipad ) if you want to compare prices.
You can go through the online booking process right up till you pay to see how it works, then just close the page before you pay and no consequences.
I sometimes sort out exactly which crossing I want and know what it should cost me I then ring the caravan club to make the booking, they have my outfit (motorhome) details.
I sometimes book sites through them too to make for an easy life and save a bit on the crossing. It does help to know exactly what you want before you ring.
Write down a list of sites, dates of arrival / departure / number of nights you wish to stay.
Day ferry crossings can be cheaper as you don't need to pay for a cabin or seat, I usually say I want to travel a couple of days before or after the day I really want to go, I seem to come up with a better price that way. We always try to arrive in France in the daylight and be able to reach our first stopover point in the daylight.
We bought our first motorhome in August and spent the first 9 months practising driving it, parking it, filling it, pitching it, getting used to it, in the UK before we first ventured abroad in it the next May. We had had a caravan but that was 16 years before.
The ferry staff are really good at loading and off loading you, arrive early so you have time to spare, just do what they say, use your mirrors and take it steady it is a doddle. Follow the one in front!
If it wasn't for the current action the Eurotunnel is actually easier still, even for a 30ft motorhome. When you drive off you go straight onto the main route out and don't even drive through a port.
It is helpful to have Sat Nav, we set ours up for a lorry which mostly keeps us out of mischief.

 

[2657]

I have after several hours found Plymouth to Roscoff for 425 return.
If there is a funster discount code that might help . Or if being a member of the C&C club .

Not that I can see where we enter a code that will be another day cussing the PC

I will send you a message with my code,this will show up in the inbox at the top right of the Fun startup screen.

I will go through the booking procedure on this thread as it may benefit others as well.

The first stage is to select the crossing, date and time, check boxes for return or one way

Then select vehicle and passenger details

Next page click on chosen crossing

Continue onto next page and under Club Voyage click 'yes' and then 'guest of member' with your name and my(or someone else's) memb No.

Choose the required accommodation further down the same page, some form of accommodation is mandatory on overnight crossings but this can be reclining seats.

The code should get 10% off the crossing price but not the accommodation.

Sorry if this explanation is a bit long winded but it seemed the easiest way to try and explain plus a bonus for me is that I have learned how to do screen shots(I hope!!)

 

[Yorick]

Yup. Lose the picture. It's putting me off visiting this thread.

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[Charlie]

Hi Charlie, glad you got some good answers, but soo sorry I find it really hard to open your threads, the clowns face I find so off putting, good luck with your planned holiday

I had no idea my avatar was offending or made my threads or posts hard to open.
But I am not one to offend so I have deleted it for you..

I don't have another picture of the right size and have no idea how to re-size one so I will do without.

My apologies.

 

[WynandJean]

Charlie, you make a very valid point about whether you can book one way. We always do just that. It means there is no constraint as to how long we can be away, also saves worrying about how far you can go before having to turn back. We just drive as far as we want, make our way north when we feel like and book our homeward ferry a day or two before. That also does away with the feeling 'we have had our holiday and now we are just going home in time to catch a particular ferry' It might be something others may not have considered.

Wyn

 

[DBK]

I had no idea my avatar was offending or made my threads or posts hard to open.
But I am not one to offend so I have deleted it for you..

I don't have another picture of the right size and have no idea how to re-size one so I will do without.

My apologies.

Don't worry about the avatar - I liked it, makes a change from pictures of people's dog! But you don't need to resize the image unless it is ridiculously large.

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[Carol]

I had no idea my avatar was offending or made my threads or posts hard to open.
But I am not one to offend so I have deleted it for you..

I don't have another picture of the right size and have no idea how to re-size one so I will do without.

My apologies.

Charlie you have not offended me in the least it is just me being a wimp, you make very good posts that others can benefit from, are you posting off a I pad / Tablet or lap top then I am sure we can help you with resizing which could be good for posting pictures in the future .

 

[Charlie]

Charlie you have not offended me in the least it is just me being a wimp, you make very good posts that others can benefit from, are you posting off a I pad / Tablet or lap top then I am sure we can help you with resizing which could be good for posting pictures in the future .

For me an Avatar instantly tells me who the poster is . Well on forums I visit on a regular basis. There are on some forums of course .............. Well clowns.. These I don't bother to to take notice of and once the Avatar is seen I don't even read what they have put.

I use the "Joker" avatar on many forums and have often been identified cross forums by folk who see my usual distinctive avatar. I cannot of course have the same user name on every forum as usually they are taken already.

Personally I don't like some of the moving dancing avatars as they can be distracting.

I will endevour to find something else or just not bother at all.

Sometimes I sit in my study using a desk top PC . Often I sit in my armchair downstairs . Often I lay on the bed later on and use my I pad. I'm not in the least bit interested in the TV but I do enjoy flicking around the forums one of which I moderate on and chat and find out information and hopefully reciprocate by helping others.

But my capabilities are limited as I get confused when I hit brick walls. Most would not have this problem but I do. So many times people with the greatest of intentions try to offer me advice and help on overcoming the language of the computer. While I appreciate it it never sinks in and leaves me feeling.... Well uncomfortable cos I just cant grasp it ..

 

[Carol]

Hi @Charlie please put your avator back, now I know I won't be a scary cat and get past it, I feel bad for saying but it was scary. but I look forward to reading your posts Joker or not.

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