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FoweyBoy

Thought I might share my recent experiences with you.

We booked our 5.5m motorhome via Caravan Club, who use an agency (www.travelservice.uk.com, also known as The Travel Gateway), on SeaFrance. Dover- Calais return ticket £68.40 (fixed dates). The documentation mentioned minimum fee of £10 for any amendments. I had to contact Travel Service direct by phone to change my outward bound ticket to the day before (30 Jan) to avoid a forecasted storm. Dover was closed the next day! We were charged £25 for the amendment.

On our return 6 weeks later we again wanted to bring our crossing forward to avoid the forecasted storms of 10-12 March. I again had to contact Travel Gateway direct, after 21 minutes in France on a mobile at 38p/min they answered the phone. I explained what I wanted to do and they phoned back shortly to say that SeaFrance were on strike (we did not know) and would not change the date of our booking, but would be transferring us to another operator on the day booked.

We decided to go to Calais and enquire at the P&O ticket office. They wanted 213Euros for a single ticket! I went to the SeaFrance ticket office and they told me to check in with them and they would transfer me to P&O. This they did at no charge and we got across before Dover was again closed by the weather.

Now you might say, I should have paid the extra and bought an open ticket in the first place. I think the CC price was marginally cheaper than the SeaFrance online price. Would I use the CC system again? No, my experience suggests that a direct booking with SeaFrance (which I have done before and changed dates with no charge) is much more flexible and cheaper in the long run if you want to make amendments.

Sorry for the long text. Hope you find this of interest.

David

homenaway

Hi,

We had a similar experience last year!

We booked Norfolkline via the CC website which is just a portal to TravelGateway which lists an amendment charge of £25 and an 0870 phone number. In December when we booked it the Norfolkline full page ad in the CC magazine stated "free amendment".

We decided to amend our return date and phoned Norfolkline who couldn't amend it as we had gone through an agent, so we phoned the CC travel/ferry booking office who were unable to amend it by phone as we had booked on their website and they pointed out that there would be a £10 amendment fee. (fair enough as it's in their T & C). I eventually got through to Travel Gateway by phone at 25p a minute and confirmed the change by e-mail and they took the £10 off my credit card.

This year we have booked again via the CC website because they had the best price but on the Harwich Hook Stena sailing and it definitely states it's amendable (but they will still charge £10 admin fee I believe!)

Perhaps you should talk to the CC booking people.
HTH (or not!)
Steve

DTPCHEMICALS

Why not buy an outbound ticket only from uk
and then you only have to buy a one way back at the port.
This gives you a selection of operators / ports and flexible time too with no amendment charge. Sea france charged me £10 to sail on an earlier ferry last year.
Dave P

RogerMillar

I have twice booked directly with SeaFrance Dover-Calais, first time I was early coming back and a ferry was ready to sail so they let me through free as there was no time to take a payment (tip - arrive at the gate 20minutes before a ferry). Second time they charged £10.00, well worth the money

This last trip I booked with C&CC Carefree and was again 5 hours early on arrival. Half expecting to pay £10.00 I was pleasantly suprised to be waved through, the girl muttered something about "no excess charge on this ticket sir".

Like most people, we always give ourselves a few hours grace so will be checking with Carefree on the exact rules for the next trip. Obviously having flexibility means a lot.

Regards, Roger

geraldandannie · Moderator

We're notorious 'early returners', and I can't remember having been charged by SeaFrance for amending the ticket, but I also think they 'reserve the right'.

I think Roger's tip to arrive 20 minutes before sailing is a good one. We were waved through last August during a very busy period (tea time crossing, height of the season), although we did have to go around to the ticket office first. We drove onto the boat, and the ramps were raised before we'd got upstairs.

Gerald

autostratus · Moderator

lucy2

if you arrive at the port for an early sailing than booked & are asked to pay extra make sure you ask for a reciept as i allways do . Most time they dont have or like to give a reciept . What happens to your cash???

Suenliam

Just a minor point, but it may help someone in the future.

We now always book with the ferry operator direct - usually by internet. Many years ago (before ordinary people had computers!) we booked through travel agents. For reasons I won't go into we had to change sailings with Brittany Ferries. The overnight sailing was changed without charge, but the cabin had to be rebooked. They would not transfer the booking for the cabin because we had booked via an agent. If we had booked directly, there would have been no extra charge. Obviously since then I have booked direct!

Sue