You can camp with Eurocamp (Eurocamp Independent)

Member Name: Meggysmum

Product:	Eurocamp Independent
Date:	18/08/09 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy booking with brilliantly helpful staff.

Disadvantages: Best sites get booked up very quickly.

Over the last 8 or 9 years we have travelled to France several times for our summer holiday. We used to stay in a static caravan through Eurocamp or Keycamp. However once we had bought our own touring caravan we felt that we would like to try taking that abroad instead. I felt a little daunted at the idea of taking the car on the ferry and negotiating my pitches in France with my exceedingly rusty O-level (fail!) French. I then recalled someone mentioning Eurocamp Independent to me once. I looked them up on the internet and ordered their brochure. I had an e-mail informing me that the new brochures were due out in a couple of weeks.

Eurocamp Independent focuses on holidays for people with their own tent, trailer tent, caravan or motor home. Their website is very informative and gives lots of information about the campsites they offer. However although it is possible to book through the website I preferred to read the small-print in the brochure (my husband thinks I am so sad!) and to study it at my leisure.

The brochure soon arrived and there was certainly a good selection of campsite across Europe. This would be the first time we had tried to book a campsite during the main holidays in August so I was keen to get my booking done as soon as possible. We studied the brochure of sites, planned the journey and the necessary ferries and worked out our dates. The next morning (the day after the arrival of the new brochure) I phoned the booking line. I spoke to the most delightful lady who was very knowledgeable about journey times, ferries etc but she informed me that the site I wanted was already full! I couldn't believe it and said that I thought I had been quite quick off the mark. She then informed me that they take bookings for the next year quite early on in the season and it was such a popular site that many people return home and book it again immediately for the next year. However she spent a long time on the telephone with me as it was the site we really wanted and we were able to move the dates a bit. She went through several options until she found one that suited us. She was very patient and I happily paid the deposit. Full payment was required 10 weeks before travel. Once that had been paid we received a travel pack containing a lot of useful driving information, maps, toys and a beach bag as well as all our documents.

Using the Independent service means that you can use the Eurocamp facilities on site although you're booking is dealt with by the site itself. This means that you use site reception when you arrive and they direct you to your pitch rather than going to the couriers. However you then drop a card into the courier tent so they know where you are. As this was our first time under our own steam I felt happy to know that there was an English speaking courier that I could call upon if needed.

The other advantage of using Eurocamp was that the children could use the kids club. They have always enjoyed going to these clubs previously and it is a useful way of them making friends. The clubs are free and they usually take children from 4years old. The kid's couriers came around to our pitch to invite the children along which was a nice touch.

The campsite and pitch matched the description in the brochure perfectly and we found that everything went perfectly. Whilst we were there we priced up the cost of our holiday compared to the cost of hiring one of the Eurocamp static vans. The saving was over £600 and since we all like being in our own caravan it was certainly very cost effective for us. We were so pleased that when we came home we immediately started planning our trip for the following year. This time I phoned and asked if we could book and I was told that I could place a reserve request that would be confirmed later in the year. I didn't even have to pay a deposit! They do it this way I was told so that if by the end of the season there have been a lot of complaints about a site they can withdraw it easily and then phone people and offer something else instead. They are also not able to confirm the ferry times until the ferry companies release their schedules but we have been travelling at the same time whenever we have been so they obviously don't change them much!

The company are a member of ABTA and there is a 2% charge for using a creditcard but not for using a debit card. As I said there is on-line booking but I have never tried that although I have used the website for lots of other useful touring information. If you don't want the courier service and the kids club then there are other sites listed in the Select Sites brochure that they send as well, here they make the bookings and organise ferry tickets etc but otherwise you are "independent".

We have just returned from our second holiday with them and I really cannot fault them. We did not see a courier this time as they leave you alone unless you request them to come and see you (just jot your name down in the book in their tent). The children have suddenly decided that they are too old to go to kids club so we didn't need that either. However we will probably still use them again because of the ease of booking and the extra reassurance of not being completely on our own! I did price up pitches and ferries separately and we actually paid less going through them than doing it separately and saving money is always a good thing!

Summary: Stress-free way to take your own accomodation abroad.