We are caravan newbies and joining a club would be really useful, but which one? The Caravan Club or The Camping and Caravan Club? We have read all their bumpf and cannot decide. Which is the most friendly one? ie The one that won't turn their collective noses up at an elderly car towing an elderly folding caravan (we're no spring chickens either) Can any of you give us the pros and cons.
There are quite a few (long) threads on here on this subject. I am a member of both so it keeps the options open for sites, CL's,CS's and rallys. I get more than my membership back each year on the reduced site fees for both clubs.
It depends why you are joining a Club. If its for the campsites the Caravan Club have more. In 30 years of caravanning I have yet to witness anyone turning their nose up at me
Both Clubs offer a good service, IMHO and we are members of both. I agree with David though - also I feel that the CC sites are generally better than C&CC. With the CC you can book as a member without having to leave a deposit - not the case with the C&CC. With the C&CC you can specifically book a hardstanding or grass, with the CC you have what's available when you turn up.
Join both and try them both. We too "get our moneys worth" and we too are members of both clubs.
For us, camping and holidays are all about freedom of choice. We go where we want, when we want and having the choice of either of the clubs, or of commercial sites is important to us.
Quote: Originally posted by LobeyDosser on 12/2/2012
Join both and try them both. We too "get our moneys worth" and we too are members of both clubs.
For us, camping and holidays are all about freedom of choice. We go where we want, when we want and having the choice of either of the clubs, or of commercial sites is important to us.
I drive a ten year old car and pull a 12 yr old van , we are both retired and never had any problems with the CC , everybody treats us fine nobody looks down on us cause we are not in the latest rigs.
I think it depends what you are looking for in terms of sites, which club has the ones in the areas you want to visit and also if you want to pay for 2 lots of membership? We have visited both and are currently only members of the CC. As we have a little baby we have tended to find the washroom facilities on the CC sites are, on average, of a higher standard so this is why we joined with them. As we both work full time we tend to go away for around 5-6 weeks each year but take this in weeks, rather than weekends. In view of this one club offers us more than enough choice and rather than pay out twice a year for membership we have stuck with the CC....with over 200 sites plus CL's I can't see us running out of choice! In these current "tight" times saving on one membership can cover half a week away mid week........
Your best bet is to go on to both club websites and find the sites nearest to you. Then pop along and ask if you can have a look around as it will give you a general idea of the sites on offer and the facilities, etc. Although things will vary I think this gives you a good indication and we did the same last year when buying our first van.
For non spring chickens the C&CC have a discount. Both clubs charge per person plus per pitch so the over 55's reduced fee can be a bonus. We have been members of C&CC for 4 years but haven't visited any of their main sites, just used a CS regularly. We have our caravan insurance with them. The reason we're still members is for the weekend meets & THS's which give us very cheap camping and the company of other people. The people we have met have all been very friendly and there's nearly always a good mix of caravans, tents, trailertents.
This year we've joined the CC, again for rallies and holidays so now have double the options and with weekends costing mostly less than £20 we get away as often as we can - its cheaper than a family outing to the cinema or an evening down the pub!
We have been members of the C&CC for the past 6 years so I can't comment on the CC although I have heard through the grapevine that their club sites and CL's are better in comparison. Having said that I think you will find that the annual membership fees are higher than the C&CC which of course would then reflect the extra costs. However there can be an issue with C&CC members regarding a mix of caravanners and campers together on club sites in the fact that everyone pays the same fees (there are discounts for the over 55's) disregarding what unit you have. Caravans have all the facilities on board whereas tents don't so campers in fact need the site facilities more. This can cause some ill feeling because in one of the monthly magazines a while ago someone wrote in saying that campers had to share the facilities with the caravanners which they thought was unfair because caravans had the facilities that tents didn't. Basically the campers were saying that they should have priority which in my view I agree. In response to this (a couple of months later) a caravanner then said that if everyone was paying the same site fees then everyone is entitled the use of all facilities provided which is a fair comment. So who is right? Well they both are really but the point that I am getting to here is the fact that it is called the 'Friendly Club' which reading between the lines on this issue is debabatable. From personal experience we have had tents, trailer tents and caravans so I fully understand the needs of all campers but with the CC I don't think there is an issue with this problem although I'm not absolutely sure but I think that the CC now accepts trailer tents and folding campers too which they never used to. The reason behind why I mentioned this is because it's food for thought regarding your choice of club but to be quite honest, the only way you are going to find out is from first hand experience and that is by joining both clubs for one year (if you can afford it) and then make your choice the next year which is your favourite of the two. I can't afford to join the two clubs myself but the reason we stay with the C&CC is the fact that my wife and I are over 55 so we benefit from the discounts (in low and mid season) on club sites plus the C&CC also do a special offer of 4 nights for the price of 3 amd 7 nights for the price of 5 so if you are working to a budget then this is something that you can take into consideration too.
We have just booked 15 nights in June with EHU on a C&CC site just north of Newquay Cornwall, total cost with age concession is £240.75 which is £16.05 per night. Some of the commercial site fees were anywhere from £22 to £32 per night, us OAP`s have to count the pennies.
I have belonged to both clubs, but now in my autumn years i only belong to C&CC,as they give age discounts especially out of peak times.I very rarely use any other sites now except for the C&CC.
It really depends on the individual. We don't often use commercial or club sites, but prefer the friendlier atmosphere of a rally field or CL. As the CC have a lot more CL's than the C&CC have CS's we opt for the CC. I also understand that the CC's rallies are better organized than the C&CC's meets, and can confirm that the standard of the clubs sites is far better on the CC sites than on the C&CC sites.
On the other hand, you say that you are "no spring chickens" and the C&CC offer discounts on their sites for pensioners so that may influence your decision. To be honest, I find the cost of CC sites to be prohibitively expensive when there is usually a privately owned site just up the road which is no more expensive, usually cheaper and often with better facilities and not fully booked up months in advance by people that don't show up anyway.
Having used a few C&CC sites, they are slightly cheaper than the CC sites in my experience, but I have found them to be quite unfriendly places, possibly due to a pathological hatred that appeared to exist between caravanners and campers. Again, their was usually a better privately owned site just up the road that was of a higher standard, or better still a CL that was as well equipped but at a quarter of the price and with a friendlier atmosphere.
I have been with the CC for several years now and a few times with the C+CC when I have specifically wanted to use one of their sites due to the location and it has worked out cheaper to join the club than pay a non member supplement, but I have never felt the desire to renew my C&CC membership. Having said that, I am going to let my CC membership lapse a couple of months before renewing it this year as I don't anticipate using the caravan for a while yet.
I am a member of both Clubs and have been for several years as I like to rally and use the CS/CL sites rather than the main Club sites or commercial sites.
Personally I have found the CC ralliers a far friendly bunch - I was made extremely welcome at my first meet and nobody looked down on my old Mini (30 years old) and caravan (42 years old!) Planning to do 7 rallies with the CC this year.
I would suggest you try both Clubs and see which meets your needs the best.
Quote: Originally posted by Janeanmac on 11/2/2012
ie The one that won't turn their collective noses up at an elderly car towing an elderly folding caravan
We're members of both clubs. In practice I don't think you will ever actually feel looked down on on a CC site even though they have the reputation of being a bit more snooty. But in general the two Clubs' sites do tend to have slightly different feels to them - the CC sites tend to feel slightly more "up market" because of the way they are laid out but more because almost everyone has caravans or motorhomes. C&CC sites are often more informal in layout (though not always) and you will always find a much wider variety of units on them including some of them old and quite "clapped out". If you are at all worried about your elderly car towing an elderly folding caravan you will probably more comfortable on the C&CC sites - especially as you can get the over 55 reductions, as already pointed out. There's more than enough of their sites around the country to keep you occupied for several years and some of them are real crackers.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Club Membership
