Club Arnage

It was the SPS crews first year without P&O.

We had a great routine with P&Oto LE Havre, including a nice place for Brekie on the way down.

This year i wasnt sure what P&O were doing so booked Brittany to be safe and get what i wanted.

At £2468 for the 5 cars, 2 trailers, 16 people, 5 cabins and 2 on the return i thought it a little much, but its a premium sailing, you get what you pay for !!

P&O always had great entertainment laid on and there seemed lots to do, day or night sailing. The food even improved lots in 2003 onwards, to the point it was "good value"

This year i was very impressed with the speed of check-in, but they only have 1 ferry to do, so thats probably why.

The Mont St Micheal was huge, new and clean. Cabins were ace, showers tidy too. Very good.

Then the bar, very busy, but lots on board, then at 0100 it shut !! On a night sailing the more hungry beer monsters like to stay up later. I hadnt realised there wasnt a casino on-board either.

Getting off was a doddle and no real wait.

Check-in at Caen was very friendly and i was impressed as they were very busy.

The return was good, the food good, but i was in before the baot sailed. The other SPS lads went in later and said it was poor ?, maybe the kitchen was a little busy by then.

My only realworry was that there didnt seem as much to do as last year on P&O ??  Did i miss the swimming pool or other hidden entertainemtn areas ???

We will still be with Brittany Fisheries next year.

What did you think.

Mark ensures that we budget for taking some beer and wine on the boat with us so that we can carry on drinking when the bar shuts :D

Entertainment can very wildly from year to year. Sometimes you get a live band, sometimes just a disco. Your best bet is to make your own entertainment.

It was lovely to be able to have a shower on the way back but they seem to only make them in hobbit size. It was a tight squeeze in there for me!

My best memory of entyertainment on the "long crossing" to LM (not sure which one) was a bloke on an electronic organ and a girl on a full sized harp. They were probably used to playing a few tunes then packing up and going to bed.

But we got them doing all kinds of singalong stuff and the stewards had trouble getting them to stop! I think they could hardly believe that they had an appreciative (albeit somewhat pissed) audience...

I will post my HUGE letter to Brittany Ferries about thier more than C**P service later. I will not sail with them again unless they apologise constantly for the next few months!!

When we arrived at Caen they told us sorry no room!! Your vehicle is too big!! So I said but we booked it and checked in 6 hours before the sailing!! They made a huge effort to be awkward when loading.

Letter to follow.

Sorry Robbo to cast a shadow on the good service you had but I have to say it spoilt our trip a bit! Dad is prepared to dover Calais next year and pay the whopping fuel bill just to avoid BF.

I've been using the Brittany Ferries Since 94 the last couple of years they do seem to close the bar earlier.  Or may be I'm slowing down.   On the Mont St Micheal they only ever seem to have a DJ.  The Normandie had a Duo most times.   I mush prefer the shorter drive down to Le Sarthe.   I cna normaly do it on a single tank of fuel and as I get my fuel paid for in the UK it an extra benifit.

T.

Robbo

If you plsn on using them next year and are thinking of Wednesday morning out, they don't run to Caen on a Wednesday morning at present. Thats when they service the boat. That's not to say they won't in future years but it's mucked us up in the past.

With regard to alternatives we tried the Transmanche bunch (or should that munch bunch?) this year. Check in was a farce, as  they were looking through the following days tickets and were suprised when they didn't match the names of anyone there. The boat was an hour late sailing as a result and facilities on board poor.  If the boat has sailed on time we would have got there before the rain, but such is life.
The check in on return was much better but the faciltities (entertainment) were not. Cabins clean and showers OK though.

Bear in mind it was CHEAP!!!. Car, Trailer and three motorbikes came to less than £270 so it was worth the extra drive to Newhaven.

I'm with Robbo on this.

We had a cabin on the way out that was clean, tidy, and only marginally bigger than my gun cabinet at home.  Very claustrophobic, and VERY warm.

On the way back, same boat as Robbo, we went fairly early for a meal and it was cr*p.  The boat was also 45 mins late docking.

Come back Mr P&O - better and cheaper.

DB

we paid £50 return on Speedferries, the journey out was a nightmare - 6 hours delay in total.

The journey home was a hop on, hop off affair, no trouble.

You get what you pay for, but we were more than happy with a chair and £200-£300 extra to spend in france....

Fair enough we got screwed around at the port and it was a long drive, but on reflection, overall, we got a good deal.

Plus we got to see a phsycho frog go mental at the speedferries rep and threaten to barricade the lorries into the port in her golf tdi.

Supporters werent forthcoming, and she was informed that a 2 tonne golf vs 20 x 44 tonne articulated lorry wasn't likely to be a long argument.....

Hi Guys, we went speedferries, 1Hour delay on way out due to jetty being blocked temporarly. Easy quick trip but no duty free. On time on way back very quick excellent value, but no duty free...He needs a speed 2 for next year maybe with a duty free....Ian

We went Hoverspeed to Calais this year mainly because we were transferred from the defunct Newhaven Dieppe service.

Couldnt fault the speed as it left on time and if anything was early both ways.

On the way back though with the whole crew starving after the blast up the Autoroute we found the they had no food.

When we asked why we were told that they were busy on the out trip and only took on supplies in Dover.

We went out on Brittany ferries on the vomit commit very fast and efficient but I wouldn't do it again it is far too cliinical abd cold, no atmostphere on the boat.

Also a point to note regarding the vomit commit is it is not roll on roll off, and they asked usif wecould reverse the trailer on up the loading ramp, Afterabout 15 minutes we stopped laughing at them.

On the way back the boat was good asusual clean pleasent nice cabin, my only complaint is that the restaurant wasn't open, by this i mean the proper sit down not the self service. Which was a dissappointment after being sat in a french lowloader for god knows how long.

Have travelled with BF for the past 8 years now and have discovered that since they started closing the bar at 1 the best way to beat them at their own game is...

Take a load of mixers on board
Buy bottle of something strong and tasty from duty free
Sit in bar and drink until alcohol induced coma kicks in

We've also had a lot of fun with the plastic palm trees in the past but that's another story...

Like mal was bumped from the newhaven-dieppe to dover calais with hoverspeed.

I arrived early for the outward crossing and was put straight ont the next crossing and therefore arrived in France a couple of hours early. The crossing was fast and offloading quick.

The return was just as easy. Now the prices have dropped pretty sure I will use them again.

We went Poole Cherbourg overnight on the wednesday and we were one houre late leaving. As a result, once onboard they announced that the self-serve restaurant would close in 20 minutes. We went in and they had 4 prepacked sandwiches and nothing else. As others say, bar shut early.

On the whole Brittany ferries are pretty crap and very expensive but as I live in Bournemouth it's worth it for the short journey.

P&O were always excellent, bar all night, entertainment and casino. Trouble is now Brittany haven't got any competition so they'll get away with it. I, for one, can't be bothered with the ten hour extra journey to go via Dover.

We were on P and O (£82 after i couldn't get on the speedferries at the right time - sounds like for an extra 30 notes i made the right choice) Dover to Calais, we rolled up early in both directions for our ferry and were asked if we would like a earlier ferry. We said yes of course and onto the back of the boat we rolled - zero waiting.

After several years of Seafrance after booking with Travel Destinations, I was very happy with the service.

Only grumble was that on the way out we had to wait 15 mins for the boat before to clear the dock at Calais.

I think Brittany Ferries suffer from the French way of life - the whole country appears shut, and the staff on the night boats have to have their beauty sleep under the labour laws. (as did Mr T and JPC by the looks of it)

The answer is to hit the duty free(?) first before it shuts (for les fags anglais) and buy a few bottles for later.

The other trick is to avoid the self service cafe.  The cold slimey breakfast with a drink is about £5-6 whereas in the posh restaurant for £7.80 you get served something better plus all you can eat from the buffet.  Buffet alone is under a fiver, for cereal, ham cheese bread croissant toast etc, fill yer boots! and tablecloths.  I don't think the evening meals are that expensive either, until you hit the wine list.

No chavs please.

This year we went Brittany, overnight both ways. out on the Sunday via St MAlo and back on the Sunday night via Caen. 2 cabins out and 1 back. £472 thank you. It is a nice crossing with a short drive on the other side. Now the gripe. My mate booked using his Owners Abroad discount card. In the queue on the way home was ten tenths motorsports, 2 vehicles pulling a legend car each in a covered in trailer. Talking to the bloke and he booked through Motor Sport travel and paid £308 return, a whopping £164 cheaper with a trailer. Brittany Robbing Bastards more like it. Speed Ferries next year. 3 hours extra driving each way,£420 to spend on extra fuel and food and drink for the week.

Speedferries all the way for me.
Yes, it's a longer drive both sides of the water; but isn't the drive down there and back a huge part of it ?
Yes it's basic on board but we felt the £10 upgrade was well worth it. Priority on and off, table service for tea, coffee, soft drinks, pastries, news papers etc. Booze available via the table service too, but extra cost.
Ok, no "Duty free", but there isn't anywhere travelling within europe. Just wait the 45 minutes that you are on board and stock up in the Carrefor or L'Eclerc.

£50 for a car and up to six passengers ! Can't go wrong.

Just don't try to get hold of Customer Services - it's a nightmare apparently.

I used Norfolklines, Dover to Dunkerque, due to cost. Dunkerque is about 25 - 30 miles in the wrong direction... It was £180 for car + caravan and takes 2 hours.

Frequency of ferries is less so unless you are really early you won't get an earlier one. Likewise, if you miss one, it's a long wait for the next.

The service is designed for trucks, and the food reflects that - good food, cheap and plentiful (although one meal was a little cold).

The truckers have their own lounge with free coffee etc. The passenger lounges are smallish but plenty of room for the few passengers... Drinks were reasonably priced, and they would refill your coffee for half price.

Check in at Dover was OK. However at Dunkerque it was a nightmare. The signage is not good around and in the port. They have a "queue and hop on" service for trucks. So there is a huge truck park for those waiting, and there was a very long line of trucks (a mile or more maybe) all the way along the access road to the port.

Luckily when we joined the back of the queue we realised that we had missed out sailing ( :-\) so I called Head Office who swiftly arranged for me to go on the next sailing, and told me to drive along the wrong side of the road past all the waiting trucks to get into the port. Otherwise I could have been there for days - you don't deliberately get yourself into difficult positions on the road when towing!

I would use them again if pushed. The long crossings are cost prohibitive for me with the 'van, despite the additional driving time and fuel ( - I get free fuel in the UK so tank up at Dover, and arrive back at the French port on vapours). P&O Dover were way too expensive in January when I made the booking. They later brought their price down to about £180 but the Norfolkline ticket was non cancellable. Door to door journey time was about the same using Dover or Portsmouth IIRC.

I've used Speedferries a number of times for work/pleasure but they won't take caravans. I believe they are getting another boat for the summer...

Is that because of the height?
Can they take a Landy Disco?

Bob,

Vehicle restrictions as follows:-

Standard - 1.85m high x 5m long.
Large - 2.9m high x 7m long
Car & trailer - 2.9m high x 7m long

But as the Smokester say's "no shed pullers".

We have used Beastly Fisheries for donkeys years, with the odd defection to P&O.

Yes, they are often expensive but the cost in 2003 was £320, in 2004 it was £240 and this year £340, all for day time sailings with the Commer.

Some of the staff are a disgrace, with a few exceptions. There is a woman who often works on reception on the Normandy who must be one of the rudest people I have ever met. They all appear to be absolutely bone idle, the Duty Free Shop is only open for a total of about three hours on the whole crossing.

The cooked breakfasts in both restaurants are absolutely awful, although the posh restaurant cold buffet is very pleasant.

Will keep using them probably, although actively looking at Transmanche to Dieppe for next year.

Thanks Nigel. I think I was talking to one of your merry men on Saturday, big lad works on security in Loudwater Tesco. Didn't catch his name but we had a good chat after he had spotted my LM t-shirt

No, not one of our mob. Unless someone has a second income that they don't want to divulge - you never know, Black Granny might be watching!!!!!!

That means that there is even more Le Mansters lurking around the area. Strange to think you could pass someone in the village or stand next to them at Tetre Rouge and yet only live a couple of miles from them :o

I think its because there is only one door, so all cars have to uturn on board.  Lets hope the new boat has two.

I'm impressed I only paid £360 for Sun night with cabin out and Tuesday morning back - WITH A CARAVAN (which they broke)

Mind you I stalked the websites for about 3 months

Ferry prices are fluid and discount cards usually mean discount from standard list, ignoring the fact that there maybe a special offer on!  Friend of mine was a P&O shareholder and they were supposed to get cheaper prices, but usually found that cheaper prices could be found on the web, to be fair though P&O usually matched or beat them for him!  Time to book your ferry is usually January as thats when the offers are on.  People like MotorSportTravel also negotiate special deals, as do others.  I know all this cos .... Now the plug...  Company I work for runs www.aferry.to (http://www.aferry.to) and there are details of current offers on display, also if you signup for the newsletter (can't call it spam as boss will shoot me!) then you can keep an eye on prices (especially at the start of 2006)....  Also has price comparison section too.  Plug over!  

I've used www.aferry.to before to try to compare prices for the same crossing with different operators. In the past I couldn't get the compare thing to work so I ended up typing all the details in three or four times. It seems to work better now.

Are their prices cheaper than those from the operator themselves? A quick test gave me the same price as P&O were quoting.

Unless management have got a deal they are usually pretty much the same as the operators as they get a bit huffy if we try and undercut them without some sort of agreement (of course, I didn't say that as that wouldn't be allowed now would it...)  The one good thing with aferry.to is that most of the operators prices and offers can be found in one place, only odd one out is Speedferries as they won't let us sell their crossings.  Sorry more plugs.  

Have travelled with Brittany from Pompey to St. Malo Wednesday night mostly for the last decade and a bit (except last year, late night P & O and won't be doing that again), returning either from Caen or Cherbourg on the Monday after the race.

Although Brittany are comparatively expensive it's the best trip for our travel needs, coming from the West (well, Wales actually...).

The Pompey to St Malo crossing always used to be on the Bretagne, and we have always found the atmosphere on board in the bar to be convivial and lively. This year they have changed the boat (more like a cruise liner really) to the Val de Loire. This is even larger than the Bretagne. The on board atmosphere seemed strangely subdued in comparison to previous years - maybe due to the very different layout. The 'entertainment' was very much standard Brittany fare, with a magic/illusionist act followed by a band. I don't really think that the audience took the p*ss enough out of the cabaret….. A sure sign of the difference in atmosphere.

Was also disappointed not to see any entertainment on the return crossing. I too have fond memories of the fella with the organ (oo er missus) and the accompanying harpist(e?) – what a bizarre combination. But to their credit they were always ready to enter into the spirit with the returning Le Mans crowd.

Agree with Andy Z that the fare in the self service is, and always has been, quite inedible, accompanied by very surly service. Next year we are planning a bit of a slap up meal in the ‘Restaurant’ by way of a change and to improve our chances of keeping it down for more than a couple of hours. It has always looked pretty reasonable (apart from the prices) – anyone care to comment on the quality of the A La Carte?

Have never had any problems with embarking etc. but have always travelled in a car, with no trailer/van or other appendage. Sorry to hear about your problems Rick.

All we had on the Caen boat (Normandie?)was a disco for 9 year olds.  Mr T and JPC sat next to it, I thought they were going to join in, but then everything shut.

We used Speedferries too this year and have slightly mixed feelings about it.

The damned thing sailed in choppy sea type stuff on Wednesday morning but due to mechanical problems actually left early afternoon with only three engines working.

Due to the choppy water and no number4 engine it was a wobbly ride I thought, after the P&O from Portsmouth 2003 and the Seafrance boat last year Dover Calais. I was a little wobble kneed. (Just recovering from a knee op, see) But after the outward delay I was sort of expecting more delays coming home (did I really write that? Feel more at home in France these days...) but it was a breeze short queue and all engines working as well.

The crossing seemed 1/4 hour shorter and so in a spirit of enquiry I asked one of the crew about the duty free shop's famous long term closure. He said it will be open in July, and agreed it had been closed for a very long time.

So maybe next time we can get cheapish booze aboard, but at just over3/4 hour at sea  there isn't gonna be time to do much eating aboard.

If I could I would still rather do Portsmouth -Le Havre on Pride of Portsmouth any time though... Bloody P and O!

 >:(

Time some enterprising Mick dug a Portsmouth Caen tunnel methinks....

I can turn a blind eye sometimes- depends on the number of beers offered!

Due to late bookings, we booked with Norfolkline. £59 return Dover-Dunkerque, bit extra driving, left on time both ways, quick loading/unloading, hot (ish) food. Would use them again.

In response to Pretzels question on the main restaurant. I have used Brittany for as long as I can remember and always use the main restaurant on the way out, Portsmouth to St Malo being my favourite rout. The menu has hardly changed, the formats have not changed at all. A La Carte or buffet are the options.

A couple of tips. Always select the buffet. You get exactly the same food, plus a bigger choice and because it is a buffet, you can have as much as you like and it is cheaper. They serve the main course, so the only 'have to get it yourself' bit is starter and pud.

Always send one of the party equipped with mobile phone straight to the restaurant as soon as you board, they usually only do one sitting and I have in the past seen people turned away even before leaving Portsmouth!

The quality of the food and the choice is really good and the wine/beer is not a rip off so in terms of value for money I mark it 10 out of 10.

Bon apatite. Monkey :D

dudes.. whats all the cabin nosense

Brit ferry do a Cat service from Portsmouth to Cherbourg.  2hr 45mins - and a bar open the whole way!

we got the 8pm ferry (only realised after an hr, we were sat next to Johhny Herbert and one of the audi winners doh!)...  was home for midnight.

a very good crossing.  and a plus is the drive to Cherbourg is top twistie fun!  

N.

Some of us pointed this out almost immediately, must have been the Kronenbourg affecting your sight again? ;)

We did Newhaven to Dieppe via Hoverspeed in 2004 and it was good.  When that went belly up (anyone know why ?) this year we swapped to Brittany Portsmouth to Cherbourg.  Couldn't complain with a 2.5 hour crossing and a 4 hour drive at the other side.  Only complaint was the family with the kids who ran around, banged into things, cried, stopped crying, then ran around again, only to crash into stuff and cry again.  2.5 hours of that was more than enough  >:(

Someone mentioned that the drive down is part of it.  Personally I want to get there, get the tent/gazebo/posts/border tape  up and then relax with a beer/wine/tipple  :D and my mates I haven't seen for a while.

Can't understand all this hate Brittany Ferries, I've used them for a considerable number years and i can honestly say that i have never had a bad experience.

They always have been very helpful in getting the Ferrari on and off the ship and we always rather go with BF than P & O and have had a lot of grief with them.

Anyway thats my twopence.

Would agree with Peter on this one, and they always look after the bikes properly.

Hoverspeed where trying to sell the rights to the route to TransManche who get a grant from the Gov, Hoverspeed say this makes the route unviable for them.

The deal fell thru and hoverspeed pulled the plug. Tranmanche are reportly trying to expand the route for next year.

Well not strictly so - with the Spanish crossings they just point to a pile of rope ans say help yerself - or something similarly gutterable!  At least P&O do tie the bikes down for you using proper straps.

An alternative....................

The MOD are going to be auctioning off a load of RE bridging kit, landing craft etc.

How about if each team going to Le Mans buy one bit of kit each then run down to to a convenient beach and park end to end until we reach France?

We'll just have to pick the 'convenient beach' according to how many teams take part?

Alternatively; 'we' buy up all the LCT's  (that's Landing Craft Tank to the uninitiated) - we can probably get a dozen cars and trailers on each.  Then (assuming a shortage of Dept of Transport approved Sea Skippers amongst us) we disembark off a Jetty and just 'loiter about' till a ferry leaves, and follow it to France!

I've just read this back to myself; I'm either thinking about Le Mans too much or Tropicoma has some after effects that the makers don't tell you about!!