RANT: Brittany Ferries brought forward crossing by 17 hours!!!!!

[RobertJary]

We were due to sail from Santander to Plymouth on Thursday 3rd November on the Pont Aven. On Tuesday, at 10:14, we received an email from Brittany Ferries, in forming us that the departure from Santander would be delayed by 15 minutes to 16:00. You can imagine our surprise when we received a text message, at 14:11, to inform us that Brittany Ferries had changed the sailing time. Instead of departing at 16:00 on Thursday 3rd, the new sailing time was 23:00 on Wednesday 2nd; they moved the departure forward by 17 hours. Trying to call Brittany Ferries for confirmation was not possible as they weren't answering the phones and there were no updates on their web site. This meant that we were unable to to clean and prepare our apartment in Vera Playa before leaving; instead we had to pack up and load the car before setting off for Santander early on Wednesday morning. We normally break the 600 mile journey with an overnight stop and stay in a small hotel, north of Madrid. We had to cancel our hotel booking and drive the 600 miles in one day. We met a number of people on the journey who were in the same position as us, rushing to get ready to set off for Santander, cancelling hotels and driving 600 miles in one day.

It was not possible to change to an alternative crossing as the next crossing, Santander to Portsmouth on Wednesday 9th is full.

The reason given by Brittany Ferries for bringing forward the return sailing was 'poor weather conditions'. Checking the position of the Pont Aven shows that after arriving at Plymouth, it sailed to Roscoff. It's now left Roscoff. So much for bringing forward the departure time due to 'poor weather conditions'.

 

[scotzsue]

Can understand your fury, We would not have been happy either. Have driven that far in 1 day but don't like doing it.

 

[Riverbankannie]

It would be interesting to find out what BF did for someone who did not make it to Santander in time, or who had just not seen the text and turned up for original sailing,
I do suspect that there is some space kept in reserve even when online booking says full. Surely they have a responsibility, like airlines, to get you to your destination even if they have to put you up in a hotel. Of course delays can affect your plans at home and even Schengen days.

 

[Sapper520]

Happened to us on our motorcycle tour in 2019.

Due to travel back from Santander to Plymouth, text message and email saying Pont Aven is broken. ‘We can get you on the Bilbao to Portsmouth ferry, two days before you were due to sail, or pick a Northern French Port’.

That gave us two full riding days (instead of the four we had planned), one night stop and a night in a hotel near the port because it was an early sailing……..we were in Cadiz!

 

[Riverbankannie]

Happened to us on our motorcycle tour in 2019.

Due to travel back from Santander to Plymouth, text message and email saying Pont Aven is broken. ‘We can get you on the Bilbao to Portsmouth ferry, two days before you were due to sail, or pick a Northern French Port’.

That gave us two full riding days (instead of the four we had planned), one night stop and a night in a hotel near the port because it was an early sailing……..we were in Cadiz!

Wow, I suppose that is the trouble with having only one operator and they cannot just have spare ships hanging around.
Is it such a non-profitable business that there is no competition?

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[DBK]

Wow, I suppose that is the trouble with having only one operator and they cannot just have spare ships hanging around.
Is it such a non-profitable business that there is no competition?

I read somewhere they lost around £200M during Covid. More recent figures suggest business from the UK is now declining and sailings from UK ports might be reduced as a result I suspect.

 

[dunnah01]

Happened to us years ago when St Galacia was first commissioned . Arrived on time to find the boat had sailed 3 hours earlier due to one of four engines not working. They'd sent a letter (bless 'em) to our old address to let us know which of course we never received. Had to book a weekend at a B&B in Woolacombe and build sandcastles on the beach instead - thoroughly enjoyed it anyway and got a full refund eventually.

 

[Littlewheels]

It would be interesting to find out what BF did for someone who did not make it to Santander in time, or who had just not seen the text and turned up for original sailing,
I do suspect that there is some space kept in reserve even when online booking says full. Surely they have a responsibility, like airlines, to get you to your destination even if they have to put you up in a hotel. Of course delays can affect your plans at home and even Schengen days.

They abandon you no alternative sailings and it’s happened to us three times whilst in Spain, first occasion no refund but a voucher, no communication and impossible to get through by phone, we booked again for about a month later and paid without the use of the voucher as we didn’t have it! When we eventually arrived back in the U.K. the voucher was there,what good was it when we were stuck in Spain.
Getting a refund on that voucher is another story. And by the way the second sailing was also cancelled so we eventually gave up on BF they are absolutely diabolical and customer care doesn’t exist.

 

[Jonno1103]

Wow, I suppose that is the trouble with having only one operator and they cannot just have spare ships hanging around.
Is it such a non-profitable business that there is no competition?

Yes, the only reason there are ferries running on the western channel and from U.K. ports to Spain is because the ships are owned by the French regions of Brittany, Normandy & Seine Maritime. SOMABRET & SOMANOR. BAI, Brittany Ferries as was only operate them. The 5 new ships including Galicia and Salamanca, which is now over in Ireland, Santona (2023), St Malo (2024) & Normandie II (2025) are all chartered from Stena RoRo as they don't have the money to fund their own new builds.
Pont Aven is unreliable due to her poor hull design.

 

[Sapper520]

Wow, I suppose that is the trouble with having only one operator and they cannot just have spare ships hanging around.
Is it such a non-profitable business that there is no competition?

A company used to run a service from St Nazaire to Gijon, I think it was, but they went under.

I can’t remember the last time another company, otherthan BF, did the UK to Spain route.

Pont Aven also delayed our going out one year. We ended up riding down through France, then across to Portugal. We love it in France, but that year it wasn’t on our tour list, so for the first time ever did a 300 mile stint on motorways……a particular boring way to travel on motorcycles.

3 out of 5 years we had travel plan issues due to Pont Aven problems.

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[Jonno1103]

A company used to run a service from St Nazaire to Gijon, I think it was, but they went under.

I can’t remember the last time another company, otherthan BF, did the UK to Spain route.

Pont Aven also delayed our going out one year. We ended up riding down through France, then across to Portugal. We love it in France, but that year it wasn’t on our tour list, so for the first time ever did a 300 mile stint on motorways……a particular boring way to travel on motorcycles.

3 out of 5 years we had travel plan issues due to Pont Aven problems.

Yeah that was LD Lines, they also began a service to Spain from Poole. Once the EU MOS (Motorway Of the Seas) funding stopped they began to haemorrhage money.
P&O lost a fortune using the chartered Pride of Bilbao and it was the same with the two Peter Pan class vessels they had sailing to Cherbourg & Le Havre until 2006.
Transmanche/ Seine Maritime pay DFDS around €18m annually to operate the Dieppe ships - which were transferred from Portsmouth as they lost money there too.
Balearia are currently negotiating with the EU for funding to reprise Gijon - St Naz with the possibility of a U.K. link too... but again it'll be all down to subsidies.
It's all about freight nowadays, yes the ships are getting bigger but it's due to the 5m high vehicle decks & lane metres capable of carrying accompanied & unaccompanied trailers.
They're all RoPax now, the days of the cruise ferry serving the U.K. & Ireland are over.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Depressing reading above, especially as we cannot have all traffic going via Dover. Just has the most horrendous journey back from Folkestone.

 

[Rogerwyn]

We were due to sail from Santander to Plymouth on Thursday 3rd November on the Pont Aven. On Tuesday, at 10:14, we received an email from Brittany Ferries, in forming us that the departure from Santander would be delayed by 15 minutes to 16:00. You can imagine our surprise when we received a text message, at 14:11, to inform us that Brittany Ferries had changed the sailing time. Instead of departing at 16:00 on Thursday 3rd, the new sailing time was 23:00 on Wednesday 2nd; they moved the departure forward by 17 hours. Trying to call Brittany Ferries for confirmation was not possible as they weren't answering the phones and there were no updates on their web site. This meant that we were unable to to clean and prepare our apartment in Vera Playa before leaving; instead we had to pack up and load the car before setting off for Santander early on Wednesday morning. We normally break the 600 mile journey with an overnight stop and stay in a small hotel, north of Madrid. We had to cancel our hotel booking and drive the 600 miles in one day. We met a number of people on the journey who were in the same position as us, rushing to get ready to set off for Santander, cancelling hotels and driving 600 miles in one day.

It was not possible to change to an alternative crossing as the next crossing, Santander to Portsmouth on Wednesday 9th is full.

The reason given by Brittany Ferries for bringing forward the return sailing was 'poor weather conditions'. Checking the position of the Pont Aven shows that after arriving at Plymouth, it sailed to Roscoff. It's now left Roscoff. So much for bringing forward the departure time due to 'poor weather conditions'.

We were also on the same sailing but we’re lucky to be only 20m away when the sailing was brought forward so not issue for us, apparently it’s was due to very high winds around Santander 60/70 mph on the Thursday afternoon which would have meant her possibly not being able to dock or leave, that came from a crew member on board.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Sorry to hear of your troubles . I would like to think that it was due to bad weather and to be fair, I’d rather not sail if it’s anything worse than severe Gale force 9.

Plymouth - Santander ceased operations for winter early November . It was porbsbly being used for the roscoff route after your crossing. The roscoff route is the western channel (Plymouth) so would not enter Biscay.

If you look at the Met office Shipping for now, Sunday 6th November at 9:12 UK time. The weather situation has improved in Biscay.

BF used to be the best in the industry for cruise ferries.

When Pride of Bilbao was in service with P&O, BF used to stop sailing in the winter. Acciona trialed a route too. But that was short lived.

This meant there were 3 companies serving the Spanish routes. Brittany Ferries customer service was excellent during those times.

 

[Jonno1103]

Depressing reading above, especially as we cannot have all traffic going via Dover. Just has the most horrendous journey back from Folkestone.

The tunnel & low cost airlines killed the western channel in terms of passenger vehicle traffic in the main but newer, larger cars has also had a detrimental effect on what the older ships, particularly Bretagne can carry... a modern VW Polo is the size of an '80's Golf - the era she was built. Same goes for the Peter Pan sisters, DFDS' King Seaways (previously BF's Val de Loire) & Princess Seaways, Pride of Cherbourg & Pride of Portsmouth now in Italy with GNV.
This has also meant a price rise. They don't carry the volume. There are so many contributing factors, SOLAS & SECA regulations are others.

I.F. sold Oscar Wilde as she only made money 4 months out of every 12 sailing from Rosslare to Roscoff & Cherbourg and they didn't have the £ - € exchange rate to deal with.

We've also lost the Zeebrugge ships as they were losing millions year on year and Zeebrugge no longer excepts passenger ferries as they too didn't make any money from the service. This in the main part is due to the new and improved road links from the eastern channel ports. Bruges is now only a little over an hour from Dunkerque.

For Spain the customer offer will begin to improve as the EU has spent billions improving the road & rail right across northern Spain and they want most of the road freight which currently comes up from Africa to stop transiting through France and embark on a ship before crossing the border at Irun.

I'll stop now or I'll go on about ferry travel for days!

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[Silver-Fox]

I read somewhere they lost around £200M during Covid. More recent figures suggest business from the UK is now declining and sailings from UK ports might be reduced as a result I suspect.

Lost £200m or their turn over was down by £200m.

I appreciate they need to keep engines etc ticking over if not sailing.

 

[Sapper520]

I thought the French Government were ploughing money into BF?

 

[Jonno1103]

Lost £200m or their turn over was down by £200m.

I appreciate they need to keep engines etc ticking over if not sailing.

The French figures are slowly climbing again, the Spanish figures are higher than they were back in 2019.

I thought the French Government were ploughing money into BF?

The French regional governments have owned the ships since 1986 and the Elyseé has been putting money in since then. It's why they don't break the EU bail out laws... they're not a private company.

 

[EuroTrotters]

From my many years of travelling throughout Europe and mostly since I met my wife. I would say from the day the Eurotunnel opened and cheap flights were a plenty, travel has changed dramatically. We were some of the first travellers to use the tunnel, what exciting times they were.

So the flights situation, as an example. At one point, until just recently (Brexit / Pandemic). There were numerous carriers that flew from Manchester to ALICANTE direct, As an example. Ryanair, Jet2, EasyJet, Monarch, British Airways (summer only), Iberian, Thomas Cook, Norwegian, Vueling and TUI.

Not long after IAG (Vueling/Iberian/British Airways) and Norwegian had seen the end of Monarch (blamed mostly on other factors). IAG and Norwegian stopped the route.

Then Thomas cook was gone. That leaves us with less than 50% capacity and much increased prices. Ive no great problem with the prices, more the lack of customer service. EasyJet, my preferred airline prides itself as being a "Digital Airline". I would say its a faceless airline with decreasing focus on customer service.

I love Jet2, great company, higher prices, old fleet but better service than most European Airlines.

I avoid Ryanair and Tui never seem to have my dates or times. That said, In-View of recent events, I am not sure I want to book with them.

Of more interest to most of us is the Ferries and Tunnel.

Ive lost count of the number of ferry companies that have failed since I started touring only 40 odd years ago. Some have come and gone and many of the older ones have ceased for various reasons. Be that the cheap flights era that killed the likes of the Norwegian routes or the ones that were badly managed and made great losses. Then of course there is the weather issues.

To Name a few, Newcastle to Stavanger, Bergen, and Haugesund in Norway. It existed for over 140 years until 2008, when it was last operated by DFDS Seaways. Between 2010 and 2015. The otherNewcastle to Kristiansand (Norway) - Gothenburg (Sweden) dropped when DFDS took over from colorline.

The Norwegian route is the one I miss the most. Traveling back on one of the last winter sailings was quite sad.

Bergen Cruise Line

The world's cleanest cruiseline

bergencruiseline.no

Harwich - Espjerg
Hull-Zeebrugge
UK- Boulonge (anyone seen how run down the Boulonge has become since the end of those routes?).
Ramsgate Routes
P&O Western Channel
Saint Nazaire-Gijon
Rosyth-Zeebrugge https://news.stv.tv/east-central/ro...ep-forward-for-direct-link-to-mainland-europe
Portsmouth-Bilabo P&O
Portsmouth - Santander - Acconia Ferries.

I would like to think things will get better and exciting once again.

 

[mikebeaches]

I can’t remember the last time another company, other than BF, did the UK to Spain route.

Many many moons ago, P&O also used to run Portsmouth to Bilbao, in addition to the BF routes.

We took our caravan to get to south-west France, without the long drive from the Channel coast. And at the time, received a decent shareholder discount too.

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[EuroTrotters]

A company used to run a service from St Nazaire to Gijon, I think it was, but they went under.

I can’t remember the last time another company, otherthan BF, did the UK to Spain route.

Pont Aven also delayed our going out one year. We ended up riding down through France, then across to Portugal. We love it in France, but that year it wasn’t on our tour list, so for the first time ever did a 300 mile stint on motorways……a particular boring way to travel on motorcycles.

3 out of 5 years we had travel plan issues due to Pont Aven problems.

See my last post

 

[mikebeaches]

Depressing reading above, especially as we cannot have all traffic going via Dover. Just has the most horrendous journey back from Folkestone.

We use the tunnel a lot these days, but Sue hates the journey to and from Bristol / Folkestone via the M25.

 

[mikebeaches]

We were due to sail from Santander to Plymouth on Thursday 3rd November on the Pont Aven. On Tuesday, at 10:14, we received an email from Brittany Ferries, in forming us that the departure from Santander would be delayed by 15 minutes to 16:00. You can imagine our surprise when we received a text message, at 14:11, to inform us that Brittany Ferries had changed the sailing time. Instead of departing at 16:00 on Thursday 3rd, the new sailing time was 23:00 on Wednesday 2nd; they moved the departure forward by 17 hours. Trying to call Brittany Ferries for confirmation was not possible as they weren't answering the phones and there were no updates on their web site. This meant that we were unable to to clean and prepare our apartment in Vera Playa before leaving; instead we had to pack up and load the car before setting off for Santander early on Wednesday morning. We normally break the 600 mile journey with an overnight stop and stay in a small hotel, north of Madrid. We had to cancel our hotel booking and drive the 600 miles in one day. We met a number of people on the journey who were in the same position as us, rushing to get ready to set off for Santander, cancelling hotels and driving 600 miles in one day.

It was not possible to change to an alternative crossing as the next crossing, Santander to Portsmouth on Wednesday 9th is full.

The reason given by Brittany Ferries for bringing forward the return sailing was 'poor weather conditions'. Checking the position of the Pont Aven shows that after arriving at Plymouth, it sailed to Roscoff. It's now left Roscoff. So much for bringing forward the departure time due to 'poor weather conditions'.

Sorry to hear about your woes - that sounds pretty awful.

Hope you're safely home now, although given the weather here you probably wish you were still at VP.

 

[EuroTrotters]

We use the tunnel a lot these days, but Sue hates the journey to and from Bristol / Folkestone via the M25.

Our record from Folkestone to Manchester is 14 hours. Should take around 6

 

[Riverbankannie]

We use the tunnel a lot these days, but Sue hates the journey to and from Bristol / Folkestone via the M25.

The road surface just shakes my teeth together and jiggles my insides, well and maybe the outsides too
I find that I get a headache from clenching my teeth.
This time very heavy rain ( driving more carefully than the rest and therefore in inside lane) coupled with making the mistake of turning into Cobham services, previously missed due to being able to easily drive straight home after a night at Cite Europe and a early train.
This time had to overnight further away and allow time for pet control and tunnel delayed by an hour.
Services roads rammed due to closure of exit back onto M25 clockwise. We had to exit back onto it anti-clockwise, travel back towards Dover one junction, turn around and come back again.

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[mikebeaches]

The road surface just shakes my teeth together and jiggles my insides, well and maybe the outsides too
I find that I get a headache from clenching my teeth.
This time very heavy rain ( driving more carefully than the rest and therefore in inside lane) coupled with making the mistake of turning into Cobham services, previously missed due to being able to easily drive straight home after a night at Cite Europe and a early train.
This time had to overnight further away and allow time for pet control and tunnel delayed by an hour.
Services roads rammed due to closure of exit back onto M25 clockwise. We had to exit back onto it anti-clockwise, travel back towards Dover one junction, turn around and come back again.

Cor, yes that concrete section on the M25 is awful.

We returned from Folkestone a couple of weeks ago and a big section of the M4 was closed for the weekend. So whilst the weather wasn't too bad, it still felt a very long journey.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Cor, yes that concrete section on the M25 is awful.

We returned from Folkestone a couple of weeks ago and a big section of the M4 was closed for the weekend. So whilst the weather wasn't too bad, it still felt a very long journey.

We met that on the way out, near Reading? Seeing it in advance, We took the Basingstoke road from the Newbury turning, the A339, instead of the normal Bracknell cut through. It was a very good road and I wish we had taken it on return. A few too many roundabouts on the Bracknell road especially later in the day. It does mean a junction more on the A3.
Mind you, the journey always seems shorter/better on the way out!

 

[mikebeaches]

We met that on the way out, near Reading? Seeing it in advance, We took the Basingstoke road from the Newbury turning, the A339, instead of the normal Bracknell cut through. It was a very good road and I wish we had taken it on return. A few too many roundabouts on the Bracknell road especially later in the day. It does mean a junction more on the A3.

Interesting, I did wonder about running on down the M3 to Basingstoke. Of course the route through Bracknell was gridlocked, as I knew it would be. I'll keep the Basingstoke option in mind for future reference.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Interesting, I did wonder about running on down the M3 to Basingstoke. Of course the route through Bracknell was gridlocked, as I knew it would be. I'll keep the Basingstoke option in mind for future reference.

It was early on a Sunday morning and we were on our way to holiday so maybe that helped.