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Brittany Ferries Etretat


Nigelt
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Good morning all,

We are travelling on this ship from Portsmouth on a Friday night in September. I have a couple of questions which I cannot find on Brittany ferries website:

As the ship is in Portsmouth all day on the Friday, do they start loading any earlier than the "normal services"?

What time is the self service restaurant open? Not sure whether to have breakfast on board, or stop off once in France

Thanks in advance

Nigelt
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Hi Nigel

As normal loading starts around 45 minutes before sailing time. It's the same every day.

The restaurant is announced as open an hour before arriving in Le Havre but maybe open earlier. Continental or English breakfast available.

Don't rush to get to the car, Again announced at least 30 mins before you can get to the car deck and there is always a queue.

Hope you have a cabin, it's a long night without.

Bon voyage.
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I've used so many different ferries that they all kind of blur into one in my memory, but I don't recall an overnight ferry service that doesn't open its restaurant to serve breakfast before docking. They want your money after all.

Likewise I don't recall boarding ever commencing way in advance of sailing. Night sailings are a "normal service" just as much as daytime sailings and normally it's exactly the same drill. Check-in opens a couple of hours max before departure, they don't have check-in and passport control staff and customs staff hanging around when there are no departures scheduled. I don't suppose they keep onboard crew on duty all the time the ship is in dock either come to that.

Have a good trip :-)
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There will be an announcement to wake you up at least an hour before arrival, and to require you to vacate your cabin.

So you might as well go and have breakfast to fill in the time before you are allowed onto the car deck.

I have not sailed on the Etretat, but the ones I have been on have various food outlets, such as self-service, waiter-service and bar-service. The first two have cooked-breakfast options.

Try not to have too much overnight luggage with you, as you will have to tote it around in the morning until disembarkation.

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"There will be an announcement to wake you up at least an hour before arrival,"

Yes those pesky announcements, I wish they had a way of only broadcasting them over the loudspeakers in the cabin area. I don't usually get a cabin because I tend not to book until a couple of days before I travel and there aren't any left, and it's hard enough getting a decent night's sleep in the lounge area without being disturbed by announcements that have nothing to do with you.
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Re early boarding, I rather doubt it - in fact, I’d say definitely not. There’s the 20.30 to St Malo & then the 22.45 to Caen.

They won’t even think about loading the Etretat until those two are out of the way.

Breakfast onboard, as everybody else has said. Plenty of time !

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Thanks everyone for your replies. We have done the route in the the past, but the first time on the "economie" service. Wishful thinking really, but I was hoping that as the boat would be in all day they might let us on sooner. We will just have to aim to get there for 10ish.

Will try breakfast on board, will save us stopping the other side.

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This review from Metasson is 3 years old but it might give you an idea :

https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/ShowUserReviews-g186258-d214968-r289933313-Brittany_Ferries-Plymouth_Devon_England.html

Edit: sorry you'll have to copy and paste .. I forgot that I cannot make live links on here from my tablet.
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Hi,

Yes I know about it being an economy service. When we have used the "normal" service in the past, we have only ever used the self service restaurant anyway, so we will not miss any of the "extras" that we have never used
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