Caen to Portsmouth on Bittany Ferries

[krusty]

I am thinking of using this route in November . It appears the craft they use is the mv Normandie . As this was built in 1991 I was thinking it must be getting due for a refit .

Has anyone used it recently ?

What is your opinion of it ?

thank you.

[KathyF]

We have travelled on it many times and have no complaints.  Mind you, we get a free cabin with our membership of the Property Owners Club, which means we use few of the other facilities, but it really does look OK to me.

[Chardie]

A free cabin? I'm a member and never had that in 5yrs -only a discount on the overall amount. Free breakfast -yes.

[Will]

You get a free cabin on daytime crossings - mornings from France and afternoons from England where there are more than one.

There is nothing wrong with the Normandie. I remember it when it was delivered and it is still a good ship; I like it more than most of the others, I prefer it overall to the Mont St Michel in fact, though each ship has its good and bad points.

[Phil & Pat]

We came back on the Normandie on Tuesday afternoon.  She seems to have had regular refits and is still in pretty good conditions, at least in the public areas (can't comment on other areas of course).  Carpets, upholstery and curtains all in better condition than you might expect at the end of season.

[krusty]

Thanks for the replies , no bad comments so I will give it a go. [:)]

[ngh]

I think Brittany ferries are excellent vfm all the boats are in good or v good condition. I often travel back and to alone (yes i know its sad) but on the above sailing always get a free cabin.

[Gardian]

We used BF to return to the UK for Christmas and was interested to see how it would be - we used to be pretty regular users for annual holidays up the mid-90's.

It was the Mont St Michel for the Caen - Portsmouth, Normandie for the return: night crossing in both cases.  Observations:

• High standard of housekeeping onboard: clean & tidy everywhere
• Low meal prices (I think that €3.90 for a full English breakfast is a 'steal')
• Friendly crew (that wasn't always the case - I can remember regular instances of offhandedness)
• Couldn't differentiate between the ships: both equally good, but more engine noise on the Normandie (we were on a lower deck, so perhaps the reason)
• Portsmouth Ferry Terminal looked scruffy and rundown
• Disembarkation from the inbound evening sailing at Pompey (while we were waiting to embark) took over an hour. Apparently there were 580 cars and Immigration had just 4 booths - the last cars would have had to queue for 75 mins at least.

 Overall, a good experience. It isn't cheap, but it struck us as a professional operation.

[KathyF]

Portsmouth ferry terminal is being completely rebuilt this year, Gardian, starting this month. They've presumably stopped doing routine maintenance in anticipation. [:)]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8377523.stm

[Frederick]

I am still crying over the loss of the Barflur out of Poole . Now we South /West of England residents are forced to go to Portsmouth expect more demands for free cabins .. In five years I have never got one  discounted only

[BIG MAC]

I live in Portsmouth (Well just outside)

I use Eurotunnel

Nuff said