'New' Brittany ferries

[Eleanorgay]

Hi Folks

We are booked to travel Portsmouth to Caen next week and I notice that the vessel out is the Val de Loire, returning on the Bretagne.  Has anyone any info about either ship, restaurants etc?

Also, has anyone found an easy way to get on the motorway before Alencon?  We came back at New Year and thought the trip via Haras du Pin seemed to be a long way round.

Cheers,

Eleanor Gay (Dept 37 and Southport)[8-|]

[Will]

I use them frequently - you will probably find the main restaurant on the Val de Loire is closed (but there are alternatives available), in fact the whole ship is a bit tired as it's due to go out of service (transferred to another ferry company) very soon. The Bretagne is a nice ship in my opinion. Even the older BF ships like Bretagne and Normandie are still pretty comfortable and high standard. At this time of year the ships get shuffled around quite a lot - for instance I'm travelling to Portsmouth on the Pont Aven on Friday.

You will find information about facilities on the ships you mention at http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=148 and http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=149. Don't expect all facilities to be available at this time of year - for instance when I went on the Bretagne a couple of weeks back the café was being refurbished, and not all of the shops were open.

[Eslier]

Your trip on the Val de Loire will be one of the last (if not the last) before she leaves service with Brittany Ferries and joins DFDS operating from Newcastle. The Val is a very comfortable ship and although, as Will said, the main restaurant will probably be closed, you will get a very good meal in the Café du Port. Three decks of shops, cafés, bars and restaurants to explore and you should also get a cabaret in the main bar.

Bretagne is regarded by most regular travellers as their favorite BF ship. She has a great atmosphere and is, again, very comfortable. The main restaurant, Les Abers, is widely aknowledged to offer the best food in the fleet. A meal in there is a must. The Yacht Club bar is a pleasant and quiet place to enjoy a quiet drink. As with the Val, live music and a cabaret should be on offer in the main bar.

Both ships are single deck loaders so expect a lot of waiting in your car before disembarkation whilst they offload all the lorries first from the lower vehicle decks.

[Russethouse]

Bretagne is regarded by most regular travelers as their favorite BF ship

Absolutely !

On the Bretagne the artwork, friezes, pictures in restaurant etc are by the late Scottish artist Alexander Goudie, who was married to a Bretonne and spent a lot of time in Brittany As far as I know he is the only British artist to have worked with the faienceries in Quimper and examples of this work are on display outside the Duty Free shop, on the way to the restaurant.

 

[Thumper]

On the subject of the motorway to Alençon, there was some discussion about this last month (here: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/591282/ShowPost.aspx) but, in essence, the quickest route is still to follow the old road between Sées and Alençon - it's dual carriageway nearly all the way - and use the old motorway junction on the northern side of Alençon, as you always used to.

The alternative is to use the new junction just north east of Sées, but ignore the signs directing you towards Haras du Pin. Instead, head back towards Sées and rejoin the N138 between there and Falaise. It's a very short, five-minute backtrack, but saves far more. However, having now tried all three options several times, we've decided the old road is probably still the best - at least until the new link between Sées and Falaise opens next year.

[Dick Smith]

Just seen that we are booked on the Val de Loire on the 17th, Caen-Portsmouth. How close is that to the end of her service, Bill?

[Will]

I don't know the exact date it goes out of service, just that it is some time in March. Probably when the next timetable change comes in. At this time of year, when various ships go for maintenance, refits etc and are replaced by others, it is very difficult to keep tracks of what is what. Probably a good idea to make friends with a ferry spotter (they do exist).

[Eslier]

The last sailing of the Val de Loire under the Brittany Ferries flag will be 07.45 Porstmouth to Cherbourg on 20th February. Her fist sailing under the DFDS flag, having been renamed King of Scandinavia, will be 12th March Newcastle to Amsterdam.

[Eleanorgay]

Hi Folks, it's me again,

Thanks for the information about the ferries.  We will only be able to try out the Bretagne's restaurant for 'the full English' as we are booked for the morning crossing.  I am curious to see how the ship compares with  the Normandie - my preference over the M. S. M. every time!

Thanks also, Thumper, for the advice re motorway around Alencon/Sees - you confirmed what I already suspected.

Cheers,   Eleanor Gay (Touraine on Friday! [:D][:D][:D])

[Quiberon]

Plymouth passengers should prepare for a drop in standards on the Roscoff route from March as the Bretagne is replacing Val De Loire on the St Malo route. The replacement for Bretagne is the Pont l'Abbe a vessel of the same vintage as Quiberon (my personal fave) and Duc De Normandie.

I will miss the Val De Loire, The Val and Quiberon were an important part of my childhood brittany trips from 93-00, it's not the same anymore!

[Will]

But the Pont l'Abbé has only been obtained on a shortish-term charter from DFDS, while the new ship (code named Bretagne 2) is being built, by the same yard in Finland that built Barfleur and Normandie. According to Brittany Ferries, the Bretagne is too big for the Roscoff-Plymouth route, so is being returned to St Malo, for which she is ideally suited, hence the disposal of the Val de Loire which was specifically wanted by DFDS, and the new ship order. This is an additional order to the other ship being built at Aker Yards, Turku (formerly Masa Yards) which is a freight ferry for the Cherbourg route and occasional freight to Spain. So Roscoff travellers should be happy again.

I personally never liked the Val de Loire that much - she was very much the Scandinavian cruise ferry type of ship (which of course she was - being built originally as the Nils Holgersson), much preferring the Bretagne. In the last few days I've been on both of the newest vessels - Pont Aven and Mont St Michel - which made for an interesting comparison. I know the Mont very well, but had only been on Pont Aven once before.

I did have a soft spot for the Quiberon though, having been to Spain and back on her in the 1980s (just before she had that engine room fire, and was never the same afterwards).