Au revoir Pride of Cherbourg

[Val50]

After the initial fuss, it seems the P&O route from Portsmouth to Cherbourg dissapearing without a whisper. Came back last night only to be told tomorrow morning is the last crossing on this route. It was a very sad occassion, the crew still unsure right up to the very end of their plight. Shame on you P&O. I will miss the weekly crossings, the moans and groans as we were let down time and time again, making new friends at the ferry port as we waited for delayed boats etc. Have no choice now but to use Brittany Ferries until the end of March when Flybe start their route from Cherbourg to Southampton (currently offering one way tickets for 11 euros).

A bientot Pride of Cherbourg.

[Mayennaise]

I received a telephone call from P&O this morning that they are withdrawing the Cherbourg/Portsmouth route from tomorrow. We had a trip booked for the beginning of Feb and they offered us Le Havre as the departure point. We had to take it, even though it is a longer drive this end, as we are using up our club points before they stop ALL sailings!!

[Will]

I have to admit that I was surprised when I came back to France via Portsmouth last weekend (with BF) to see the P&O Cherbourg route still operating - the company has been about to suddenly drop it for several weeks now. Thanks to that strange referral to the monopolies people P&O is forced to continue, reluctantly, with the Le Havre route. Added to its problems with Aurora, I'm glad I don't have P&O shares.

BBC South mentioned the demise of P&O's service on its news yesterday evening, trouble is they used pictures of the old Pride of Cherbourg that was retired to Greece a couple of years back. The present ship is going on charter to the Baltic (P&O had chartered it from Irish Ferries).

BBC said that BF had stated it was confident that it could make money with the route. Not at this time of year. I travelled on Saturday afternoon, there could have been no more than a dozen cars on the Mont St Michel to Caen (I was the only customer for dinner in the restaurant, nice to have four waiters all to myself) and the afternoon Val de Loire to Cherbourg was even emptier.

[Harley]

Perhaps if BF prices were more reasonable they would encourage more passengers.  There must be those who travelled with P&O through financial necessity rather than choice.  For these people, the increase in fares may well be a strong factor in wether they decide to maintain property in Northern France or continue to holiday in France.  We know quite a few people who travel to and fro regularly and the difference in the foot passenger charges is incredible.

[Miki]

Will,

We travelled back from the UK just after Christmas and it was the first time we had been on Le Mont St Michel. What struck me was just how badly it seemed to be wearing. After a fairly ordinary meal, nothing wrong with it, just that we normally hope for a little more with BF in their restaurants and a drink in the bar, we decided to search out an area to have a sit and read (or snooze in Tina's case).

The lounge we chose had awful recliners, a chair that goes back a few inches at best, can barely be called a recliner can it ? Some also wobbled about on their moorings. Being a French ship, is there an appellation on this kind of thing !! Parts of the carpet floor were badly worn and coming away, cold air was being put in to the area and the place was pretty cold. The whole appearance seemed to be one of slight neglect.

For the money BF charge, one might expect more than we used to get on the Pride of Cherbourg. I guess we do but not enough to warranty such high prices in deep winter. We personally don't care too much for this and that in the way of so called luxuries, some pretty naff anyway. We are only on the boat for so long, so give me the price element over the so called extras everytime. But of course the ferry companies will say it is the selling of all so called necessities that keep the prices down, so......

OK, we only use Ferries as a form of transport from A to B and not for the annual holiday, where for many perhaps the ferry journey counts as part of the holiday. I would like to see some form of discount ferry service competition on the western routes but I guess we have to realise that although the P&O Directors proved incapable of running a profitable Western route service, I suspect their demise may well frighten off competitors for BF for a while yet?

 

[Dick Smith]

Julie's a bad sailor, so we always get cabins (and you get your own loo and a shower) and using Owner's Club we get free ones on afternoon crossings, which tend to be cheaper anyway. Our costs for half-term week in February, leaving on a late crossing and coming back on an early, 5 days, cabins both ways was a bit over £200.

[Will]

Miki, I agree with you. Apart from the Barfleur, which was built as a freight ferry so didn't have the same facilities as the other ships (and is better now) the only indifferent Brittany Ferries meals I've had have been on the Mont St Michel. I think it depends which crew is on duty, I certainly had no complaints with my dinner on Saturday, but with just one meal to prepare they should have got it right. However, on the way over before Christmas my starter (St Jacques) was cold, main course (lamb) very poor but the dessert (pommes) was good.

The Van der Giessen yard in Rotterdam where MSM was built caught a very bad cold with that ship (remember how many months late it was) - it had built big ferries before, notably for North Sea Ferries (part of P&O) but MSM was a big cockup from beginning to end. The reclining seat lounges have never been very good, and are mostly looking tatty now, I always have a cabin, like Dick, and even those are not wearing well.

I vastly prefer the Normandie even though that's 13 years old now.

Don't rule out a competitor to BF on the western channel, there are supposedly a couple of possibilities in the pipeline. I always found BF better value than P&O, except when using Tesco vouchers. I have a soft spot for the company, having been to Spain and other places with them (and over the years had several operational and safety issues with P&O), but wouldn't have any particular axe to grind if a better operator comes along.

Incidentally, Brittany Ferries ran a couple of trips between Portsmouth and Rouen a couple of weeks ago. That could be interesting.

[Diana]

Apart from the convenience of the Portsmouth to Cherbourg route I will shed no tears for the loss of PO. As a shareholder I received a reduction of 40% but 9 times out of 10 this was still more than with the BF property owners club discount.

Diana

[Nick Trollope]

[quote]Julie's a bad sailor, so we always get cabins (and you get your own loo and a shower) and using Owner's Club we get free ones on afternoon crossings, which tend to be cheaper anyway. Our costs for hal...[/quote]

Interestingly enough, we have just booked with BF for French 1/2 term week (the week after UK?) with BF St Malo - Portsmouth for £189 (with FPOC discount). About £3 more than last year.

I still find BF better value than the "competition" - in accommodation & food terms especially.

As I have said before, I shall not weep for P&O, I have never had a "successful" crossing with them.

[Danglar]

[quote]Miki, I agree with you. Apart from the Barfleur, which was built as a freight ferry so didn't have the same facilities as the other ships (and is better now) the only indifferent Brittany Ferries meal...[/quote]

This is very interesting, Will. Tell us a bit more of what you know about this experimental trip to Rouen , please ?

All the way there by ship from Portsmouth ? The same ship that makes the xing to Caen ?

How many hours did it take or is it expected to take from A to B?

Can't wait to read on the subject.

regards

[Miki]

Early evening tonight and old friends asked if we were going to see them in Spain, sometime in February. Whilst talking about it all, I asked them how much their flight as going to cost them.

Answer : 2 X 7 day (not 5) return tickets to Malaga £59 inc taxes plus car hire £69 Total £128 and just look at how far Malaga is from Caen or Saint Malo !

OK, let's say around £200 plus is a fair deal from BF, then what does that make our friends deal and to top that, they have booked it at that price on 3 occasions for 2005 !!

Nick, to show the other side of the coin I have sailed with P&O in one form or another since 1967, their English breakfasts knock (and always have done I might add) B.F same brekkers in to a cocked hat and OK, yes, it is the opposite though on lunches and dinners !!

Now as far as late or unsuccesful trips with P&O, only French strikes over the years and a couple of ferries very late due to weather conditions are all I have found to cause any problems and that could just just as well have been BF ferries when you consider the problems why they were late.

We have always (or rather used to !) used a choice of P&O or BF and it is generally down to price but we rarely use 5 day trips where more money can be saved. On standard returns P&O can or rather did, offer better deals and for the last 2 years their Visit Britain offer was an excellent way to go back to the UK. BF rarely if ever do a really good deal on a standard return.

On another site, members are complaining hugely about the cost and lack of service on the Roscoff route and how 500 plus euros in winter is the cost (with BF discount off) and that is when a ferry is actually running.

To me the only reason we can be happy for BF in general, is that it brings in trade (not for us really, as we are reliant for the most part on the French) and goes to and from where we need to go and return. That doesn't in my eyes make them anymore than usable due to no other choice being available.

Agree with you Will about the Normandy, we used to try to ensure our journey coincided with its timings and to ensure that the old Duc was not about as well !!

 

 

 

[Alexis]

They are all dear though, aren't they?  Especially for us folk in the North West who don't fancy the drive up to the cheaper ports.

I have a friend coming out to see me in April and he says he can go to Egypt for a fortnight, full board, for less than his ferry fare.  I would come to Brittany.....can't be doing with snakes!

I went Transmarché when I had to go home for a funeral and they weren't dear but it is the long drive up to Yorkshire.  Loved Newhaven port though.  Thought I was steaming into Brid harbour!  Long time since I have been to such a 'relaxed' port.  Hull is my favourite destination but when I pop across in a couple of weeks, I will probably go a cheaper route and suffer the driving.

I'm dreading it already......

 

[Will]

"Tell us a bit more of what you know about this experimental trip to Rouen , please ?"

You already know as much as I do - I picked it up from the arrivals board at Portsmouth and checked via Rouen port's ship movement details. It was the same ship as is used on the Cherbourg route currently, which goes to St Malo in the spring/summer period. It wasn't advertised, as far as I know, so may have been private charters. I could try to get more info from BF's press agents but won't hold my breath. I found this picture, but apart from the port of Rouen copyright at the bottom you wouldn't really know where the ship was. http://www.rouen.port.fr/FR/galeriephotos/Croisiere/13g.jsp

Rouen seems, on the face of it, an odd destination for a ferry, because it's quite a way upriver from Le Havre. But as P&O found out, Le Havre is a very expensive port to use. There have been reasonably successful freight services between Southampton and Rouen. I have travelled a couple of times from Harwich to Hamburg, on which route the long voyage up the Elbe was a real highlight.

Glad you liked Newhaven, Alexis. It comes in for a rather bad press elsewhere, but I think the port, and the town, has a certain charm.

[Will]

Nothing more about Rouen yet, but this announcement, more relevant to the subject of this topic, has just been issued by Brittany Ferries.

Brittany Ferries extends classic cruise ferry services from Portsmouth to Cherbourg

Brittany Ferries has announced additional capacity on the Portsmouth-Cherbourg route from 16 March. This daily service will be operated by the classic cruise ferry, Barfleur, departing Portsmouth at 13.00 hours and returning at 08.00, giving a crossing time of just 4 hours 45 minutes.

16 March also sees the introduction of the new high-speed ferry service operated by Normandie Express, the largest of its type on the Channel and able to carry 900 passengers and 280 cars. There will be up to two return crossings a day from Portsmouth to Cherbourg with a crossing time of only 180 minutes.

Whilst services from Poole to Cherbourg will be reduced as a consequence of the redeployment of Barfleur, the most popular sailing times of 23.59 from Poole and 20.00 out of Cherbourg are being retained. The high-speed Normandie Vitesse service, taking just 135 minutes, will provide an additional daily crossing from Poole to Cherbourg from 23 May to 2 October.

David Longden, Brittany Ferries’ Managing Director said: “ This summer we will have the best ever choice of services out of Portsmouth making it possible to get to Cherbourg from both Poole or Portsmouth by both conventional or high-speed ferry.”

Edit: I now have information about the Rouen trips. Brittany Ferries' corporate communications director and his staff are now based in London and give a much better service than the agents used previously. The reply reads:
"We charter to Cruise World (Keith Miles) every year at this time for a Xmas cruise to Rouen. No, there is no possibility of a ferry service to Rouen!"

I would also add to the BF press release above that the Normandie Express high speed service on Fri, Sat and Sun mornings will run not to Cherbourg but to/from Caen. The Normandie Express ship is not one of the catamarans used by P&O last year but a newer, larger, one, previously employed in New Zealand. It will be run by BF themselves, not, like the Poole/Cherbourg fast service, by Condor on their behalf, so it will be interesting to see how their crews, in particular the engineers, manage with what is a very different type of ship from a normal ferry. P&O never got it right in several years.

[Paris]

Amused that Will the C find Newhaven has a certain charm!  Having known the port of Newhaven since I was a small child in the 1940s I feel a certain nostalgic fondness for it, but really the area is in need of a complete transformation.  Town used to be almost attractive when the main road went through the middle...

I now live only 4 miles away, but we currently use BF - 2 bookings I have just made, using Tuesday sailings where poss., compare very well with other conventional routes, and with one bad sailor speed ferries out anyway...  Also prices no worse than last year (summer possibly less than last year...)  However have to keep an eye on what these ferry operators are up to!  Agree re Mont St Michel meals O.K. but not up to what I might expect of the French...

[Will]

Paris, I'm with you on that, my fondness for Newhaven is based on being a central Sussex child in the 1950s as well as a liking for things that are small and uncomplicated (like Newhaven port). I used to take small boats out of Newhaven regularly in the 1980s so know it well. There's not much to the town, but there are some nice pubs in the area. Newhaven's actually great for travelling on foot and getting the train to London, much more convenient than Portsmouth.

My sister still lives very close to Newhaven and favours fast ferries so is disappointed that Hoverspeed has pulled out of the route. She prefers a bit of comfort so is using BF from Portsmouth rather than Transmanche for her next visit - she reckons she got a good deal with BF for a week going out overnight to St Malo and back daytime from Caen.

Speedferries is a great value service, but Dover and Boulogne are just too far away. A pity, cos we used to use Folkestone and Newhaven fast ferries a lot for day trips when we were in Sussex. Now my ferry trips are tax deductible (work related) so BF it is for me.

[Guerambault]

The ripples from P&O Portsmouth to Cherbourg have also hit those of us living near Poole. Went on line last night to book a day sailing Poole/Cherbourg to find there would be only 1 crossing in May per day at 2345hrs. Rang a member of staff at Poole to query this and was told yes, unfortunately due to P&O only the fast craft would operate during the day and this would not start until the end of May. She said that staff at Poole were very upset as this was a very busy route, especially for dog owners: perhaps I would like to write to BF expressing my feelings? Is there any point? I hate the drive from Poole to Portsmouth but hate even more the cost and lack of sleep on the short overnight crossing. I am fed up, not much advantage living 10 minutes from Poole!

[Sallyb]

I was very annoyed to see that the Barfleur had been removed from the daytime crossings from Poole, all the crossings were there in the new brochure and on the internet right up to christmas, then on Jan 2nd when went to book a series of trips already picked out - the day crossings from March onwards had disappeared! The Barfleur now travels from Portsmouth during the day. This now means at least an extra hour's drive to Portsmouth each way, and longer ferry crossings on any trips between mid March and end of May when the Condor/BF fast ferry starts and that the prices for these have now rocketed because the choice is less.  I have complained to the customer service desk which appears to have been set up to log complaint calls, basically they said they need to build up the P & O routes.  Although nothing will be done this year I think it's important for all who are affected to register this in the hope that our beloved Barfleur will return to the Poole route, and yes I do like the Barfleur, we go every month, nearly always get the same cabin and the crew are really nice!

[Will]

I think, though I haven't anything official from Brittany Ferries, that the reduction of the Poole service is a consequence of BF being unable to take over P&O's Le Havre route thanks to the intervention of the monopolies commission.

Had this gone ahead, BF would have had five ships at their disposal at Portsmouth to run to Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre and St Malo. The 2005 timetable just differentiates between 'classic cruise ferry' and 'fast craft' rather than last year, where the actual ships were identified, this indicated that the company didn't know which ships it would have when the schedules were put together. As the transfer of the Le Havre route has not happened the company has chosen to divert one of its Cherbourg-Poole crossings to Portsmouth, which is bound to upset those who normally travel from Poole. The other option would have been to charter another ferry, but BF obviously thought this was not likely to pay off as the fast services will be available for the peak season.

Another possibility might have been to extend the cooperation with Condor Ferries - Condor runs a little-publicised weekend conventional ferry service between Portsmouth and Cherbourg, which could at least have freed up the Barfleur to run daytimes to Poole on one or two peak days a week.

[Guerambault]

Thank you Will for that explanation but what a pity that there is no longer a daytime sailing from Poole and that BF are concentrating on just using Portsmouth. I shall write and express my feelings. Dorset is a beautiful county and the coastline of Purbeck which the boat sails close to cannot really be appreciated in the dark!

[Stocky]

Ferry or cruise to Rouen? Wonderful trip, i went up there for L'amarda de Liberte on the Jeremiah O'Brian in 1994.  with the twist and turns takes ages, but under two bridges and past many attractive villages what a way for tourists to start their holiday.  better than the autoroute out of Calais