Brittany ferries, will they survive?

[Devon]

I have used Brittanny Ferries for the last 30 years and they have always provided good service if a little more expensive than rivals but since the strike last autumn they seem to be falling to pieces.

I was left in the lurch by the strike and spent a lot of time and money travelling from Devon to the tunnel to cross. I have used their services twice since then and many of the staff on the boats seem useless and have faces like slapped bottoms.

After missing an 11.30am St Malo to Plymouth crossing on Tuesday I was charged £38 to be transferred to a later Cherbourg to Poole crossing which seemed a bit much but hey ho, that's life: I guess the company needs all the money it can get. The biggest downer was how dirty parts of the boat were and how incompetent some of the staff were including a chef serving food like a frustrated child and garnishing his incompetence with a few French swear words.

I have never considered using any other company before now but if Brittany Ferries doesn't get its act together I will happily take my custom to other ferry companies.

I am not totally alone in my opinion judging from some comments from one or two other passengers on Tuesday's crossing. Have I just been unlucky are have others noticed a drop in standards?

[just john]

Years ago we used Brittany, they had the route we preferred and good cabins with breakfast, excellent restaurant, but then it changed, except their prices. We changed our route and used speed ferries, they collapsed, so did P&O on the routes we used, so we used Brittany once more and were extremely disappointed at the value of low service and high price.
We use LD lines now, on recommendation of friends who switched, excellent value, don't expect anything else; after all it's just a crossing. With traffic seemingly reduced over the last few years, I can't see a way back for Brittany until their pricing becomes competitive and their standards improve.

[Rabbie]

We use Brittany Ferries Portsmouth - Caen fairly frequently and have had not problems. Used LD lines during the strike and  had to wait nearly 90 minutes to disembark as we were garaged in the bowels of the ship and had to wait until all the freight vehicles were unloaded. I blame the strike for that. The catering was not nearly as good as on BF and the ship needed  refurbishing.

[Chancer]

You should try the Myferrylink reincarnation of Seafrance if you really want to see what its like when the lunatics take over the asylum.

Like many French businesses you leave shaking your head and wondering just how they could hang on for even a matter of weeks like that let alone months or years.

The passengers are way outnumbered by the staff even on the loading decks but they really are unhappy to have their day spoilt by having to work or by passengers actually wanting to spend some money.

[Bugsy]

We've tried them all and always go back to Brittany Ferries.

They are the best.

[powerdesal]

We have used DFDS ever since Speedferries died.

Good service. Cheap and convenient times.

[Clarkkent]

Price is important to me. I used to use Brittany Ferries when my wife was alive but now that I don't have her needs to consider I try to find the best value. In general, the winners are likely to be Le Shuttle (my travel is heavily subsidised by Tesco Clubcard vouchers) or Newhaven - Dieppe (with substantial pensioners discount - I lie about my age!)

 

[Gardian]

Just a point about pricing with BF.

Being a bit of a sad person, I keep old timetables and stuff like that. About a year ago, I did some calculations on the 1977 pricing vs 2012: Pompey - St Malo & return, high season, car + 2 adults and 2 children + cabin.  Using an inflation calculator, the conclusion was that the pricing now is roughly 50% of what it was 35 years ago.

Now of course a lot has changed since 1977 - low cost airlines (though often not so low cost, believe me!), the Channel Tunnel and so on.  The reality is that many commodities have become quite a bit cheaper in real terms over the years.

The reality facing BF is that it purports to offer a high quality 'travel experience' at a time of austerity. Accordingly they have ramped up off-season service frequency reductions (they were always there to some extent) and this was the root cause of the damaging industrial action in the Autumn of 2012.

They'll survive I think (and very much hope), but they have to ensure that the OP's experience over the state of the ships and attitude of the crew matches the high quality image that they want to portray.    

[Russethouse]

Last year a friend who was terminally ill was taken very poorly indeed over halfway through the Portsmouth to St Malo crossing, the care by BF staff was exemplary. The patient was admitted to hospital, an ambulance met the boat, and BF phoned every day to enquire how things were, was there anything they could do etc.

After the end came they made room for the four separate parties that had been accompanying my friend,to return to the UK and this was over August bank holiday, they all had cabins too

When the chips were down they came up trumps. How would the other carriers have fared?

[Pommier]

We've just returned from a week in the UK with crossings Caen/Portsmouth, night crossings with en suite cabin both ways for a cost of £250 which I thought was pretty good. The ship and cabins were clean, the crew were pleasant and departure/arrival were on time.

[Devon]

After losses of 70 million euros (I believe) in the 3 years before the strike and the current recession I think BF face a huge task to stay afloat (forgive the pun).

As I stated in my original post, I have found the company wanting in my 3 crossings since September last year. Times are tough and pricing will be important to people as this recession goes on.

I am glad to see some are still pleased with the service BF provides and have had better experiences than myself because BF will not last if they provide poor value and poor service.