B F " Economie " new service

[Frederick]

http://mxm.mxmfb.com/rsps/wlnk/c/748/r/1379461/e/5521

[Cendrillon]

Sounds interesting and will suit some passengers. However Le Havre is not a great route for us and I do like the "frills" when I take the ferry home from Santander.[;-)]

[plasterer43]

for those who dont know ...

its the norman voyager ....with new name

tue/ fri portmouth - le havre

weekend portsmouth -- santander

prices compare well with dfds

may try it but prefer the seven sisters that dfds using to replace it... tbo

[JeanS]

I thought I'd try this so phoned for a quotation.  Sounded OK - slightly cheaper and also the dog could travel with us in the cabin. However, decided not to use it for the following reasons.

1: Crossing 2 hours longer that Portsmouth/Caen

2: No breakfast allowance for Owners Club members

3: For us, an additional 40 miles to drive.

Taking this into consideration - it was more expensive.

[fisherman]

Thanks for the tip off.

We were an LD customer for many years but our experiences of the Norman Voyager was the main reason for changing to BF a couple of years ago.

[BJSLIV]

"experiences of the Norman Voyager"

Anything in particular that put you off the NV?

PS It had mechanical problems in Le Havre on Friday night so it's overnight sailing to Portsmouth and Saturday's sailing to Spain were cancelled.

[fisherman]

As I said before we were LD customers for many years and had no problems with the ship which was previously on this route and I am not anti LD.

Some of our issues with the Norman Voyager may be resolved by new management. In no particular order -

Even when booking months in advance we could not get a cabin for overnight sailings. ( I suspect they were reserved for the truckers).

The restaurant area is very small and it was touch and go whether we could get a table after collecting our meal.

The quality of the food was very poor.

Download a ships plan you will see that the passenger area is relatively small and everybody is crowded into quite a small area.

Seating is in long rows (like an aeroplane) and if there are more than two of you interaction with your travelling companions is difficult.

Due to the lack of space we found that if we as a family left our seats perhaps to go on deck or have a meal we would be lucky to find an area to sit together when we got back.

There is a single very long corridor which everybody must go down to reach the car decks. Many people push and shove wanting to get to their vehicles to be ready for the off. Not a pleasant experience.

[Martin963]

We used the Etretat this week for the first time.    We regularly used to go Portsmouth/Le Havre in the days of the P&O service,   but when they closed that in 2004 we started to use Dover Calais in spite of the fact that from Devon it's hardly the nearest crossing.   However,  the huge price increases at Plymouth/Roscoff with BF had priced us out of the market,  and even taking into account the extra fuel and a night in a hotel it was rare not to be quids in by using Dover rather than Plymouth.

Anyway,   the Etretat served us perfectly adequately.    I'm really not someone who notices or values "frills" but even I felt I'd stepped back 30 years when I saw the interior of the boat.   I still find it hard to believe that it could have been fitted out as recently as 6 years ago!   However the retro-feel is not oppressive and all the staff we saw were friendly,  cheerful,  and I felt almost proud of their "economy" boat.   The cat was most impressed to spend a night in a cabin,  even if he felt a little insulted that the "present under the pillow" turned out to be a packet of dog treats.   The breakfast was excellent and the cabins quiet.       It was nice to have a slower night crossing,   one of my criticisms of BF in the past on Plymouth Roscoff was that at night one only got a few hours sleep before they chucked you off at an unholy hour the other side (although I realise that for some this might be considered an advantage).

Certainly I would not hesitate to use the Etretat again if the fare compares favourably with Dover/Calais including all the extras.   Personally I welcome BF's shift away from the "cruise experience" - many of us just want to get across the Channel at a fair price.

[EuroTrash]

I've been on Etretat twice now, no complaints either time. Free wifi too. What's not to like.

For me it's been a toss up of late between dfds Le Havre-Portsmouth and dfds Dieppe-Newhaven, but I believe they're stopping one of those at the end of the year though I forget which one. But BF economie has joined in the mix now. It's just a case of which time fits in best with what I have to do, so it's good to have a choice of day or night crossings.

[BJSLIV]

It's Portsmouth-Le Havre with DFDS (LD Lines) that finishes at the end of the year.

The future of Newhaven-Dieppe is also in doubt, but it seems that the authorities have scraped together a bit of cash to keep it going into 2015 while further tendering/procurement activity is undertaken. However there is a real chance that by 2016 that line will also have closed down.

[PaulT]

Would have thought, especially from Dover, that the ferries are not helped by French industrial action. In addition, from what I have read, traversing immigrant alley at Calais.

[chaletcat]

Travelled last week on her the cafeteria was closed until

7am and then the queues were long as everyone was waiting to get in The cooked breakfast was served cold and it was one of the worst we have eaten anywhere The shop is very small and I wanted Benedictine they had none as this is one of Normandies biggest exports I was surprised and disapointed The sullenness of some of the staff was unexpected as we have always found BF staff to be very pleasant and helpful.

I mentioned this when we returned via Caen and was told that they really did not want to be on that route but had had no choice

The price was a lot cheaper than we thought and would use the service Le Harvre Portsmouth by choice again as the times suit our hosts in the UK

[napoleon]

We have travelled on this route several times now as Portsmouth/Le Havre is our favoured journey. The main advantage is the use of Pet Friendly cabins for our puppy.

The meals have been fine and are similar to those on the other BF ferries( but not the expensive restaurants).

BF have now taken over the old LD berths and time slots which makes it even more convenient for us.

We are pleased with the current arrangements because we can use our BF membership and take care of our young dog.

Alistair

[plasterer43]

always found bf way too expensive ,so used to be a happy customer of ld/ dfds portsmouth -le havre but now its been cut have to find another route

have used newhaven -dieppe a few times but i live in gloucestershire and my french property in brittany

( extra driving at both ends )

the no frills from bf portsmouth - le havre is an obvious replacement but ..... no sailings till march 23rd....

also only on mon tue wed thur .....

i agree whats been written about this ferry,,was glad when dfds used seven sisters instead,

wonder if anyone else has same propblem ...?