LD Lines ferry food...

[phylisbide]

Could anyone advise the drill for food on the LD Lines ferry - is there a restaurant as on P and O /Brittany - what sort of evening meal might we find when we board at 10.30pm - and breakfast for that matter - and will we need a pillow and little snuggly blanket for the night on a chair? Is there likely to be a rush for the sofas? Any helpful advice welcome! Thanks.. Phylis

[Pip]

I'd be interested in the answers too Phylis !  We are booked on the night crossing in two weeks time and have never sailed with LD Lines before.

[Will]

In my experience you may or may not find the restaurant open when you board the ship for the overnight crossing - depending on how the staff feel (it's franchised, so not under direct control of LD Lines). It is supposedly Italian in theme, but the best choice seems to be the curry - the others are definitely variable in quality. Main courses are basically OK, but starters and desserts are pretty boring, not much choice of drink either. There is no waiter service restaurant, the only one is cafeteria in style. Some users on another forum seem to speak highly of the service, but whenever I have used it, it has been very slow indeed. If the Little Italy cafeteria is closed, then it's the burger bar I'm afraid, though that's not too bad.

Breakfast is best forgotten. Same price as Brittany Ferries waiter service restaurant breakfast but nowhere near the quality. The croissants etc seem better in the Blue Mountain café than in the restaurant, though the service in the café is even slower - lucky to get your coffee etc by the time you dock.

Definitely take pillow, blanket etc. Sofas are hard to come by at peak times, but the pressure should have eased a bit by now. The biggest obstacle to getting a good night's sleep tends to be other passengers.

[Gardian]

[quote user="Will "]

In my experience you may or may not find the restaurant open when you board the ship for the overnight crossing - depending on how the staff feel (it's franchised, so not under direct control of LD Lines). It is supposedly Italian in theme, but the best choice seems to be the curry - the others are definitely variable in quality. Main courses are basically OK, but starters and desserts are pretty boring, not much choice of drink either. There is no waiter service restaurant, the only one is cafeteria in style. Some users on another forum seem to speak highly of the service, but whenever I have used it, it has been very slow indeed. If the Little Italy cafeteria is closed, then it's the burger bar I'm afraid, though that's not too bad.

Breakfast is best forgotten. Same price as Brittany Ferries waiter service restaurant breakfast but nowhere near the quality. The croissants etc seem better in the Blue Mountain café than in the restaurant, though the service in the café is even slower - lucky to get your coffee etc by the time you dock.

Definitely take pillow, blanket etc. Sofas are hard to come by at peak times, but the pressure should have eased a bit by now. The biggest obstacle to getting a good night's sleep tends to be other passengers.

[/quote]

So, apart from that Will, it's fine?

[Pip]

Thanks Will.  Sounds like we might go hungry but that's a small price to pay for the very reasonable fare !  Plus I could do with losing a couple of pounds.  Do you know what the cabins are like as we are booked into a double ?

[Will]

The food is perfectly adequate and edible, but the original question referred to the Brittany Ferries restaurants, and that it certainly ain't. Look on it as a budget service rather than a premium one though and it all falls into place. Motorway caff rather than hotel restaurant if you like. Apart from the breakfast, which is expensive for what it is and rather lets the whole thing down.

Never had a two-berth cabin (all of which are inner cabins I believe), but the single outside ones are brilliant. As you get a bed and a settee you could certainly sleep two people - just don't tell LD Lines. Over the winter the ship is getting extra couchette cabins (4 berth, no en-suite) and first-class fully reclining seats which should relieve the pressure a bit.

[phylisbide]

Thanks, Will. We are on the overnight trip tonight and perhaps I will pack something to eat before we dock - there is a long wait usually at the terminal and so plenty of time to eat a plateful of something.

Phylis

[Robbie34]

When I travelled over in April the full English breakfast was excellent.  Help yourself to as much as you wanted.  Bacon was great and not fatty.

Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same about dinner the previous evening.  I had the  pork menu with the cauliflower in some kind of sauce. The cauliflower was underdone and hard.  Returning in July I had the fish and chips and they were fine.  Go for these on your way out and you should be OK.

[yorky]

Hi

I used LD lines la Havre to Portsmouth a couple of weeks ago and all I can say is never again, it was total dross, the lounge with reclining seats was noisy loads of kids out of control and the draught beer was off. The food in the resto looked jaded and the bar was crowded and noisy with flashing gaming machines everywhere. Add to this the boat was 1 1/2 hrs late and it then took 50mins to get out of the port( you could have got into N.Korea in less time). I came back Hull Zeebrugge and P&O has a entirerly different ethic, decent restos good breakfast decent choice of bars ect.

Sorry about the rant but the whole LD thing brassed me off.

Yorky  

[BJSLIV]

I came back Hull Zeebrugge and P&O has a entirerly different ethic

Which I suppose underlines what has been said before that running a "proper"ferry service costs money. As in all things you get what you pay for.

Speedferries and LD lines will always have to keep staff costs down which will maen restricted food service, shops, and cleaning. A regular complaint about LD seems to be rowdy passenger behaviour and I guess that also comes down to lack of staff presence.

[Will]

In LD's defence, I have always found the cleaning to be as good as any other ferry service. Maybe a bit rushed on the journeys starting from Portsmouth, as there is a fairly quick turn round, but the company has all day to clean the ship in Le Havre and generally makes a pretty good job of it. The retail sales operations, including food, are put out to contractors, but LD Lines does keep an eye on things and is very receptive to customer comments. Although an old-established shipping company, it is fairly new to passenger ferries, and to some extent is still feeling its way.

Uncommonly among French companies LD does pay great attention to customer service and does respond to e-mails (better to get in touch that way rather than reporting problems on the ship, where the reception staff are not quite so attentive, though seeing some of the low life they have to deal with I don't altogether blame them). The company's chief executive, Pierre Gehanne, regularly reads and posts on another France forum and is very interested in constructive customer comments. As a result of input received he has, for example, got the shop to start selling books and gifts rather than just beer, fags and perfume.

I would also point out that now we are getting out of the peak season the price differential between the western channel operators is reducing. During the summer months, LD tickets were about a third of the cost of Brittany Ferries. Now, looking in particular at fairly late bookings for weekends, when the LD cheapest fares are not available, I am finding that there is not so much to choose between them. In fact taking the extra time and distance (for me) and motorway tolls to use Le Havre rather than Caen, although LD is still very slightly cheaper, I have used Brittany Ferries in preference the last couple of times because of the better comfort and facilities (plus the early morning BF fast ferry gets me home not long after the overnight LD boat, and I get a night's sleep beforehand). So it doesn't all come down to price alone, at least not for this passenger.

[yorky]

Hi

The price difference between LD Portsmouth to La Havre and P&O  Hull Zeebrugge was only 44€ and P&O inc breakfast. Travelling from the north it also saved the drive to Dover which last time I did it, it took 6 1/2 hrs it also saves me a bundle in petrol (15mpg) so all in all P&O was good value.

Yorky  

[Pip]

Thanks for the info about the cabins Will.  Mind you I could kick myself for having booked the double cabin rather than a single.  OH would have been quite content reading on the sofa in a single cabin as he is a bit of an insomniac !  Maybe next trip [:D]