Plymouth - Santander experience (Brittany Ferries)

Member Name: julesls

Product:	Brittany Ferries
Date:	30/10/00 (1152 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: See text

Disadvantages: See text

Last week my family and I sailed with Brittany Ferries to Santander (Northern Spain) from Plymouth. This was a 24-hour crossing and it took a while for me to be persuaded to go by my husband, due to being a bit nervous about being on the sea at night. This is the first time I have been on a ferry so cannot compare to any others, but was impressed.

Prices obviously vary, and we booked our apartment through Brittany Ferries, therefore received a different package,
but expect to pay around £330 for 4 birth cabin for 2 adults and 1 child, and if taking a standard car approx £390.

Unfortunately I cannot comment on a lot of the activities and entertainment and food in the restaurant due spending majority of the time either with my head down the toilet (sorry if anyone is eating) or lying down in the cabin. I was OK for the first 2 hours and did get to experience the childrens' entertainer and the cafe bar, but after that I was wishing I could die. Therefore, a travel sickness tablet is a must and would advise against eating too much until your sure you'll be ok. My husband felt ok by the way and he felt this part of the journey was extremely amusing at first, then feelings of guilt then pity.

I can, however give details of what you could expect to find on board: These were all spread out on 3 of the decks.

Swimming pool - would have used this if not for the reasons outlined above, but also because it was extremely small and if you really wanted to swim it would have been difficult if there were more than 4 people in.

Fitness suite.

Wine tasting sessions - again another disappointment because I couldn’t attend.


SHOPS

Photographic - develops films, sells cameras etc
Perfume - well stocked
A few boutiques
General - mags and newspapers, chocolate
Toys
Hairdressers
Duty free

EATING - all prices were reasonable.

There are quite a few e
ating areas. The main restaurant looked really good and had plenty of choice. A full breakfast was available. For a four course meal the price was approx £15. I was informed that you could not book a place but had to just turn up and wait (this wasn't a problem late October because it was not too busy).

Coffee shop - sandwiches, salads, snacks, French pastries (I am glad I got the chance to taste these because they were delicious - well only tried one, but would have sampled most of them given the chance.

CABINS

My advice would be to book one of these for a 24 hour crossing. I don't know what I would have done without having a bed. However, the 4 birth cabin we chose was a standard one (shower/toilet). We were not impressed with the size (extremely small). With 3 people in there (2 of them very ill) it wasn't very comfortable.

There is a better standard of cabin available - I think called Commodore Class which is considerably larger and provides waiter service.

ENTERTAINMENT

There was a play area with desks and a few slides. There were regular childrens’ entertainers visiting the area. When we first arrived, my daughter went to this and was entertained for over 1 hour. It was great to see her enjoy herself (games and dancing). There was also a magician.

Cinema

There were at least 6 shows (for children and adults).

In the bar, you could be entertained by pianists, cabaret type acts, disco.


Overall, I was impressed by the cleanliness, the service and facilities.

I think there could have been more for children as well. I know there was a cinema and play area, but it would have been better if there were maybe childrens’ characters dressed up and walking around and talking to them - or am I asking for too much.

On leaving the ferry on the outward journey to Santander there wasn't a problem when trying to get off. There
was an orderly queue and we managed to get at the front 10 minutes before we were due off, but on returning there was no order and it was chaos. My daughter who was also sick all the way there and back found this very
stressful and kept sitting down amongst everyone because there was people banging in to us with bags etc. This could probably have been organised better.

But, 24 hours is a long time to spend on a ferry and if you are bored easily I suggest you take a personal stereo with loads of your fave tapes. I found this more useful on the return journey as I did feel better, but had to sit in one place as I daren't walk around. Didn't stop me eating a family size bag of Maltesers though (had to make up for the loss of chocolate on the way).

Summary: