Brittany Ferries Reviews 36

As usual the loading if vehicles is a fiasco. We arrived 2hrs before departure (4pm). They started loading our row at just before 3pm (seemed good). Loaded half a row then we sat there for 40mins before moving to the next holding section. They then randomly allowed all latecomers (even after the “last check-in time!) to hold everything up and go straight through. Because their use of their own row numbers and their queuing system was non-existant they then started picking vehicles out of rows and getting everyone to move back & fwd to let them out into the one row they were putting on board. From 2pm until gone the departure time (post 4pm) we waited and then were put in the lowest bays and told not to rush in the morning because we’d be last off.
Some media responder will try to say “there is a procedure” and that they plan it carefully based on size etc but I used to travel with them so much I was in their Travel Club and have travelled in cars, vans and a motorhome and can assure you i’ve watched this process carefully dozens of times and they haven’t a clue.
If i’m only going to France now I drive a bit further either end to use the Eurotunnel which is efficient and organised and still works out cheaper and as quick. Sadly to Spain there is no real choice.

Appalling not helpful at all. Just tyring to add our cat to our current booking but NO it's not allowed. Apparently cats can't go into a kennel??? Why?? There's no good reason...my cat travels in a large carry case that she stays in it has her litter tray her food bowls...no different from her going into a pet friendly cabin..just about money It seems...we travelled before with her in the car for the whole crossing from.portsmouth to santander and she slept nearly all the way... there appears to be no good reason health and safety or otherwise why they are so.prejudicial against cats. Perhaps if they offered enough pet friendly cabins or even had a waiting list...they should be experts but they are useless.

On the way to guernsey boat left 30 minutes early. Luckily we made it on time to check in. On the way back we were FIVE minutes late to check in, majority of this was because we got a bit late around the port in guernsey and were asking people which way we should go - they closed the gates and wouldn’t let us on despite us pleading with the people in the office. I guess they must always aim to leave earlier than scheduled

Enjoy traveling on the ships but once on dry land BF customer service borders on non existent. Emails say will respond in 7 or 10 days, and don't, phone system dreadful with useless AI and long waits, online chat facility almost laughable in its degree of unhelpfullness, and when eventually speak to someone on the phone or in person they are unable to fulfil requests or offer definitive information. The BF website does not have the functionality of before covid, for example booking hotel and ferry, now you have to phone. It's almost torment trying to communicate with the company. One can only assume they don't want customer comms and can also only assume onshore staff are not well trained.

Arrived back yesterday on the santander-portsmouth ferry, live sky football on several televisions in the bar area, plenty of passengers watching but despite numerous requests to put the volume on this was all too much for the staff, therefore we were all subject to Christmas songs whilst watching the football, please advise me Brittany ferries why ?

We were forced to cancel our booking because of ill health- first time but we had luckily booked a flexifare so could get some money back.Days later no refund and email asking them to confirm cancellation and confirm refund unanswered. The days of their prompt and helpful service seem long gone. Bad enough to have to cancel - worse still when you get no help. Booking ref no’s RH0802X

After completing our crossing to Rosslare from Cherbourg on Tuesday, October 22nd, we made the decision not to take the return sailing on Saturday, October 26th, and instead booked a crossing with another ferry company.

The reason for our decision was the significant difference between what was advertised and the actual experience we had on board. The vessel we sailed on was not as described, and the facilities provided were inadequate for a comfortable overnight journey.

Specifically:
The food options were extremely limited and of poor quality.
The onboard shop was closed, leaving passengers without the opportunity to purchase essentials.
There were no entertainment options available during the crossing.
The WiFi was unreliable and highly restricted.
We were disappointed by these issues, as they contributed to a less-than-satisfactory experience, which was not in line with the service we had expected based on the advertising.

Given the misleading nature of the information provided and the poor quality of the services offered, we believe that we should receive a full refund for both legs of the journey.

I recently purchased a Flexi ticket with the expectation of flexibility in booking my ferry crossing. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. Despite the ticket being labeled 'Flexi,' I was unable to change my booking from this year to the following year as the ticket must be used within 12 months of the original sailing date. Given the ferry timetable Plymouth to Santander this meant a difference of only 14 days, as I want a specific cabin, which prevented me from using the ticket as intended.
Furthermore, the lack of flexibility extends to rebooking. Any attempt to reschedule results in the loss of potential discounts or offers, rendering the 'Flexi' ticket essentially useless.
This experience has been incredibly frustrating and misleading. I would strongly advise potential customers to reconsider purchasing a Flexi ticket as it does not live up to its name.

The human passengers did ok. Our dog had a miserable time. We travelled Portsmouth to st malo and return. For us the ship was clean and day crossing had nice food and some entertainment. Sadly our faithful friend was stuck in a hot, stuffy metal box with no access to water or exercise. It took him a few days to de-traumatise.

I booked a passage from Portsmouth to St Malo for 7 July.
Part way through I was invited as a foot passenger to consider a service called "Rail and Sail" with the terms - "Then why not travel by train to one of our ferry ports and continue your journey on a ferry sailing with us."
That looked interesting but in fact they offer nothing of the sort, just onward ticketing when you get to France.
Of course they're entitled to provide what services they like but putting these come-ons in the middle of a booking procedure and then giving nothing like it is unacceptable.

This is the worst ever customer services I've ever dealt with a company. You send email they say wait 28 days then don't come back to you at all during the 28 days. You ask them to call you but don't they say call them but why should I be put on hold for 1 hr plus

Terrible company

The worst company in the world that I ever had the misfortune to deal with. Avoid at all costs ! I booked on the early bird last September. I decided later to go as a foot passenger only as I didn’t want to drive abroad. I was told that I owed them money to change. The price had come down €300 ( so much for an early bird)but couldn’t avail of the new reduced price. I was told I could cancel but it would cost me €400 cancellation fee. Agent said he would refer to a Manager to see what he could do. He came back to attempt to justify the situation saying they had every right to reduce their charges to attract further sales. A joke! I suffered the €400 cancellation fee rather than give them another penny or have to deal with them again. I sent a complaints letter to the email address I was given. It was returned to me with no review. This is possibly the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my entire life!

The ship from Portsmouth to St Malo was unsafe for dogs Brittany ferries did not care.

The boat was the Britannia
If you love your dogs do not take them on this boat.
Filthy kennels,
No fresh air.
Car alarms going off all night
Car exhaust fumes in the dog cage area
The walk area for dogs was 20 square metres for over 20 dogs. One square metre per dog?.
You were only allowed to walk them for 10 minutes at 9.30pm. No further visits were allowed.
You were asked to go get your dogs at 7.30am and put straight in your car, the walk area was closed off.
We left the boat at 9.30am (12 hours the poor dogs had to wait to go to the toilet).
The small walk area was unsafe, acetylene bottles were in this area not locked away as per the regulations.
The purser onboard the ship was very rude it was clear he did not like dogs.
He suggested it was an old ship however believed acceptable for dogs.
As I was complaining with many other guests he told me I was stupid?

Customer services sent me an email three days later telling me to read their website.

They were not interested

Disgusting behaviour from this company.

Your website, not for the first time has again been completely unusable. It took me 6 hours and two long phone calls, both with annoying waits in a queue before I eventually managed to make a booking. I was unable to login to my Club Voyager account and every time I got to the last stage of the online booking i was dumped back to the start of the booking process without any indication of the reason. The first phone call resulted in advice to change my browser, enable all cookies and disable my VPN. I was also informed that my Club Voyager account was not valid for Ireland and no discount was available available on tickets to Rosslare. I was also told that I had to book the first leg of my journey (Bilbao-Rosslare) from your Spanish website and the second leg (Portsmouth-Santander) from the English site. To add insult to injury I was told that I would have to pay a 10Euro fee for each leg of a telephone booking because your online service was not fit for purpose. I have no criticism of the person who eventually managed to deal with both bookings successfully.
All in all a frustrating and difficult business.
I will try to be helpful and suggest that as a minimum you should improve customer on-line experience by:
1 not making non-essential cookies a pre-requisite for a booking or to flag up an error message with an explanation.
2 making the Club Voyager system work across all Brittany Ferry routes and login from any of your sites.
3 not penalising customers with additional costs when the online booking system fails.
4 Developing a set of error messages that give the user an explanation when the booking fails. Not just return to the initial web page.
5 Tell customers which browsers don't work with your website and that any VPN service should be paused (if that is in fact the case).
There is much room for improvement!

My friends and I have been using Brittany Ferries to Santander for motorcycling holidays in Spain for several years. This year the crossing was longer, much more expensive and the ship was much less user friendly once you were a passenger. There was nowhere to obtain food apart from restaurant open times. Only one bar, we especially missed the bar and snack food on deck. Generally a poor experience, we want a ferry not a half-hearted cruise. On the plus side, loading and unloading our motorcycles during boarding and disembarking was much easier, but that may have been because the ferry was under subscribed. I can't see the 5 or 6 of us going to Spain again unless the price is right. The review is on our return today.

I have been a member of Club Voyage for more than 10 years and normally make about 6 BF return crossings pa. I have recently tried to email (never a reply) and call (impossible to get an answer) and cannot find Live Chat.
My questions relate to amendments of bookings. I want to amend bookings which have been cancelled by BF and want to know if this will incur an amendment charge. Also I want to find out how long the vouchers issued earlier this year for cancellation are valid.
The emails informing me of these BF cancellations do not make this clear.