Brittany Ferries IE Reviews 53

Appalling web site. keeps crashing. Need to take care if booking because it throws up incorrect info on things like prices etc. This is probably partly due to it crashing. Cant get through by phone. An absolutely shocking and frustrating experience




My experience this last week in trying to book with you echoes every word of the reviews over more than a year! It is so sad- you used to be so good.
I have now managed to book a holiday ( I think) last Friday 4th May 2023 ( 4th time of trying and after various hour long waits) but I have had no confirmation of my booking - gite or ferry- and the deposit has not yet been taken from my bank account …. But I have been asked to review my booking experience by head of customer relations and brand - a Mr Gareth Bewley.! I cannot complete your simple survey as it is these more complicated things that need attention and only ‘no reply’ emails are ever sent. I can’t imagine how many sales you are losing through your quite hopeless web site and the hour long waits on the multiplicity of phone numbers you suggest we ring…. a web site giving us access to availability and price of your gites and other holidays would quicken the process for both customer and advisor and thus reduce phone call times and this the waiting times. Surely not rocket science in this day and age??!
I look forward to hearing from Mr Bewley as soon as possible but I fear my wait will be in vain….
Vanessa

santona…santander to portsmouth, 26.3.23
Boarding...shambolic, will start at 11.30, no it wont, 90 minutes late, and communication was nil, diddly...great start...new ship, so has a new ship smell, everywhere. Tannoy system in places excellent, in others nondescript..Cabin and general fittings very nice indeed, as you would expect. Internet is 90 minutes free, yippee….but, your 90 minutes start the moment you log on, and is unstoppable, it runs out in 90 mins whether you use it or not, but still on various devices it adds up if used wisely, big plus but remember the rules….now the food, oh dear. If you like traditional english fare forget it, worse still it is a ferry pretending to be a cruise liner and charging accordingly. The evening menu was a load of pretentious crap, which charged £30 for the 3 courses...unless you deigned to have only 2 or 1 of the courses then they really bent you over. Beef was off, and there was nothing else we would have paid £30 for, so we did without. Oh there is a tapas bar for the spanish, or those pretending to be spanish. I don’t so I cannot comment on the value or quality…. English...ish breakfast...oh dear oh dear.
Was less than £9 top line, looking good, sausage looked cooked, bacon was the streaky non meat variety, so the heart sank a little, no fried egg, just runny scrambled egg, I mean how hard do you have to try to make poor scrambled egg. so...2 thin sausage, a small pile of streaky fat, a dollop of scrambled something, beans and half a nearly fried tomato. To get more adventurous I decided to get a little pat of butter and jam for my 1 slice of diagonally cut toast, which he promptly stuck on top of my scrambled mush and put a lid on, so half of that was ruined. No matter to the till, where they make your tea/ coffee or whatever is your pleasure, then charged us £22 fror the 2 breakfasts (don’t ask, I didn’t), and we went to the table to find the little pile of streaky fat was smoked streaky fat ugh and the whole thing was clap cold, even the scrambled mush….never again, I would definitely use the ferry for the crossing, but take lots of sandwiches...

Unexpectedly brilliant customer service support today regarding booking amendment. Grateful to Brittany Ferries right now.

31st May booking Cherbourg
31st May booking Cherbourg - Rosslare:
We had been advised to be at least 90 minutes early for sailing - we were 2 hours early. One hour forty minutes before sailing I received a text - the ship would be two hours late. Two hours we could deal however the 4.45pm sailing left Cherbourg shortly after 11.00pm - more than six hours behind schedule. The incoming ferry came from Rosslare. It's a 15 hour journey. The management must have been aware 15 hours before the ferry docked in Cherbourg that the sailing would be hours late but did not inform us until less than 2 hours before the sailing time. Had we been informed in the morning we would not have raced up the Cherbourg peninsula to spend six hours in a sea terminal. No explanation of why this happened was proffered.

Very difficult to get through to them but when I eventually did it was worth it! Very friendly service when researching holidays and they remembered me when I phoned back to book. Got a call the next day to tell me I had missed out on a spring discount and they would refund the difference.

Terribly disrespectful lack of Communications with passengers - announcing on phone service that wait time is at least 30 minutes and keeping me hanging on the line for 49 minutes!! (at which point I gave up - now I have absolutely zero means of contacting Brittany Ferries.ie)

I had to endure an awful tortuous jingle playing in my ear for 49 minutes - very very very disrespectful, that they allow this situation to go on. It's obviously not a sudden situation, as they even announce on their phone message that you will have to wait on the line for over 30 minutes (what?).

Surely this must be illegal to keep themselves incognito and out of touch of any customer. Someone may have an Emergency, Health Issue, or similar and cannot contact Brittany Ferries.ie in any way at all.

I sent an email 5 days ago and have received no reply.

I call on the Dept of Transport to investigate this situation URGENTLY and threaten to take away their licence to carry passengers if they refuse to allow any passenger to contact the company after they have taken ticket payments and then totally 'clam up'.
To the Directors of Brittany Ferries Ltd - you will be held responsible if some serious adverse effect happens to a passenger because you have allowed this disastrous Non Communication system to continue in order to save yourselves further expense or monies or investment. There can be absolutely Zero excuses for this situation - many companies invest the monies to have a reasonable phone service (and/or chat line). It is perfectly feasable and techincally possible, and people can be hired (if it's hard to find people for the money you are paying, then you must pay more until you actually have sufficient staff - it's simple economics).

If you cannot afford to allow your customers to contact you then you need to resign and sell on the business to someone who can run it properly. Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, TD please take urgent note and investigate this situation.

Tried to book a ferry online. First I had to fill in Everything twice, and then the payment did not work!
Rubbish website!

What has gone wrong with BF?

I have travelled with them several times over the years and always had great service in the past, even when things had gone wrong I recieved excellent customer service. But sadly it appears that something has gone seriously wrong within the organisation! - Since last thursday I have been trying hard to get the support I need to book a holiday package in Spain this summer but unfortunately all of the array of contact numbers they direct you to don't get answered, in one attempt I held for an hour without an answer so hung up. I've even filled in their online inquirey form twice but not had the contact call promised. Their message on the phone line directs you to book on line if you would prefer not to be kept on hold but as far as I can see it isn't possible to book a package holiday through their online reservations portal as they suggest (it has been previously possible and was quite straightforward), you can only book a straight crossing it appears. they also don't appear to have any direct way (email address etc) of complaining to someone within the organisation who might be able to address the problems, hence this review. looking at the recent reviews it appears that I'm not alone in my experiences concerning BF customer service. What a shame, I hope they can find their way back to offering their customers (regular and new) the service that they have delivered in the past.

Not long your back from trip to Spain on Connemara sailing. Was brilliant not having to sail to France and drive all the way down though that country. It was as described. Obviously as a passenger it would have been nice to have more services on board, but in fairness you do flag that it is a "No frills" service. The bedroom were fine. Clean. Food was ok. Bar was ok, but basic. The TV's worked sometimes. Maybe play some movies on them with sound? Some music, or even a one man band for a few hours would be really nice. We loved the fact we could bring our pet to our room. This is a game changer and is what will bring us back again. Get a bigger and better boat please, with more things to do :) and I will give 5 stars.....

Could not book on line. After being on hold for 20 minutes then 30 minutes they eventually answered the phone. They said my booking hadn't gone through ( even though I had a booking ref) So I said let's start again , that will incur a £10 booking fee. I immediately hung up.

Still arguing with them to try and get even some of my money back.

Awful awful company

After 30 years using BF this is the end. We normally sail from St Malo but were unimpressed with Amorique this time so took Galicia from Cherbourg to Portsmouth but it was far worse. Bring back the French restaurants & courtesy on old Bretagne & Normandie!!! My 70 year old husband was taken ill on holiday in France, so we had to return to UK. I booked the top of the range Commodore cabin on Galicia (double bed advertised & advertised as lots of extras, “the works” ) so we could grab a snack in the Commodore C lounge then sleep. What a con!!! The Commodore lounge was shut (the crew didn’t know this so had to check), the tapas looked uninviting when you’re starving & the self-service didn’t open for an hour after sailing. We were tired but the untrained crew were unsympathetic & sent us round & round the ship looking for food. We settled for low quality expensive sandwiches from the shop. It was dreadful but we were desperate to sleep. The sheets had what looked like dried blood stains.

I booked to go from England to Spain on the ferry on economy but this was still £750.00 pounds i broke down on route and the AA took eight hours to get me home not my fault or Brittany ferry's .
I cancelled my booking and made another and was sent a invoice for another day .no mention of refund
i then cancelled all bookings .
I emailed bf who got back to me and said sorry no refund . i do not want a refund I need to rebook the ferry it was half empty i was told the cost was high due to it being busy ..i sure you can fit a small car and one person on a big ferry ..what happened to fair play

Interesting interpretation of full refund when they cancel the crossing! How can fees be non refundable when they cancel!

Totally shafted by BF for following their own advice, though they deny the post by their CEO on May 27. Cancelled our return journey and we’ve basically been told ‘bad luck’. £511 out of pocket and we now have to pay again to get back to the UK. One thing for sure, it WONT be with Brittany Ferries…..ever again, they are NOT to be trusted…..Disappointing after many, many years of happy travelling….

Booked a return to France - cancelled - rebooked for three days later and guess what - cancelled again. Had to book with another company at the last moment. Paid a crazy price while still awaiting refund fom BF. Had to employ help to cover my business in France and also book additional accommodation. Guess what - Brittany ferries dont care. Bit of advice If you want to get to France without stress book elsewhere!

Had to postponed last years Brittany Ferries trip, a package. Understandable due to Covid. BF provided a credit note which at the time was OK.

Since March when became abundantly clear that travel would not be possible we’ve been chasing refund.

These crooks try every trick in the book rather than do the correct this.

This is their latest response, most annoying of which is their attempt to suggest we’re cancelling rather than Brittany Ferries being unable to provide.

My advice to potential Brittany Ferries customers is DO NOT Do BUSINESS WITH THESE VILLAINS.

Good morning,
Thank you for contacting us and I do apologise about the delay in our response.

The message from our CEO in regards to obtaining refunds are for passengers that have been affected by our most recent disruptions. These passengers have all been contacted with the options available to them. Therefore the cancellation of your booking, as it is operating to schedule, would be in line with the terms and conditions of the ticket purchased.

I’m sorry to hear about your cancellation request but before we finalise this I would like to make sure that you are aware of your Terms and Conditions. Information regarding amendments and cancellations by you can be found by visiting:

When you originally made your booking you chose to book a holiday package with us, these would need to be managed by contacting our Holiday admin department on and any cancellation requests would need to be made in writing to this address.

Should you wish to cancel at a loss and claim through your travel insurer we will be happy to provide you with any supporting documents you may need.

I apologise for any disappointment this email may bring.

Ive sent several emails and direct messages to get a refund for monies paid last year. We were given a credit voucher which we will not be able to use. As all non essential travel was not allowed last summer we had no choice like so many others to cancel. We now understand from others that they have been given there money back which is what we want. A voucher with 6 months left on it is utterly useless. Everytime someone responds to my emails or messages i get given the customer service email address and no one replies to me and i have to start over again.

Brittany ferries have stolen £2400 off a group of friends theiving sods