“As a tired freight driver en route from Spain to ireland on Wednesday 8th March 2022 I requested a single cabin as covid rules still apply on board the connemara ship. I was refused a single cabin and forced to share with another driver.The desk clerk bare-faced lied and said they were fully booked the ignorance was unbelievable. "If you don't like it, go Irish ferries is what I was told" Absolutely disgraceful attitude from the freight book on desk. I would understand in peak season but the ship was half empty. FREIGHT DRIVERS NEED TO START STANDING UP TO THIS UNFAIR TREATMENT.”
“Hopeless communications. No email replies. Advanced Passenger Information form doesn’t work. Spent over 3 hours on and off waiting on the phone for some advice then got disconnected when I finally got through. Completely stressed out. Never again. I would rather swim the channel than use Brittany Ferries.”
“I recently traveled on Brittany’ MADE IN CHINA Galicia from Portsmouth to Santander. The cabin and overall facilities were good, the French crew were very pleasant and helpful and the food was surprisingly tasty. But they run all these dirty tricks designed to milk you out of a few more hundred pounds once you’re onboard. Example: They tell you breakfast it’s included. You get your eggs, bacon and sausage and… they ask you for £11! You ask why and they reply that “hot breakfast” wasn’t included. “Cold breakfast” (a choice of croissant or yogurt) was.
AND THE NASTIER TRICK: Has the ship docked in Spain and we were inside the car driving out I switched the roaming on my cell phone. I arrived home and got a NASTY bill from a few seconds in which (they claim) my phone connected to the ship’s satellite instead of the Spanish telecom. WHAT A RIP OFF!!! NEVER AGAIN!”
“I was booked to travel from Cherbourg, France to Rosslare, Ireland on the afternoon of 7 December 2021. On 3 December, I was notified that my sailing had been rescheduled until the night of 9 December becuase of an approaching storm. The sailing would also take 24 hours instead of the usual 16. The only option I was given was to take this sailing or cancel and be refunded. There was no offer of rerouting with another company. I had a non refundable hotel booking and Brittany Ferries would not cover this expense. I cancelled and travelled with another company.
I wrote to complain and it took over a month to be told as it was a weather delay, they accepted no responsibility and they offered no discout voucher etc for future use.
Absolutely terrible customer service.”
“We returned from Santander on 25th October aboard the Pont Aven. The ship, though seemingly busy, always had plenty of seating. An hour after departure we had a meal in the restaurant before returning to our cabin. In that time, it was somewhat difficult to remain upright indicating that a smooth crossing was NOT on the cards. In our cabin, the boat could be heard (and felt) hitting the waves beneath. My wife was extremely unwell, being sick and being unable to leave the toilet. She despatched me to see what could be done. Customer services quickly communicated with the ship's nurse, Vincent, who arrived within 10 mins. A few preliminary questions and a diagnosis was made. He returned a few moments later with 2 part medication solution. After the first course he returned to check progress, with a wheelchair and told us that he had obtained a different cabin which would help. He then escorted us to the new location and made sure that my wife was comfortable and thereafter my wife was able to lie down and sleep . Hence a really huge thank you to Vincent and Brittany Ferries for their prompt and efficient solution to what could have continued to be a horrible journey.”
“I tried eating a sandwich ! A very expensive, very soggy sandwich.
The hot food looked so unappetising that the forlorn looking sandwich was my only option.....mistake, big mistake !! There was no label on it and it was a choice of 2. After playing ibble obble chocolate bobble in my head I chose left. I believe that once upon a time it was a vegetable sandwich, it may even have reached the heights of a roasted Mediterranean sandwich, there were maybe 2 slithers of sun-dried tomato hence making it Mediterranean, the slimy, I think asparagus, added to the whole sogginess though and made me question the roasted part.
On a plus side, the salt and pepper sachets were free and even though I will be drinking gallons of water tonight to dilute the salt needed to add a modicum of flavour it was worth it.”
“What has happened to Britanny ferries? Zero customer service. Awful, and to think they were once a good company!! All the negative comments on this forum are all the evidence needed. Sort it out you absolute muppets in charge!!”
“On the 20th of September I was travelling with my wife and our daughter and after being on the road for over 6 hours driving from Portugal we arrived in Santander where we waited about 1 hour until reaching the check-in counter.
Myself and my Daughter are Portuguese citizens and my wife is from Macau holding a Macao SAR passport although we all reside in Portugal where she holds a EU resident card, the staff without checking immediately assume my wife was Chinese and demanded a visa without consulting the passport in hand.
I explained to the staff that my wife is holding a Macau SAR passport which grants 6 months visa free travel to the UK, however the staff simply refused and didn’t bother to check.
I showed the staff the official web site from the https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa where it shows the 6 month visa free travel, I also showed previous entries on the passport to the UK but this was disregarded.
I asked to talk to someone in charge but the staff said the person cannot come nor could he/she talk over the phone.
Being stuck I had no option but to drive from Santander to Southampton by taking the Euro-tunnel. This took us two days and more expenses for travel than original budgeted.
The staff in Santander are clueless and heartless people and the person in charge should be fired immediately for this issue.”
“Rang B.F. telephone booking service as was having problems on line!
I was fortunate enough to speak to Niamh, who was so helpful, a credit to the company.
She has given me some faith back in humanity!
Thankyou!”
“Not all Brittany Ferries fault
Traveled to Bilbao in August 2021 from the UK, as I was moving house to France. Arrived in Spain no issues, once through passport control I was pulled over by the port authorities to check my van, I had all the paperwork to hand, full list of what I was bringing, dates purchased and value. I had done the same journey 2 weeks before but drove through France, this time was me bringing my dogs and last bits over, tools etc. The port authorities in Spain were shocking, aggressive, rude, ignorant. Although everything I was bring to my new home was at least 5 years old they insisted I had to pay a tax. Told me UK wasn’t in the EU anymore and now we pay, we are a third world country now. 4 Hours later, and after getting them
Down from €1500.00 I paid €136.00
I wasn’t the only one how suffered this, Brittany Ferries should at least put something on there web site giving customers the heads up that they will be taxed on goods.”
“BF CANCEL THE OUTBOUND SAILING, BUT AS THE RETURN IS GOING AHEAD 4 WEEKS LATER NO REFUND !!!!
Received an email to say our sailing 26.05.21 had been cancelled and if we wanted a refund to email within 7 days. So I sent the email requesting this and also advising that we obviously would need a refund from Spain to UK on 24th June, as we wouldn't be there.
Had a call the day before due to travel saying did I know it was cancelled. I confirmed I would like a refund, even though they hadn't replied to the email yet. The lady checked and finally reluctantly agreed to refund the outgoing crossing. However, the homeward journey is still going ahead this would not be refunded. As it wasn't booked as one booking. I did two separate bookings within an hour of each other, as I was advised to do by one of their Customer Service Representatives advised, as I was using their vouchers.
Not sure if we are supposed to teleport ourselves to Spain to be able to come back in 4 weeks time ?!?!
Given we accepted vouchers last year, to support BF and also lost our money on a sailing to France later the same year, I expected better treatment for those who tried to help and support last year. I have travelled with them for many years, but that is it now, NEVER AGAIN !! I will be doing whatever it takes to get this refunded, I am not willing to lose an additional £700 of my money to BF and I still waiting for cancelled crossing refund to be credited to my card.
Be warned don't book with current uncertainty, as they appear helpful when you book and pay, but once they have your money, they will try anything to keep it.”
“Owing to Covid lockdown last year we chose to postpone our sailing to Santander with Brittany Ferries rather than seeking a refund. The pandemic is far from over and with health vulnerabilities and the risk of getting stranded with school age children we have decided again not to travel. Brittany Ferries have refused to refund the deposit (£800 +). Smaller hotels have all refunded in full to us so why is this company refusing to do so? I would understand losing some of the deposit , but All!!! I am choosing not to do any further bookings with this company and strongly suggest that people check the company's terms of agreement fully and do not book unless you are certain that you will travel. Short sighted customer relations Brittany Ferry. Shame on you . I only wish i could give zero stars.”
“We travelled on Galacia on 27/03/21 when we left our car deck the amount of people pushing to get to the lift was horrendous. When we got to our cabin it stunk of fumes as did all of deck 8 it was horrible. The staff in the restaurant couldn't be bothered to serve you hence the food being cold on arrival at your table. There were good covid measures on board. Theach workers at the poRte when we got off were very rude because cars were going different ways to what they wanted. A hand held torch or fluorescent gloves would be good as we couldn't see his hands.”
“We sailed from Santander to Portsmouth on 2 December 2020. We were told that we would be boarding according to colour so that Covid protocols could be observed, dinner slots were also reserved according to colour. We finally boarded 30 min late-no leaving their cars according to colour at all - everybody just ran and crowded onto the ship- we got to our cabin and there were already people inside - in our new cabin the television didn't work, the wifi also not ( but we could buy 1GB for 25 euro that only works in the lounge???) Dinner was a disaster - the time slots overran their time so the next group had to queue for 45 min to an hour with no social distancing because there were too many people - only 1 restaurant open and the ship was full - they allowed people to sit on chairs that were originally taped off just so that they got get more of them in- when we wanted to shower the next morning we had no water in the cabin. We ordered a Gin and Tonic but they had forgotten to load tonic on board? Because we had no TV we wanted to buy magazines at the shop but that they forgot that as well- disembarking the ship was a free for all - it didn't matter if you were in the red, pink or green group - never again!”
“It seems that how ever many times you tell brittany ferries that due to the covid conditions and that traveling with an elderly mother that you want to cancel all bookings. Outward and return. That they still insist on trying to take out monies from my account for full payment of the sailing.... Then, then. Have the temerity to tell me that I didn't make my request to cancel clear enough! There was a whiff of suspicion when I was sent an email telling me that my crossing was to be made on a smaller vessel. On a crossing I'd cancelled! They refunded just one compleat payment that they shouldn't have taken and now have sent me an advisory email telling me they're about to ransack my account again on a crossing that by now they have been told was cancelled by me. TWICE!
If life and travel ever gets back to normal. I'm taking the channel tunnel and doubling the distance to the south of Spain.
It seems that when you run a monopoly on a route you can treat customers how you want”
“Words cannot do justice to the bad business practices at Brittany Ferries. I find them completely dishonest. How many times do they cancel the Bilbao/Rosslare crossing, requiring people who have paid for an expensive trip to drive up through France at the last moment to catch an alternative ferry. This time I have had to drive from the Algarve to Caen. They called me as I was driving to Santander to catch the boat. Who would do that?
They send out multiple confirmations. I checked the latest one from yesterday. I notice the name of the boat I was taking back is called "Closed". I looked at their schedule. There is no ferry on the return route in February. At what stage were they going to tell me this - a day before or while I was travelling?
In 2019 they pulled the same stunt. They took the Santander boat to Roscoff. The only reason we booked with Brittany Ferries was to sail out of Santander or Bilbao and avoid the long trip up through France. Entering into a contract when one has no intention of fulfilling it is called fraud. I am making a complaint to the trading standards authority.”
“Brittany Ferries changed time crossing. Paid for a cabin NIGHT RATE. No discount/refund offered. Either loose or use cabin.......DAY rate mmmmmm bit cheaper than night. Yes I had economy but a hotel has to be found and more cost and in these times of COVID all helps but its a deff NO from customer service with a message of "we can cancel cabin but no refund!!!!"”
“Very impressed with Brittany Ferries who are facing significant challenges at this time (Coronavirus) - helpful and polite staff and looking forward to sailing with them again !”
