“We made a return journey with our children and grandchildren in May 2023. We recommended the boat journey to our children but this was a completely different experience. The boat was badly laid out with no thought to children. The whole experience ruined the end to a pleasant holiday.
The facilities for children were non existent. The soft play area for children was appalling and there was barely anything there. Even one member of staff apologised for the poor facility. Nearly all the games in the video area were out of service. This is a long crossing and there are no facilities to keep young children entertained. The journey was painful and unpleasant trying to entertain 3 young babies and children. Priority was given to adults watching the FA cup final so there was no entertainment for children. The boat is big enough to allow adults who can entertain themselves space to watch TV and provide a safe space for children’s entertainment. Why was there nothing in place?
Regarding the disembarkation process this was appalling. It is not acceptable to have to wait nearly 2 hours with young children and babies late in the evening. We had screaming children in the car whilst they had to wait for a ridiculous random exit procedure from the boat ending in a huge queue for entry into our home port. We were a party of 3 cars and 1 car was lucky and took only 30 minutes despite being on the upper deck, one car waited an hour and one car had to wait over 2 hours.
Why was no planning made after Brexit to ensure that disembarkation was improved? Why was a better and fairer system not put in place? Brittany Ferries and the Port need to invest in improving this ridiculous antiquated exit system. Why could the passport control not be simplified and take place on board or simultaneously on departure from France which was a much better experience.
I am so disappointed as I recommended the service to our children but it was a disaster. I am still waiting for a response to my email of complaint nearly 28 days later.”
“Until my last trip I was reasonably impressed with Britanny Ferries - based on around 20 years of using them. However if you have the slightest risk of making a late change (medical emergency or car problems) DO NOT trust these people with your money. Their use of amendment fees is fine - but their definition of "cancellation" charges is utterly scandalous - and partly obscured by stating - I quote - that "their terms and conditions were implemented years after our internal software was created" when challenged on the terminology. That really does take the biscuit!!!!
The end result in my experience was that a move for 2 people in the most expensive cabins to just 1 person in the lowest cost accommodation resulted in being charged a very substantial "cancellation" fee on top of the original cost. You really couldn't make this up! And all this still under the same booking reference. Not a cancelation at all - just a change.
The responses from the customer relations outfit then defend the utterly indefensible.
I will never use these cowboys again - flying for us and our family from now on.”
“Return Trip Portsmouth/Santander Santander/Portsmouth.
Went from Portsmouth to Santander at the beginning of January and returned Santander to Portsmouth at the end of March. Outward journey was on board the Galicia and the return was on the Santona.
Both Ferries more or less identical.
The Ferries were cold, uncomfortable and lacking atmosphere. Two adults shared a 4 berth cabin which was barely big enough. How 4 adults could be accommodated in such a small space truly baffles me!!!
Continental breakfast sub-standard and very poorly presented. Queuing in corridor for evening meal until dining room doors were opened also not acceptable.
On the way out which was a 2 night crossing no entertainment in what proved to be a very uncomfortable bar area.
Return journey 2 young men (being the entertainment on offer) were an embarrassment both to themselves and anybody being subjected to the nonsense.
All in all neither crossing was enjoyable as should have been the case.
Pont Aven gave the feeling of being on a mini-cruise. Much, much better in every respect - comfort, entertainment and food on offer so why can't that type of Ferry (updated of course) still be on offer after all we pay enough for the experience?
Just to finish the staff were far from customer friendly.
Felt I needed to put all the above on record.
Laraine McDermott”
“The €19.25 traditional breakfast was the worst I've ever paid for. Half slice of toast half a small tomato, small spoon of scrambled egg, 2 rashers of streaky bacon and 2 tiny sausages. If I could wait for 5 minutes I could have beans. Told we didn't need to book for evening meal, then turned up at 6.45pm. no queue, 80 plus empty seats all set, but told we couldn't eat until 8.15pm as we hadn't booked. Then had clap cold paella at the tapas restaurant as nobody appeared to know how to clear an error on the till. Arrived 3 hours early to board and then guided into a niche on the lower car deck so we were almost last to disembark. New Santona boat is lovely, but process and cost cutting onboard ensure that my bromance with Brittany Ferries is over.”
“Currently onboard the Brittany Ferry to Santander.
Purposely booked a room with a window due to claustrophobia. Stated must have a window. We got a middle cabin! they were unable to move us which I understand if they are full but I had a full night without sleep.
We are in shifts for meal times which no one is notified of till you go for food and ours is 8.30pm… I asked if it could be moved earlier as after what had happened, and again I’d be kept awake eating that late.
They have absolutely no interest in helping resolve any issues from any customer. I watched the queues of complaints from boarding and everyone was sent away without sorting.
Disgustingly poor service from start to finish.”
“We are relocating to Spain from Ireland and looking to book the Salamanca unfortunately we were waiting on the sale of our house to complete and we’re unsure of dates.
I rang customer service and got to speak to Cathy (in the cork office)who was just amazing.
We needed to bring our dogs and book dog friendly cabins all the cabins were booked up for the dates we thought we would be able to go only one date left but we needed to get clarification that the sale would be done by then.
Cathy went above and beyond for us no idea the stress she took away from this situation such a lovely pleasant lady to deal with you are very lucky to have her as an employee she is a superstar and I hope she gets recognition for her hard work.”
“Brittany Ferries check in jobsworth refused to let us baord with out yellow lab....claimed her French passport was incorrect and ashe would be denied entry on arrival in France . We pointed out it had been used multiple times without issue. But like talking to a brick wall "computer says no". We ended up giving up on a club cabin booking and drove 5 hours to Dover where we crossed the next morning - without issue of course.
We have taken dogs to France 30 or 40 times in the last few years and think we know more than these idiots as to what is and is not acceptable documentation. Not that the French ever even look at it.”
“Ferry cabin was nice. Had the fish and chips and it was terrible. Quality is better in a hospital.
My body also thought it was terrible and ended up with food poisoning.
Luckily I was staying with family, so redecorating the hall way wasn’t as embarrassing as it would have been in a hotel.
My advice. Take your own food”
“The ferry is great clean and tidy friendly service.
The food not so good fish and chips the fish was as stale as it comes straight out of a box frozen rubbish I mean it sails from Plymouth harbour and rod off harbour and they can’t manage to source some decent fish”
“The ferry is great clean and tidy friendly service.
The food not so good fish and chips the fish was as stale as it comes straight out of a box frozen rubbish I mean it sails from Plymouth harbour and rod off harbour and they can’t manage to source some decent fish”
“Got to St Malo in plenty of time for the ferry, but were held in a line that didn't move for ages. We were amongst the last to be boarded, by which time the self service restaurant at which we had hoped to get breakfast was closed! Nowhere to sit comfortably as everyone else had got to the seats first. An absolute joke.”
“Brittany Ferries
This is not so much a complaint about Brittany Ferries as a complaint about their customer services who think it is fine to relinquish any responsibility for the actions of there staff.
While queuing in my motorhome to get onto the ferry at Santander port one of their staff indicated for me to change lanes, no idea why, as I was next up to the immigration booth behind another motorhome and there were many other vehicles waiting that could have driven straight in. This was not going to be an easy manoeuvre for a 7.5 meter motorhome in a tight space and up close behind another vehicle, but the man was very insistent and started to guide me back and around the vehicle in front, in doing this the rear of the vehicle clipped a gate post and damaged the rear bumper etc. I got out and the reaction of the man guiding me was to shrug his shoulders and say I’ll report the incident to customer services.
When I eventually managed to find an email address for customer service I contacted them with my complaint.
I eventually got a response after 35 days with their version of the indecent, supposedly from a report written by the man who shrugged his shoulders, which said that I moved lanes of my own accord and no one directed me in any way.
They also stated that I moved from the left hand lane to the right hand lane which, was incorrect as I moved from right to left, so I’m not sure if you can take any of their version seriously.
The question is 1) why would I move lanes when I was next up to the booth and 2) why would I make a difficult manoeuvre in a tight space without being guided the answer to both questions is, I wouldn’t.
I replied to their response with another email suggesting that they review the CCTV footage in that area which would show that my version of the incident was correct. Again after yet another 35 days and a excuse that I hadn’t received their reply because I had changed my email address, which was not true. In their response they said that they don’t own the CCTV footage, it is owned by the port authorities and as far as they were concerned the case was closed.
They also said that If I wanted to look at the footage I would have to contact the Santander port authorities, knowing full well that there is no way they are going to give this information to me five months after the incident.
The moral of this story is, don’t take an notice of the loading marshals because if they back you into a post they will deny they had anything to do with it and leave you with a big bill for repairs.
Also don’t expect to get any help from Brittany Ferries customer service because they are really not interested in giving customers any service at all.”
“Our experience was good. Changed our booking without problem. They were very accommodating but my only constructive feedback would be we were disappointed with the fact that we had to pay for the cinema seeing there’s hardly anything to do for over 24h.
Thanks.”
“Even though this dreaded Co I’d pandemic is still very much with us, Brittany ferries deems it “acceptable” to share a cabin with a complete stranger on their freight route from Caen to Portsmouth!
The ticket for this crossing costs in excess of £1.300 one way and you are expected to share a cabin?!? The crossing was also on Saturday night with very few lorries making the crossing at the weekend.
As I select the channel crossing I use for my company.. this is the last time I will use Brittany ferries… losing them around £10,000 per year in lost revenue from my company.”
“Never ever book the outward and inward journey as one ticket. There is no saving by booking a return, so make two bookings, one as an outward one way and one as an inward one way. If you book a return, as soon as you depart t&cs change.
When i changed my ticket, i was charged twice, when i raised this with them they lied continuously. When i asked them to listen to the tapes, they came back to me with even more lies.
I had to do a charge back to get my money back. You cannot get the recordings of conversations, only the transcripts. The woman who i was to send my appeal to, was the same one that had lied to me throughout the call.
The company is an utter disgrace.
Find alternatives if you can.”
“BRITTANY FERRIES ARE RIPPING CUSTOMERS OFF, THEY HAVE DOUBLED MY COSTS, MY FERRY WAS CANCELLED BY THEM AND I RE-BOOKED FOR AFTER COVID, THEY THEN DOUBLE THE COSTS OF YOUR CROSSING OR CANCEL YOUR BOOKING, THE DO NOT REPLY TO EMAILS, YOU CANNOT GET THROUGH ON THE PHONE, IF YOU DO THEY CHARGE YOU AND TAKE AWAY YOUR BENEFITS OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP, THEY ARE AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE, I WILL NOT BE TRAVELLING WITH THEM AGAIN, THEY STOLE £1000 FROM ME EVEN THOUGH MY BOOKING ONLINE SAID I OWED A FEW HUNDRED. THEY SAID PAY OR CANCEL, IF I CANCEL I LOSE MY MONEY.”
“I was on Their New ferry the Salamanca from Bilbao when It broke down (It Happens) however Dealing with this company to resolve refund and additional costs has been nothing short of appalling. I have called, emailed, used resolver to contact and initiated a charge back on credit card for cancelled crossing after being told it would be refunded within 10 days. No contact. It has been 4 weeks since my first email”
“We were very excited to be travelling on the good ship Galicia and on a positive note we thought it was furnished to a very high standard, was spotlessly clean and there was a very nice ambience. The food was delicious, the service superb and the organisation that must have gone into providing such a fabulous dining experience was second to none.
However, the downsides, and they really were big downsides, were firstly the reclining chairs in the sleeping lounge, which were terrible and the most uncomfortable recliners we have ever had the misfortune to try to sleep on. Only 3 people managed to stick it out for the whole night. The rest of us either took to the floor or to the long sofas at the end of each lounge area. They were dreadfully uncomfortable and whoever designed them has clearly never tried to sleep in one. Secondly, another big disappointment was the ridiculous cost of WiFi - 45 minutes free was all that was on offer before the extortionate prices kicked in. So, assuming one didn't want to get robbed blind, there was very little else in the way of on-board entertainment - 3 screens offering silly games with equally silly prizes (limited to one per booking) were all we could find apart from the outdoor gym, which we did use when it wasn't too dark, cold or raining. There are a few little play areas for children, but there weren't many of these on board when we travelled.
Sadly, despite the plusses, it falls spectacularly short of offering passengers the cruise ship experience as advertised by BF.”
