Review: Brittany Ferries Pont Aven

We made the journey from St Malo in France up to Portsmouth in the UK on Monday. We travelled aboard Brittany Ferries Pont Aven, which interestingly enough is the other vessel that does the Portsmouth - Spain route, which we did a few weeks ago, so it made an interesting comparison.

Our crossing took 8 hours - there is a 5 hour option, but it’s on a much smaller boat, and given how choppy the sea was I am eternally grateful that we were on large ferry. In fact, the Pont Aven is the largest on Brittany Ferries’ fleet and also their flagship vessel.

Our experience started well, given that we weren’t parking our car on level 1, right down in the absolute underbelly of the ship this time! And it felt considerably more roomy when we stepped out of our car. We were also greeted by an attendant who handed us a card which had been marked with our deck and stairwell to assist us when the time comes to return to our vehicle - very helpful. Their efficient loading paid off at the other end - we docked at 18.18 and were off the boat at 18.23, whereas on the Cap Finistere it took over an hour for us to get off.

As had been our original plan on the Cap Finistere crossing, before I stuffed it up, we booked the best cabin available, the Commodore Class cabin. Being a day crossing,  you’re not required to book a cabin, but as it’s quite a long time on the ferry we decided we would. They offer a reduced rate for cabins during the day, and it only cost us and extra 50GBP for this little haven of luxury, putting our total cost for the crossing at 200GBP. The cabin was lovely - on deck 8 (the top deck for accommodation) and is equipped with en suite shower, twin beds, plus a large sofa come third bed and a fourth pull down bunk if required. It had two wardrobes, a large area to rest your cases, a tv and dvd player, toiletries and a nice box of fruit and a few macaroons to accompany your hot and cold beverage selection  It also had a balcony, which we took great pleasure in waving a regal goodbye to St Malo port and the one lone onlooker standing at the entrance to the port from as we passed through. The cabin was very spacious and nicely finished, I’d put it on a par with a 4 star hotel room; I could happily spend a week in it, if it wasn‘t on a boat!.

Bed area in the Commodore cabin

On the balcony

The Commodore cabin also gives you access to the Commodore lounge, which is a nice enough area at the back of the boat with an adjoining small private deck area. It seemed nice enough, and although I can’t really see the point of it on the day when we were making the crossing, when the boat is so sparsely populated anyway, I’m sure it’s a welcome retreat, much like an airline lounge in a bustling airport, in high season.

The boat itself has a much nicer appearance than the Cap Finistere. It is more modern with a clean new feel to the public areas. There are a selection of bars and leisure areas offering a change of scenery. There are two cinemas onboard, although to our disappointment they weren’t showing any kids films as they would have been a good way to while away the hours. They do, however, have kids TV playing at a couple of places on the boat, as well as on the tv in the cabin and we were also provided with a list of DVDs that we could rent from the info desk.

The pools are located indoors, with a conservatory style glass roof , and set in a nice bar area, although for some reason it was closed- I don’t know why because it was warm indoors, perhaps due to the rough crossing.

The pool area

The childrens play area was also indoors on this vessel; in a much smaller area overall. There was a soft play/climbing area and an area with small kids tables and chairs (but nothing to do on them). There was also kids TV playing in the area. I was a little disappointed with the kids facilities on Brittany Ferries after our experience earlier in the year on Irish Ferries, where there was a large play area and a kids cinema which made the crossing go really quickly. Having said that, there were quite a few children on that crossing and very few on our trip on the Pont Aven, and when we crossed to Spain we’re fairly confident that the littlest hobo was the only kid onboard. '

As far as the food goes, we took breakfast on board with us as we’d made one last stop at a Boulangerie on our way to the ferry port. Breakfast is actually included in the Commodore cabin, although we didn’t have it. We ate lunch and dinner from the self service restaurant, and were pleasantly surprised. The food mas nicer than that which we had eaten on the Cap Finistere. There was a good selection of food available, although I was really disappointed that they didn’t offer either a kids menu, or kids portions of the adult menu,  especially as it wasn’t particularly cheap.

The littlest hobo and I whiled away an hour or two in the main bar in the afternoon; there was a live singer and we enjoyed sitting at the table with our magazines and a couple of toys listening to the music. It was a sizeable bar which was probably only about 10% full while we were in there. In fact, the whole boat was very sparsely populated and this added to the feeling of space that we got from the Pont Aven. The other benefit of booking a spacious cabin was that it made a great Christmas disco venue (just add iPad for the tunes), which kept a certain mini traveller amused for a good half hour - every second counts!

I’ve come to the conclusion that any ferry crossing around this area at this time of year is going to be a rock and roll experience. But at least on the Pont Aven it was minimised thanks to the size of the vessel. I much prefer the Pont Aven to the Cap Finisiere, partly because it’s a larger ferry so the waves are less uncomfortable, but also because it’s newer and better fitted out. The Commodore cabin was excellent value and worth every penny, and I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t take this option if it‘s available, even more so during the high season when the boat is full and the public areas teaming.

I’m surprised to admit that I’ve been gently persuaded on ferry travel. I really wasn’t convinced before - I hated the thought of it, but I can definitely see the benefits now. It cost us far less than our trip would have if we had flown and then hired a car, gave us the flexibility that having a car with you brings, and with little children it’s an obvious choice- hours strapped into a car seat (or plane seat0 or a few hours running around on a ferry - I know which one the littlest hobo would pick, every time. And happy kids leads to a much less stressful travel experience

Any port in a storm - 24 hours on the Cap Finistere ferry

Brittany Ferries Cap Finistere

When we first planned to head to Spain from the UK our trip was going to be 7-9 weeks long so it made sense to take the car. Being a bit cautious of sea-faring vessels, I initially assumed that we would take the short ferry crossing across the English channel to France and then drive, but after our 4 hour ferry crossing from Roslare to Pembroke in September I admitted that Mr Traveller might actually be on to a winning idea. Primarily, the Littlest Hobo would have the freedom to roam around and explore in a way that appeals to any toddler and makes far more sense than having them strapped in a seat for hours and hours on end. .

Cost wise, it was probably about even - to drive we would’ve had the shorter ferry crossing, fuel costs for 14 hours driving (not cheap with European prices) and probably two overnight stops with that length of journey, possibly three if the thought of 3 days of constant travel just seemed too ridiculous. Flying and then hiring a car would’ve taken us way out the ballpark. The ferry to Spain took 24 hours, and cost approx £400 give or take £50 depending on the date we crossed and the cabin we chose.

Our Outside 2/4 birth en-suite cabin

Now that P&O have discontinued this route, Brittany Ferries offer the only option from the UK to Spain - they run two ferries - Cap Finistere and Pont-Aven, and a couple of different routes. We opted for a Portsmouth to Bilbao crossing on the Cap Finistere, which is the smaller of the two ferries. Initially we booked a luxury cabin, the top one offered, which came with a double bed, a tv and a lot more space than any of the others, and planned for the Littlest Hobo to sleep on a fantastic kids air bed that friends lent us. After a bit of a stuff up on my behalf though, (and for those who know us, yes honestly, it was all my fault and nothing to do with Mr Traveller!), we ended up with a 4 birth outside cabin and a refund of £40! I was pleasantly surprised by the cabin, which was on the 8th deck, although there wasn’t a lot of floor space, there was enough room to move about, the beds were a decent size, and Mr Traveller only felt marginally claustrophobic up there on the top bunk. The Littlest Hobo’s bed side even fitted, which was a big plus once it got a bit choppy! The room was en suite, with a surprisingly good shower. The room was well lit, with two plug sockets and piped music available. There was a thermostat to adjust the temperature as you wished, and a large port hole with great black-out curtains.

Dinky-di shower

En-suite bathroom

I couldn’t find much about our ferry online, apart from what Brittany Ferries had on their own site, and a single review on trip advisor which was pretty negative, so I didn’t have high expectations. The food in particular had received bad press, and if our experience on Brittany Ferries was anything to go on, I wasn‘t expecting any sort of gastronomic sensation, I was just hoping it wouldn‘t lead to any gastroenteritis either! The first evening we ate at the Salad Bar which was up on the 10th (top) deck, as the main restaurant couldn’t serve food until 6.30, which proved to be too long a wait for the Littlest Hobo. It was actually surprisingly tasty, if simple, fare. For breakfast, the Littlest Hobo and I had a full cooked brekkie in the main restaurant which was great value given that under 5’s eat free, then took Mr Traveller some breakfast bits and pieces that we’d bought in the Bon Marche café shop. All in all, I thought the food was okay, given we were, after all, on a ferry not a cruise.

The other thing I’d been unsure of was the children’s facilities on board - I knew there would be something but not sure what. We quickly discovered the children’s play area on the top deck, which claimed to be for supervised 5-12 year olds, but was perfectly suited to our two-and-a-bit year old and I can’t imagine any twelve year old comfortably using it. The area is covered, but it was a bit too chilly when we were leaving the UK to stay out there for any length of time, although it was great in the warm sunshine the next day. I had been hoping to see an indoor soft play area for small kids like we’d experienced with Irish Ferries, but there wasn’t one. As the Littlest Hobo appeared to be the only child on our crossing (really, I’m not exaggerating for dramatic effect, she really was the only one) she was able to choose which movies we watched in the children’s area, although a few adults gathered around to watch with us once Toy Story 3 was rolling. They also gave her a kids toy box with any food ordered, which contained plasticy, easy to break toys aimed at kids who were a few years older than the Littlest Hobo, but they kept her so happily amused that we barely broke into her backpack of toys that accompanies us on our travels.

Childrens play area on the top deck

Somebody was enjoying it

Mr Traveller has been known to get a bit queasy when out on anything more than a millpond, and the Littlest Hobo had projectile vomited on our last ferry journey (which we suspected to be for reasons other than the ferry, especially given she’d known ferries as a regular form of local public transport for the first 20 months of her life in Sydney, but weren’t sure), so I was curious to see how we would get on going  across the notorious Bay of Biscay, especially as we’d ended up travelling in mid November as opposed to our initially planned early October departure. When we first left Portsmouth all was well, and by the time we went to bed some 3 or 4 hours into the journey, things were getting a little bit rocky, and we’d identified that bending over forward was definitely best avoided, but we all went off to sleep without too much hassle. As far as I recall, the horrendous rocking started at around 11pm - 6 hours into our trip, and reached it’s peak around 2-3am when we were all awake and feeling the brunt of the extreme rocking and rolling. At that point I was thinking never again, but in hindsight now it seems less dramatic, although I am glad we’re driving up through France on our way back, and I won’t be rushing to suggest another 24 hour ferry in the near future. We got off the boat about 4 hours ago and I still feel like I’m bobbing about as I lie stretched out in my wisely booked room on my comfortable bed in Bilbao.