2021 Timetables

[jonno]

4 minutes ago, David Williams said:

I think that the only issue is the Etretat, the Kerry goes & the Connemara stays with the Galicia replacing the BDS.

That just leaves Le Havre and St Malo, will the Bretagne fit in Le Havre ?

Yes but why would she? St Malo carries 350,000+ pax, the demand for her there is very strong. Le Havre is predominantly a freight route so again Bretagne would be useless.

My gut still says they'll keep Etretat and renew as necessary. Cap' Finistere will fulfil the BDS timetable of Le Havre & Spain, Galicia will fulfil the Cap's timetable switching from Roscoff to Cherbourg for crew changes & PA will still continue to offer the 24hr sailings to the south.

[Solo]

2 minutes ago, jonno said:

& PA will still continue to offer the 24hr sailings to the south.

With the mid week Roscoff sailing she will be working just from Plymouth.

[David Williams]

11 minutes ago, jonno said:

Yes but why would she? St Malo carries 350,000+ pax, the demand for her there is very strong. Le Havre is predominantly a freight route so again Bretagne would be useless.

My gut still says they'll keep Etretat and renew as necessary. Cap' Finistere will fulfil the BDS timetable of Le Havre & Spain, Galicia will fulfil the Cap's timetable switching from Roscoff to Cherbourg for crew changes & PA will still continue to offer the 24hr sailings to the south.

Makes total sense, however if it was that simple why not just release the St Malo timetable ?

Cap Finistere for Le Havre once a week would be good

It will all be revealed next week !

Edited July 15, 2020 by David Williams

[jonno]

Just now, Solo said:

With the mid week Roscoff sailing she will be working just from Plymouth.

A permanent switch which again was suggested on here by many members. The Cap can still fulfil a 24 hour crossing to Spain from Portsmouth and still visit Le Havre once a week... she's faster than the Pont and more crucially can maintain it without breaking anything.

You're getting more cabin & vehicle space on each timetable and you're reducing the Economie offering at Le Havre and a year round weekly sailing to Cherbourg. It's a win win scenario.

[nick hall]

I don’t think we’ll see the Cap at Le Havre. My view is she’ll keep the same timetable, 3 returns to Spain with the Sunday sailing calling at Roscoff.

The only change may be that all 3 sailings go to Bilbao leaving 4 to Santander, 2 from Portsmouth (Galicia) & 3 from Plymouth (Pont).

I also think Etretat will serve Le Havre as she did last year, but with 1 round trip per day as there won’t be the rotation from Baie de Seine.

[David Williams]

I hope that BF have also factored in any government contracts for capacity next year, I would hate for them to change loads of booked sailings again.

[neilcvx]

34 minutes ago, hf_uk said:

What about the coloured commodes? !

The club cabins look surprisingly dull to be honest I would have thought they would have had one of the seats useable as a sofa , they look like Etretats cabins to be honest.

[colin]

I suspect the timetables not yet released are part of avoiding website and phone line overload?

[georgem7]

As Galicia is operating to Cherbourg on Sunday evenings and return on Monday evenings, Galicia will clearly be operating rotations on Tuesdays and Fridays with returns on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Note that this is different to the BDS schedule, as it was outbound Tuesdays and Saturdays with returns on Wednesdays and Sundays. This hints at a change to Cap Finistere schedule as she presently operates outbound on Fridays. 

My thoughts is that they might slow Cap Finistere down with two departures a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays and returns on Thursdays and Sundays. She would operate to Le Havre on Monday evenings and return on Tuesday evenings. This would set up nicely to be replaced by Salamanca. 

Further, this link suggests Galicia will be concentrated on Portsmouth-Santander: https://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/ships/cruise-ferries/galicia#tab-1 

So it could be likely that Cap Finistere will be concentrated on Portsmouth-Bilbao. 

I may be wrong but this appears logical

[Andy]

15 minutes ago, neilcvx said:

The club cabins look surprisingly dull to be honest I would have thought they would have had one of the seats useable as a sofa , they look like Etretats cabins to be honest.

Largely the same as the Stena ships cabin offerings also. https://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries/stena-estrid/cabins 

[neilcvx]

4 minutes ago, Andy said:

Largely the same as the Stena ships cabin offerings also. https://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries/stena-estrid/cabins 

Seems a step down from Ponts club cabins , personally from the pictures I would rather have a Pont club cabin on a 24 hour sailing.

[Rik762]

Has anyone discovered a deck / cabin plan of the Galicia as yet? Longing to know how many  of each type of cabin.

[rogerpatenall]

I am pleased with the PA sailings to and from Cherbourg. I have just booked our return crossing after Christmas, with a Commodore cabin. For someone like me who is normally too mean to book a club seat on the Express / Barfleur - that is a big deal. 

Took three attempts on the website. It keep freezing when invited to 'select sailings'. But no big deal.

[neilcvx]

19 minutes ago, rogerpatenall said:

I am pleased with the PA sailings to and from Cherbourg. I have just booked our return crossing after Christmas, with a Commodore cabin. For someone like me who is normally too mean to book a club seat on the Express / Barfleur - that is a big deal. 

Took three attempts on the website. It keep freezing when invited to 'select sailings'. But no big deal.

I toyed with booking a commodore for our Friday afternoon sailing from Plymouth but couldn’t justify the difference in price from a club with the club voyage discount especially for 5 and a half hours will make it up to the wife with a nice hotel room in Roscoff with a view of the Pont sailing out .

 

[nodwad]

Lot of talk about where ferries are going to, but I thought the galicia was going to do the Spanish runs?i know Iam always chirping on about pet friendly cabins and how they get booked very sharply when they are released.so I thought bf would have the two ferries with most dog friendly cabins on the Spanish routes.

[David Williams]

32 minutes ago, nodwad said:

Lot of talk about where ferries are going to, but I thought the galicia was going to do the Spanish runs?i know Iam always chirping on about pet friendly cabins and how they get booked very sharply when they are released.so I thought bf would have the two ferries with most dog friendly cabins on the Spanish routes.

Whilst it is French crewed it will still have to do some French runs, however it would be interesting to know what savings they would get switching to a Spanish crew !

[David Williams]

Press release

https://brittanyferriesnewsroom.com/brittany-ferries-looks-forward-to-brighter-2021-and-opens-for-sale-today/

 

[georgem7]

6 hours ago, Solo said:

Another thing with PA's schedule, there will be no spare time for catch up apart from going faster overnight, hope the engines hold up.

There will still be a smallish gap. Assuming she leaves Plymouth at 16:45 on Sundays as she does now and arrives at 12:15. She doesn't leave Plymouth for Roscoff until 20:00 on Tuesdays. My bets is that she'll layover in Santander until 21:15 returning for 17:00. (like she does on Wednesdays now) .

 

Whilst it is a shame to see the end of morning sailings on Plymouth-Roscoff, the new set-up seems to make a lot of sense, and providing an additional Cork rotation will be highly beneficial, especially with the loss of the IF service. 

Edited July 15, 2020 by georgem7

[nodwad]

1 hour ago, David Williams said:

Whilst it is French crewed it will still have to do some French runs, however it would be interesting to know what savings they would get switching to a Spanish crew !

 or a british crew,can imagine what the French union would think of Spanish/ British crew.general strike comes to mind

[hf_uk]

58 minutes ago, nodwad said:

 or a british crew,can imagine what the French union would think of Spanish/ British crew.general strike comes to mind

I heard BF crew work 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. Is that normal throughout other countries, regardless of the base wage?

[Solo]

1 hour ago, georgem7 said:

My bets is that she'll layover in Santander until 21:15 returning for 17:00. (like she does on Wednesdays now) .

I think most passengers would prefer an earlier departure from Santander and arrival in Plymouth early afternoon, avoiding rush hour traffic in Plymouth.  Earlier departure would lead to more onboard spend as well, afternoon and evening in the bar and restaurant.

[Seashore]

6 hours ago, David Williams said:

The Commodore C club lounge, apart from being an awful name (took me a while to get the pun) looks very good, 

https://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/ships/cruise-ferries/galicia/accommodation/commodore-c-club-lounge

 

I'm wondering what the C stands for, I'm assuming it's Commodore Covid Club Lounge... although I'm guessing it's just as easily coronavirus.

[hf_uk]

Could be

18 minutes ago, Seashore said:

I'm wondering what the C stands for, I'm assuming it's Commodore Covid Club Lounge... although I'm guessing it's just as easily coronavirus.

Could be anything. Captain Lounge? Meet the Captain! 
Curtain Lounge? Nice pairs of Laura Ashley curtains each to cover port hole! 
Cynics Lounge. Lounge for cynical people who can't think of a better example of C Club  

[quibby]

I do wonder if the lack of Plymouth-Roscoff crossings in winter (5 months with no sailings at all is unprecedented in BF's history) is due to the Portsmouth - St Malo timetable not being finalised yet?

They usually have winter sailings to Roscoff at least for the fortnight over Christmas and have, in recent years, tended to recommence sailings in early February rather than late March.

As Pont Aven seems to be covering the Galicia all winter and Armorique is spending November and December on Portsmouth to Caen, I suspect Bretagne will stay on St Malo until Christmas and then Armorique will take over for the remainder of winter. I wonder if there might be a weekly Roscoff sailing with a Plymouth-St Malo positional sailing?

However, I could be completely wrong, especially as this new Roscoff timetable from March 2021 is the same every week with no extra sailings in peak holiday periods at all. Perhaps the demand for Roscoff had substantially declined?

[hhvferry]

44 minutes ago, Seashore said:

I'm wondering what the C stands for, I'm assuming it's Commodore Covid Club Lounge... although I'm guessing it's just as easily coronavirus.

This is a Commodore C, so perhaps it's some sort of tribute of poor craftmanship, unreliable ventilation and uncomfortable noise levels?