- Jul 18, 2009
- 11,866
- 19,756
- Funster No
- 7,543
- MH
- HYMER B644
- Exp
- 2004
Okay, so as I mentioned, I said I was going to leave a review of our recent sailing on Brittany Ferries new Flagship, Galicia. Its not good, from my point of view. So if any aficionados of Brittany Ferries that may be offended, please do not read on.
As big fans of Brittany Ferries, especially of its Spanish routes, we were looking forward to the new vessel arriving from China (Stena Ro-Ro). We like Cap Finistere and Pont Aven So, we have been waiting wit excitement to travel on Galicia.
We arrived far too early for the Ferry in our car, so turned away and had a packed lunch by the sea. We returned for check-in at 6pm, more than four hours before departure. The check in was slow, very. When we eventually arrived at the desk, the man we dealt with was rude and abrupt. I explained that I had not input our vehicle registration because the data they hold puts it over 1.83m, its not its 1.7. So after some grumbling he decided not to measure the height or apply a charge. When I questioned the £245 cancelation charge on my ticket, the reply was, "Nowt to do with me that, nothing I could do about it". Okay, so if that's the case, be more polite. They do have the facility to take payments for under declared vehicle dimensions though!.
Anyway, loading of the boat was quite efficient and quick I thought, despite being one of the last groups of vehicles to be a loaded.
At the car deck, plenty of space and wide lanes, not trucks to negotiate.
On trying to locate our cabin, there was no direct lift from car deck 5 Green. The lift did go to 9, but only to the Crew quarters. So, lift to floor seven, try to find stairs to deck 9. Cabin was easy to find though.
First impressions of the cabin were good. But as time went on, it was a big disappointment.
We had treated ourselves to a commodore Suite. Double bed, brewing up facilities, mini bar, direct access to the ships deck.
Problems:
*Poor water flow to cabin, second day, a dribble for a shower
*BF Quote "Large Flatscreen TV" Its not large. But I guess Larger than those in other cabins. You need binoculars to read anything on screen from the bed. It is also poorly located.
*The fixtures and fittings are poor quality.
*The Minibar was a cheap Chinese fridge with the control actually written in Chinese. The sort of thing you buy from Argos (it was cold though !)
*The BIG problem was the direct outside deck access.
First time we opened the door, a couple of people were sat up against it, they were very apologetic as were we. But then they put their chairs back when we closed the door.
When we managed to get to sit outside and be able to get a couple of chairs. Several people tried to walk inside. One couple were inching past me when I said "Sorry, that's our room". I think the man thought I had said "Have you got enough room?". The lady actually walked into our cabin and then was mortified as she had also misheard me. I just laughed it off and she was so apologetic. It was quite entertaining for the rest of the people on deck. There was piece of rope next to the door, so we had to wedge the door open with the bin and then put the rope across. You know what happened next!.
Dining & Bars:
Now onto food, mediocre at best. The cabin came with Commodore club access (£35 pp if they have availability with other cabins). We had tom queue for 20 mins the first time for some Tapas and a glass of wine. The second day we used it, another 20 min queue. I was given half a glass of wine, the bottle had run out. I thought no bother, I will go back later and get a refill. My wife queued again for 10 mins. Only to be told, they don't serve wine after 2pm. I guess a lot of people who have access, will sit and get there monies Worth. In truth, if we were paying, what we ate and drank on the two short visits would have cost us around £25-£30 on similar BF crossings. So for us, not worth the £35pp.
Evening dinner:
We are allocated a time slot of 6:15 for our sitting in the Al a Carte restaurant at the Bow of the Ship. The queue was 35 mins to getting to the counter. Your request food from the servers and take your tray to any free table. The food looked nice, it was shockingly poor. Luke warm a best. I guess we could of gone back to the end of the queue and selected other meals. But we rally could not be bothered. I ate a small bowl of Langoustines and my wife poked around looking for squid under some much of potato. The fries were like cardboard. We paid for a bottle of Chablis, £22, I've had better €1,50 wines from Spanish Supermarkets. We left, bitterly disappointed.
The Commodore Suites come with Continental breakfast served in the room. No order was taken for Friday morning, so we had to go to reception to request it. Saturday was the same lack of order. On both occasions, they did not even provide milk or sugar for the tea.
The main bar was closed.
Shopping:
I Noticed how much cheaper the shop is, now it is Duty Free. 200 Cigarettes which is the suggested limit is around £32, wines are cheaper, but you have reasonable limits on those kind of Purchases. We spent a lot of money in the shop as there were some good buys. One of My wife's preferred perfumes, normally £60 UK price, £50 reduced to £35. Some good wines from £4 upwards. they were also selling individual cans of beers, Maybe because the main bar was closed.
The Ship Itself:
I am not an Engineer, more a Technician who can Engineer things. Call me a jack of all trades, master of none I guess. That said, I think I could make a better job than some of the work I saw. Ill bet with some practice, My grandchildren all aged under 12 could weld better seams.
The ships tannoy system was inaudible On our deck, in our cabin and shower. Just let's hope there is not any emergency, if so the signal works better. looking around at details like, Pieces of make do wire, make do rope, over sized cable grommets packed out with silicone, worse still, on the car deck, insulation tape. missing screws from balustrades that dip and twist. Ill fitting flip mats, distorted door seals. Galicia has been in service for just over 6 months. I wonder how the build quality will stand up to the high volume of passengers. When I look around the Old Pride of Brugge, Stenas Holandica / Britanica, then Pont Aven and Cap Finsitere. You can see the difference in build quality.
The Crew:
All French that we met and spoke with. We could not fault them. Polite, courteous, even humorous. All smartly dressed as always and all happy to help, chat and even crack some jokes. One of the Maintenance Engineers accidentally (so he claimed) gave some passengers a slight shower as he mishandled his hose (clean thoughts folks). The funniest thing was, he spoke little or no English, As he tried to apologise, sounded like the Poloceman In 'Allo 'Allo!.
Disembarkation:
It took some time, but it doesn't bother me. I can sit in the car and plan routes check emails, whatsapps etc. But some people did get a but agitated.
Customs/Border Control:
When we left the ship, we stopped at passports and were asked if we had residency. All checked at off we drove. We were pulled in again customs/aduana, checked and sent away again. Only to be stopped briefly as we left the port exit. No real drama and we had nothing that we should no have. There were some trailers and vans being pulled over. I think they had brand new building materials on. Some discussions were taking place with the Guardia
I have 6 future Sailings booked on Galicia, I changed to of them last night and looking to change all the others.
We are not snobs, just paying customers who work very hard and expect what we pay for. I have contacted Brittany Ferries and I am still awaiting an explanation regarding several charges, lack of credit notes and refunds. If and when we get back to normal, we may be booking less Spanish routes in future.
I will pop some Photos on......
As big fans of Brittany Ferries, especially of its Spanish routes, we were looking forward to the new vessel arriving from China (Stena Ro-Ro). We like Cap Finistere and Pont Aven So, we have been waiting wit excitement to travel on Galicia.
We arrived far too early for the Ferry in our car, so turned away and had a packed lunch by the sea. We returned for check-in at 6pm, more than four hours before departure. The check in was slow, very. When we eventually arrived at the desk, the man we dealt with was rude and abrupt. I explained that I had not input our vehicle registration because the data they hold puts it over 1.83m, its not its 1.7. So after some grumbling he decided not to measure the height or apply a charge. When I questioned the £245 cancelation charge on my ticket, the reply was, "Nowt to do with me that, nothing I could do about it". Okay, so if that's the case, be more polite. They do have the facility to take payments for under declared vehicle dimensions though!.
Anyway, loading of the boat was quite efficient and quick I thought, despite being one of the last groups of vehicles to be a loaded.
At the car deck, plenty of space and wide lanes, not trucks to negotiate.
On trying to locate our cabin, there was no direct lift from car deck 5 Green. The lift did go to 9, but only to the Crew quarters. So, lift to floor seven, try to find stairs to deck 9. Cabin was easy to find though.
First impressions of the cabin were good. But as time went on, it was a big disappointment.
We had treated ourselves to a commodore Suite. Double bed, brewing up facilities, mini bar, direct access to the ships deck.
Problems:
*Poor water flow to cabin, second day, a dribble for a shower
*BF Quote "Large Flatscreen TV" Its not large. But I guess Larger than those in other cabins. You need binoculars to read anything on screen from the bed. It is also poorly located.
*The fixtures and fittings are poor quality.
*The Minibar was a cheap Chinese fridge with the control actually written in Chinese. The sort of thing you buy from Argos (it was cold though !)
*The BIG problem was the direct outside deck access.
First time we opened the door, a couple of people were sat up against it, they were very apologetic as were we. But then they put their chairs back when we closed the door.
When we managed to get to sit outside and be able to get a couple of chairs. Several people tried to walk inside. One couple were inching past me when I said "Sorry, that's our room". I think the man thought I had said "Have you got enough room?". The lady actually walked into our cabin and then was mortified as she had also misheard me. I just laughed it off and she was so apologetic. It was quite entertaining for the rest of the people on deck. There was piece of rope next to the door, so we had to wedge the door open with the bin and then put the rope across. You know what happened next!.
Dining & Bars:
Now onto food, mediocre at best. The cabin came with Commodore club access (£35 pp if they have availability with other cabins). We had tom queue for 20 mins the first time for some Tapas and a glass of wine. The second day we used it, another 20 min queue. I was given half a glass of wine, the bottle had run out. I thought no bother, I will go back later and get a refill. My wife queued again for 10 mins. Only to be told, they don't serve wine after 2pm. I guess a lot of people who have access, will sit and get there monies Worth. In truth, if we were paying, what we ate and drank on the two short visits would have cost us around £25-£30 on similar BF crossings. So for us, not worth the £35pp.
Evening dinner:
We are allocated a time slot of 6:15 for our sitting in the Al a Carte restaurant at the Bow of the Ship. The queue was 35 mins to getting to the counter. Your request food from the servers and take your tray to any free table. The food looked nice, it was shockingly poor. Luke warm a best. I guess we could of gone back to the end of the queue and selected other meals. But we rally could not be bothered. I ate a small bowl of Langoustines and my wife poked around looking for squid under some much of potato. The fries were like cardboard. We paid for a bottle of Chablis, £22, I've had better €1,50 wines from Spanish Supermarkets. We left, bitterly disappointed.
The Commodore Suites come with Continental breakfast served in the room. No order was taken for Friday morning, so we had to go to reception to request it. Saturday was the same lack of order. On both occasions, they did not even provide milk or sugar for the tea.
The main bar was closed.
Shopping:
I Noticed how much cheaper the shop is, now it is Duty Free. 200 Cigarettes which is the suggested limit is around £32, wines are cheaper, but you have reasonable limits on those kind of Purchases. We spent a lot of money in the shop as there were some good buys. One of My wife's preferred perfumes, normally £60 UK price, £50 reduced to £35. Some good wines from £4 upwards. they were also selling individual cans of beers, Maybe because the main bar was closed.
The Ship Itself:
I am not an Engineer, more a Technician who can Engineer things. Call me a jack of all trades, master of none I guess. That said, I think I could make a better job than some of the work I saw. Ill bet with some practice, My grandchildren all aged under 12 could weld better seams.
The ships tannoy system was inaudible On our deck, in our cabin and shower. Just let's hope there is not any emergency, if so the signal works better. looking around at details like, Pieces of make do wire, make do rope, over sized cable grommets packed out with silicone, worse still, on the car deck, insulation tape. missing screws from balustrades that dip and twist. Ill fitting flip mats, distorted door seals. Galicia has been in service for just over 6 months. I wonder how the build quality will stand up to the high volume of passengers. When I look around the Old Pride of Brugge, Stenas Holandica / Britanica, then Pont Aven and Cap Finsitere. You can see the difference in build quality.
The Crew:
All French that we met and spoke with. We could not fault them. Polite, courteous, even humorous. All smartly dressed as always and all happy to help, chat and even crack some jokes. One of the Maintenance Engineers accidentally (so he claimed) gave some passengers a slight shower as he mishandled his hose (clean thoughts folks). The funniest thing was, he spoke little or no English, As he tried to apologise, sounded like the Poloceman In 'Allo 'Allo!.
Disembarkation:
It took some time, but it doesn't bother me. I can sit in the car and plan routes check emails, whatsapps etc. But some people did get a but agitated.
Customs/Border Control:
When we left the ship, we stopped at passports and were asked if we had residency. All checked at off we drove. We were pulled in again customs/aduana, checked and sent away again. Only to be stopped briefly as we left the port exit. No real drama and we had nothing that we should no have. There were some trailers and vans being pulled over. I think they had brand new building materials on. Some discussions were taking place with the Guardia
I have 6 future Sailings booked on Galicia, I changed to of them last night and looking to change all the others.
We are not snobs, just paying customers who work very hard and expect what we pay for. I have contacted Brittany Ferries and I am still awaiting an explanation regarding several charges, lack of credit notes and refunds. If and when we get back to normal, we may be booking less Spanish routes in future.
I will pop some Photos on......
