I am considering a driving trip to Spain in the summer and have looked at the P&O and Brittany sites, going from Pymouth/Portsmouth to Santander/Bilbao. I have heard a couple of bad reports about the crossing, can anyone help?
The crossing can totally depend. I have crossed many times to get back home to see family in the UK, and personally I have found that the only time I have got severely sea sick is when it was flat calm! The Bay of Biscay does have a bad rep for being rough, but I've never had any problems. I have always gone on the Plymouth-Santander route, and been on the Pont Aven, Brittany Ferries' huge flagship. It is very stable, and although obviously it rocks and you can feel it. It's a great ship, relatively new, huge, swimming pool, cinemas etc. I would definately advise getting a cabin though, the first time we went we didn't book one before, thinking the reclining seats would be enough, and we ended up being lucky enough to get one on board. Since then we've always booked one, it's a long crossing (20 hours or so), and you need a place to lie down, especially if you get seasick. There is also another boat which they use now I think for this crossing, it's not quite as big, but is even newer I think, all the info's on their website, and see the Getting To and From Santander section in the Travel Guide on here too.
Generally I have heard that the Brittany Ferries crossings are smoother and with newer boats than the P&O.
Santander is a much more beautiful city to land in too!
Thank you Raton.
That was very informative. We think that we might just go ahead and book from Plymouth to Santander. We drove from the Costa Blanca all the way to Scotland last year and it was an awful drive. We stayed in the south of France overnight and then drove all the way to Calais. So rather than the long drive we thought of the longer sail.
The Brittany ferry is a bit more costly but it works out roughly the same if we cross Portsmouth to St Malo/Caen and drive the 15 hours, fuel, tolls and an overnight.
Just wondered how bad the crossing could be, haven't been on a ferry/ship for a length of time and wondered how the kids.
To be honest, don't forget also that at least half of the journey is overnight, so you are sleeping for most of it. Get a cabin, that's my advice. There's childrens entertainment, a swimming pool, kids films and the cinema and a play area on board. If you're trying to do it cheap take food with you though (especially breakfast), that's the only thing that's pricey.
Thanks for all your advice Raton, we are going to book this week...looking forward to it actually.
I will let you know how it goes!
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