Brittany Ferries Overnight Sailing between Rosslare and Cherbourg. BEST VALUE EVER?

Brittany Ferries Overnight Sailing between Rosslare and Cherbourg. BEST VALUE EVER?

Hello everybody from Rossair Europort in Ireland where this evening I am taking Britany fairies MV Cotantin or Kotantan all the way down to Sherbor in France departing due to depart at 2000 hours this evening and arriving into Sherbor at 1400 hours tomorrow afternoon a route I have never taken before so I’m really looking forward to it in that respect and I’ve never been on this ferry before either so how is it going to I tell you what, it’s essentially a freight service, isn’t it? So, in that respect, I don’t think it’s going to be too dissimilar to my recent journey with Stenoline from Leopaya in Latia across the Baltic Sea down to Traveramunda in Germany. But, uh, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there? And it will be interesting to compare Stenoline with Britain fairies on tonight’s service. So, why don’t you come with me? It’s going to be adventure whatever happens, isn’t it? I will see you on board. I’d arrived at Rossler a good 3 hours before departure having come down from Dublin on the train. But I didn’t have much choice, though really because if I’d have taken the later train, I would have arrived after the cutoff time for foot passenger check-in, which was 45 minutes before departure. Well, it’s a 10-minute walk to the ferry terminal from the railway station, and on arrival, the Britany Ferry’s desk was shut. And there’s not a lot to do inside the terminal building to keep you occupied. There’s some seating, a departure information board, a coffee machine, and a snack vending machine, some toilets, and yeah, that’s about it. Best thing to do if the weather’s half decent, and obviously depending on the time of day, is go and have a wonder on the beach, I reckon. Although Rossair itself does have one or two cafes and takeaways, etc. And you can get here by bus. And in hindsight, I might have been better off doing that, getting off the train at Wexford, having a little look around there, and then catching the 387 service a little bit later on. Anyway, I returned at 1810 and the desk was open. The lady just needed my passport and I was checked in. Well, it wasn’t until 1930, just 30 minutes before the ship was due to depart, that we were called through to the waiting bus. A total of four foot passengers on the sailing this evening, including myself. Always a bit frustrating to be kept hanging around the terminal though, when we were all here, especially as there wasn’t really much to do. I guess it’s all down to the logistics of loading the ferry. I’m sure Britney Fairies would rather have as many people on board the ship spending their money as soon as possible. We drove around the port for a while before finally approaching the ship and the bus drove us straight on. We’d been joined by Irish fairies is of free at this point which you can see here and would be departed for Pemrook Dock in South Wales a little bit later on this evening. Would you like to see me take that ferry in the future? Let me know in the comments below. That seems to be the case with Britney Fairies. We were welcomed by one of the crew, which I always think is a nice touch, and escorted into the lift where I made my way straight up to deck 8, where my cabin was located this evening. It goes in this way in. Well, then here we go inside my cabin 8209 and inside cabin. Uh, two birth inside cabin on tonight’s crossing. And uh yeah, it it is about um well, it’s coming up to 1940, about 20 minutes to go to depart it. That is probably the latest I have ever boarded a ferry. So, there’s not much time to lose. We will do a cabin tour in a little while. Um but yeah, I think we’ll head out on deck first and um go and see what’s happening. All right, then. So, outside on deck 8. So, first impressions actually when you look over the stern there, it’s it’s actually quite a big ferry. Uh, captain’s just been on the public address system uh informing us that um see tonight 1 m swell maximum. So, it’s it’s calm, isn’t it? Which is which is always good. And uh yeah, so the plan is uh we’re going to watch it depart, then I’m going to get something to eat. And uh by that time, I think it’s going to be pretty much dark, isn’t it? I mean, it’s getting that way already. So, uh, we will do a little bit more of the outside deck exploration tomorrow morning, I think. But yeah, just looking at it though, it’s um, yeah, looks quite interesting, doesn’t it? It’s um, deck nine there. And hopefully, yeah, you can go find your way all the way up those steps there up to the top deck, which I always find quite interesting wandering around. So, maybe we’ll have a little cheeky look up there. Now, as um as the ship departs, we will be reversing out for port by the looks of it and then I guess we’ll be swinging around and making our way in a south southwards direction. Unfortunately, after climbing the external stairs here, I found that there is a locked gate at the top. That’s always the way that, isn’t it? That’s fine, though. There looked to be plenty of outside deck space for me to explore on this particular ship, including a really interesting section here, which was a kind of a narrow walkway running towards and past the funnel and ending up right at the back of the ship. Wow, look at this quirky outside deck space running past the funnel pretty much all the way to the stern of the ship. I love it. It’s brilliant. at the end of this walkway and also placed in several other positions on the ship. Uh was this appliance here which I think was some kind of hose maybe strategically placed fire hoses. Please let me know for sure in the comments below. I haven’t seen them on other fairies though. So yeah, again a really interesting feature. I got chatting to a lovely couple at this point and before I knew it we were leaving port with just the bright lights of the keyside and the aisle of Inis free ferry glistening in the distance. We’ actually left a few minutes early in the end, but as you can see, it was already quite dark, very calm as predicted, and it was quiet. No car alarms at all. But yeah, with this being primarily a freight service, that was, I suspect, mainly due to the fact that there were hardly any cars on board. Right. So, the plan is there’s not a lot else to see out here now. It’s almost completely dark and uh so we’re going to head inside. I’m going to get something to eat because I am pretty hungry now. Uh the restaurant’s open until half past 9, so that’s not a problem. And yeah, just enjoy the evening and um spend most of tomorrow morning I think showing you guys around when we’ve got a little bit more time and obviously we’ve got a lot more light. So yeah, we’ll head inside. We’ll have a look at the food for tonight and uh yeah, maybe sample one or two cheeky alcoholic beverages. Come on. So, I headed back inside on deck eight and then down to deck seven and the starboard side, which is where you will find all the public spaces on board. The self-service restaurant is at the front. You can’t miss it. It’s very red. Now, there’s a price list as you enter, and then you move on to a chilled section containing both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, starters and desserts next, and then a board telling you what’s available on the sailing, and finally the main meal service area. And after paying for my food, I took a seat and just settled down to eat. Right guys, so yeah, I am in the buffet restaurant and yeah, I have got the fish and chips uh with tarta sauce and they’ve also given me like kind of like a hot mixed vegetable side as well with that. And there’s a deal on you can have a main course and a starter or dessert. And um I’ve gone for the dessert and I have also got a beer. Now then, how much do you think all this has cost me? Well, if I told you it when I did the conversion, it has worked out at just hang on a sec. Yeah, it was €20.70 and it has worked out at £1811. Now, I don’t think that’s bad value for money, do you? Also, the um the food was actually cooked fresh. Uh I’ve just been waiting for him to the chef to finish it. Um so, yeah, I’m going to dig in and um I’ll let you know what I thought when I finish. And despite the dubious color scheme, the restaurant area was pretty pleasant really. It felt spacious, though it was quite sparsely populated tonight. The um reason why I ordered fish and chips tonight, by the way, is um just because I normally do that. I just wanted to compare like for like with my recent offerings in particular on um Stenoline. I think at the moment, well, let me know your opinions, but this is head and shoulders above, I think, in terms of value for money and also quality. Very good. Yeah. And suffice to say, there wasn’t much left on my plate by the time I’d finished, but at least in terms of the main meal anyway. Well, guys, that was nice. Really nice. Um, as I said, really good value for money that I made it upon me just about. I’m so full now. And unfortunately, I’ve just got the small matter of one of these to eat as well as like I said, you cannot grumble um with the value for money. And I think the quality is pretty good as well and and the service actually, the the chef and and the lady at the till. Um, yeah, fantastic. Really friendly guys there. So, yeah, really pleased with it so far. Well, I didn’t quite make it to the end of my dessert. I think next time I’d just go for a May meal on its own, to be honest, and maybe a Coke. That would have done me. And opposite guest services was a TV screen displaying the positions of all the Britany Ferris fleet currently in operation. We will be making our way towards and around the southwest coast of England tonight and then east through the English Channel in the morning, roughly speaking. As you enter this area, there is a welcome board with a couple of adverts for the restaurant and shop, plus weather reports and information about the Wi-Fi. Then, right in front of you is the small shop and guest services. A kind of all-in-one affair this. In fact, the shop is so small you can’t actually go inside it, but you can see what’s on offer if you stand close enough to the counter here. Now, then you have the bar area over to the right. Again, it’s quite small. There’s only one beer on draft, for example, but well, it’s perfectly sufficient for this trip. There is a coffee machine here and a couple of retro video games if you need them, but bailing that, you can borrow board games from guest services. And if you get lost, there’s not much chance of that, to be honest. This monitor here tells you where everything is. All right, guys. So I am back in the kind of bar area or it’s like a little lounge off off to the side and um yeah I have in terms of um the the ship um I have asked uh a very very nice chap behind the bar um how you pronounce it and he told me luton luton. So that’s if I if I can remember that’s how I’ll be pronouncing it for the rest of this video. I’m not sure whether I will or not. But to celebrate the fact that um I can I can call it the Lotantan from now on in I decided to indulge in um buy myself a a cocktail which is called Lan um I believe. And um I can’t remember what’s in it now. Is that that blue thing, isn’t it? Whatever it’s called, begins with a C and and some other stuff like um tonic and anyway um and um some like we weed stuff. I’m not quite sure. Maybe that’s come out of the sea actually. It looks like it. Um but there’s no fish in it, so be pleased to know. I will be pleased to know. So anyway, I’m going to get stuck into that. That was um 9 €9. Oh, it’s a cocktail. That’s not too bad for cocktail, is it really? I suppose depends if I like it or not. Um, but yeah, it’s it’s nice here. Not I like it. I really do like the ship. Um, so I’m going to um drink that now and um I’ll speak to you again when I finished. But I actually moved back into what is known as the TV lounge proper and finished my cocktail in there. There was nobody else around, so I really did have the place all to myself. Yeah, as expected, there’s no entertainment or anything like that, but well, I’ll say that. But, um, you know what, the the crew, they kind of do their best really. So, they provide board games, like a treasure hunt for the kids. Um, there’s some video games over there as, uh, as you would have seen. And, uh, yeah, if you want to, you know, craying and stuff like that for the kids to do. And, yeah, you know, they’ve got, um, Sky Sports on the TV. I’ve just been watching a bit of the football um League Cup night tonight and that’s all live and you know I don’t don’t want anything else. What I do want is a quality experience and value for money and I think I’m getting that on this ship. Um um yeah, the crew in particular absolutely fantastic. Uh so yeah, certainly enjoy myself. And I’ll tell you another thing, it is a world away from my recent experience with Stenoline on that ship. It took me across the Baltic Sea and a load of rubbish that was in comparison. Um so the um draw for the fourth round of the League Cups coming up in a minute. Liverpool are in it, of course. So I’m just going to sit here with my cocktail and enjoy the draw. So, we get a decent side like, I don’t know, Wickham or Grimby. You know, they’ve done really well already this season, haven’t they? And would you believe it, we got Crystal Blooming Palace again. Oh well, time to head back up to Decade for the cabin tour. The inside two birth contains two bunks. And because there was only myself traveling tonight, just the bottom bunk was made up with the upper bunk folded back against the wall, so to speak. So, what you got is there are individual reading lights for both bunks and a switch for the main lighting. Nice picture on the wall above quite an applesiz desk area with a stool beneath that stool. Aerial sockets on the side of the desk. So, I suspect there was either a TV in here at some point or there is at least provision for one should the need arise. There are also two European style plug sockets. So, make sure you bring an adapter with you if your appliances are of the UK island 3 pin variety. No USB sockets were available. Now, beneath the tall mirror here is a small table for your luggage. I was traveling very light on this trip using my 22 L backpack only. Now, this kind of setup will do me for say three nights or so. A closer and a stuff sack here and they just fit nicely into the bag along with all my camera equipment, leads, etc. And of course, my latest copy of ship’s monthly magazine. Now, there’s a small bin under the luggage storage and some cos here and the ladder for the top bunk. And opposite that is the temperature control for the cabin. And then we’re into the bathroom. The bathroom. Well, it’s a very typical layout for a ferry, but it did look quite modern. I thought the towels were still on the bed at this point. It was very clean and big mirror here and another bin underneath the sink which you would expect. A shower was pretty standard. A small space to ensure that you can’t avoid the shower curtain sticking to you as soon as you get it wet. But all in all though, perfectly good. And you wait until I tell you how much I paid. All right, guys. Well, it is coming up to nearly 11:00 in the P.M. And yeah, I’m going to turn in for the night. I think there’s nobody out on deck now. It’s a lovely calm crossing. There isn’t much to see. Um, but yeah, the the good thing about this crossing, actually, it’s nothing to do with the ship, but the good thing about the crossing uh yeah, we left Rossair at 2000 hours. And uh we don’t get in to Shel until 1400 French time. That means I’m not going to get any bing bongs at past 5 in the morning telling me to vacate my cabin or anything like that. I can have a lovely lion before heading back down to the public areas on deck 7 for what I hope will be a really nice breakfast. So, join me in the morning. I’ll bid you good night for now and yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Morning guys from deck 7 of Britley Ferris MV Lotantan. I had a pretty good sleep last night actually. Really calm crossing and yeah really enjoyed the evening in the bar and the TV lounge right at the back there where I sampled one of their cocktails. Well, they’re early cocktail, but it was very nice and yeah, it made for a very pleasant evening and like I said, had a good night’s sleep and I didn’t have to get up really early in the morning either. But I haven’t yet been for my morning coffee. So, that’s what I’m going to do next. And uh yeah, plenty of time to relax. No problem at all. It’s a beautiful morning out here. So, once I’ve done that, I’m going to come back out on deck and take a few more shots, I think. So, back in the self-service restaurant where I found a table overlooking the bar of the ship and enjoyed a coffee and a croissant for €455, which is cheap compared to similar offerings on other ferry operators. You can have the puty dejune on gllay if you want for €9 and that is again pretty cheap. And note the opening times are in Irish time, so there’s no need to set your watch just yet. And after breakfast, I spent a little bit more time in the bar area. Again, there was nobody about and I just spent time perusing the drinks menu, which I should have done the night before, to be honest. But I think most people were probably still in their cabins. Where else could they be? And there’s no club lounge or Commodore class exclusive areas or anything like that on this ship. And what you see is what you get. But despite the limited public areas internally, nothing felt cramped. I think they’ve utilized the space really well. For example, there’s no dedicated kids zone, but you know, one of the TVs plays cartoons and kids shows. I didn’t see any kids on board on this crossing, but that’s not really the point. And what was provided was a quality service by friendly staff, multitasking between roles, and working efficiently as a team. They were happy to chat, constantly smiling. They actually look like they love their jobs. And yeah, as it says here, they’re a French company employing French crews. And maybe that’s the difference. And what do you think? Let me know in the comments below. We were well into the English Channel now, heading east, and I went back outside to enjoy the open deck space and the beautiful weather. As I said before, there are plenty of outdoor areas on this ship and some covered areas to protect you from the elements and some fixed movable seating to relax in. Okay, it’s not the Pontiffon, is it? But it doesn’t pretend to be. And I don’t think any of the crew had an inferiority complex or anything like that. And I got the impression they were rightly proud of their ship. And why not? It was clean, tidy, everything worked and absolutely nothing was out of order. And yeah, okay, it’s basically a freight service, but it certainly didn’t feel like that on board. Sten line, please take note. And yeah, just like the other Britany Ferry ships, you’ve got the whale and dolphin watching board, which was interesting to read. Well, I didn’t see any on this crossing, but I did find the Akiard ship builder’s plate, which was located on deck 7. So, talking about ship building, enjoy a little bit more of the scenery and I’ll give you some details about the ship as we make our way towards Shubal. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] I don’t know. [Music] [Music] As you can see, we were coming into Sherborn now and making good time actually for our 1400 hours arrival. So, a couple of things to cover off. Firstly, the Wi-Fi. There are paid packages available. Well, I tried out the free for 60 minutes Wi-Fi and I was just about able to connect inside the cabin, although the signal strength wasn’t good enough to load anything up. Now, once I’d found the routter in the bar, it worked fine. I was able to watch YouTube and post on social media, no problem at all. Underneath the routter actually seemed to be the area where most people were congregating. And price, well, what if I told you I did this whole crossing for under £80. €24 for the foot passenger fair and just €71 for the inside two birth cabin making a grand total of €95 and that converted into just €78.90 sterling. That is a fantastic price, a real bargain. I cannot remember actually a better value crossing anywhere. Well, I spent a further £3363 on board when I converted it all up. And uh to be honest, if I’d have spent a little bit less on my meal and hadn’t splashed out on a cocktail in the bar, I reckon I could have done this whole trip, everything included for under £100. Well, the MV Bar Flur was also heading into port this afternoon, but it was time for me to make my way down to the bar area where I joined the other three happy foot passengers to be led down to the vehicle deck where we stood around waiting for the bus. I found a seat and we left for the terminal building, catching a quick glimpse of the bar flur, which by this time had also arrived into port. foot passengers are driven around the docks for a bit and once we’re off the bus, we’re led down this side passage and into French passport control. Once through that, you will note that there are signs for a bus which will take you to the train station. After that, the world’s your oyster really, isn’t it? I wasn’t doing that today. I had other plans, but first I found a quiet spot overlooking the port where I just took a couple of minutes to summarize the journey. All right then guys, she France and I have just arrived here with Britany Ferris on their MV coutan. Let me know what you thought in the comments below. But one word describes it for me and that is excellent. I thought from the minute I stepped on board, I thought the service was excellent. I thought the quality of the food was excellent. I thought the prices were you pretty reasonable really. and all my preconceptions about Britney Fairies in the past, I thought that, you know, they were a slightly more expensive ferry company. And uh well, in my experience on that, it just wasn’t wasn’t true. I thought everything was really good value and not just the food and drink on board actually, but um when I booked it, I thought the fair was good value. I thought the cabin was good value. So all in all, I’ve had a really good trip and a really good value trip as well. And yeah, okay, it’s primarily a freight based service this, but when you’re on there, okay, the the public areas, there’s not that much there, but there’s everything you need. You’ve got a bar, you’ve got a restaurant, you’ve got a TV lounge, and there’s something for the kids as well. So, when you’re on there, it Britney Fair, they don’t really differentiate between the foot passenger, a car passenger, or a freight driver. So, in that respect, they’ve got they’re catering for everybody and and I think that’s really commendable. I’ll tell you what, it is head and shoulders above my recent trip with Stenoline uh from Leapaya over in Latvia down to Travund in Germany. Absolutely head and shoulders above and much better value as well. What did you think? Let me know in the comments below. But I would like to thank you for watching. I hope you can join me on another journey soon. Until then, guys, as always, cheers for now.

This week guys, we’re off to France as I continue my journey south from Rosslare to Cherbourg with Brittany Ferries and their quirky vessel the MV Contentin. I’ll show you all the interior features of the ship, the cabin, the outside deck space, the food & drink and of course, I’ll tell you what everything cost.

I think you’ll be surprised at what I found. I certainly was! But as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Have you been on this ship? Would you take it after watching this video. Let me know in the usual way.

Thanks as always guys for taking the time to watch my videos. All likes, comments, subs are massively appreciated and it really encourages me to make more content for you all to enjoy.

Cheers for now.

Mark

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📖Chapters

00:00 – Introduction
00:55 – Rosslare Terminal & Boarding
03:32 – Leaving Rosslare
06:36 – Dinner
09:58 – Interior Facilities
14:30 – Cabin Tour
17:18 – Breakfast
19:42 – More outside space
20:35 – History & Ship Facts
23:59 – Arriving into Cherbourg
26:17 – Summary

#rosslare #brittanyferries #cherbourg #cotentin