Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Spain ferry

Greetings All

The resto on the 4/4 continues and in a fit of post vaccination optimism I've started thinking about my proposed road trip down to Braga in Portugal for the FIA Hillclimb Masters in October.

In order to minimise the number of countries involved just in case, I'm thinking of using the Plymouth Santander (or Bilbao) ferry. Does anyone have any experience of this route (or the Portsmouth one ) ..... as we're retired times and dates are very flexible .... are there any that are noticably cheaper due to being inconvenient for the still employed?

Basically any tips on the UK/Spain ferry trip would be very useful.

Thanks

K

I have used Plymouth Santander in the past. No complaints at all.
Last year we booked the Portsmouth route but it was cancelled due to COVID. At that time on the route they ran a small boat & a larger one. The larger one has better facilities. BF CS were very helpful.

Have been on Portsmouth to Santander ferry many times. You want to make sure that you get the larger of the boats. The cheaper and slower boats are not nearly as comfortable.

This an outside cabin on Cap Finister


Looks like they have a new ship, the Galicia.

We travelled Portsmouth Bilbao a couple of years ago. The larger, faster, ship is the one to go for. Cabin looked a lot like the one above. Pay the extra for an outside cabin and you can kick back and relax for a while. IIRC, the ship docks early afternoon so you can even enjoy too much wine with dinner and be OK to drive when you disembark.

The Biscay ferries are highly recommended! I think the Portsmouth-Santander route is classier (ie a classy restaurant*, more of a cruise ship feeling) than the Portsmouth-Bilbao** but both are perfectly fine for Mogs - often joined some very interesting machinery on both routes!

* make sure you join the queue to book a table for dinner after you get on board - no prebooking allowed! At least the restaurant on the ship I used was next to a bar so the queue is amicable. The restaurant has always been packed out on the times I've been on the ship.

** the upstairs on-deck cafe is great for breakfast before docking!

Went on the Brittany Ferries Portsmouth to Santander with a Morgan pal a couple of years ago, superb and we had inside cabins which were perfect for one. I went back on same route 6 weeks later with the Memsahib and as we both liked cruises and that’s the only sea travel she had done I booked Commodore class cabins both ways. Yes a fair but more but lots of extra’s, full pre book access to restaurant and a superb cabin with a lounge area and complementary welcome pack. Well worth the extra cash.

The food onboard was superb and buffet style so take as long as you want and eat what you want. We even finished of a couple of bottles of wine!

BR
Colin

I have tried the Woolwich Ferry many times, but no matter how hard I try I just can't find the dining room or the duty free shop.
However the top open deck is lovely in the Summer months. If it's a clear morning you can see sun rise over Thamesmead.

We’ve used the Brittany Ferry from both Plymouth and Portsmouth to Santander.
I agree with the comments about the Commodore Cabins (if available) - very comfortable.
The restaurant dinner is superb and good value.
We have had a couple of rough crossings on that route, but that is to be expected, when crossing the Bay of Biscay.
Northern Spain is gorgeous for touring in a Morgan.
We particularly like the Asturias and Galicia.
Bud
4/4 - Stanley

Commodore Cabind tend to sell out very quickly

Used the Portsmouth ferry for a trip to Spain with the Lotus. Very conventient way of travelling there and arriving refreshed. On out rip we had the company of the Bentley drivers assn with a string of vintage cars. We also had a gail across Biscay and several cars on our deck slid about and into each other.